NFL craziness was back in full force; trying hard to ruffle my feathers. Luckily for me, the Eagles didn’t flunk their week two test like the Ravens did. Read more of my week 2 Review to see which teams played their part as well as those who broke my heart.
(-4) @ Tennessee – Lets start out with the bad news. As they say, bad things come in threes, why not start week 2 with three losses? Baltimore was my first pick to fall, taking it right in the poop in Tennessee. What does this game show me? Coaches matter. The Tennessee Titans don’t have the personnel to win many football games, but their coaching staff, headed by Jeff Fisher, is as good as it gets. In a “rebuilding year” the Titans came to play against the “Super Bowl hopeful” baltimore Ravens. My ass. The Ravens can’t do anything right. Anthony Wright looked like a weak Kyle Boller, and the defense that is supposed to lead that team stumbled early, giving up points in all quarters. Brian Billick isn’t the offensive genius he’s touted to be, as he’s proven each and every year in baltimore. I don’t know where the Ravens are going? New coach? I know what they are now, 0-2. The Titans have squiggled to 1-1, starting my week out with a loss. Baltimore Ravens 10 – Tennessee Titans 25.
Buffalo (+2.5) @ Tampa Bay – JP Losman set me up to fail. He played mistake free football in week one against the Houston Texans. He didn’t have a turnover, but hardly played mistake free. He completed a whopping 12 of 29 passes for the godlike total of 113 yards. Gross. The Buffalo Bill rushing attack didn’t fair much better. Willis McGahee ran the ball 13 times for 34 yards, less than 3 yards per carry. On the other side of the field, Cadillac Williams took it to the top rated Buffalo defense, rushing for 128 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Not only did Williams sprint his way to the early rushing lead in the NFL, he did it in the second half with a sprained foot. Kept out of the game by the coaching staff, Williams finally took his health into his own hands, running on the field, telling Coach Gruden, “I’m going in!” Not bad for rookie. Buffalo let me down for my second straight loss. Buffalo Bills 3 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19.
Detroit (-1.5) @ Chicago – I seriously didn’t think the Chicago Bears would have a chance to beat anyone besides the Packers. As it turns out, I was dead wrong. The Bears not only beat the Lions, they destroyed a Lion team that came highly acclaimed after a week one stomping of the storied Green Bay Packers. Thomas Jones, not Cedric Benson, rushed for 139 yards on 20 carries. The 5th pick overall in this years draft, Benson, had a measly 50 yards on 16 carries. It’s fine, I’m sure the Bears are better off with two good backs. Either way, the Bears secondary seemed to catch more passes than the Lion receiving corps. Joey Harrington had 5 interceptions in a Daunte Culpepper-esque day on the field. In fact, those two players combined for 10 of the 26 interceptions during week 2. That NFC North is a tough division! I can’t wait to pick those divisional games. All bets on, I was 0-3 after three. I could only get better right? Detroit Lions 6 – Chicago Bears 38.
Jacksonville (+9) @ Indianapolis – The Jaguars lost by seven points. Their loss gave me my first win of week 2. They also showed me that they are a Super Bowl caliber team. Byron Leftwich is the kind of quarterback that teammates rally around. He took an eye-sickening hit late in the game in Indy, but limped back onto the field when it mattered most, to lead his team in a comeback effort. Jacksonville came up short, but the Jags will be a playoff team, I guarantee that. Fred Taylor played well. He looks like he’s coming back to form. It was Edgerrin James, not Peyton Manning, who led the Indianapolis Colts to victory. Edge had 160 total yards against a tough-nosed Jaguar defense. For the second week in a row, it was the Colt defense that impressed me the most. I love to see Dwight Freeney, the young speedster out of Syracuse who was too small to play defensive end in the NFL, tear it up on Sundays. If anything, he’s better now than he was then. The Colts are tough, but the Jaguars played within 9, giving me a much needed win.
Jacksonville Jaguars 3 – Indianapolis Colts 10.
