NFL Week 2

The Game Room
1

**Sunday, Sep. 20 **
Early Games
** KANSAS CITY 3 Oakland 38½ **
Both teams really outplayed expectations last week in losing efforts and now the question is which was authentic and which was a result of a stumble from the favored opponent. The Oakland secondary played exceptionally well and KC is trotting out Brodie Croyle with Cassel hurt. The game is in KC where they really dislike the Raiders so the pressure will be on. JaMarcus Russell is probably the worst passer I have ever seen, the guy couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, I’ve never seen an NFL QB miss that many wide open targets. KCs offense was pretty anemic last week and I’m not convinced that they can repeat last weeks 14 points for special teams and defense. Hopefully Russell will continue to miss receivers where defenders aren’t.

The Pick: Raiders 24 - Chiefs 16

** TENNESSEE 6½ Houston 40½ **
Houston has a brutal start, facing two nasty defenses right on the get. They quailed under that stress last week and did nothing with the ball against the Jets. I still think this is a potent offense and a decent team overall, but I’m not sure they’ll do much against the Titans D. They need a cupcake to find their rhythm. Collins looked a little shaky last week and Gage dropped way to many balls but I fully expect Chris Johnson to go off. He’ll have a HUGE game and put things out of reach early.

The Pick: Titans 38 - Texans 13

** New England 3½ NY JETS 45½ **
The Jets looked awesome last week against Houston and the Pats really stole a win that they didn’t deserve. All signs point to a big emotional Jets victory at home. I still have that burning feeling that it’s insane to pick against the Pats and Brady against a rookie coach and a rookie QB. The Pats defense wasn’t impressive, especially the pass rush, and the Jets line and running attack was dominant. My gut says Jets, but I don’t trust it. Rookie QB! Rookie Coach! Belichick defense! Brady and Moss!

The Pick: Patriots 34 - Jets 30

** GREEN BAY 9 Cincinnati 42 **
The Pack got that huge win last week against my Bears. I suspected they would but I didn’t think our defense would step up the way they did. The big question is if the Packers offense is worse than projected or if Ogunleye was dominant enough to completely undo them. On the flip Cincy’s offense had high hopes and they were completely inept as well and they were playing a Denver defense that had even lower expectations than the Bears. All in all, the offenses won’t matter much. The Packers defense looks good enough to win the game itself at home. EightFive will probably get loose once or twice and I expect a better showing this week from Palmer but the same can be said for Rodgers and Co. The Bengals defense is no slouch either and they will be very familiar with the Packers 3-4 scheme so perhaps this game could be fairly close. If the Bengals had a beast at DE I might be tempted to pick them but I don’t think Barbre will get chewed up like he did last week.

The Pick: Packers 23 - Bengals 17

** Minnesota 9½ DETROIT 46½ **
Another NFC North team coming off a impressive win against the perennial doormat in the Lions. I’ll probably have to start Stafford in my money league due to McNabb’s injury so I hope he and Megatron have a big game but even still there’s little chance they can contain AP. Favre is a bit of a wildcard and could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at any point, but the matchup is too lopsided for even him to screw up. Expect another drubbing for the Lions D. Lets hope the offense keeps it respectable again.

The Pick: Vikings 45 - Lions 24

** PHILADELPHIA 0 New Orleans 46 **
The Iggles are very likely without McNabb and the Trixiesplitters will suffer badly for it. The Saints were the offensive juggernaut they were predicted to be against an over matched Lions team and the Eagles D completely dismantled Delhomme. For my money that mess was on Delhomme more than the Eagles D and you know Brees and Co. won’t make similar mistakes. Take away McNabb and this game looks like a blowout. Easy money.

The Pick: Saints 30 - Eagles 12

** ATLANTA 6 Carolina 42½ **
Delhomme is still the starter, and getting a fat paycheck to boot, and for as long as that’s the case I’m going against the Panthers. I don’t care how good the running game looks and that I have Williams in the He Hate Me league I won’t predict anything positive from this team. They don’t even have a backup who can come in and turn things around either. Awful situation really. Atlanta needs to prove that it can move the ball like it did last season but at home you have to think they will. I didn’t see any of last weeks Miami-Atlanta game so I’m not sure how to diagnose the Falcons yet but Delhomme is all the information I need.

The Pick: Falcons 20 - Panthers 14

** WASHINGTON 9½ St Louis 36½ **
Man, I can’t imagine backing Jason Campbell giving almost 10 points. That’s lunacy, but the Rams are so bad you have to consider it. Jackson is the Rams only real hope and the Redskins D Line and run D was excellent last week against a powerful Giants attack. I’m not liking anything about the Redskins offense but really they should shut out the Rams for a second week in a row.

