NFL Week 2 thread

[Cosmo]

Thursday night
L.A. Chargers at Kansas City (-3.5/54.5), PRIME

Sunday early
Washington at Detroit (-2.5/49), FOX
N.Y. Jets at Cleveland (-6/40.5), CBS
Tampa Bay (-3/44) at New Orleans, FOX
Carolina at N.Y. Giants (-2.5/43), FOX
New England (-1.5/40.5) at Pittsburgh, CBS
Indianapolis (-4/46.5) at Jacksonville, CBS
Miami at Baltimore (-3.5/43.5), CBS

Sunday late
Atlanta at L.A. Rams (-10.5/47.5), FOX
Seattle at San Francisco (-8.5/42.5), FOX
Cincinnati (-7/43.5) at Dallas, CBS
Houston at Denver (-9.5/44), CBS
Arizona at Las Vegas (-5.5/51.5), CBS

Sunday night
Chicago at Green Bay (-10/43), NBC

Monday night
Tennessee at Buffalo (-10/49.5), 715, ESPN
Minnesota at Philadelphia (-1.5/51.5), 830, ABC

QUICK NOTES: The unders went 11-5 in Week 1 and Vegas seems to have adjusted. Only seven of the 16 lines are above 45. ... Why the hell are the Patriots giving points on the road? That team might be spectacularly bad. I know Pittsburgh isn't great, but that line seems like it should be reversed. ... San Fran is an absolute betting stayaway until Lance figures his **** out. ... Not sure how I feel about this Monday night twin bill thing. ... For once, the best games are definitely in the early window. Cincy-Dallas could have been good but, uh, Cooper Rush.

 

[Spartan Squad]

San Clarcisco is in a must win to avoid going two back of (checks notes) Seattle. Lance needs to figure out his stuff, but the defense needs to remember how to cover people and not commit penalties. Losing Mitchell is also a huge issue. Let’s see what happens when they aren’t playing in a Cat-2, but damn Seattle is the only team in the West with a win? Ugh.

 

[CD Boogie]

New England giving 1.5 on the road against Pittsburgh is curious given the Pats' uninspiring performance in a 20-7 loss at Miami in Week One.

Nice to see such a great matchup on Thursday night football, which has always seemed home to games involving the Panthers and Jaguars.

 

[outofplace]

New England giving 1.5 on the road against Pittsburgh is curious given the Pats' uninspiring performance in a 20-7 loss at Miami in Week One.

Nice to see such a great matchup on Thursday night football, which has always seemed home to games involving the Panthers and Jaguars.

The Steelers could be very bad. The offense is terrible and that defense will definitely be without Watt and possibly a starting cornerback, Wallace. You've got a greatly-diminished pass rush and a thin secondary. Watt's absence also hurts the run defense, which seemed to be improved after last year's disaster.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

San Clarcisco is in a must win to avoid going two back of (checks notes) Seattle. Lance needs to figure out his stuff, but the defense needs to remember how to cover people and not commit penalties. Losing Mitchell is also a huge issue. Let’s see what happens when they aren’t playing in a Cat-2, but damn Seattle is the only team in the West with a win? Ugh.

And Dallas the only 1-0 team in the east. Who'd have thought?

 

[playthrough]

If Cincy/Dallas is a Nantz/Romo game ... oops.

 

[CD Boogie]

The Steelers could be very bad. The offense is terrible and that defense will definitely be without Watt and possibly a starting cornerback, Wallace. You've got a greatly-diminished pass rush and a thin secondary. Watt's absence also hurts the run defense, which seemed to be improved after last year's disaster.

Their defense will definitely be diminished, but Watt wasn't the sole reason they forced so many turnovers versus the Bengals, who are a much more dynamic offense than the Patriots. Then again, Belichick is a better coach than Zac Taylor and -- it goes without saying -- Mike Tomlin, who I've grown increasingly disenchanted with.

A new offensive line typically takes a month to jell, so I'm not giving up on them yet.

