Back again for week 2 are my picks with [this team] over [this team] with an added paragraph full of a summary of why I chose one team to oust the other. Week 1 of the NFL provided a lot of heartache for me as a Rams fan, and provided a lot of excitement for every NFL fan out there. We had field goal games, injury-riddled games, we had and seen ‘em all. Without further ado, as I prepare to talk in third person for the upcoming segment of this seemingly run-on sentence, here’s Troy’s week 2 winners:
49ers over Rams
After last week’s Panthers beat down of the Rams, I can’t lament how disappointed I am. The Rams look awful this season. Not only will they be playing without Orlando Pace; not only will they be playing without backup DT Claude Wroten; but they will also be playing without #1 starting CB Tye Hill. In fact, Hill’s gonna be out for 4-to-6 weeks. With Fahkir Brown having been suspended back in the summer, the Rams are without their top 2 CBs, with Lenny Walls taking the starting role at QB. People expect the Niners to control the game with the running game, but my take is that they’ll control the run and the pass. 49ers win in blowout fashion unless the Rams put on a show on offense which is unlikely for now.
Jaguars over Falcons
Sure, the Jaguars looked awful in their first game. Giving up 270+ yards on the ground was purely loathsome. I expect them to return to their defensive fundamental basics of old this week. Here’s a statistic for you — Joey Harrington was sacked six times last week by Minnesota. This week he’s going to have to be worrying about Jacksonville’s front. Harrington isn’t Atlanta’s man, but the paper says he is. Jags win in considerable appearance.
Steelers over Bills
Sure, the Bills looked great in their first game, but they still stink to me. The Rams looked great in their 18-10 win over the Broncos last year and played well against Shanahan’s running scheme. However, we all know how that season turned out, right? Right! The Bills played hard against Denver; didn’t get the win, but were seconds close to it. The Steelers are playing excellent football right now, and Ben Roethlisberger seems to have rehabilitated back to his old playing state. He’s taking snaps well, unlike last year, and also unlike last year he’s getting rid of the ball quickly and finding targets more easier.
Colts over Titans
I’m not eliminating the Titans from contention, or vindicating the Colts from their old defensive rush woes; but let’s get real here, the Colts are on a whole other level than the Titans. This is pretty obtrusive and known to man by the way Indianapolis played against New Orleans. Perhaps the Saints won’t have as much success as they had last year, but the way they played on defense as well as the way they played on offense showed me something — week one games may not account for a whole lot, but we know that Tony Dungy and this Colts team are capable of repeating as champs. Two things set them apart from New England and San Diego — 1.) they haven’t been involved in any cheating scoundels recently, and 2.) their players aren’t talking trash thanks to a pious man that is standing on the sidelines known as the head coach, Tony Dungy.
Packers over Giants
The Giants are in trouble. We know that Eli Manning isn’t in one-hundred (100) percent (%) shape, and we all know how well Brandon Jacobs is at the moment. Don’t let me forget to mention that the Giants defense has just gotten through giving up fortyfive (45) points to a Dallas Cowboys team that was missing a few components of their own on offense. The Packers’ focal point, the top dog, doesn’t seem to be Favre at the moment. It seems to be the defense. One of my blogging buddies, who is an Eagles fan, may be able to attest to the week one game better than I can, but from what I seen, the Packers defense looked ruthless and nasty up against Donovan McNabb’s Eagles.
Saints over Buccaneers
Arguably the most irksome game of the weekend. The Saints, who may be questionable at the moment after being destroyed by the defending world champions, have a test of their own. Are they resilient? Can they show everyone that they’re still worthy of being a one-game-from-the-Super-Bowl team or quite possibly show people that they are even a Super Bowl team from the NFC? We’ll see that against the ragdoll Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No disrespect here; the Bucs did look pretty decent for a half against the Seahawks. They had a steady lead early on, but later blew it. But the keyword is that they had steady lead. Their franchise is has been abashed, defaced, and shut up over the past couple of years. And since winning the Super Bowl in 2003, they have only appeared in the playoffs one time, and they were ousted by an only mediocre Washington Redskins team at the time.
Panthers over Texans
I wish I could sit here and tell you that this was David Carr’s time to get redemption on his former team. But thanks to Jake Delhomme overachieving against my Rams last Sunday, he’s gonna get the start to try to pave the way against the already-impressive Texans. Now the Chiefs may not be much this year, but a 20-3 victory over Kansas City was a nice way for Houston to say “what? We’re in our sixth season of the league. We ‘good, we ‘good.” However, Carolina eeks this one out, and Julius Peppers will actually NOT be contained this week by that Texans line as he was by the Rams’ Alex Barron.
Bengals over Browns
I don’t care about this game. No, that statement isn’t inadvertent at all. The only thing I’m interested in is seeing my second favorite receiver in the league (second to only Torry Holt), Chad Johnson, score a touchdown and do what he does. I need to plot out some thoughts on this. What could he really do? Personally, I’d like to see him use a prop; sure, he’d be fined, but that money is nothing but chump change to these athletes and CJ’s a warrior. Maybe do something to show up the league, but nothing personally or disgraceful, just something so he can be himself; the usual Chad Johnson, with some fun-for-everyone type of celebrations. Bengals win 28-7. Ignorance ensues Romeo Crennel as cameras continue to spot him every other Browns offensive play after Anderson’s consistent incompletions, as the color commentator comments incessantly on how many dumb moves he could make in 24 hours if possible.
