Each week Arif Hasan of the Daily Norseman and Mario Mergola of XN Sports/AOL.com make their picks on NFL Pickwatch. If you agree or disagree, make your own picks right here.

Straight Up Picks

Arif Hasan

Arif Hasan has been writing about the Vikings and NFL for four years and has had his work in the LA Times, International Business Times, Forbes, MSN, Star Tribune, Bleacher Report, and various other outlets. You can find his work at the Daily Norseman or his podcast (Norse Code).

Mario Mergola

Mario Mergola is a writer for XN Sports, featured on AOL Sports. He finished first in NFL Pickwatch's standings for picks against the spread throughout the regular season and playoffs in 2015, and he specializes in finding upsets and trap games. These picks are straight up, however if you wish to view Mario's ATS picks, please click here

Matchup

The Pick

The Verdict

The Pick

The Verdict

BRONCOS @ CHIEFS

R-E-L-A-X with Peyton Manning. Although this may not be the opponent to do that with, especially on the road in a short week. Both sides sport a strong defense, and though KC's is much better, I think the potential offensive output from Denver will overcome that.

Kansas City has been held down by the Broncos for years - Denver has won the last six consectuive meetings between the two teams - but the Chiefs are primed and ready. The difference this time? Peyton Manning is beginning to look human. Kansas City will not let him walk out of town a winner.

PATRIOTS @ BILLS

Are the Bills for real? Yes. But the prohibitive division champion, even with a weakened defense, should be given the benefit of the doubt, even on the road. Rex has had more success against the Patriots than his team quality sometimes dictated, but it's still easy to lean toward Bill Belichick.

The Buffalo Bills were swirling with intensity when hosting - and ultimately beating - the Colts in Week 1. While facing the rival Patriots is a surefire way to keep the fire burning, Buffalo over-extended itself with a fantastic performance and an emotion-laden win. The Patriots are masters of putting teams in their place, and will do so again on Sunday.

TITANS @ BROWNS

Mariota's incredible performance has some red flags—a critical lack of deep passing among them. But he still looks good and those weaknesses won't be enough for the Browns to overcome their own problems at QB, RB, WR and throughout the defense.

How quickly everything changes. The entire offseason, Marcus Mariota was considered the second-best quarterback in the draft. Now he appears to be the second coming of any historically great quarterback. Not so fast. The Browns' defense is a much tougher opponent than Tampa Bay's, and a naturally regression is in order. The same is true for Cleveland, who has nowhere to go but up.

TEXANS @ PANTHERS

Houston is a constant reminder that individual defense performances alone cannot win games, as Watt's game was as heroic as anything he's put together. But the Panthers do not have the intrinsic quality across the board that the Chiefs did and I don't think they can attack weaknesses like Kansas City did.

The Panthers emerged from their Opening Day meeting in Jacksonville as the 'team less bad.' Luckily for Carolina, it is facing another franchise throwing its hat in the ring. Carolina is 'less bad,' again.

CARDINALS @ BEARS

No one expected the Bears to really put the spurs to the Packers, but though improved it will be difficult to match the talent the Cardinals have. They have a better QB, OL, DL, LB corps and secondary, and their receivers can compete.

Don’t be fooled by the final score of the Bears' Opening Day loss to the Packers. Chicago looked like a vastly improved version of its 2014 counterpart for much of the game. A sneaky win is in the works, especially against a Cardinals team that struggles away from home - 4-5 last season, and 2-6 in their last eight early games in the Central time zone.

CHARGERS @ BENGALS

It was very tempting to pick the Chargers because of the QB situations, but with the Bengals on the road and a slight advantage in the trenches (despite weaknesses at DE, they have a better DL-OL matchup than the Chargers do), plus better middle-of-the-field play on defense, the Bengals could edge this one out even if their performance against Oakland wasn't as dominant as the scoreline seemed.

Cincinatti's win in Oakland does little for the team's resume, but the Bengals did what good teams are asked to do: win easy games handily. San Diego looked completely overmatched for nearly an entire half of its Opening Day win, and exploited too many vulnerabilities. The Bengals take advantage.

LIONS @ VIKINGS

The Vikings could reset the perception of their team in their home opener, and without Deandre Levy or Darius Slay, it will be difficult for the Lions to shut down Mike Wallace or deal with quickness in the middle of the field. The Vikings OL has to do better, but if Teddy plays under pressure like he did last season instead of last week, it will be easier for him to use his weapons—especially as Adrian learns more of the offense. The Vikings defense may have some trouble with the RBs, but at least have matchups elsewhere, especially as the Lions continue to resolve to pass less than they had under Schwartz

The Lions defense looks nothing like last year's brick wall, and the Chargers were able to take advantage. A Minnesota team that hardly utilized running back Adrian Peterson should have a vastly different plan of attack on Sunday.

BUCCANEERS @ SAINTS

Two terrible defenses with only one proven quarterback. This is an easy pick for the Saints, especially at home, even as Brees potentially adjusts to throwing to Coleman as his top target. Winston will play better than he did against Tennessee, but it's really not likely that it will be "enough better"

The perfect setup for a near-upset, as a terrible division team travels to a rival desperately needing a win. The Saints won't let this game slip away, but the Buccaneers should keep it close, as many division underdogs tend to do.

