King Kaufman's Sports Daily

NFL Week 2: Fast starters, hurry and get your bragging in now before reality hits. Plus: A Very Special Barry Bonds MVP Stat of the Day, starring Jim Edmonds.

Sep 17, 2004 | I hate to brag, and for that reason, I tend not to. Well, that reason and also because I hardly ever have anything to brag about. But I had a monster Week 1 picking NFL games, and I can't help myself.

I went 13-3, missing only on my hunchy pick of the Colts over the Patriots, plus the Texans over the Chargers and the Panthers over the Packers. I realize I am the 2003 Buffalo Bills, opening up like gangbusters only to slide back into mediocrity as the season wears on. I don't care. I don't get many chances to crow about my prognosticating prowess, so I'm going to do it now.

My 2004 NFL Pool of Experts is larger than last year's model. I've gone beyond the ESPN.com panel to include Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News, plus Cris Carter and Larry Beil of Yahoo Sports and Yahoo's users, whose picks are tracked on a handy Web page.

I've also included my son, Buster, the coin-flippinest 1-year-old in America. In Week 1, picking by coin flip, Buster did exactly as well as former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, the 2003 Panel of Experts champion. Good thing Jaworski, the best football analyst on TV, did his homework! The standings:

1.King Kaufman, Salon -- 13-3, .813
2.Cris Carter, Yahoo -- 11-5, .688
2.Yahoo Users -- 11-5, .688
4.Joe Theismann, ESPN -- 10-5, .667
5.Eric Allen, ESPN -- 10-6, .625
5.Merril Hoge, ESPN -- 10-6, .625
5.Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News -- 10-6, .625
5.Sean Salisbury, ESPN -- 10-6, .625
5.Mark Schlereth, ESPN -- 10-6, .625
10.Larry Beil, Yahoo -- 9-7, .563
11.Mike Golic, ESPN -- 8-8, .500
12.Buster, Coin Flip Weekly -- 7-9, .438
12.Ron Jaworski, ESPN -- 7-9, .438

Note that Joe Theismann, in a rare bout of ethical stridency on ESPN's part, does not pick the Sunday night game, which he broadcasts.

Fearing no conflict of interest, let us dive together into Week 2, that week that gives the lie to the NFL's claims of parity, because going into Sunday's games half of the league is undefeated and, shockingly, half is winless. Talk about a haves and have-nots system. The winners are in all caps.

St. Louis (1-0) at ATLANTA (1-0): Both teams looked pretty shaky while beating weak opponents last week, so we'll get some answers here about what that all meant. The Rams have beaten on the Falcons like an old rug in recent years, scoring 30 or more seven straight times, all wins, but the Falcons defense appears to have improved and these aren't the same high-flying Rams of their Super Bowl days.

Next Page: Clinton Portis crashing to earth! Plus: Big bunches of other games. And: Barry Bonds for MVP Stat of the Day

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