Injuries and Covid the big news again this week. The Texans, Dolphins, and Bears (and maybe Colts) all lost their starting Qbs. Perennial douchebag Antonio Brown gets Covid (Yeah!), as does Zach Ertz. A couple of very good pass rushers may be out (TJ Watt and Brandon Graham). Lots of new faces.
There are 10 new, first year nominees for the HoF. While I expect Nick Mangold, Vince Wilfork, and Andre Johnson to make it eventually, none of them stand out as first ballot guys. Devin Hester will likely get a lot of push too, for a guy who did one thing well.
In other news, Tom Brady tells kids to getoffahislawn (the game is “softer” now, which may be true, but he’s played his entire career with a “softer” NFL. I’m sure Bart Starr is laughing his ass off somewhere). Odell Beckham Jr. might grace us with his presence for the first time this year. And we get to see a couple rookie Qbs in Justin Fields and Davis Mills begin their NFL careers.
Week 3 will have at least a few games that show everything we thought we learned from weeks 1 and 2 is wrong. Here’s your games:
Thursday Sept. 23th, 7:20
Carolina Panthers at Houston Texans CAR -7.5
Sunday, Sept 26th
Early
Arizona Cardinals at Jacksonville Jaguars ARI -7.5
Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans TEN -5.5
Baltimore Ravens at Detroit Lions BAL -9.5
Washington Football Team at Buffalo Bills BUF -8.5
New Orleans Saints at New England Patriots NE -3
Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs KC -6.5
Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns CLE -7.5
Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers PIT -4.5
Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants NYG -3
Late
New York Jets at Denver Broncos DEN -10.5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Los Angeles Rams TB -1.5
Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings SEA -1.5
Miami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders LV -3.5
Night
Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers SF -3.5
Monday, September 27th
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys DAL -3.5
I’m, surprisingly, interested in tonight’s game. Sure it helps to have juice in the game (C’mon Panthers to cover!), but I rarely watch either of these teams and both have interesting stories. Is Sam Darnold v.2 actually good at football? Can “my guy” Davis Mills stop sucking? Who else is shocked that the Texans actually won a game (Way to go David Culley!) Should be a good watch to start, but it may be over by halftime if Mills is lost and the Panthers D is great.
3 games catch my eye of the early games. Chiefs/Chargers should be an explosion of offensive scoring. I’ll want to see if the WFT defense is for real and if Josh Allen isn’t. And I’ll definitely peek in on Justin Fields to see if he is better after a week of reps. Plus the Browns’s run game against the stout Bears run defense should be good, grind it out football.
The afternoon games include some interesting matchups (are the Raiders for real? We won’t find out since they’re facing Jacoby Brissett), but the Bucs/Rams is a potential NFC Championship matchup and should not be missed.
The Packers get another prime time game Sunday night, but this one will be much more of a challenge. The Packers defense is poor, especially against the run (4th worst), and, despite yet another rash of injuries, the Niners seem to be able to get it done on the ground. Jimmy G is fine when unpressured, which will be good for him because the Pack can’t rush the QB for shit. I’m nervous.
And the Monday night game should be interesting too. A divisional game between two rivals. Cowboys won ugly last week as the Chargers shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, but their defense is still highly suspect. The Eagles learned not every team is the Falcons. Should be fun.
So, which new QB is going to shine this weekend (if any)? Who are you watching? Let’s hear from you.
