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BroncoAV06
09-12-2008, 11:07 PM
For the most part it is not time to hit the panic button unless you are Lane Kiffin. Time for teams to strap in and either get a win or start to feel the pressure of starting 0-2. Week two presents plenty of quality match-ups due in part to injury and teams playing better then expected during week one. Lets take a peek at this upcoming weekend and see what we can look forward to.

Tennessee at Cincinnati 1:00 PM CBS (Times EST)
The Titans are in very rare territory, a team that lost their starting QB (Vince Young) to a sprained MCL and no one seems to worried. Most are seeing this as a blessing in disguise for the Titains. No doubt that VY needs to get himself together and if the reports are true and it is serious as it sounds get help VY don't wait your life is an important thing. The Titans have built a very solid football team except for the WR spot and Young could be missing a great opportunity to take his team to the next level. Luckily Kerry Collins is very experienced and the team is very comfortable with him under center and it sure helps that Cincy is on the other side of the field this week. Cincinnati sure did make the Ravens defense look like they are back and continue to show that they have no idea what defense is all about. Palmer had no time to throw last week (9-24, 94 yards, 1 INT) and won't have much time this week against a defense that sacked Garrad seven times and picked him off twice. White and Johnson should be in for strong performances as the Titans should be 2-0 and on top of the AFC South at weekends end.

Green Bay at Detroit 1:00 PM Fox
The Rodgers era is off with a bang. A solid performance last week (18-22, 178 yards, 1 TD) and the Pack like the Titans are in very good position to climb the ladder within their division. The Lions have to wonder if their luck will ever change. The offense can move the ball and Kevin Smith has added a new dimension but it still does not matter with a swiss cheese defense; gave up 487 yards of offense to the Falcons mainly to Turner. Ryan Grant can only get stronger and after a solid performance against a solid defense you know Driver and Jennings have to be excited about stretching the field for Rodgers. Green Bay 2-0 with two division wins!?!You know Ted Thompson has to be excited about that, the best way to start the AF (After Farve) era for the cheese heads.

Oakland at Kansas City 1:00 PM CBS
We all saw what happened to the Raiders(7.5 yards per play for the Broncos). KC missed a good opportunity to jump on a stunned Patriots team and get a big confidence boosting win for a young team. Instead the rebuilding process continues with out Brodie Croyle who went down with a separated shoulder (4 weeks) and in comes mighty Damon Huard... Dorsey vs Dmac, an SEC reunion should be interesting to watch, the young KC front four will have there hands full with the Raiders back field. It would seem like a great opportunity for the Raiders wide-outs to make some plays going against a young secondary as KC should stack the box to try and take away the run game but I don't see Russell getting that lucky. KC has to be excited about getting Bowe matched up against Hall, could be the difference maker if KC is able to open up some lanes for LJ and J. Charles who is bound to break a long one; on the verge all preseason and in week one. With all the trouble in Oakland this week around the defense and head coach Lane Kiffen, KC gets on the board and Oakland falls even further.

NY Giants at St. Louis 1:00 PM Fox
Not sure which team has a harder two weeks to open the season. The Rams are coming off a pounding in which Tory Holt had only 1 rec for 9 yards against Philly and the other starting WR Drew Bennett is out with a broken foot. Only defense worse then the Lions and that is hard to do! (522 total yards for Philly, 7.4 per play, and 38 pts). The Rams defense has a long way to go and I don't see how they shut down Burress and Jacobs. The Giants defense was swarming all over a dazed Redskins offense in week one and should do the same to the Rams. The NFC East will again be a battle and the Giants should gain even more confidence after this game. At least St. Louis plays in the NFC West, a few division wins could be possible. I know I am stuffing my line fantasy line up with Giants this weekend.

