The Mining Journal's reporter Steve Brownlee receives a Good News Awards from Bishop James Garland during a lunch and awards ceremony Wednesday at the Landmark Inn in Marquette. (Journal photo by Dave Edwards)

I heard what sounded like a “throwaway” line by a former NFL player — didn’t catch at the time who it was — on Sunday making comments on one of that day’s upsets:

“It’s just about impossible to get ‘up’ for every game,” he said.

A simple line, but got me thinking about some of the day’s upsets that led to my losing record last week.

I’ve heard for years to beware of teams that should expect to be on a big letdown, simply because they won the previous week, or more commonly, because they had just played an intensely emotional game against a division rival, or some player or coach who used to be with them.

Something like that.

That would explain both Green Bay’s and Minnesota’s upsets after they played each other to an overtime tie the week before.

It also makes sense for Jacksonville, which lost a field-goal-filled 9-6 decision to Tennessee after beating Tom Brady-led New England for the first time ever. Especially with the most recent time coming in last year’s playoffs.

On the up side of emotion, that might explain Detroit upsetting the Patriots in prime time, what with the Lions facing their new head coach’s old boss — Bill Belichick.

And Pittsburgh having something to prove on Monday prime time and Tampa Bay sitting “fat and happy” after their fantastic start.

With that in mind, here’s this week’s picks:

Today, 8:20 p.m.