NFL Week 1: Andrew Catalon

Good morning and welcome to week 1 of the annual NFL Themed picks!  This year - as stated earlier - we will be giving anagrams of our weekly theme for you, the valued reader, to solve before Sunday. This weeks answer: Andrew Catalon! He was the announcer for that great Cleveland comeback in 2014. And that's our theme this year - Eric's favorite play-by-play announcers on national broadcasts.

Being a Browns fan, we get the #4, #5 teams for the network a LOT - so we've have had a number of Catalon games in the past and will probably continue to have him as long as the Browns play Merry-Go-Round with quarterbacks and Jim Nantz continues to have pictures of Les Moonves.

(I kid....maybe)

Andrew is fine to have as an announcer - doesn't get in the way of the game, has a steady voice, seems to know the players and the game. What else can you ask for? He seems to have solidified his career after his one on-air gaffe back in 2014 in the NCAA Tournament.

Andrew was the play-by-play announcer doing a second-round Gonzaga game, with his color man Mike Gminski. Gonzaga had that huge center from Poland on their team...Gonzaga was up by 8-10 late, and Gonzaga's opponents had to foul. Catalon pointed out that the center had the lowest FT% on the team, so the team should employ the "Hack-a Polack" strategy.

Hoo boy. Even Gminski called him out right away on that one. Catalon later apologized, and all was well.

So - we start the themed picks on the blog with Andrew Catalon. Anagrams and clues for the week will show up in the middle of each week for you to solve by Sunday. Now - everyone knows these play-by-play announcers, so I won't be giving away clips of the games for you to watch (since you will be able to easily guess the voice); instead, I'll give a clue that tangentially relates to a Browns game that this person has called. You better study up on the 15 losses for the Browns in 2016!

On to the picks:

Az 27, Det 20. I don't think Det improved their defense at all, and this season is Arizona's last stand.

Was 27, Phi 20. Yes, I'm drinking the Terrelle Pryor Kool-Aid. He will make this team better. And there's too many questions for Philly's offense.

Atl 24, Chi 17. Need to see how Chicago will actually score here. Glennon has no weapons. can they run on Atlanta? No..... and let's see how the Falcons recover from last year.

Hou 20, Jax 17.  I really wanted to pick the upset here, but I can't see how Jax O-line will stop that dominating D-line of Houston. How will they stop the rush? Bortles under pressure? No thanks.

Buf 20, NYJ 13. Yeah, Yeah, yeah - Jets are tanking and all of that. But has anyone looked at this Bills team? They have McCoy and....that's it.

Ten 27, Oak 23. I'll sit back and stay away from this game to watch it and see what these two teams are all about. Too much hype on both sides here.

Cin 27, Bal 17. Too many questions for Baltimore's offense - how is Flacco? Who is the running back? Who is catching the ball? Cinci has Ross and Eifert back to support Green.....

LAR 23, Ind 13. Speaking of Kool-Aid, love the fact that the Rams hired a 31 year old coach. Could be a Sean Peyton wanna-be, innovative and crazy. That is the exact sort of coach to win against Chuck Pagano.

Car 23, SF 21.  I love me some Kyle Shanahan and Brian Hoyer. I saw these two make beautiful music together in 2013. Kyle is a brilliant mind. Carolina needs to watch out here.

GB 30, Sea 20. Seattle's secondary is old and one of these days, people will see that they have become average. I just think that Seattle has nothing in the run game to keep defenses honest.

Dal 26, NYG 20. No idea here. Anything can happen and probably will.

Min 27, NO 20. Not crazy on the changes that the Saints made on D, and the Vikes will have the momentum edge for the opener.

Den 20, LAC 19. If you think Brock Osweiler caould be an answer to your problem, then you have issues. However, that defense....Rivers will be under fire all day. Not sure what will happen here.

Best bets - 12 of them. This year, we will put them in relative order of preference.

Was +1
Cin -3
GB -3
Min -3
SF +4.5
Az -2
Buf/NYJ under 40
Ind/LA Rams under 41.5
Atl/Chi under 48.5
NYJ +8
LAR -4.5
Jax +5

Supercontest picks: Here we go again!
Was +1
Cin -2.5
GB -3
SF +5.5
Min -3