The Pick: Redskins 17 - Rams 3

** JACKSONVILLE 3 Arizona 42½ **
I said before the season that the Cards offense looked like it had problems. I can only deduce that Warner just got old in the offseason. Everything else is the same and unless Todd Haley is a mastermind that’s the only explanation for the sluggishness. Haley might be that good, but his replacement and the players should be still working from the same playbook and instructions. Makes little sense. Until I see the Card offense come around I’m not going to back them, especially on the road. I’m not sold on the Jags at all but I suspect they’ll do just enough once again.

The Pick: Jaguars 23 - Cardinals 21

Late Games
** SAN FRANCISCO 1½ Seattle 39½ **
Two NFC West teams who had impressive opening weeks. The Niners had the better win and are probably a marginally better team but I think this game will come down to a weird bounce somewhere. Maybe a special teams score or a fluke turnover. I didn’t see much of the Seahawks game so I can’t say if they are for real or not but I have a feeling that the Niners are going to be one of those teams who get all the bounces this season. I think the Seattle rushing game is very anemic this week and Hasselbeck is forced into a couple costly mistakes.

The Pick: 49ers 28 - Seahawks 25

** BUFFALO 5 Tampa Bay 42 **
The Bills have to be crushed by that loss last week and if I’m in that locker room I’m seeing this game as an absolute must win. You simply cannot give away a game to your rivals at home like that and not respond in front of your home fans against a weak opponent. I think the Buffalo D will do a better job against the Bucs rushing game and Tampa doesn’t have the defense to handle the Bills no huddle. Expect TO and Lee Evans to go off.

The Pick: Bills 31 - Buccaneers 20

** DENVER 3 Cleveland 38½ **
I’m not sold on Denver at all. I can’t believe that their defense is so improved as to dominate a game like they did against Cincy. I didn’t see Orton throwing the ball with that finger issue so who knows what the Denver offense’s potential is but generally speaking I think a average defense will shut him down with a really dominant running game. Cleveland took it on the chin against AP and Quinn was iffy to say the least. I think that Denver should be favored much more heavily than they are at home based on the first weeks results but I suppose Vegas thinks like I do. I’m not sure I see either teams offense doing anything right. Well, I’m going to go against my gut again here and take the home team. The Bronco fans should eat Quinn up.

The Pick: Broncos 17 - Browns 13

** SAN DIEGO 3 Baltimore 40½ **
The Chargers offense was a disaster last Monday. I have no idea what went wrong there and LDT is out this week hurt. The get to face a Baltimore defense that will be fired up and I wouldn’t want to be Sproles this week shouldering the full load. Flacco had a monster last week and considering how open those Oakland WRs were all game I suspect he’ll have another one. He certainly won’t bail out the Charger defense by airmailing the ball like Russell did all game. All signs point to a big Raven win, I think last weeks game was much closer on the scoreboard than it actually was.

The Pick: Ravens 38 - Chargers 16

** Pittsburgh 3 CHICAGO 37½ **
Probably the biggest game of the week right here, second perhaps only to the Jets-Pats tilt. The Bears and Steelers are both without their defensive leaders and they both will be missed. However the Steelers have a lot more support around him than the Bears do Urlacher, and Polamalu’s position isn’t nearly so critical. Like I said about the Bills, this game is a must win for the Bears. At home following a crushing defeat, Cutler is not going to have it any easier against the Steelers either. The optimist would hope that the exposure to the 3-4 last week would spell more success this week but I’m not sure those WRs are savvy enough to figure it out. In any case we desperately need to straighten out those scrambling rules and get on the same page. The one upside is that the Steelers O Line looks every bit as shaky as the Packers and the Bears pass rush will need to step up again and the Steelers running game is unimpressive. The big question is if they’ll be able to wrap and get Ben to the ground when they get pressure. The Titans didn’t and it killed them. I’m going to hold my breath and pick with my heart here. On paper I could talk myself into both outcomes and I can’t pretend to be objective or confident in anything.

The Pick: Bears 20 - Steelers 18

Sunday Night
** DALLAS 2½ NY Giants 44½ **
I don’t like what I’m seeing out of either of these teams. The Dallas defense was shoddy and the Giants offense was surprisingly inept. I don’t understand why the Dallas attack was so pass heavy either, they should have been able to chew up Tampa on the ground. The Giants special teams were pretty poor and their defense gave up a 94 passer rating to Campbell! Bizzaro world I tell you. All in all I think the pomp and circumstance around the debut of the new stadium will hurt the Cowboys. The distractions will be legion and this isn’t group of guys with great success on big stages. The Giants on the other hand tend to step up in these instances. Throw out the stats and previous games here. The matchups are pretty even in many respects but I’m not going to back the Cowboys, even at home, until they show me something. Time will tell if this new home is any kind of advantage at all.

