Last week: 8-7-1 Overall: 8-7-1 Can I claim week 1 as a preseason week? I didn’t get a preseason and therefore week 1 should not count against me. No? Okay.
Anyways, week 1 probably ended up giving us more questions to answer then answers to questions we already have, but that’s the beauty of the early season in the NFL. The teams most people thought were going to be good look the part (Vikings, Patriots, Rams) and the same for the bad teams (Bills, Cardinals, Bills again for good measure). There were a few upstarts last week, Ryan Fitzmagic is back for Bucs and Sam Darnold looked like the answer for the Jets. Overall, this was week 1 and while there are a few problems teams need to work on its not time to panic for playoff hopefuls.
Teams though will want to avoid going 0-2, since 2007 only 10 of 91 teams to start 0-2 have made the playoffs ( 10.9 percent) the Saints did it last year and came within a play of going to the NFC championship. The teams that are at risk of falling to 0-2 are the Falcons, Chargers, Bills, Saints, Texans, Titans, Colts, Lions, 49ers, Raiders, Giants, Cowboys, Seahawks, and Bears. The most interesting of these to follow are the teams people expected to be in the playoffs (Falcons, Chargers, Saints); these three teams should all be in tight races for their respective division titles at the end of the season and a bad start could severely hurt their chances. There are also several teams who started the season with an outside chance of the playoffs but were looking to fight their way in (Seahawks, 49ers, Texans, Titans, Cowboys) if they start 0-2 it could impact how they are viewed the rest of the season. Without further ado here is my shot at redeeming myself for week 1, without guessing the scores this time because that makes me look even more like a fool. The winning team is in bold
Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals: This game is a toss up, but Joe Flacco is 3-6 in his career at Cincinnati, and as dominant as they looked week 1 it’s important to remember they were playing the Bills.
Carolina Panthers vs Atlanta Falcons: If they weren’t atrocious in the red zone the Falcons would be a great team; I think they win this game, but still fire Sarkisian mid season. The Falcons lost two key players on defense, but I cant see a team with their talent going 0-2.
Las Angeles Chargers vs Buffalo Bills: San Diego should win this one easily, but I’m excited to see Josh Allen’s cannon arm in his first career start.
Cleveland Browns vs New Orleans Saints: I don’t think anyone expected the Saints who were top defense last year to get into a shoot out with Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bucs. The Saints have too much talent to be that bad on defense, I expect them to come out and make statement that week 1 was a fluke.
Minnesota Vikings vs Green Bay Packers: Even if Aaron Rodgers plays I expect the Vikings to win this one. The Vikings defense is really good and the key to beating the Packers is a solid defense. That being said I hope Aaron Rodgers plays because this game has the chance to be one of the best of the season. Watch out for the Green Bay’s secondary, if they can force Kirk Cousins to throw an interception anything can happen.
Houston Texans vs Tennessee Titans: I’d like to take this opportunity to voice my anger at the Titans front office. They are wasting the talent that is Marcus Mariota and need to give him a coach that will help him develop offensively. This is a homecoming for current Titans head coach Mike Vrabel who used to be the Texans defensive coordinator so it will be interesting to see if he can plan against the Texans offense, but he wasn’t a good coordinator so I wouldn’t plan on it.
Indianapolis Colts vs Washington Redskins: I definitely overestimated the impact Andrew Luck would have on the Colts; the team around him is still bad. Alex Smith looked just like himself week 1 and I expect him to have another solid season.
Kansas City Chiefs vs Pittsburgh Steelers: Yes, I do realize that the Steelers didn’t beat the Browns last week. However, Ben Roethlisberger is always better at home then away and he won’t be playing in a storm last game. Also, the Chiefs secondary is not as good as they have been the past few years. They lost Marcus Peters this offseason and both of their safeties are not expected to play this week. Last week Phillip Rivers had a 103.7 QBR against the Chiefs while he averaged a 43.2 QBR in two games last year. Look for Big Ben to take advantage of the depleted Chiefs secondary.
Miami Dolphins vs New York Jets: This is another toss up game for me. Sam Darnold impressed me last week and the Jets are at home so I’m expecting them to win this game.
Philadelphia Eagles vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: If Tampa Bay can turn this into another high scoring game then they have a chance to win, because I doubt Nick Foles would be able to keep up. I expect the Eagles defense to dominate though and the Eagles to win.
Detroit Lions vs San Francisco 49ers: I think both of these teams have a lot of questions around them about just how good they will be. The 49ers hung tough against a solid Vikings team even with Jimmy Garopollo not looking as good as he did at the end of the last season. Look for him to turn it around, if he doesn’t and the Lions win we might start hearing rumblings about just how good he is. Personally, I’d just call it a sophomore slump.
Arizona Cardinals vs Los Angeles Rams: First of all, I keep on calling them the St. Louis Rams and I doubt I will stop soon. Second, the Rams are good and the Cardinals are not. The most interesting thing this game might just be how many times people panic because Sam Bradford got tackled and they are afraid he’s injured.
Oakland Raiders vs Denver Broncos: If the Raiders were hoping to get Derek Carr on track going to Mile High Stadium and facing Von Miller is not the way to do it. While Case Keenum looked shaky week 1 against the Seahawks the Raiders lack defensive talent to make a difference.
New England Patriots vs Jacksonville Jaguars: This is easily a game I could see New England losing and we end up talking about the stellar defensive play by the Jags. However, the Jags will probably be without their biggest offensive weapon Leonard Fournette and that means they will have to rely on Blake Bortles to win the game.
New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys have a lot of problems on offense: Dak Prescott doesn’t look good, their offensive line has injury problems, and the general NFL fan would have a hard time naming an offensive skill position player not named Ezekiel Elliot. I expect the Giants to use Saquon Barkley often against the Cowboys defense that allowed on average 4.6 yards per rush.
Seattle Seahawks vs Chicago Bears: After seeing what happened what he did against the Packers the Seahawks should be deathly afraid of Khalil Mack. Expect the Seahawks to run more with Chris Carson who looked promising against Denver in hopes that it will make the Bears line have to worry about the rush instead of going straight for Russell Wilson. I expect Wilson to spend his fair amount of time on the ground, but the Hawks do just enough to win.
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