Hahahaha, I think it’s safe to say I pretty much nailed week 2! Yep, great week of predictions from me! Oy vey … you know you had a bad week of predictions when your first line is in full sarcasm. Anyways, as most of you know, every week I’ll be recapping what went on around the NFL, and what we can expect for the next week. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this lovely article covering everything that happened this week. From Brandon Weeden winning to Andrew Luck losing, this article’s got it all.
OPENING DRIVE : Week 2 Winning shockers – If you told me Tuesday morning that the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets, and Washington Redskins all won this week, I’d probably start laughing. And then when you said “No seriously”, I’d probably stare at you like you had your head on backwards or something. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that those teams all won this week, I just hate that I picked all of them to lose. A couple of narrow margined victories, like Jacksonville who played great against Miami, and held them to a three point win, and Oakland played spectacular against Baltimore, beat them by four. While teams like the Redskins, Jets, and Buccaneers all beat their opponents pretty well this week. However, for some teams this week, wining shouldn’t be a pattern, or signs of anything big to come. Teams like the Jaguars who have to face the red hot Patriots this week will have a tougher time getting a win, while a bunch of other teams have to face 0-2 teams. Washington versus the Giants in the Thursday Night game, Tampa Bay against Houston on Sunday, and the Jets vs Eagles are all prime examples of what I’m talking about.
Broncos Offense – Ah, much better. If you read last week’s article, you might recall that I talked about the struggling Denver Broncos offense, and whether or not I thought they’d fix their problem in the game against Kansas City last Thursday. Well I’m happy to say I (mostly) picked this one correct. Denver didn’t look good in the beginning of the game, but they slowly got better by the drive, and it was a close game all the way through.Their final drive was undoubtably their best of the season, as Peyton Manning, and Demaryius Thomas put together a beautiful game tying drive, capped off with a Manning to Emmanuel Sanders touchdown. Later it’s the Chiefs ball, and the defense forces the turnover, and scores off it too, Broncos win. Great game for the Broncos, both sides of the ball. So I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for the Broncos offense, and the Broncos overall. One thing they need to establish though is a run game. Whether it’s Ronnie Hillman, or CJ Anderson, someone has to run the ball better, but it’s not really their fault. Let’s find someone else to blame! searches Ah yes! It’s the offensive lines fault for the poor running! Last week Peyton Manning got hit seven times, and the running game only had a total of 61 rushing yards. Clearly the O-Lines’s fault. The offense looked a lot better than they did week 1, but if they want to be even better, the offensive line has to step it up.
Eagles Offense – It seems like just a couple of weeks ago the Philadelphia Eagles played a fantastic preseason game against the Packers, and they looked like they had the potential to be the best offense in NFL history. People left and right used the words ‘Eagles’ and ‘Super Bowl’ in the same sentence, and now the playoffs might even be a stretch for them, as they’re 0-2, and they’re tied for last place in the NFC East. Chip Kelly put together an entirely new offense, and now he’s sitting on a very, very hot seat. Two weeks in, and Sam Bradford’s dropping down to 17th ranked Quarterback on every Fantasy Football site, Nelson Agholor’s rookie season is looking like a very bad nightmare, and DeMarco Murray’s talent is being compared to well … this :
Yep, a pole. Thanks Rafael… I over course retweeted that, in case anyone was wondering. Anyways, point is the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t where they want to be, and this week they get to play the tough defense of the New York Jets. Kelly called his teams week 2 performance “embarrassing”, and I’d agree with him. I mean they lost to the Falcons in week 1. The Falcons have Matt Ryan, and Julio Jones so that’s not an embarrassing loss to take with them, not to mention that they could’ve very well easily won that game. But then in week 2, they lost to the Cowboys. The Cowboys who played their closing minutes without both Dez Bryant, and Tony Romo. The Eagles basically lost to Brandon Weeden. Let me repeat that again, Brandon Weeden ! I forgot that he was even still in the NFL. Is it time to hit the panic button in Philly? SURVEY SAYS : NO! I like the Eagles going into this week. Call me crazy, but I like Philadelphia in week three to win by … well, let’s go with three! Hey I didn’t say I loved them this week, I said I liked them.
How about them Cowboys? – Speaking of those Cowboys, there’s good news and bad news. The good news, they’re 2-0 and they currently lead their division. The bad news, both Dez Bryant, and Tony Romo will be missing a bunch of games, which means in a couple of weeks from now they’ll probably be 2-6, and at the bottom of their division. Bryant’s expected to miss somewhere around 10-12 games, and Romo could miss about 8-10. Not good news at all for “Americas team”. Brandon Weeden will be filling in for Romo, and we can expect that Terrance Williams will be trying to fill the Dez role for the time being. Dallas isn’t really in a ton of trouble though. I mean Weeden looked okay last week against Philadelphia in the time he was out there, and besides the Falcons, Patriots, Seahawks, and Packers, their future opponents don’t look soooooo bad. If the defense can play up to par, they should be able to do alright in a division with a struggling Eagles offense, struggling Giants defense, and the Redskins, who are just … well, you know. If Dallas really wants to win without Romo, they know what they have to do though, bring in Timmy Tebow!