The Pick: Giants 20 - Dallas 16

**Monday, Sep. 21 **
** Indianapolis 3 MIAMI 42 **
Indy lost Gonzalez last week and had to go to the waiver wire to replace him. In the fantasy prep I rated Manning very low because of the questions at the skill positions on this team and it could manifest itself early. Wayne should still have a huge game but I’m not sure that will be enough against Miami at home. Miami disappointed last week on offense and I can’t guess if it’ll return this week at home. It doesn’t matter really. Indy is on the road without one of it’s key weapons. Taking the home dog is the right move.

The Pick: Colts 16 - Dolphins 14

2

Cutler better be on his toes, because the Steelers defense, even sans Polamalu, is very tough. Woodley, Harrison and Farrior are going to be coming for him. As for the offense, who is going to plug up the Bears’ middle now that Urlacher is done? I think the Pittsburgh running game is going to have a field day (I mean that, I’m not just talking trash). That will go a long ways to opening up the pass, and we all saw what Ben did to the Titans last week with the pass.

Pittsburgh 28, Bears 10.

3

Stupid question time: When you say “PHILADELPHIA 0 New Orleans 46”, what do those numbers mean?

4

The first number is the point spread, the second is the over/under (or ‘back number’). So 0 means it’s a pick 'em, and 46 is the over/under for total points scored. ALL CAPS is the home team.

5

For the record, Denver’s defense did NOT dominate Cincinnati’s offense. Cincinnati had 370 yards, the problem was finishing drives.

The Bengals kept shooting themselves in the foot. Laverneus Coles dropped three passes, two of which would have converted third downs. There were three other dropped passes in the game as well. There were two ineligible downfield calls that erased two third down conversions. Chad got called for holding twice, one of which eliminated a first down.

Palmer’s two INT’s weren’t really on him, either. One was a tipped ball by Chad (whom then failed to fight for it) that got picked by Bailey, and the other was the hail mary pass on the last play of the game.

It was Cincinnati’s defense that dominated Denver, not the other way around. At one point we had Denver to 1 of 9 on third down conversions. We had three sacks and several three and outs.

Cincinnati will clean up it’s offensive issues, you won’t see that again.

6

Omni is picking your boys to cover, if that makes you feel any better.

7

Thanks for the info.

8

I’m seriously not worried about the Packers, other than home field advantage. I think pundits underrated Denver based on last year, and that the same pundits are suckling the erstwhile “Superbowl bound” Packers after one frigging game.

By all rights the Bengals won the Denver game (well, other than the final score, of course) and I took a lot of positives away from that game, moreso than the negatives. The defense was great. The offense sputtered, but for reasons that won’t replicate themselves going forward and just plain rust on the part of our franchise QB.

I am serious…I think we’re going to steal a win in Lambeau tomorrow. People can laugh all they like, this isn’t the Bengals of last year or 1999.

Last year was an aberration. We had 15 starters on IR, not the least of whom was QB Palmer and half the oline, not to mention our linebackers.

Marvin Lewis’ worst year since he’s been here outside of last season is 7-9.

9

I mentioned this in the league 1 thread but the Browns defense didn’t really “take one on the chin” against AP. I know it sounds silly to say when he got 180 yards, but it was almost all on back to back to back defensive drives after a) the defense was worn out because of inept offensive play and b) by that point the game was nearly out of reach and they were trying to strip the ball rather than tackle on that 65 yard run. Outside of a few big runs at the end they kept him to about 2.5 ypc. I actually thought they looked really impressive for the most part against the run - stuffing multiple runs at or behind the line, getting good penetration, very aggressive. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what they can do against Denver, rather than cringing and hope it doesn’t hurt too much.

Quinn sucked though. I hope it was some sort of game 1 jitters because he’s a much better QB than he showed there. He actually played a lot worse than the stat line said, since he had an efficient drive in garbage time. Last year he had a pretty good ~275 yard/2 TD game against Denver so hopefully he can rebound against them. I think the Browns win this one - or at least I hope so, otherwise it’s going to be a long season.

Jerome Harrison (the RB I won’t stomp pimping) is finally healthy again, and with James Davis banged up he’ll probably get some playing time. A bit complicated after Lewis had a surprising 5+ YPC carry game against the Vikings, but at least hopefully now when Harrison rips off a 27 yard run he won’t be punished for it by being benched all game like he was under Crennel.

10

I agree with most of your picks Omni, except I think that the Colts will win comfortably and I don’t see why anyone is giving the Bears a chance. I think too many prognisticators talked themselves into thinking Jay Cutler is actually a good QB and even after his Week 1 performance, are still trying to convince themselves of that (maybe to justify all the glowing articles they wrote about him in the offseason?)

