Green Bay Packers over Chicago Bears
The Green
Bay Packers got a big win over a division rival in a game that was quite
necessary for them to win. The Packers
though still didn’t look like the team they were last year, and the offense looks
entirely stoppable. It was an important
win though for the team, it showed that they are still a team to be contended
with and will be a legitimate threat this season. For the Bears it was a tough loss in a game
that was supposed to be a statement game about where the new offense is. Cutler and the offense were atrocious with 7
sacks, 4 interceptions, and a huge dropped touchdown by Brandon Marshall. This might be a sign of things to come, or as
I suspect it’s a team on with a short week to prepare for the Packers that wasn’t
able to get up for the game.
Miami Dolphins over Oakland Raiders
This game
was a case of one of two things, either the Dolphins are much better than
everyone thought or the Raiders are much worse.
Personally I’m leaning toward the latter. The Dolphins had a lot to build on with that
win combining a solid and steady performance from Ryan Tannehill with a great
performance from the finally emerged Reggie Bush. This team is probably better than we thought
but I still don’t buy that Tannehill will be that successful this season. The Raiders on the other hand look like they
might be one of the worst teams in all of football. The defense is atrocious and I’m not sure if
they will be able to stop anybody all year.
The offense is completely reliant on an over the hill Carson Palmer and
scares absolutely nobody.
Houston
Texans over Jacksonville Jaguars
Again the
Texans put forth a very similar performance to last week with a good but not
great offensive performance where they completely shut down the opposing team. The Texans again asserted their status as a premier
team in the league and after some of the results from this week might be
considered the favorite in the AFC. The
Jaguars struggled but against a very good Texans team but never let the game
get to far away and competed the entire time.
Cincinnati Bengals over Cleveland
Browns
This week
the game between the NFL’s Ohio teams was a fairly close win for the
Bengals. While the Browns got a late
meaningless score to make the game seem closer than it was. The Bengals got a nice victory over a team
that they were better than so as to stay in the playoff race that could be
quite compelling in the AFC. The Browns
proved that their first round picks in this year’s draft weren’t totally
useless as both Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson had good games.
Buffalo Bills over Kansas City Chiefs
After last
week’s debacle of a performance by the Bills I was completely depressed and
felt like the season was destined for failure.
This week the Bills came back as the team everyone expected them to be
including huge performances from the emerging CJ Spiller and returning
defensive lineman Kyle Williams. The
Bills beat what was probably a bad team but the way they did so should give the
team confidence going forward. The
Chiefs on the other hand had a bad start to the season get even worse with this
week. Many thought because Jamaal
Charles and Eric Berry were returning from injury that the Chiefs would be
improved over last season. It seems the
team is more destined to be the team that regresses after beating their
expected record by 3 games.
Philadelphia Eagles over Baltimore
Ravens
The Eagles
this season seem to be a team that is living on thin ice. This team can pick up yards in bunches having
ample opportunities to score week in week out.
The problem is the team turns the ball over all the time each week and
seems like this isn’t a problem that won’t be going away any time soon with
Michael Vick’s playing style. I think this
barely hanging on with 1 point victories is going to be ending quite soon. The Ravens on the other hand lost a game that
they probably should of won but weren’t able to hang on. The problem it exposed is that there is a
good chance Joe Flacco might not yet have reached the level of elite in the
quarterback ranks. He played a decent
game, but for some reason the Ravens decided to abandon Ray Rice and the super
successful running game. Overall though
the Ravens still are a team that will be right in the mix of teams in the AFC
that are trying to go to the Super Bowl.
Indianapolis Colts over Minnesota
Vikings
Well we got
our first of what will most likely be many Andrew Luck game winning
drives. This one was capped off by the
clutch kicker of the last decade, Adam Vinatieri, kicker for Tom Brady and
Peyton Manning. Since Luck hopes to
follow in the legacy of those two players it is quite a fitting ending. The Colts look to have a bright future as
Luck gets his first victory in a great performance by the rookie
quarterback. For the Vikings they got
some good signs from Christian Ponder who led a furious comeback in this game,
might be the quarterback they were hoping he was when last year they took him
in the first round.
Arizona
Cardinals over New England Patriots
The Patriots
were shocked by the Cardinals in a game that really came down to one thing to
me, the Cardinals can really play defense.
The Patriots are the better team, but they played poorly and the
Hernandez injury took them out of their game plan, as they were outplayed by
the Cardinals. The Patriots showed that
their offense is not in fact infallible and has some kinks in the armor,
especially with their strange use of Wes Welker. What the Cardinals showed was a great defense
and a team that can compete with any team in the league despite having Kevin
Kolb playing quarterback.
Carolina Panthers over New Orleans
Saints
The Saints
fall again this week as they begin to look like a team that is being severely
hampered by their lack of a head coach and interim head coach. The team has a suspect defense and an offense
that isn’t as prolific as last season; much of this you would think has to do
with the impact of the bounty scandal. The
other major theme from this game is that Cam Newton is really really good at
football. He had over 250 yards passing
and a touchdown along with over 70 yards running and a touchdown while also
running the highly successful read option offense that greatly benefits the
Panthers running game. I still expect the Panthers to regress this season, and
I do think that Newton at times will struggle, but the guy is already a star in
this league and will soon be one of the NFL best players.
