9402020186 DETROIT FREE PRESS 940910 Saturday, September 10, 1994 METRO FINAL

SPT

3B MITCH ALBOM The picks Copyright (c) 1994, Detroit Free Press UNTIL THEY LOSE, LIONS WILL STAY FAVORITES * Detroit 24, Minnesota 20: And I'm gonna keep on picking them until they lose. * Arizona 16, NY Giants 15: I'm not sure what kind of kid Buddy Ryan was, but I bet nobody wanted to sit next to him. * Atlanta 27, LA Rams 10: Andre Rison "guaranteed" this victory. Why do players do that? Is there some kind of bonus involved? * Pittsburgh 20, Cleveland 16: I try to live by one simple rule: Never pick a team that has Vinny Testaverde as quarterback. * Dallas 24, Houston 3: You think, right about now, Rodney Peete is saying, "You know, sitting on the bench this year is a whole lot more fun than sitting on it last year." * Green Bay 24, Miami 23: Last week, Dan Marino passed for nearly 500 yards, a barrel of touchdowns, and made the cover of Sports Illustrated. And he was rusty? * LA Raiders 17, Seattle 15: Here's how gruesome that Monday night injury was to Napoleon McCallum. His Raiders teammates haven't stopped throwing up. * New Orleans 13, Washington 3: And to think Joe Gibbs is racing cars somewhere. * Buffalo 17, New England 14: I know they looked awful. I know we don't like them. But picking last year's AFC champion as an underdog to the Patriots is taking this anti-Bill thing a little too far. * NY Jets 21, Denver 16: The Broncos are rapidly becoming John Elway and . . . umm . . . ..umm . . . * San Diego 34, Cincinnati 17: Stan Humphries had a quarterback rating of 131 last week. How is that possible? I mean, after 100 don't you just explode? * San Francisco 20, Kansas City 19: If the 49ers are smart, they'll use Jerry Rice as a defensive back and have him wave his arms on passing plays. How could Joe Montana not throw to him at least once on instinct? * Indianapolis 14, Tampa Bay 10: Marshall Faulk was so impressive, he's now Sheriff Faulk. * Chicago 10, Philadelphia 9 (Monday night): Was part of Erik Kramer's deal that he gets to start a Monday night game two weeks into the season? * Best pick last week: Chicago 14, Tampa Bay 6 (Bears won, 21-9). * Worst pick last week: Buffalo 28, NY Jets 9 (Jets won, 23-3). * Record last week: 8-6. * Record vs. spread: 7-7.