FALCONS @ GIANTS

If Matt Ryan is back to the days where people debated his spot in the top six or seven quarterbacks, then it's bad news for the Giants, who saw Eli turn in a clunker instead of the revived version we saw last year. The Falcons have to be committed to a game plan that isolates Beckham, but this team can do it, especially with the weak OL play the Giants feature. The Giants' DL could also struggle, and that will boost Atlanta's entire offense.

No team needs to get back to football after Week 1 more than the Giants. The bitter taste left in the team's mouth after letting a near-guaranteed win slip out of the hands is all they need for motivation on Sunday.

49ERS @ STEELERS

The 49ers did indeed prove they were better than the pundits gave them credit for, but their perception of being a threatening team is still on hold until they can do it again, this time on the road. The Steelers still have weapons everywhere and their defense is beginning to gel with the new look and feel the young players provide.

Victims of circumstance, the Steelers and 49ers would have opposite records if their Opening Day opponents were flipped. The 49ers took advantage of a bad Vikings team, but the Steelers will do the same to an equally bad 49ers squad.

RAMS @ REDSKINS

Don't read too much into St. Louis' performance against Seattle—they always seem to do well there. But even an "overrated" Rams team can overcome a depleted Washington team—though they have a good pass rush and a great RB corps, they have almost nothing else. The Rams better them at every level of play, especially at pass rush.

In what is yet another 'trap game,' the Rams look too good to be true. They are. St. Louis' Opening Day win was largely a function of division familiarity against an opponent they normally play tough. The Redskins, themselves, have given opponents fits, and were a punt returned for a touchdown away from a possible upset of Miami. They won't let this one slip away, as well.

RAVENS @ RAIDERS

A Bill Musgrave-coordinated offense has yet to impress after his seven years in the league, and last week was a repeat of those struggles. The Raiders have a lot of good pieces—Carr, Cooper, Mack, Murray and even Tuck. But they have a lot of awful ones, and no coherence. Baltimore, on the other hand, is the opposite. The passing game is struggling to get off the ground, and Suggs' injury, but they have talent everywhere to make up for that, especially against a weak Oakland team.

Baltimore will be looking for a punching bag after a tough loss in Denver, last week, and Oakland fits the bill perfectly. The Raiders, heavy underdogs, at home, put together a more respectable game than Opening Day, but the Ravens still emerge victorious.

DOLPHINS @ JAGUARS

Bortles has to show more and Robinson didn't live up to his sleeper hype, but Jacksonville is still a team with a markedly improved line, a QB who has shown good flashes and a deep WR corps—all with a decent if developing defense. Miami has a far more uneven talent distribution, and their deficiencies at key places like the offensive line, receiver and linebacker won't be made up for by having the better QB and DL.

Miami simply hates to make it easy. Frequently entrenched in 'nail-biters,' the Dolphins refuse to put away a bad team quickly. The Jaguars looked as terrible as ever on Opening Day, but have enough young talent to surprise on a given week. Jacksonville puts up a fight, but Miami wins a close one, as they tend to do.

COWBOYS @ EAGLES

Philadelphia's interior offensive line was embarrassed against Atlanta and more than any other team needs that unit to go. Dallas has a good pass rush with a great linebacker and a decent secondary. Pair that with an all-world OL and a great QB, and even at home the Eagles should struggle.

Week 1 tells the story for these two teams. At their worst, the Eagles look disconnected. At their best, they look unstoppable. At the Cowboys' best, they are gifted points. At their worst, they are gifting points of their own. The Cowboys cannot compete with the Eagles' best game.

SEAHAWKS @ PACKERS

It is tempting to pick the home team in a battle of titans like this one, but just as St. Louis tends to have Seattle's number, the Seahawks can dial up just what they need to against Green Bay—though the games are always close. The difference here is that while both teams needed everything to make it close in the previous matchups, the Packers are missing more than ever without Nelson, and spotty tackle play. The defense is worse than last year's as well, and I'm not even sure they have two starting inside linebackers after the Sam Barrington injury.

The Seahawks have defied all odds since selecting Russell Wilson in the third-round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Even in near-guaranteed losses, Seattle has an incredible resilency, forcing overtime on Opening Day despite the uphill battle. Now that the bandwagon is quickly emptying, the Seahawks respond in a nationally televised reminder that they are still the team to beat in the NFC.

JETS @ COLTS

The Jets are a well-coached team, but the Colts at home can paper over some of the risks Andrew Luck takes in order to take advantage of the rewards those gambles come with. The Jets don't have the secondary they used to (in a very literal sense, they did before Cromartie's injury but the talent still isn't like it was) and their offense won't be exciting to watch if Vontae Davis can shut down Marshall for most of the game.

The storyline surrounding Monday Night Football is more about the Colts than the Jets. New York looks to be fairly transparent - a solid defense with an offense that is no longer a liability. Indianapolis, however, is still to be determined. With Andrew Luck at the helm, it's hard to believe they are ever out of game, so Week 1's loss is currently a blip on the radar.