Lucas is lucky that I'm in a giving mood, since he submitted his pick well after the start of the game but I am giving it to him anyway since no one in their right mind would have picked the Raiders to win last night. Here are the rest of this week's picks:

HOU at BUF: Of all the great AFC teams, these are definitely not two of them. Buffalo is starting a for-all-intents-and-purposes rookie at QB, and Houston is still playing like an expansion team years later. BUF

CIN at CLE: Is Trent Dilfer better than Jeff Garcia? Probably, but there's a reason you haven't heard his name mentioned in the past 3 years. CIN

NYJ at KC: Everyone loves the Jets, even though their running back may in fact fossilize on the field during this game and they no longer have LaMont Jordan to back him up. Meanwhile, the Chiefs may have gotten a little better on defense over the offseason but they've gotten even thinner at wide receiver, if that's possible. KC

DEN at MIA: The Dolphins should take a lesson from the Broncos: ditch your problem running back before the season starts, lest he cause problems during the season. DEN

TB at MIN: Al Michaels and John Madden couldn't understand why the Vikings would be better without having a player who quit on the team and once ran down a traffic cop in his car. Perhaps at this point Madden only understands random circles and the word "BOOM!" MIN

TEN at PIT: Count me among those who think that Roethlisberger will take a step backwards this year. The parallels to Brady ended when he lost in the playoffs last year, and the sidearmed release is going to catch up to him at some point. TEN

CHI at WAS: You've got to be kidding me. It's the first week of football, I'm all excited for the season to start, and they give me this? I might as well watch hockey. WAS

NO at CAR: New Orleans is the ultimate wild card this year. This is a team that's had the talent to compete but had no drive (or coaching) to win games. Well now they have the ultimate motivation, but they also are basically playing every game on the road. They won't be tired yet though, and the Panthers have been way overhyped. NO

SEA at JAX: So will the Seahawks be 8-8, 7-9 or 9-7 this year? It's inevitable. SEA

GB at DET: This is an interesting matchup. A team with a great quarterback and basically nobody else against a team with a great supporting cast and a cover-your-eyes awful quarterback. DET

AZ at NYG: Normally I like to go against the talking heads that overhype the team that ends up going 5-11, but I think this will be one of those 5 wins for the improved-but-still-terrible Cardinals. AZ

DAL at SD: Even though the Cowboys aren't as hateable as they used to be, when half of the team was on drugs, it's still nice to see Bill Parcells fail. SD

STL at SF: This game will be closer than people think. Show me one area where the Rams are better this season (and don't even say running back, since we all know Mike Martz could have Walter Payton back there and he'd get 5 carries a game). STL

IND at BAL: Explain this to me. The Colts set offensive records last year in the regular season, then the Pats put on a clinic for the rest of the league on how to beat them in the playoffs. The league has had all offseason to watch the film from that game and perfect their playbooks accordingly, yet the Colts are the favorites to eclipse last year's offensive output and win the Super Bowl? Well at least they're the favorites to beat the sorry Baltimore O. IND

PHI at ATL: In case you missed it, Terrell Owens is playing in this game. PHI