Every week on a Monday I'll take the opportunity to get on my soapbox in a new regular weekly column. We'll still focus on the expert picks that we know you guys love, but we'll also take the opportunity to get into more meaty general topics and stuff that may be less pick-centric than our usual content.

This week we look at the NFL's horrific week and ask how this glut of incidents might change public perception of the league in future.

Site dev blog

This week we added a few new features you may like. First up, as requested, we added a text-only version of the main page. Check it out above the table on the left hand side. We also added a search bar to the table to filter experts by name or network. Try typing in 'ESPN' and you'll only see ESPN experts etc.

We've also modified the weekly picks table to show this week's percentage and the overall. If possible, we'd like to meet another request by adding the total wins and losses back in there too, although space is at somewhat of a premium. Rest assured, we're working on it though.

This week we will hopefully see the searchboxreturn of 'Clutch' pickers (those who pick the hardest 50%-70% consensus games correctly) and the team-by-team stats of last year. With our new sortable tables, you'll be able to select your team and then sort experts by home, road or overall ranking.

We actively encourage ALL suggestions - both positive and negative. We can't promise everything will make it, but we can try, and the more people shout about something, the more emphasis we put on getting it in.

Pulling back the veil

The formulaic on-field 'redemption' being trumpeted from the rooftops by football writers today shouldn't detract from the gravity of the off-field malaise the NFL is struggling to contain. We should also see this as an opportunity for meaningful change in the NFL landscape.

We were quick to judge Roger Goodell and the Ravens for their baffling lack of accountability in the R*y R*ce case, and we stand by that judgement, because nothing we have seen has suggested that the league acted anything butnegligently. Similarly, the Vikings, Panthers and 49ers are now all under the microscope in how they deal with troubled stars.

But deep down, didn't we all already know that the league has dirty secrets?

We - as fans - are all guilty of enabling the NFL to pull the 'one rule for us' trick on a consistent basis for as long as the league has been successful. Players, teams, owners, the Commissioner - they've had a free ride from us for decades. It seems almost ridiculous that outrage was so ready to spew from our keyboards, given that in our heart of hearts, we have traditionally turned a collective blind eye to the indiscretions of the league's biggest stars. Sure, we've gawped, hell, most of us have possibly feigned indignation at a rival player's off-field transgressions, but how often have we really stopped to consider the consequences of letting players off the hook so readily?

ray rice

That's not to condone or dismiss the alleged/confirmed actions of Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald or Rice, but it is naive at best to suggest that this is a new low for the NFL. People have died at the hands of NFL stars - and those same players have returned to the fold, often after little or no punitive measure has been taken against them by society or the league. Excuses are made, token sentences are dished out, a short suspension is served, and before long puff-pieces are being written about how sorry the perpetrator is. For a league that thrives on drama, it's the ultimate redemptive story that shows the lowest human moments can be offset by football, and in time, those stories become folklore in a soap opera played out in front of millions every week.

The idea that this week is a new low would even make me laugh, were it not for the gravity of what has come before it and the ongoing suffering of current victims. Leonard Little, Donte Stallworth, Josh Brent - they all are responsible for killing another human being while driving under the influence of alcohol, and collectively served just 204 days for their crimes, before being reinstated to the league. Lawrence Taylor, Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis... I could go on for hours. Hell, when you stack up some rap sheets, you almost start to wonder how Michael Vick was punished so heavily in comparison.

The message has been for many years that if you're an established or useful NFL player, most of the time the legal system just works. Only the most egregious murders (Aaron Hernandez, Rae Carruth) warrant pariah status.

Chat with the Coach

But how did we get to the stage where players have such little accountability? We can't blame the league entirely for this. After all, the NFL didn't let Lewis off with a plea deal instead of asking where his bloodstained suit was. The NFL didn't sentence Little to a grand total of 0hrs jail time for ending the life of a mother-of-two, or Stallworth to 24 days for killing a guy on his way home from work. Any legal process that allows reckless and culpable men off the hook because they're rich enough to buy their way out of charges is a failed system, but I don't even blame the lawyers and judges who have played an active role in this outright corruption.

No. For the ongoing epidemic of off-field problems, we are all responsible in some way. We've been wilfully ignorant, and we've been hypnotized by the narrative of players seeking absolution for their crimes.

How often have we really tried to peer behind the curtain to see what was going on behind the scenes of our favorite trick? We never wanted to see the engine room, because we were too busy enjoying the view from the top deck (I'm on a mental cruise-liner here).

I mean, hell, how many people were genuinely that bothered about the Ray Rice or Greg Hardy cases BEFORE they saw that video, even knowing what surely must have occurred? I bet the answer is very few, and it would be hypocritical of me to say I was one of them, because I was willing to grudgingly accept the return of a man who had clearly beaten his girlfriend unconscious in an elevator, and pretty much oblivious to Hardy's situation.