Chargers over Patriots
I don’t wanna talk about this crap. Seriously, this sounds like an intriguing game to most people, but to me, it feels like pulling teeth. This mainstream junk has about made me go crazy lately. I’m tired of hearing about the Patriots latest ordeals. You have two extremely arrogant teams going right up against each other, grind-to-grind, nose-to-nose. Here’s the deal — the Pats seem to lose the regular season games, but they’ll win in the playoffs. Makes you shake your head then take your index finger, scratch two times, and swing around. This game is filled with stars, and all the storylines. The usually classy LaDainian Tomlinson is pulling some Donovan McNabb-liners at us; he sure has this week. You know what I mean, the jerky and fake smile with the seemingly jokeative smile with the obviously-serious comment. Good stuff LT.
Bears over Chiefs
Another game, much like the Bengals/Browns game, that I’m not interested in. Is it possible to feel too bad for Larry Johnson? He’s one of my favorite players in the league, and a lot of mainstream fans, asides from Chiefs fans, aren’t having too many good things to say about him anymore. Everyone’s riding my boy Steven Jackson’s nuts, or still rolling around and breakdancing over LaDainian Tomlinson’s season last year. The Chiefs are going to get mauled by the Bears. Chicago’s offense is bad, Rex’s season has already gotten off to a bad start, and players are having to back up each other. You could tell after last week’s Chicago/San Diego game that the Bears players were getting agravated at playing for Grossman. When Virginia Tech finally benched Sean Glennon, it was like a whole fresh breath of air with Tyrod Taylor. The Bears benching Grossman seems to be a while away. Let’s see if he overachieves or struggles this weekend.
Seahawks over Cardinals
All four NFC West teams are respectively playing this weekend against another NFC West team. The Rams are battling the Niners, and now I’m here to this. I’m not going to rant on about this and that, I’m just going to speak my mind about this. The Cardinals, much like the 49ers, looked sloppy in their opener. I didn’t stay up past 1AM to watch crappy football because, well, I don’t enjoy watching crappy football (even though I watch the Rams all the time), but again they looked terrible. The Seahawks looked bad for only the first half against Tampa Bay before getting in a rhythm in the second half of their first game. I expect them to control this game by the run, and set Hasselbeck into some post patterns for a win and a 2-0 start for the Seahawks.
Cowboys over Dolphins
Can you say ‘offensive explosion versus defensive contentment” three times fast? Didn’t think so. Miami and Washington had themselves a 13-10 game last week in overtime in the Redskins’ favoring debt. For Dallas, they played well offensively against New York, but had their own quirks on defnese. Before I get to that, let me comment on their offense. Playing without Terry Glenn, Tony Romo was able to stand in the pocket for an unbelievable amount of time on most plays (that offensive line was great.. or was the Giants’ defense just that bad?), and Marion Barber was tough and splattered the Giants putrid defense on most plays for first downs multiple times. The Cowboys’ defense, however, was eaten up at will and they need to also patch up that offensive line. It was evident the Dolphins played well on defense, as usual, but their offense was still slow, sluggish, and misconcepted of playing coherently. This game should be interesting, but not interesting enough for me to get into it thoroughly.
Jets over Ravens
Yep, I think the Jets are a good football team, and should be able to put a bandage over the loss against the Patriots. Baltimore should be able to patch up their woes as well, hopefully, but who knows how McNair will come out and play; he has Kurt Warner problems and can’t hold onto the football. The Jets are an on-and-off-team but you better attribute that to injuries first and foremost. Pennington is a solid short-passing QB and is good enough to lead a team to a win. This is a flopping question, especially to see if the Jets offense can flourish against a tough Ravens defense? They’re gonna get ornery and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some tempers flying amok in the air.
Lions over Vikings
Dot, dot, dot. Even though I think the Vikings are going to finish better than the Lions in the NFC North this season, this game’s going to be played in Ford Field and the Lions offense looks sharp. The Vikings d-line and rush d may be good, but can they stop the aerial attack that Mike Martz provides by calling plays from the sidelines as the coordinator for the Lions with? Are they containable this early in the season without a whole lot of fatigue? Let’s see on Sunday.
Broncos over Raiders
Denver’s defense is far more superior than the Oakland’s offense. Don’t expect a close game at all. Look out for this to be a blowout in Denver’s favor. I may have not provided anything for any of you to know, but I provided my thoughts at the least.
Eagles over Redskins
Maybe the Eagles did look dismal in their first game against Green Bay, but why hold something against them so quickly just after week one? They’re 0-1, and the Redskins are 1-0. This game’s on national television — Monday Night Football — and Ron Jaworski’s going to be slobbering all over Philadelphia, but the Eagles will be spitting on the Redskins on Monday night. It seems to be Monday night ’magic’ for Philadelphia. The last time I remember them losing a Monday night game is in 2005 when McNabb was found out to have the hernia problem when they lost to Dallas. They’ll beat the Redskins and jump up to 1-1. I’m interested as to see if this offense can rebound from last week’s loss.
2222 words. My wrists hurt and I’m tired of typing. Troy’s done. Troy’s out. Who’s blockin’ Troy’s logout?! Troy says to all of you, happy football’in!
