Sunday, September 22, 2019

NFL 100: Week 3

So, who took the under on two weeks for the length of Antonio Brown's Patriots tenure?  And, here's the craziest part of the entire story...apparently, according to his agent "several" team are interested in the wide receiver, although they've been warned that he could potentially be placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List pending the legal investigation.

Seriously?!  The guy is toxic!  No team in their right mind should even consider signing him!  Including wide-receiver-plagued franchises like the Giants and Dolphins.  Although, you know he's going to end up in either Cincinnati or Dallas.  That's where all the troubled players seem to go.  As for AB and the Patriots, "I told you so" seems to be the common refrain right now.

Since I'm already on the topic of New England, I might as well start Week 3 there...

Jets (0-2) at Patriots (2-0): New England-It's not exactly like the Patriots need AB to beat the Jets at home anyway.  The Jets are on their third starting quarterback in as many games.  New England, meanwhile, is outscoring its opponents 76-3 this season.  Yeah, this one might be ugly.

Bengals (0-2) at Bills (2-0): Buffalo-For the first time this season, the Bills will play a game somewhere other than MetLife Stadium.  Not that they're complaining about a 2-0 record!  In their home opener, they'll take on a Cincinnati team that almost won in Seattle, then laid an egg at home against San Francisco.  Which Bengals will show up this week?  Frankly, I'm not sure it matters.  Both teams will be 3-0 when the Bills square off with the Patriots next week.

Dolphins (0-2) at Cowboys (2-0): Dallas-Miami has done nothing to disprove the notion that they're the worst team in the NFL.  The Dolphins have no offense, a terrible defense, and were outscored 102-10 by the Ravens and Patriots.  Dallas is 2-0 with a pair of division wins.  They finally step out of the NFC East, but we should expect them to make that 3-0 before their schedule gets a lot tougher with New Orleans and Green Bay coming up next.

Broncos (0-2) at Packers (2-0): Green Bay-Has any of the 2-0 teams been more impressive than Green Bay?  New coach, new personnel, new everything, yet here the Packers sit at 2-0 with a pair of division wins in what should a competitive NFC North.  Denver is better than its 0-2 record.  That was a tough loss to the Bears last week!  They'll have another competitive one this week, but expect the Packers to pull it out.

Falcons (1-1) at Colts (1-1): Atlanta-In one of the more competitive matchups of Week 3, Atlanta visits Indianapolis.  They both lost in Week 1 before rallying to earn a victory last week.  And they've both played two (now three) solid opponents.  So, I'm looking for another tight one.  It's the Colts' home opener, but I can easily see the Falcons going in there and spoiling it.

Ravens (2-0) at Chiefs (2-0): Kansas City-I actually saw earlier this week that someone predicted Lamar Jackson vs. Patrick Mahomes will be the NFL's next great QB rivalry.  Let's not get carried away with those bold predictions just yet.  Yes, the Ravens are 2-0.  But they've beaten the Dolphins and Cardinals.  The Chiefs haven't exactly beaten the cream of the crop either (Jacksonville and Oakland), but they're a proven commodity.  The Ravens aren't.

Raiders (1-1) at Vikings (1-1): Minnesota-This is the first of five consecutive games the Raiders will play outside the State of California.  And they're all 1:00 starts.  So, things are going to be mighty difficult for Oakland over the next month.  Although, the nice thing about it is we'll get to see how good this team really is.  We've seen signs over the first two weeks, but nothing concrete at all.  A trip to Minnesota is a tough way to start the string, though.

Lions (1-0-1) at Eagles (1-1): Philadelphia-After blowing their opener against the Cardinals, I would've figured Detroit had no chance last week against the Chargers.  Little did I know!  The Eagles lost on Sunday night, but that seems to be their typical result in Atlanta.  And they showed some real fight as they were trying to come back late in that one.  Back at home, expect them to get back in the win column.

Panthers (0-2) at Cardinals (0-1-1): Arizona-Who would've thought that the Cardinals would be a favorite in Week 3?  But that's the situation we find ourselves in.  And they actually looked pretty good last week in Baltimore.  Which is significantly more than I can say about the Panthers' performance against Tampa Bay.  Arizona has a tie and a loss.  Might as well complete the trifecta and get the first win of the Kyler Murray Era!

Giants (0-2) at Buccaneers (1-1): Giants-Eli Manning's out, Daniel Jones is in.  We'll see if that makes any difference at all for a Giants offense that hasn't really been as much of a problem as the defense.  And there's nothing Eli could've done about those deficiencies on the other side of the ball.  Tampa Bay got a win last week against a Carolina team that isn't nearly as good as we all thought they'd be.  Of course, that means the Bucs could move above .500 this week.  I've got a feeling about Daniel Jones, though.  This might've been the right time to make the move.

Texans (1-1) at Chargers (1-1): Chargers-Last week was a bit of a surprise.  But, then again, the Chargers have historically struggled in 1:00 games, so I maybe should've seen it coming.  Back at home, they'll get back to being themselves.  As for Houston, they were lucky to hold on against Jacksonville last week.  Because otherwise, they'd be staring at 0-3.

Steelers (0-2) at 49ers (2-0): San Francisco-Is it too early to consider this a lost season in Pittsburgh?  Granted, New England/Seattle isn't the easiest start and they might be 0-2 right now anyway.  But now they have to navigate the rest of the season without their Hall of Fame quarterback (officially giving them ZERO of the Three B's).  And winning in San Francisco wasn't going to be easy even with Big Ben.  Welcome to life as an NFL starter, Mason Rudolph!

Saints (1-1) at Seahawks (2-0): Seattle-Of all the teams that have lost their starting quarterbacks so far this season (and it's a lot), the Saints are probably in the best shape.  Teddy Bridgewater is the highest-paid backup in the league, now he slides right in to taking starter reps.  He's not Drew Brees, but he's not a wet-behind-the-ears rookie, either.  Spending the whole week on the West Coast after losing to the Rams couldn't have been too much fun, though.  Especially since the Seahawks are a tough opponent.  They haven't looked great and played two close ones, but they're still 2-0.

Rams (2-0) at Browns (1-1): Rams-Sunday Night Football in Cleveland, Ohio!  Has Hell frozen over?!  But, you know what?, I'm actually kinda excited for this game.  The Browns showed last week what they can do under those bright prime time lights.  And the Rams have no Super Bowl hangover.  It's the exact opposite, in fact.  They're on a mission to get back and show what they can do.  And their defense doesn't get nearly enough credit.  We'll see that defense make a big stop late to seal the win.

Bears (1-1) at Redskins (0-2): Chicago-Chicago-Washington isn't exactly a must-see Monday night matchup.  The Redskins can be thankful for the existence of the Miami Dolphins.  Because that means they aren't even close to the worst team in football (besides, Washington has actually scored some touchdowns this season).  They finally step out of the division against a Bears team that has to feel relieved after finally having a kicker come through in the clutch!  Things should be a little easier in DC than they were in Denver, but Chicago still needs to address its lack of offense.

Thursday Night: Tennessee (Loss)

This Week: 0-1
Last Week: 9-7
Overall: 20-12-1

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