The Arizona Cardinals – ( F.Y.I : I’m not a Cardinals fan .) Who scored 79 points in the first two weeks combined this year? The Arizona Cardinals, that’s who! Yes that’s right, the low-key best offense in the NFL, who has Carson Palmer leading the way. These Cardinals are L-E-G-I-T. They’re LEGIT I tell you! Bruce Arians for Coach of the year, Palmer for comeback player of the year, Fitzgerald for Offensive Player of the Year, and you can flip a coin on who wins MVP. Seriously though, since Carson Palmer joined the Cardinals in 2013 he’s been dynamite. If you go back to last season, before Palmer got injured, the Cardinals had only one loss to their name, and was putting up stats that’d make Aaron Rodgers say WOW. The Cardinals crushed their opponents in weeks 1 and 2, and I expect the same outcome this week against San Francisco. How can you not root for Arizona though? Like they’re just a team tough to hate. Not a lot of punks, a very respectable head coach, Larry Fitz seems like just an overall nice guy, Palmer as well. I mean just a good franchise that is on the right track for a good season.
16-0 – Ugh, I can’t be the only one mad at myself for not picking Tom Brady first in my fantasy drafts right? The man’s just killing the rest of the NFL … again! He killed the league in court, and now he’s doing it again on the field, where it matters the most. Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots are seriously on pace to have another record breaking season this year as though it’s just one big “F – YOU” to the entire NFL. After 2 games Brady’s thrown over 700 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, and as of now he’s on pace to break Peyton Manning’s touchdown record, and throw over 6,000 yards. As for his buddies, Rob Gronkowski is very capable of breaking his own previous record for Touchdowns by a Tight End in a single season. Setting looks a little familiar right? Brady pissed off at the world, has something to prove to everyone, goes off, breaks records like it’s nothing. I know I sound like a typical Pats fan, and a very crazy person, but when I say the 2024 Patriots could go 16-0, I really mean it. This offense looks nothing but spectacular, and if the defense can play alright, they could honestly do it. Think about this, here are the Pats following opponents, and their Quarterbacks :
- Week 3 – Jaguars, Blake Bortles
- Week 5 – Cowboys, Brandon Weeden
- Week 6 – Colts, Andrew Luck
- Week 7 – Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick?
- Week 8 – Dolphins, Ryan Tannehill
- Week 9 – Redskins, Kirk Cousins
- Week 10 – Giants, Eli Manning
- Week 11 – Bills, Tyrod Taylor?
- Week 12 – Broncos, Peyton Manning
- Week 13 – Eagles, Sam Bradford
- Week 14 – Texans, Ryan Mallet?
- Week 15 – Titans, Marcus Mariota
- Week 16 – Dolphins, Ryan Tannehill
Sure they have a few opponents like the Colts, Broncos, the Giants, who seem to always bring their best against New England, and the divisional games against the Dolphins, Bills, and Jets are always tough, but when I tell you 16-0 could happen, don’t roll the eyes. When Brady’s mad, he seems to perform better, and they go as he goes. We’ll see.
Seahawks, Colts – A couple of weeks ago I asked a couple of friends what they thought Super Bowl 50 would like, and I got a lot of “Seahawks-Colts” responses. Not so sure if they still think that, but i’ll make sure to ask, and I doubt it’s still yes. These are two teams who could’ve potentially won it all last season, but ya know, they ran into New England … anyways, saying Hawks-Colts for SB50 isn’t a dumb pick, but after two weeks both teams are 0-2, when they both should be 1-1 at the worst, and SB50 is a very far, in the distant, goal. Indianapolis lost to Buffalo, and the Jets, and Seattle lost to St.Louis and Green Bay. Good news for the Seahags … oops, I mean Seahawks, is that their All Pro Safety, Kam Chancellor has decided to end his hold out, and get back to playing for his team, and getting them “back to the big dance”. More good news for Seattle, is that this week they play the Bears, in Seattle. So I think we’ll see the real Seattle Seahawks come out to play this week. My advice, if you have Russell Wilson in fantasy, you’re starting him. As for the Colts, well they don’t really get a big hitting safety back this week, but they do play the Tennessee Titans, which should be an easier opponent for them.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Week 2 : Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Starting now, every week I’ll say who I think was the “PLAYER OF THE WEEK” in my eyes. This week, it’s Tom Brady . Tommy led the Patriots offense to a 40-32 victory over the Buffalo Bills, in Buffalo. He threw over 460 passing yards, and 3 touchdowns. Is there anything else I need to say? Another great week from TB12, and don’t be surprised if his name gets tossed around in next weeks article as well.
AB’s Week 3 Winners : Giants, Bengals, Raiders, Panthers, Falcons, Texans, Colts, Patriots, Vikings, Eagles, Steelers, Cardinals, Seahawks, Bills, Broncos, Packers
Fantasy Dream Team of the week :
QB – Tom Brady, NE
RB – Adrian Peterson, MIN
RB – Le’Veon Bell, PIT
WR – Julio Jones, ATL
WR – Demaryius Thomas, DEN
TE – Rob Gronkowski, NE
FLEX – Brandon Marshall, NYJ
K – Mason Crosby, GB
DST – Denver Broncos
Thanks for reading, and hopefully my picks are a lot better this week, seeing as I picked teams like the Jaguars, and Raiders to lose, and well, you read what happened. Thanks again, take care, and enjoy week 3 everyone!
Alex, B. ( @AlexWbergeR )