NFL Week 2 Predictions and Thoughts From Week 1 Action

Week one of the NFL season is in the books, leaving fans with questions about their teams and looking forward to week two action. Seven playoff teams from a year-ago start this season 0-1 (Dallas, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, San Diego, New York Jets, and Philadelphia). Is this a sign of the parity in the NFL or just early season “rust?” I will address each game from the past week with my thoughts and concerns as well as look ahead to next week’s action with my predictions.

Minnesota  at   New Orleans

-  Favre looked like he really missed his deep threat WR Sidney Rice, and is his age finally catching up to him?

-  New Orleans wasn’t sharp, but this team is still the class of the NFC.

Oakland   at    Tennessee

-  I don’t know if he will reach 2,500 yards or not, but if Chris Johnson is going to come close, he will need to average 158 yds/game the rest of the way

-   What happened to the “new and improved” Oakland everyone was talking about in the preseason?

Carolina   at   New York Giants

-  Carolina moved the ball well…..until they got inside the redzone.

-   Manning better not throw 3 interceptions this week against the Colts if he wants to win.

Denver   at   Jacksonville

-    The losses keep piling up for teams traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast and then playing day-games

-     David Garrard looked good against Denver (170 yds and 3 tds), but I’ll be interested to see how he does against his division this year.

Indianapolis   at     Houston

-   Who is Arian Foster, and where did he come from?

-   It has been a long time since the Colts have been handled like that, could this be the beginning of the end of their straggle-hold on the AFC South?

Atlanta      at      Pittsburgh

-   Pittsburgh got themselves a very important win without Ben Roethlisberger, can they keep it going against Tennessee?

-   Where has the Michael Turner we all grew to love gone to? Nineteen carries for 42 yards and 2.2 average, isn’t going to get it done.

Miami   at    Buffalo

-   Buffalo has some promising young players on defensive, but the offense leaves a lot to be desired.

-   Miami continues to win ugly…….

Detroit    at   Chicago

-    Detroit was the victim of a bad rule but it was the correct call.

-    Is Matt Forte the best receiver on Chicago’s team?

Cincinnati    at     New England

-    Apparently Cincinnati forgot it wasn’t the preseason anymore…..

-    New England was scary on Sunday, Brady and Welker looked to be in mid-season form, and that defense is really young and really really fast.

Cleveland   at     Tampa Bay

-  One of the few winnable games on Cleveland’s schedule and they let it slip away.

-  Tampa bay’s season will be full of growing pains……

San Francisco    at    Seattle

-   Wasn’t San Francisco everyone’s “sexy” pick to win the division and make some “noise” in the playoffs?

-  Is there another coach out there who has as much fun coaching as Pete Carroll?

Green Bay   at   Philadelphia

-  The loss of Ryan Grant will hurt the Packers, but I still look for them to win the NFC North.

-   Is there already a QB controversy brewing in Philadelphia?

Arizona   at   St. Louis        

-  St. Louis fans should be very excited to have Sam Bradford on their team.

-   Arizona fans are missing not having Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, Karlos Dansby, and Antrel Rolle on theirs.

Dallas  at   Washington

-   Underachieving Dallas finds another way to lose……..

-   If Washington only had an offense to go with their defense……..

Baltimore  at  New York Jets

-   Anquan Boldin is fitting in nicely, and Baltimore could be the team to beat in the AFC.

-  Jets’ Defense is scary good, but on Monday night the offense was scary bad, only making 6 first downs the entire night.

San Diego       at         Kansas City

-   Kansas City could quite possibly have the loudest stadium and best fans in the league; and how fast are Dexter McCluster and Javier Arenas? Wow.

-  Phillip Rivers needs Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeil……..

Week 2 Predictions (winners in bold)

Pittsburgh at Tennessee

-         Tennessee at home gets it done, an inexperienced quarterback (Dennis Dixon) on the road makes a mistake late.

Philadelphia at Detroit

-          Although I was impressed with Detroit last week, Philadelphia has the better talent and finds a way to win this one.

Miami at Minnesota

-          Too much Favre and Peterson for the Dolphins to handle.

Baltimore at Cincinnati

-          Baltimore has the best balanced team in the AFC, Cincinnati will show up for this one but look for Baltimore’s defense and passing attack to be too much for the Bengals. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Houshmandzadeh get a few more looks than he did Monday night.

Arizona at Atlanta

-          Michael Turner gets it going and Matt Ryan has a much better week against Arizona’s defense than he did against Pittsburgh’s.

Kansas City at Cleveland

-         Kansas City won’t have the emotion of the home crowd on their side this week, look for Cleveland to try and establish the run, and win a close game at home.

Tampa Bay at Carolina

-         Tampa Bay is young and inexperienced traveling to Carolina, who for all intensive purposes should have beat the Giants last week. Carolina will focus more on the run.

Buffalo at Green Bay

-         If you have to play at Lambeau Field you want to do it in September, but there is no way the Buffalo Bills have the offensive firepower to keep up with Aaron Rodgers and the high-octane offense of the packers.

Chicago at Dallas

-         Dallas rebounds off a horrible Sunday night showing against the Redskins, to win their home-opener.

Seattle at Denver

-         Seattle is a totally different team at home, and so is Denver. Denver has a more balanced offensive attack than the 49ers did a week ago, and look for them to play ball-control offense to try and limits mistakes.

St. Louis at Oakland

-         I really like St. Louis here, but it’s hard to go with a rookie quarterback, in his second career start, on the road, in the Black-Hole. Oakland wins an ugly one.

Jacksonville at San Diego

-         After losing a tough one on the road this past Monday night, San Diego cuts back on the turnovers and special teams mistakes to win their home-opener.

New England at New York Jets

-         Brady or Sanchez? I’ll take Tom Brady any day. The Patriots young, fast defense stymied the Bengals wider receiver duo of T.O. and Ochocinco, and their 1200-yard running back from a year ago Cedric Benson. Just think what they can do against Braylon Edwards and L.T.

Houston at Washington 

-         Houston has too many weapons and I wasn’t impressed with Washington’s offensive showing Sunday night, they can’t keep up with the Texans.

New York Giants at Indianapolis

-          There is no way that Peyton Manning starts the season 0-2.

New Orleans at San Francisco

-          This time Mike Singletary will be thanking Sean Payton for “kicking their tails.”