11

Gah, the pacific time zone sucks. I have to get up at 9 in the morning to go off to see a football game. 9 in the morning!

For someone who typically goes to bed at around 6am (this is natural for me and the work schedule permits) this is a rough deal. I tend to average about 2-3 hours of sleep on football days. This year I’ve been trying to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier - but my sleep is irratic so I went to bed around 10pm and woke up at 1am… enough sleep that I won’t be able to sleep before 9 probably, but not enough that I won’t be tired as hell all day.

12

I want Jay Cutler to be Johnny Unitas today, and the Bears defense to play like it was 1985.

C’mon Bears, ANY…GIVEN…SUNDAY!

13

Jealousy will get you nowhere. :slight_smile:

I think Jay Cutler is solid. Most of those interceptions should be on his receivers. I don’t think the Bears receivers scare anyone yet and that might make Cutler look bad for a while yet. The key match-up in this game is James Harrison against Orlando Pace. I have a world of respect for Pace’s natural abilities but he has the same upright style as many other tackles Silverback has beaten like rented mules. If that happens today Cutler will spend all his time looking for his outlet guys and he doesn’t seem to have a rapport with them yet.

14

I need the Steelers to lose today so that when the Bengals greet them with tea and cakes at PBS next Sunday, both teams are 1-1…because we are going into Lombardi’s shrine and pissing on his grave today…

15

Alternate hypothesis: After next week, the Steelers will be 3-0 and Cincy will be 0-3.

Just a few posts ago you were talking about “stealing a win”; now you’re pissing on graves? What changed?

I know we’re only one week in, but an ugly win over the Bears is more impressive than an ugly loss to the Broncos. I’m a little skittish about the big line, though; I’ll say Pack by 7. Like omni, I’ll give your boys the cover.

Oh, and go Pitt! No way they lose that game. It’s even being televised in the cultural and football wasteland that is Colts country!

16

Wait…the Indianapolis Colts are part of a “football wasteland”? Wow, who knew? I thought they were pretty good with that guy on those Sony commercials throwing the ball around…

Anyway, yeah, I was talking junk, but I honestly believe that the Bengalis are going to win today. If you looked at that Broncos game objectively, you would see that the Bengals amassed almost 400 yards on offense and couldn’t score due to correctable drive-killing errors, like 6 dropped passes (won’t happen again), two ineligible downfield penalties that nullified two first downs, a rare botched FG snap that would have altered the outcome of the game because with a 10-6 lead, the Broncos no longer had the option of kicking a FG for the win at the end of the game…

…Chad OchoWhatever getting called for holding twice, one of which eradicated a first down conversion…

And our defense is MUCH improved, and our new punter is excellent at pinning the ball within the 20. We dominated Denver and beat ourselves on offense, a performance which I expect to change on the offensive side, starting today.

17

I didn’t watch last week’s game but I am completely certain Kyle Orton made a pact with the devil in exchange for a pro career so I’m willing to give the Bengals the benefit of the doubt for now. Last year the corners looked good but the linebackers were the shits; if they’ve improved the LB corps that counts for a lot. Offensively they have Carson Palmer and Ocho Cinco, both those guys can still get it done and the Steelers won’t be underestimating them when they meet.

18

Our linebackers right now are very good. Rey Maulauga looks to be the real deal and is a monster hitter. Keith Rivers is a stud, and if I were Hines Ward, I think I might choose to call in sick next Sunday. Dhani Jones is a solid, smart veteran presence. Our corners are amongst the best tandem in the NFL. We have very good safeties. Our defensive line is improved and has more depth (and they are all healthy, knock on wood).

You know, I don’t mind talking about this stuff with you. You obviously are capable of having a rational discussion about our favorite teams rivalry and such without resorting to shitting all over my team or slathering yourself with pomposity like many Steelers fans I interact with on the 'tubez.

Thanks for that. Perhaps your Steeler bretheren will consider you to be consorting with the enemy by not going out of your way to ridicule me and my team, but I appreciate it.

19

Your prejudices are showing. I know you’re a big Chicago homer, and I know you resent when NFC East games get broadcast in primetime, but try and show a little perspective. Of the four teams listed above, the one whose week 1 offense should get the adjective “inept” is…?

The Bears looked downright pathetic last week; not even in the same league as either the Cowboys or Giants. Yet you think Steelers @ Bears is a bigger matchup than Giants @ Cowboys? In what universe?

20

The Cardinals don’t typically do well traveling to the East, but they’ve got to win today. Hopefully Boldin will be more of a factor this week. The 49ers were able to shut down Fitzgerald last week because they knew Boldin was hurt. The Cards also have to get Wells and Hightower involved early.

Still, the Jags aren’t very good this year and they have a horrible offensive line.

Cardinals win today!