 

[DanOregon]

I think I hate these games (for survival pool reasons) more than last week's games - though I'll probably go with the Rams.

And I'm not saying the Niners will bench Lance if they lose again, but I could see him being diagnosed with an "oblique strain" or "plantar faschitiz" or whatever if they lose and sitting for a game or two until "it heals up."

 

[Spartan Squad]

And Dallas the only 1-0 team in the east. Who'd have thought?

0-1 you mean or wishful thinking :p

 

[outofplace]

Their defense will definitely be diminished, but Watt wasn't the sole reason they forced so many turnovers versus the Bengals, who are a much more dynamic offense than the Patriots. Then again, Belichick is a better coach than Zac Taylor and -- it goes without saying -- Mike Tomlin, who I've grown increasingly disenchanted with.

A new offensive line typically takes a month to jell, so I'm not giving up on them yet.

Watt didn't do it by himself, but he was absolutely dominant in that game. Neither of his potential replacements are particularly good against the run, so that is something the Patriots will likely exploit. It was the combined pressure from Watt and Highsmith outside and Heyward abusing the Bengals' rookie left guard that created the turnovers. It becomes a hell of a lot easier to slide the protection toward Heyward and Highsmith now.

 

[CD Boogie]

Watt didn't do it by himself, but he was absolutely dominant in that game. Neither of his potential replacements are particularly good against the run, so that is something the Patriots will likely exploit. It was the combined pressure from Watt and Highsmith outside and Heyward abusing the Bengals' rookie left guard that created the turnovers. It becomes a hell of a lot easier to slide the protection toward Heyward and Highsmith now.

True enough. I imagine they'll be blitzing off the edge more to compensate. Mac Jones and the Patriots aren't Burrow, Chase, Boyd and Higgins.

I was pleasantly surprised that Mixon only averaged 3 yards on 27 carries for 82 yards, with 31 of those coming on one carry. Take that away and you're talking 26 carries for 51 yards. That's shutdown run D. Would love to watch the All-22, especially to see if Bush was the Bush of old.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

0-1 you mean or wishful thinking :p

Both

 

[User 149557]

[Aaron Rodgers gets on field fresh off Ketamine treatments]

“Hooooooly ****! Run! It’s a 50-foot tall elf!”

 

[HanSenSE]

God help us all.

 

[CD Boogie]

God help us all.

Did they interview a member of every under .500 team they faced in the regular season? That'd be 14 stories right there :)

 

[outofplace]

True enough. I imagine they'll be blitzing off the edge more to compensate. Mac Jones and the Patriots aren't Burrow, Chase, Boyd and Higgins.

I was pleasantly surprised that Mixon only averaged 3 yards on 27 carries for 82 yards, with 31 of those coming on one carry. Take that away and you're talking 26 carries for 51 yards. That's shutdown run D. Would love to watch the All-22, especially to see if Bush was the Bush of old.

He was better, but there were many factors that led to the improved run defense. The defensive line is much better with the return of Alualu and the addition of Ogonjobi. Both are strong run defenders. They didn't even have one good inside linebacker most of last season. Jack is a big upgrade. Bush was better than he has been since the injury, but I don't think he is back where he was before tearing his ACL.

 

[DanOregon]

Their readers who were 30 and younger when the Dolphins season happened (and where living in Florida then) will love it!

If the Dolphins were going to be terrible this year - and it doesn't look like that's the case, I could see doing a flashback and running the gamers from then with an updated interview with a different player each week. But 30 or so stories?

 

[outofplace]

This is about as good as the news was likely to get, but six weeks could tank the Steelers' season and I wonder if he is going to be close to his normal self when he does return.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Cincy-Dallas spread looks mighty tempting.

 

[outofplace]

Cincy-Dallas spread looks mighty tempting.

My one concern would be the Cowboys' pass rush against the Bengals' offensive line. Sure, the Steelers have a great pass rush when Watt is there, but the Bengals really don't look any better up front than they were last year.