NFL Week 3: Cincy Jungle staff picks for every matchup

If you remember, last week I thought that Week 1 was tough to predict and I was relieved to be able to have a week of football to help base my predictions off of. As it turns out, Week 2 was a bloodbath. A grand total of two CJ staffers went over .500 for the week, so kudos to Scott Schulze and Kyle Phelps. Myself and Dadio McDuck ended up at the bottom of the barrel for the week, with each of us going 5-11, respectively. Luckily, there are 15 weeks of regular season football ahead of us, so there is plenty of time to right the ship and avoid the loser's "award" of writing about the Steelers instead next season.

Last week, I gave a special mention to Jason Marcum, as he was the only person to pick Cincinnati to lose. Not only was he incredibly wrong, but he doubled down and is the only contributor to pick Baltimore this week. I can only hope that he is pulling some sort of reverse jinx. If that is the case, we appreciate your dedication. If that is not the case, you are one or two anti-Cincinnati picks away from being locked in an elevator with Ray Rice.

This week, the staff came to a consensus on three games; Jacksonville at New England, Chicago at Seattle, and Denver at Detroit. We took New England, Seattle, and Denver in those games. That may not mean much though, as we came to a consensus on Minnesota in Week 1 and St. Louis in Week 2.

For Week 3, we are the most split on New Orleans at Carolina, with six of us leaning towards Carolina and five siding with New Orleans. Vegas currently has the Saints as three point underdogs. With Drew Brees at the helm, the Saints have stumbled out of the gates to an 0-2 start. However, Luke McCown could be getting the start this weekend as Brees deals with a bruised rotator cuff. As you may have noticed, Verizon Wireless may have predicted this whole thing. Regardless of who starts at QB, the Saints have not looked good this year.

On the other side, the Panthers come in at 2-0 with victories over Jacksonville and Houston. Even though Cam Newton may end up throwing to Sir Purr by the end of the season, the Panthers have looked somewhat competent up to this point. Given the small sample size of 2015, and the crazy results of Week 2, it's hard to feel very confident about many picks at this point though.