Indianapolis at Minnesota 1:00 PM CBS
One of these teams will be 0-2 and starting to feel a little heat. I expect this to be a good game. The Colts offense will not be as rusty and the Vikings still have to show that they can stop the pass. However the Colts defense gave up 317 yards to a very uneventful Bears offense, a patch work offensive line, and a rookie RB in which they gave a great debut to. Is it possible to keep Jarrad Allen quite two weeks in a row? I don't think so. Adrian Petterson (19 car, 103 yds, 1 TD/wk 1), enough said. Manning and his wide-outs will have a solid game but the Vikings should be able to control the ball enough to keep him off the field just long enough to pull out a win. Game breaker could be if Jackson is able to hit Berrian or Rice on a long one.

New Orleans at Washington 1:00 PM FOX
Saints practice field was more like an ER this week then anything else. The will have seven players out of the line up this weekhttp://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3584263 highlighted by Colston. Still I like the Saints offense enough and after the week one Reggie Bush had (14 car, 51 yds, 8 rec, 112 yds, 1 TD) he needs to play an even bigger role this week. Shockey will be a good safety valve for Brees as well. The Skins defense was shredded by Burress and pounded by Jacobs. I think that it will not be a run away by the Saints as they adjust to life with out Colston and try to get over the loses on defense. The Giants contributed to the Redskins only getting 209 yards of offense in week one but they were not on the same pages at all and I don't see them scoring much here in week two either.

Chicago at Carolina 1:00 PM FOX
This game became very interesting after week one wins for both. The Panthers had 388 yards of total offense against the Chargers and Jake Delhomme welcome back ( 23-41, 247 yds, 1 TD)! What a final drive. The Bears defense is healthy and looked solid against the Colts and is the reason they will be in this game. I still don't believe in the Bears offense (Orton 13-21 150 yards, Forte 23 car, 123 yds, 1 TD) which is what I see being the difference in this game as the Panthers can focus on Matt Forte. Stewart and Williams are a good combo that will be needed against the Bears defense for Jake to find Rossario and company. Carolina will set themselves up in very good position if they pull this one of which I thing they will; Steve Smith comes back, full arsenal of weapons to battle the Saints for the division who will need to survive life with out Colston.

Buffalo at Jacksonville 1:00 PM CBS
I still can't believe the Bills are as solid as they are. Jags are limping into this game, they will have up to four different starters on the offensive line which does not bod well for Garrard (23-35, 215 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT) or the runningback combo (17 car, 33 yds). The Bills defense along with Marcus Stroud's homecoming will give the front five fits. Shapes up to be a defensive battle with both teams giving their backs plenty of work. Bills D (252 yds against, 10 points against/wk 1) Jacksonville (309 yds against, 17 pts against.). Could come down to special teams which the Bills won with in week one, which is why I am going with the Bills shocking the Jags on the road. Jags line will need some time to gel and I don't think they have had enough time just yet.

BroncoAV06
09-12-2008, 11:07 PM
San Francisco at Seattle 4:05 pm Fox
Can anyone here catch? If so report to Seattle because they need help. A depleted WR core and nothing to take from week one make this one difficult for Seattle. The Hawks defense will be under a lot of pressure to step up after giving up 388 yards to the Bills and knowing that their offense is bound to struggle. I am not high on the 49ers even though everyone seems to like their defense which should have an easy time with Seattle bench Hasselbeck and find another QB all together in fantasy. That said if the Niners don't turn the ball over five times they are in the drivers seat for a division win Gore will be keyed on so JT O"Sullivan has to make some plays down field, Bryant Johnson was quite in week one(3 rec, 48 yds) , here's your chance to earn that off season contract.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay 4:05 pm Fox
If only the Falcons could play the Lions every week. Early on I was liking the Falcons in this one with the problems at the QB position in Tampa. The Falcons have a RB in Turner (22 car, 220 yds, 2 TD's) a franchise QB in Ryan and young players on defense for the future but this weekend is the present. The Bucs will key in on Turner and force Ryan to throw more then just the 13 passes he had against the Lions. The defense will help the Bucs win this one, even with Brain Gresie under center... Sorry Tampa fans... Falcons will not have the advantage of a fast start like last week and Graham/Dunn will get the carries to control the ball and wear down the Falcons D.