Minnesota @ Cincinnati (-3) – The Bengals kept the wins coming by taking it to the Minnesota Vikings early and often. As you read earlier, Pep threw like a practice squader, laying the ball up for the Bengal defense 5 times. A nickel’s worth. Daunte has to be the most disappointing player with baby-hands in the entire league. When will Daunte turn it around? Hopefully for my fantasy team, soon. Carson Palmer played like a number 1 overall pick, throwing for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns. Palmer also had 3 yards rushing, eclipsing Drew Bledsoe’s career numbers (white lie). Rudi Johnson rushed for 90 yards on 22 carries, and back-up Chris Perry had 9 carries for 47 yards. Chad Johnson took his 7 catches for 139 yards and a 70 yard touchdown. The Bengals took me to 2-3. How ’bout them Bengals? Minnesota Vikings 8 – Cincinnati Bengals 37.
New England @ Carolina (+3) – As I predicted, the Panthers ran all over the Patriots, to the tune of three touchdowns for Steven Davis. The yards weren’t there, but the Carolina Panther’s ability to pound it out on the ground, allowed them to pull out a much needed victory. For me, and them. Tom Brady looked human against one of the league’s best past rushes. Corey Dillon stumbled early, and wasn’t allowed to get on track as they Pats were down early. The Patriots’ had 4 big turnovers, proving to the rest of the NFL that even they can play poorly. See, Pep, everyone can have a bad day. Finally, the Patriots followed through with my predictions, and took the loss on Sunday. Three wins in a row, evened me out early Sunday morning, with more good things to come.
New England Patriots 17 – Carolina Panthers 27.
Pittsburgh (-6) @ Houston – The Texans are bad, and the Steelers are good… really, really good. Ben Roethlisberger took his regular season record to 14-0. Tough to argue with results. Hines Ward, as I predicted, had a big day. Hines caught 6 passes for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns. Willie Parker followed up his opening day debut with 111 yards and a touchdown. David Carr played better, but couldn’t do enough to keep his team in the game. Dominick Davis had a couple big runs, but the Steeler defense was too tough for the Texans. The 27-7 domination took my record to 4-3.
Pittsburgh Steelers 27 – Houston Texans 7.
San Francisco @ Philadelphia (-13) “Look for McNabb to have huge numbers throwing touchdowns to Owens, LJ Smith, and Brian Westbrook.” (Me) It turns out I was right. Each of those players had huge games against an inferior San Francisco 49er team. There was a 13 point spread for a reason. The score, (42-7) didn’t even show how much better the Eagles were than the Niners. In fact, unless teams were allowed to get negative points, there was no way to signify the difference in ability between them. The Eagles took me 2 games over .500, allowing me to go eat some bratwursts for lunch after a big 5-3 morning. Philadelphia Eagles 42 – San Francisco 49ers 7.
Atlanta (+1) @ Seattle – The Seahawks managed to play well enough in the first half to win. Or, the Atlanta Falcons played poor enough in the first half to lose. I think it was a little of both. The Falcons showed they had fight after giving the Hawks a three touchdown cushion after 2 quarters. Mike Vick came back, rushing and tossing balls all over the Hawks, but came up 3 points short when all was done. The Falcons haven’t beat the Hawks in the last 5 years. You could say that Holmgren has Vick’s number. The Hawks surprised me in more ways than one, but took the game, and took me down to 5-4 on the day. Seattle Seahawks 21 – Atlanta Falcons 18.
St. Louis @ Arizona (-1) – The Cardinals are disappointing sportswriters all over the Nation. Many had these Cards winning their weak division, but after two sub-par performances they sit in last place. So much for that angrier cardinal on their helmet. These Arizona Cardinals look like they’re playing patty-cake with the Sunday School girls. Kurt Warner looked semi-pathetic for the second straight week, and he did nothing to help his cause by failing to spike the ball with 10 seconds left, instead attempting to run a mock play, getting his team penalized, and losing the game without a single last ditch effort into the end zone. Good work Kurt! The Cardinal receiving corps is awesome, but without a signal caller to get them the ball, Arizona will be stuck in the cellar. The Rams screwed me again, weird. Steven Jackson had a pretty good game, taking 18 carries for 91 yards and a TD. Bulger looked all right, and Tory Holt is still one of the best at his position. The Rams took it to the Cards and brought me back down to reality, and the .500 mark.
St. Louis Rams 17 – Arizona Cardinals 12.
