All right, I’ve refrained from gloating over the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win in the Hot Air Super Bowl over the New York Jets — and it’s too late to start now, because Pittsburgh has to face off against the Oakland Raiders this week on the road.  The Steeler defense has to make do without James Harrison and Troy Polamalu again, but the rest of the Steel Curtain defense did pretty good against the Jets last week — and the Jets are a better team than Oakland, at least so far.  (Did I mention that the Steelers beat the Jets, 27-10, last week?)  Oakland has two losses this season and no wins, and looked bad in both.  I’m picking Pittsburgh (shocka!) to win 31-14 over Oakland.

Last week, I ended up splitting my ticket 3-3 to put my season at 7-5.  I need to play some catch-up this week to get an edge, so let’s see how I do with these picks:

• 49ers at Vikings — Oh, my.  The Vikings are tough at home … but notthat tough.  Not like, say, the Steelers were last week against the Jets.  San Francisco should have an easy time with Minnesota, 27-17.
• Packers at Seahawks — The Packers weren’t quite as good that first week as I thought, and the Seahawks better than predicted the second week, kind of like the Steelers against the Jets.  I’m still going to give the edge to the Packers even on the road, but it should be a good game — 35-31, perhaps a final-drive game.
• Patriots at Ravens — The Ravens are still smarting from last week’s loss, which put them into a division tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers after their win over the Jets.  If they’re still blaming the replacement refs, they’ll be toast against the Patriots, who are still smarting from their own second-week loss on the road at home against Arizona.  I’m still going to pick the Pats in an upset, 24-20.
• Falcons at Chargers — Both of these teams are off to good starts this season, perhaps surprisingly so for San Diego.  Atlanta beat a tough team last week in the Denver Broncos, kind of like how Pittsburgh beat a tough team in the Jets, while San Diego hasn’t been too tested yet, beating Oakland and Tennessee.  I’ll pick the away team again in this contest, with Atlanta winning a shootout, 38-31.
• Eagles at Cardinals — Two more undefeated teams square off, with Arizona fresh off a big win over New England at home on the road and Philadelphia beating Baltimore in Philly — not too far from where Pittsburgh beat the Jets.  This could also be a Game of the Week, and I’m going with the Cardinals at home, 24-21.

UPDATE: (Jazz) – Why is my Delete Post key grayed out all of a sudden? Somebody call tech support, STAT!!

Update: For some reason, I thought the Pats were on the road against Arizona last week. I’ve fixed both references.