New York Giants over Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Giants
pulled off a classic New York Giants pull a game out of our ass that under no
circumstances do we have any business winning.
They fell behind 27-13 and then in the last 16 minutes of the game
outscored Tampa 28-7. Eli had a classic
Eli performance throwing 3 early interceptions and then coming back to throw
for over 500 yards and lead the Giants to victory. The Giants showed themselves as the exact
team they were last year, a talented but inconsistent team that will probably
win 9 or 10 games and if they make it into the playoffs will be extremely dangerous. The Bucs showed themselves to be an improved
unit over last year’s addition and should be a solid team this season, but they
should have held on for victory with a disappointing defeat. Now in regards to the Coughlin vs. Schiano
discussion I am tempted to side with Schiano because if a game isn’t over yet
then you can’t blame guys for trying to compete and win it.
St. Louis Rams over Washington Redskins
The Rams
were able to pull off the upset of the upstart Redskins because of a boneheaded
play by Josh Morgan and excellent play from Sam Bradford and Danny
Amendola. The Rams looked much better
than expected this week mainly because of their young quarterback. While the Rams might not be able to compete
in a stronger than expected NFC West, they might have the brightest future of
any team there if Bradford is able to develop.
For the Redskins, the future will be extremely bright as they have the
budding star of Robert Griffin III.
RGIII has now twice this season been extremely successful and if he is
able to build off performances like that then he is going to be an MVP
candidate very soon.
Seattle Seahawks over Dallas Cowboys
The Seahawks
came to play this week while the Dallas Cowboys did not; it’s just as simple as
that. Russell Wilson managed the game,
Marshawn Lynch had a big week and the defensive and special teams played great
and completely contained the Cowboys.
This team has the talent to compete in the NFC West and it showed in
this week’s games. They utilized the game
plan that for them to be successful they will have to use week in week
out. The Cowboys on the other hand
completely contradicted their performance against the Giants. They like the Giants and Eagles are a
talented but erratic team that each week a completely different result can be
expected.
San Diego Chargers over Tennessee
Titans
The Chargers
do it again! They didn’t blow an early
season game in the first two weeks that they definitely should have won, upset
of the season. Rivers looks as good as
ever and the Chargers look poised to contend for the division title in the AFC
West. The only other thing I would say is
that while the Chargers are still fairly talented, their coach is Norv Turner
so expect at some point the team to start blowing some games. The Titans on the other hand seem to be
moving in a downward trend as a franchise.
Chris “2,000 yard rusher” Johnson through 2 games this season has 19
carries for 21 yards. The guy is a shell
of his former self and with a quarterback that needs some time to develop and a
bad defense, this looks like it will be a rough season for the Titans.
Pittsburgh Steelers over New York Jets
Well
everything is back to normal. The
Steelers still have a great defense, and a one of a kind quarterback who makes
big time plays. The Steelers might have
been the most impressive team from week 2 with their dominant efforts on the
offensive and defensive ends as they destroyed the Jets. They aren’t going away any time soon and will
surely be a force in the AFC. The Jets
on the other hand played about as poorly this week as they played well the week
before. Sanchez was awful going 10-27
for 138 yards and played like the much maligned quarterback we all have come to
expect. The defense showed that without
Darrell Revis that the team is just completely transformed and cannot play the
style they need to in order to be successful.
San Francisco 49ers over Detroit Lions
The 49ers
again asserted their dominance with a 27-19 win over the high powered Lions,
closer than it seemed because of a late touchdown from Detroit. Two weeks into the season the 49ers look like
the best team in football that combines what probably is the best defense in
all of football with an improved offensive attack. Alex Smith seems to have improved over his
improvements from last season and with the coaching of Jim Harbough the 49ers
will probably be considered the team to beat all year. The Lions while not playing terrible this
week, the team is still too overly dependent on Calvin Johnson and if you can
limit his contributions then the Lions become a much more limited team.
Atlanta Falcons over Denver Broncos
To me this
game represented a mixed bag for both teams. For the Falcons, the positives are that Matt
Ryan and the passing game look very good this season and it is going to be
extremely difficult to stop Atlanta when throwing the football. Negatively the Falcons don’t look like they
will be great running the football this season as Michael Turner struggled all
game and the defense while forcing some turnovers early let Peyton Manning
drive up and down all game late, as they almost gave up a 20 point lead. For the Broncos, a team that all season will likely
have to depend on Peyton Manning, Manning’s performance was a mixed bag. The 3 first quarter interceptions by him were
quite bad as Manning didn’t seem to have that much velocity behind his throws,
the main worry about him this season.
The rest of the game I thought his velocity came and went but he
realized how to manage it better as the game progressed. He looked impressive on the comeback as
almost led the Broncos to victory against a solid Falcons team. If the Broncos want to fight for the playoffs
though Manning’s arm strength will be a key figure because if he can’t throw
the ball like he wants to or thinks he can, then expect a few more starts like
this, this season.
Stay Hungry
My Friends
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