Cleveland (+6.5) @ Green Bay – Brett Favre didn’t start playing well until the game was seemingly out of hand. Even the great Brett Favre can’t make the Packers a winning team without a good offensive line. Trent Dilfer decided he was sick of putting up 185 yards and a single touchdown, so he blew up for over 300 yards passing and 3 TD’s. Not bad for an old-fart without a stellar passing touch. Then again, this should be a common theme against the Packer secondary. The Cleveland defense held the Packers in check for most of the game, giving up a few points late. The rushing attack didn’t play well, but did just enough to keep the Browns on top. A Cleveland upset in Green Bay took me to 6-5.
Cleveland Browns 26 – Green Bay Packers 24.
Miami @ N.Y. Jets (-6) – The Jets didn’t destroy the Dolphins like I hoped, but they did enough to cover, and bring me to 7-5. Chad Pennington didn’t look like he washed his hands in butter before the game, which was a good sign after what happened last week. He completed nearly 2/3 of his passes for two touchdowns and no turnovers. Coles caught a big touchdown pass, while Curtis Martin was held pretty well in check. The Jets defense played well, holding the Dolphins to one touchdown on the day. I was scared for most of the 4th quarter, assuming the Dolphins would take me out two weeks in a row, but the Jet defense held tight at the end. Whew!
Miami Dolphins 7 – New York Jets 17.
San Diego (+3) @ Denver – Denver came back strong after major screw-ups tried to pull me out victorious. There was early celebrating nullifying a big touchdown return, as well as many other miscues. But the Denver Broncos did just enough to get me my first pro push on the year. Ladainian Tomlinson had a putrid yard per carry average for the second straight week, but rushed for 2 touchdowns. Ron Dayne nearly led the Broncos in rushing, carrying the ball 8 times for 44 yards. Is this the year Ron Dayne breaks out? He had a huge carry on 3rd and 1 that sealed the game for Denver. The Chargers need to pick it up fast or they’ll fall victim to a tough AFC. The push took my record to 7-5-1. San Diego 17 – Denver Broncos 20.
Kansas City (-1) @ Oakland – Oakland played close with a good team for the second straight week, but Randy and his Raiders couldn’t pull it out against the Chiefs. Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson each rushed for a score, and combined for 116 yards on 28 carries. Not too shabby against a tough Raider run defense. Moss had his second big night in as many weeks, but the Chiefs were too tough when it mattered most, taking the Raiders by 6. The Raiders are 0-2 and the Chiefs are 2-0 going into week 3. Look for the Chiefs to keep their winning way in tack, as the Raiders turn things around and win a couple in a row. This SUnday night game, brought me to 8-5-1 guaranteeing a winning week for Lucky Lester, and a chance at 10-5. Kansas City Chiefs 23 – Oakland Raiders 17.
N.Y. Giants @ New Orleans (+3) – The Saints played better than the 17 point loss they suffered. Aaron Brooks threw the ball very well, nearly approaching the 400 yard mark. But it was funny bounces and big penalties that finally ended the Saints’ chances. Brooks threw a ball that bounced off his receiver’s head then got intercepted. Joe Horn made a great catch then tried to reach the ball over the goal line for the touchdown. He dropped the ball and it hit the end zone cone for a fumble, and a Giant touchback. Eli Manning also played pretty well, taking the Giants down the field for big touchdowns. The Saints couldn’t beat the Giants in New York, but they’ll be a contender all year. This loss dropped me to 8-6-1.
New York Giants 27 – New Orleans Saints 10.
Washington @ Dallas (-6) – If this game would have ended after three quarters, the Cowboys would have shut out the Redskins. If Santana Moss would have had an average game, the Cowboys would have come out on top. If Mark Brunell would have been benched in the 4th for Patrick Ramsey, Brunell would have finished with less than 160 yards, no touchdowns and 1 interception. He finished with 291, and two TDs. If… If… If… As my Uncle John often says, “If grandma had balls, she’d be grandpa.” The Redskins pulled a big victory right out of their asses, making up a 13 point deficit with 11 minutes to go. This game was just as boring as any other Redskin game until the final ticks, when Santana Moss took over the game. On his final 70 yard touchdown, Moss ran straight down the field, no moves, no hitches, just the fastest 40 yard sprint this year. Brunell made good on Gibbs decision to keep him on the field, and pulled out a shocker in Dallas. This stunner took me to 8-7-1, but it was well worth the look on Jerry Jones’ reconstructed cheek bones. Twelve person hot-tub this bitch! Washington Redskins 14 – Dallas Cowboys 13.
Good Luck with your NFL Football Betting!
Lucky Lester – Free Football Picks