This is a cruel business. At The Daily Star offices Tuesday, there were no kind words in the aftermath of my 1-for-3 week, especially after missing out on Buffalo two weeks in a row. I watched as a stream of forecaster wannabes marched through for tryouts. It was stressful. Even Morten Andersen was there for a while.

I especially got chills watching security staffers muscle along slow-moving fifth-graders on a tour of the newspaper.

Fortunately, I’m getting a second chance and have learned a valuable lesson _ quit betting against the Bills and Texans (0-2 on both) and stick with Arizona games (2-0), if possible. With that in mind, here are this week’s picks:

&bodytext;Seahawks (-4) over Giants

Some guys are more sensitive to noise than others. Two years ago, ex-Saints QB Aaron Brooks frantically waved his arms in frustration in an attempt to quiet a puny Arizona crowd that wasn’t even paying attention. Last year in Seattle, the Giants jumped the count 11 times. So, now, of course, coach Tom Coughlin probably will have them holding hands and sitting in stance longer. That should help them give up even more than the eight sacks they yielded last week. I’ll wager $25.

&bodytext;Bills (-6) over Jets

It hurts my heart to take the side of Buffalo QB J.P. Losman. It’s not like he’s moving the ball, for even if the Bills averaged 37 more yards a game they still wouldn’t catch the league’s 30th-rated offense. But on the other hand, the Jets are running the ball so lousy, perhaps they should have considered putting Curtis Martin out there on crutches. I’ll wager $20.

&bodytext;Falcons (-3½) over Saints

It’s like pulling the wings off a fly to go against the new America’s Team, but emotion will take a crummy team only so far Monday night. Atlanta owns New Orleans in the Superdome _ going 19-2 vs. the spread since 1984 _ and has added ex-Saint sharpshooting kicker Morten Andersen. I’ll wager $20.