Why have Baltimore fans defended Ray Lewis for a decade despite him - literally - having blood on his hands over the murder of two people? We literally can never know what happened that day, but for the most part, it doesn't matter, because at some point, we gotray-lewis-again sick of asking and instead decided he was primarily a great football player. He'll go to the Hall of Fame. Peyton Manning - Peyton f**king Manning - that paragon of virtue, makes a

point of socializing with him after a game because he has respect for him. Ray Lewis. A man who shamelessly avoids the truth of what happened that night by invoking the Bible as a shield.

How do you balance respect for a football player's on field activities, with their off-field indiscretions? Is murder - and a conviction - literally the only crime that will outweigh a Hall of Famer's record-breaking career?

In some ways, this mindset affects every aspect of the modern NFL too, not just the high-profile criminal activities. We know Brian Cushing outright cheated his way to being considered a great LB. That's not an overstatement.

We know Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Von Miller, Joe Haden, Julius Peppers and plenty of other well known players have been suspended for taking PED's at one point or another (Sherman was let off, but given that Browner and fellow Seahawks DB Walter Thurmond were also busted, it would be a fool not to wonder). Performance enhancing

drugs are, put simply, the NFL's dirty little secret.

cush

And yet, there is hope. (This is the bit in Lord of the Rings where Galadriel is talking. I'll assume you're now reading in her voice)

From somewhere unknown, where it has rested undisturbed for many years, our collective conscience has awoken. A new wave of decency threatens the worst excesses of those who would abuse the idolatry of NFL fans.

The league has been backed into a corner by waves of bad publicity, and if we are to blame for the apathy that has permitted on-field greatness at the expense of off-field indiscretions, then we are all surely partly responsible for the cultural changes the NFL is currently experiencing as a result of our protestation.

hGH testing is on the horizon to (hopefully) inhibit some of those who would devalue the league by cheating. The domestic violence policy is - rightly - being de-centralized and passed to outside regulation after this spate of arrests and lack of meaningful action. Medical treatment of players during games has undergone a radical transformation in recent years and been taken out of the hands of those with a conflict of interest.

There is still work to do. It's hard not to escape the grim suspicion that there are countless untold stories that never see the light of day. How many cover-ups go undiscovered? How many wives are beaten? How many DUI's are swept under the rug?

I guess the most important lesson we've learned this week is not to duck those questions in the future.

Hardest Team to Predict - Week 2 update

The Saints, Browns, Bills, Chargers, Bears, Titans and Bucs have soundly proved that the first two weeks of this season are... well, just like any other. We have a tendency to overreact to a big loss or win in the first week of the season, and this year was no exception.

In week 1, I was convinced the 49ers were headed for a fall this year. I wrote it loud and proud... and they promptly smashed a terrible Dallas team out of the park. Somehow, despite being high on the Bears, low on the Cowboys and low on the 49ers, I took the week 1 results as gospel and simply followed the winners. Of course, the true quality of a team becomes clear when they bounce back from a tough loss, and I should have been all over the Bears result in hindsight.

Sometimes you should follow your gut - but not always. I picked the Jags who were nothing short of a disgrace to an already pretty well-disgraced uniform. Kirk Cousins looked like Peyton Manning, Niles Paul became Tony Gonzalez, and RGIII looked like... um... RGIII. Ugh.

Next week is the first week we expect meaningful patterns to develop. If the Saints lose again, it's not bad luck, it's because they aren't the great team many had them down as. If the Bills win again, is it time to take them seriously as an AFC East contender? They're the patterns we're looking for with picks. All of a sudden, the water is murkier, and that makes it all the more likely that some of our panel of experts will start to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Speaking of which...

Pick of the Week:

John Halpin: Cleveland

Gregg Rosenthal + 8 others: Chicago

Were highlighting these two because we think they were made with genuine forethought. We asked John on twitter (on behalf of a reader) whether his Browns pick was legit, and he confirmed it. If he didn't believe it, that was his cue to disassociate himself with it. Similarly, Rosenthal doesn't make picks to be contrarian, he makes them because he knows the game pretty well and has a knack for picking up trends.

We congratulate both John and Gregg on a great two weeks, the perfect start for last seasons champion and a top 5 2013 expert respectively.

Follow us on Twitter for more analysis of the experts and more updates on key stats for next week. We also have a Facebook page which we share updates on with information about new features for the site. For now, keep in touch and let us know how you feel about the page, or if you disagree with us on the many and varied streams of crap we come out with on a regular basis.

Shaun Lowrie - Editor, Pickwatch.