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Last Fan Standing: Week 1

By Justin Boylan

*Join this year's Last Fan Standing Pool NOW

 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- WELCOME BACK, FOOTBALL.

Welcome back, 94 WIP's largest, yearly survivor pool. It's the Last Fan Standing.

Win and advance, lose and we'll see you next year. Think of it like True Detective, but instead of an incoherent mess it's the exact same as last season.

The grand prize has also not changed. We are all in the hunt for that $12,400 championship ring. So while we follow Chip Kelly on the journey to the big boy ring, we get to fight it out ourselves for our own tiny slice of history. Justice Winslow will tell you first hand, hardware lasts forever.

[Full disclosure: I'm looking to have a serious bounce-back year. After the 2013 season where I cruised past a roadblock game and made it to week 10, last year could not have gone worse. Actually, I could have forgotten to sign up. Is that better than a week 1 exit? The Buffalo Bills went into Chicago and won in overtime, crushing a sleuth of Bears' believers that will never forgive Jay Cutler. 2014's Week 1 also saw the soon-to-be 2-14 Titans demolish the Chiefs, on the road.]

So before we start climbing all over each other to see who can stand the tallest, let's hold hands and weather the week 1 storm. The preseason meant nothing and Vegas only feels comfortable making two teams as big as a touchdown favorite (week 1 a year ago there were five games with a spread of 6.5 points or higher). A couple wild finishes and this could get ugly very early.

Let's narrow the field and see what picks are worth standing beside.

Popular Picks - Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots

 

Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers (Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)

The opposite of trusting Cutler and the Bears would mean taking Aaron Rodgers, which is always a safe bet. It's a divisional game and Green Bay is on the road, but if the enemy of my enemy is my friend than ride Rodgers into week 2. The Packers over the Bears.

The best way to avoid a Sunday nail-biter is to get your pick out of the way by locking in on Thursday night football. With all the heat that's been coming down on the Patriots expect integrity to be restored to the National Football League in the form of Tom Brady breathing fire all over Foxborough and Bill Belicheat Belichick running up the score. The Patriots over the Steelers.

Buyers Beware - Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers

 

9. Cincinnati Bengals (10-5-1)
Andy Dalton (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The Raiders, Jaguars and Washington have been great teams to pick against for years now but are all home to start the season. (The Bills are also beginning at home, against the Colts. A solid pick any other week, but did I mention what happened week 1 a year ago?) The Bengals and Panthers will win but scare me on paper. I would prefer to see them play a real game before I pick them to get me through.

The Pick - Miami Dolphins

 

Miami Dolphins v Denver Broncos
(Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

The Dolphins, on the other hand, I love. They gave Ndamukong Suh something like a billion dollars to improve their defense. Ryan Tannehill has only gotten better, improving his yards, completion percentage and touchdowns each of his three seasons. They have the right Pouncey brother on the offensive line, the healthy one. They upgraded the weapons around Tannehill by bringing in Jordan Cameron, the always-reliable Greg Jennings and Kenny Stills (aka a deep threat that isn't Mike Wallace) to go with the ready-to-break-out Jarvis Landry and talented rookie DaVante Parker.

Did I bet the Dolphins to win the AFC East at 4-to-1 before Brady's suspension was lifted? That's got nothing to do with this. Why would you even ask me that?

Washington has a fantastic chance to be the biggest disaster in football, on and off the field. I'm in.

 

Justin Boylan is a producer at 94WIP. Follow him on Twitter @justintboylan.

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