New England at New York Jets 4:15 pm CBS
Does Lightning strike twice? I think not, Cassell will not be the same story as Tom Brady but the Patriots are talented enough to get by. In my opinion it will be a struggle for the Pats offense even with a full preseason from Cassell under center (13-18, 152yds, 1 TD in week one action for Matt). Moss and Welker can make plays but how fast do they get on the same page? I look for this to be a close game with both defenses making plays. Farve (15-22, 194 yds, 2 TD/wk 1) and the Jets did not look great either against the Dolphins but Brett is perfect in his career against QB's making their first career starts. The Pats could sneak this one out with ever, but with that stat above I am going to pick the Jets at home to end New England's 20 game regular season win streak.

Miami at Arizona 4:15 CBS
Dolphins looked a lot better then a 1-15 team. Chad Pennington (26-43, 251 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT) was solid and they had a chance to spoil Farves debut. The Cards could be without both DT's Gabe Watson and Alan Branch which would make life easier for Ricky Williams and Ronney Brown who should see a fair amount of carries. However Kurt Warner (19-30, 197 yds, 1 TD vs SF) was getting Boldin involved big time in the second half last week (8 rec, 82 yds) and Fitz will get his. The Cardnials offense is in sync compared to the Jets and the Dolphins will have trouble matching up against both wide-outs and Edge. Dolphins are bound to win more then one game but they still are going to start off 0-2.

San Diego at Denver 4:30 pm CBS
Won't dive to deep into this one with all the other posts about it. To me it will come down to which defense gets that extra stop or turnover. Denver will need to get the run game going, did not have to last week, Cutler should still ind his wide-outs either way. Tucker is no Lights-out and they will have to adjust to find other ways to bring pressure. We will see if the Broncos defense has got any better against the run. Shootout in the making we will all be watching.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland 8:15 pm NBC
Fast Willie is good to go (25 car, 138 yds, 3 TD). Pitt rolled all over Houston looking good in all parts of the game. The 3-4 defense was bringing pressure from all angles, the young LB's are looking good and the offensive line gave Ben enough time to hit Ward and Holmes a duo that is right up their with the top ones in the league. (38 pts, 305 yds total offense) (234 yds against, 17 pts against, 5 sacks on D). Browns front seven did not live up to the off season hype, pushed around and the Cowboys offense made it look easy. Gave up 28 pts and 487 yards, could have easily been more. The offense was not well either, to many drops from Braylon Edwards, Lewis was ok however. I don't see the Browns having great success against the Steelers D giving their defense enough rest. If the Browns lose big again then I can see the panic start to set in. If they keep it close they and can take some positives away all the better. So as you can see I like the Steelers on Sunday night.
Monday

Philadelphia at Dallas 8:30 pm ESPN
Well the Eagles offense had a great confidence builder against the lowly Rams (38 pts, 522 yards of offense) and the defense gave up nothing. Cowboys stats above looked great as well against the Browns. This sets up to be another good NFC East game. Its as even as could be, if there was an edge it would be the Cowboys defense vs the Philly WR which will be without Brown and Curtis of course, but then you turn it around and Barber has sore ribs and I have seen reports going both ways on if he will be effective on Monday night. I will take the home team in this match up, won't be as easy for D. Jackson to exploit the Cowboys secondary and Barber should give them just enough for Jones to be effective in his carries as Dallas wins a close one.

Baltimore at Houston 8:30 pm
Well good to be a rookie QB last week. Flacco did not shine but was good enough (15-29, 129 yds, 4 car, 39 yds, 1 TD ). The Texans offense ran into a buzz saw named the Steelers and the Ravens are bringing in a confident defense which will be another rough task for the Texans front five. Willis should see some action as well in the backfield along with Ray Rice, giving Flacco another option. I don't see either team putting a lot of points on the board, defensive battle in the making. I was leaning towards the Ravens based on that, but I am going to say the Texans come out with a lot of emotion when and where ever this game is played due to the hurricane and find a way to win. Johnson/Walter/Slaton make just enough plays for Houston.