Week 1 - NFL and Survivor picks; NFL season picks

Who will win, step up and get beat down in Week 1 of the NFL season...

These game predictions do not reflect the opinion of FFToolbox.com but just a solo fantasy writer who promises to do better with his predictions or your money back...As a reminder, email any questions, be it about lineup fantasy decisions, trades, strategy or free agents, to podcast@fftoolbox.com or send tweets to @benstandig. Also download the weekly FFToolbox.com podcast - hosted by yours truly with guests from the Rotoworld, CBS Sports, NY Times and the National Football Post. Scheduled for Tuesday's and Thursday's at 7 p.m. or anytime via ITunes and that's where you will find this week's fantasy angles...

Home Team in CAPS

Atlanta 23 CHICAGO 21 (+2.5)

HOUSTON 31 Indianapolis 23 (+9)

KANSAS CITY 24 Buffalo 20 (+5.5)

Tennessee 27 (+1) JACKSONVILLE 17

CLEVELAND 28 (-6) Cincinnati 17

ST. LOUIS 24 (+4) Philadelphia 21

Pittsburgh 20 (+1) BALTIMORE 17

Detroit 27 (+1) TAMPA BAY 23

SAN DIEGO 34 (-9) Minnesota 21

WASHINGTON 20 (+2.5) NY Giants 17

ARIZONA 24 (-6) Carolina 14

SAN FRANCISCO 22 Seattle 17 (+5.5)

NY JETS 24 (-5.5) Dallas 17

New England 23 MIAMI 17

DENVER 28 (-3) Oakland 24

GREEN BAY 35 (-4) New Orleans 30

Last week: Straight, Spread; Overall: Straight, Spread

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Survivor picks

Entry 1 - Houston

Entry 2 - Kansas City (but I'm tempted to go with Cleveland)

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NFL season predictions

NFC Division winners: Philadelphia, Green Bay, New Orleans, Arizona

NFC wild cards: Atlanta, Detroit

NFC Champion: Green Bay

NFC Championship game: Green Bay over New Orleans

AFC Division winners: New England, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, San Diego

AFC wild cards: New York Jets, Houston

AFC Championship game: New England over San Diego

Super Bowl: Green Bay over New England

Regular season MVP: 1) Philip Rivers 2) Aaron Rodgers 3) Tom Brady

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On the FFToobox podcast and elsewhere I've been yapping about fantasy football players I love and those I loathe, both overall and relative to their draft day rank. Here is the compilation of those rants and my final stance on all heading into the 2011 NFL season. And yes, I was down on Peyton Manning waaaaaay before his neck injury became a doom and gloom scenario...

Quarterbacks

Loving - Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford

Liking - Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Chad Henne, Vince Young

Loathing - Peyton Manning, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Cassel, Andy Dalton

My fave - Matthew Stafford, if of course- say it with me - he can stay healthy

Don't get the fantasy hype - Sam Bradford, unless you tell me which of his receivers will definitely emerge

Running backs

Loving - Ray Rice, Chris Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Stephen Jackson, Darren McFadden, Jahvid Best, Reggie Bush, Ryan Mathews, Ben Tate, Delone Carter, Roy Helu Jr.

Liking - Arian Foster, LeSean McCoy, Maurice Jones-Drew, LeGarrette Blount, Shonn Greene, Fred Jackson, Mark Ingram ,Tim Hightower, Brandon Jacobs, Kendall Hunter

Loathing - Michael Turner, Peyton Hillis, Frank Gore, Ryan Grant, C. J. Spiller, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Marshawn Lynch, Daniel Thomas, Donald Brown, Ryan Torain

My fave - Darren McFadden. Beast.

Don't get the fantasy hype - Felix Jones, seeing as the one year he stayed healthy he lost his game-breaking pop. Until it all happens in the same season, can't see why he was getting picked in round two or three...

Wide Receiver

Loving - Larry Fitzgerald, Hakeem Nicks, Vincent Jackson, Greg Jennings, Brandon Marshall, Dez Bryant, Jordy Nelson, Jacoby Ford, Eric Decker

Liking - Mike Wallace, Mario Manningham, Julio Jones, Santana Moss, Lee Evans, Mike Sims-Walker, Plaxico Burress, Emmanuel Sanders, Jabar Gaffney

Loathing - Marques Colston, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Lloyd, Dwayne Bowe, Steve Johnson, Johnny Knox, Pierre Garcon, Michael Crabtree, Donald Driver

My fave - Jordy Nelson. Beast in the Super Bowl, has best chance to be the number three target in unreal passing attack.

Don't get the fantsay hype - Marques Colston/Steve Johnson. Colston way inconsistent for where he gets drafted and let's see Johnson perform without Lee Evans and defenses keying on him.

Tight End

Loving - Jermichael Finley, Jason Witten, Vernon Davis, Jimmy Graham, Jared Cook

Liking - Antonio Gates, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon Pettigrew, Aaron Hernandez, Greg Olsen

Loathing - Marcedes Lewis, Tony Gonzalez, Chris Cooley, Visante Shiancoe

My fave - Graham/Cook. The pair could lead their respective teams in receptions.

Don't get the fantasy hype - Tony Gonzalez (there might not be hype, but people continued draft him like it's 2004)

Defenses

Loving - Green Bay, Detroit, St. Louis, Arizona, teams that play against Andy Dalton and the other rookie passers