I’m not really sorry I missed posting this before Thursday’s snoozefest of mediocrity. I laughed out loud when I read the NFL.com headline: “Jameis, Bucs defense shine in Carolina.” Were I writing it, or would the headline author more truthful, it would read: “Jamies slightly less bad than Cam in Carolina. Bucs defense OK”. Both teams did not look good last night.
Here are the remaining games this weekend:
Sunday, Sept. 15
1 p.m. Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (CBS) TEN -3 45
1 p.m. Los Angeles Chargers at Detroit Lions (CBS) LAC -2.5 48
1 p.m. Buffalo Bills at New York Giants (CBS) BUF -2 44
1 p.m. Arizona Cardinals at Baltimore Ravens (FOX) BAL -13.5 47
1 p.m. New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins (CBS) NE -19.5 48
1 p.m. Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins (FOX) DAL -5 47
1 p.m. Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans (CBS) HOU -8.5 44
1 p.m. Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers (FOX) PIT -4 47
1 p.m. San Francisco 49ers at Cincinnati Bengals (FOX) CIN -1.5 45
1 p.m. Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers (FOX) GB -3 44
4:05 p.m. Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders (CBS) KC -7.5 53
4:25 p.m. New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Rams (FOX) LAR -3 53
4:25 p.m. Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos (FOX) CHI -2.5 41
8:20 p.m. Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons (NBC) PHI -1.5 51
Monday, Sept. 16
8:15 p.m. Cleveland Browns at New York Jets (ESPN) CLE -2.5 45
The games I’m most interested in are Vikings at the Packers (of course), Saints at Rams, Bears at the Broncos, and the Browns at the Jets. The Packers have their second straight game against a very tough defense, and the Vikings offense is likely to be less sucky than the Bears, so it will be a better test for the Packers defense. The Saints and Rams seem pretty similar, but Goff has not looked good so far and the questions about McVay’s offense post-Bellicheck remain. And the Bears are a road favorite in Broncos against their last years’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. It’s a over-written story: “Vic knows just how to rattle Mitch”, but I think the more important story is can Flacco and the Broncos protect the ball. Should be interesting. Finally, I have no interest in watching the Jets without their starting QB (go Trevor Sieman!!!), but I want to see if the Browns’ week one meltdown was an aberration or a return to the traditional Browns form.
I’m slightly interested in the Pats at the Dolphins. You might think it’ll be an embarrassing slaughter, but I recall that Detroit beat the Pats in their early weeks last year. There wasn’t a big discussion about that when it happened (that I recall), but I’m fantasizing that the Pats maybe didn’t bring their A-game against their old buddy Patricia? And knowing that Detroit is a lesser team, also didn’t try *quite *as hard? Could they suffer the same arrogance against Miami? In addition, there is the calculation that they can afford a few losses along the way, because they know they will make the playoffs anyway, etc. I know, I know, stupid thoughts…
Haven’t the Pats historically had a tough time with Miami, in Miami, early in the season? Let’s see… Lost last year in Miami 33-34, though on Dec. 9. Lost the year before that, 20-27, on Dec. 11. Won in 2016 on Jan 1. Lost though in 2015, on Jan 3, 10-20.
(Don’t they ever play in Miami in the summer? Talk about a gift by the NFL schedule makers…)
They seem to have a tough time down there. Then again, the Dolphins are putrid. Then, then again, 18.5-19 points is a lot of wood in a NFL game. So take the points.
I’d like to thank Christian McCaffrey and Cam Newton for single-handedly nuking my Week 2 pick em with 538. What an egg that was they laid at home.
How a RB can’t truck a DB when he needs 1 yd to get a fresh set of downs, is beyond me. Is Cam done, or did he just run into what is looking like a decent defense in Tampa? (The Niners only scored 16 offensive points against them. Most of the damage was done by 2 pick-sixes.)
Cam Newton used to be a hybrid QB/RB. That was his big claim to fame. They aren’t leveraging his ability to keep the ball and run a fake to the RB and running it himself for that one yard, which makes me think he can’t do it anymore. I don’t think Cam has it in him, and he probably isn’t going to be a starting QB much longer.
Not that you can put all the blame on him.
This was the harshest article I think I’ve ever read on SBNation, on a team page about that team:
“There’s no nice way to say this — the Carolina Panthers played like absolute garbage at home against what should have been an inferior opponent and fell to 0-2 on the season after some of the worst football I’ve ever seen in my 10+ years of writing about this football team.”
Ouch! This SI article has serious questions about Cam’s health:
Thanks for the links. I looked at some of the Carolina fan message boards last night, trying to find some explanation, and the consensus seemed to be that he was trying to mostly be a pocket passer now, either out of fear of injury, or just slowing down, and he’s just not that good at it. Doesn’t explain the rest of the team playing like crap, of course.
There’s a similar situation in Houston. J.J. Watt, for all of being the best defensive lineman since Reggie White, isn’t nearly the devastating presence he was if he doesn’t rush inside. And he doesn’t do much of that anymore. The suspicion is that he’s suffered a lot of wear and tear—I think his next major injury will be his last as an NFL player—and rushing up the middle takes too much out of him.
Which is a pity, and explains why the Texans didn’t try using Whitney Mercilus, J.D. Clowney on the edges, and Watt up the middle like everyone anticipated. Instead, we got to see the spectacle of watching alternately Mercilus or Clowney drop back into pass coverage. While it occasionally works (see Mercilus with the INT last week), it’s not optimal at all.
The meltdown the Browns had last week was almost all mental/discipline. There wasn’t anything unfixable in that mess except maybe the O-line being a problem. They started out well, and then just fell apart after a few penalties and started getting out of control. That’s definitely the sign of a cultural problem, but the good news is that that’s the sort of thing you can just sort of step back, get your shit together, and move on from. So they have a chance to just choose to turn it around, or to turn inwards and become a toxic mess, and it really could go either way.
I think Cleveland has talent, they just need to execute better. Maybe if the right players step up and act as leaders they can be a really good team and not just a group of really good players.
I am no football strategist, today’s game might prove that. (as if it needed to be proved.) But the Bears’ defense is what they pride themselves on recently. If Vic Fangio (Denver) has their number, they could be in trouble this week, too. Especially if the Bears’ offense stinks the joint up again, like last week. C’mon Bears, you’ve already ruined the goal of winning every game this season, let’s try for all but one!
I I’d not expect to type the words: “The Packers win again thanks to their defense”, but here we are. After a very promising 1st quarter, their offense did not come through. While the use, and success of, the running game was very encouraging, they really need to perform better. Games with that kind of start, and that poor play by the opposing QB, should not be that close.
Still, 2-0 with two wins against the toughest teams in your division is a good place to be.