Week 1 of the NFL is in the books, and now it’s time to overreact to the 60 minutes of footage we have on every team.
Some gave us exactly what we expected like the Chiefs looking good and the Lions finding new and unique ways to blow games while others made us question the preseason analysis like the 49ers.
In short, this is the second toughest week of the season to pick as we have to work out which opinions to stick with and which ones we should jettison early.
This week kicks off with the battle of Ohio, or as it’s otherwise known, the battle to be the state’s second team after Ohio State University.
Read on for our tips and previews for every NFL Week 2 game.
The NFL is really pushing the willingness of its fans to support the Thursday Night Football concept by scheduling this massively underwhelming clash to open the slate of games on its network.
Sure we get to see a Browns side that just last season was supposed to take the NFL by storm (and failed miserably) and we also get to see the top pick from April’s draft Joe Burrow, but at what cost?
Burrow got an introduction to life with the Bengals last week, looking calm and composed driving his team down for the game tying field goal attempt against the Chargers… and the kicker missed.
The Browns scored a measly 8 points against the Ravens and are now reportedly looking to offload Odell Beckham Jr (lucky him).
Since there is little to no chance of there being any real winners in this game, I’ll stay away from the head to head and line markets, instead taking the unders.
The Titans survived a meltdown of the highest order by their new kicker Steven Gostkowski to win their first game of the season in Denver while the Jaguars stunned the Colts.
Historically this game has favoured the Titans and I’ll back them to get the job done here even if it’s not entirely smooth sailing.
Tennessee’s offence looked quite disjointed at times and on short rest, they don’t have the firepower and cohesion to really run away from the Jags like they did in their last meeting last season.
Plus, as much as it might pain some to admit, the Jags looked like they may be good enough to hang around in some games.
I’ll back the Titans to get home in a low scoring game.
Yep, Aaron Rodgers is ready to go in 2020, the former MVP threw all over the supposedly great Vikings defence guiding the Packers to an offensive explosion in Week 1.
Detroit on the other hand is finding new and unique ways to lose games, blowing a double digit lead to Chicago then having their rookie back D’Andre Swift dropping what would have been the game winning touchdown that hit him in the hands.
In some cases you want to throw out the opening game but considering the parties involved, you have to give the Packers the benefit of the doubt here.
Detroit has played Green Bay quite well over the last few seasons, winning both games in 2017 and 2018 and losing both games in 2019 by a combined total of four points.
That’s probably the reason why this line is so short but the Packers, at home are just too tempting to back giving up less than a touchdown.
If nothing else, the Rams showed that their defence will be legitimate in 2020 after manhandling the Cowboys in their Week 1 win.
Aaron Donald should have a field day in Philadelphia this week facing an Eagles offensive line that gave up eight sacks in their horrendous second half choke against Washington.
It’s even at the point where you’d consider backing Jalen Hurts or Nate Sudfeld to see some snaps if Donald can get a couple of sacks against the injury prone Carson Wentz.
But for the actual play in this game, I’ll buy a couple of points on the Rams and back them to win and cover -4.
Despite the (relative) offensive struggles of the Giants in Week 1, you can somewhat excuse them when you remember the Steelers have quietly assembled a pretty good defence.
The Bears have an ok unit that did just enough against an undermanned Lions team to get them over the line but there should be some points on offer here.
On paper the total of 42 looks a little bit low as both sides could very easily score in the 20’s if they manage to get going here.
Some games are going to be pretty complicated to back in this week, this is not one of them.
All you need to know for this one is that the Jets are well on the way to completely ruining the once promising career of Sam Darnold while simultaneously preparing to do the same to Trevor Lawrence from 2021.
San Francisco looked sloppy last week and have lost Richard Sherman but there is almost nothing that should scare you off backing them to cover. short of half the team needing to go into quarantine.
Then you might just take them head to head instead of at the line.
Big Ben is back… on the field at least but he apparently needs a few games to get back to something resembling good form.
It wasn’t pretty getting by the Giants on Monday Night Football but they should have an easier time of things at home against the Broncos.
On the plus side James Conner shouldn’t have an appalling stat line of six carries for nine yards like he did against the Giants and if he does, Benny Snell should help carry the load on the ground.
In short, the Steelers are the better, more versatile side and I’ll back them to win, cover and score enough points to get this game over the total number.
Neither of these sides will have been overly impressed with how they performed in Week 1, so the question for this game is which side do you have more faith in their ability to bounce back.
There’s a case to be made for both sides but I’ll side with the Vikings here considering top to bottom this is a roster that can and should challenge for the Super Bowl.
Sure their defence got ripped to shreds by Aaron Rodgers last week but Phillip Rivers looked pretty bad against the Jaguars and this could be a get right opportunity.
If the spread was flipped and the Vikings were -3 at the line I would happily back them in here so I’ll jump on them as underdogs.
It’s Tom Brady’s second attempt at a Buccaneers debut after last week’s one didn’t quite go to plan.
This one could be a bit of a struggle as well as the Panthers showed some real fight against the Raiders last week.
Chances are this game turns into a race to 30 points and despite a few hiccups and miscommunications I’ll back the Buccaneers and their very deep set of skill position players to get over the line.
For some extra value on the SGM I’ll also throw in Chris Godwin to score his first touchdown of the season.
Miami finally showed some fight in their loss to the Patriots, unfortunately that came after the full time whistle when they went after opposing QB Cam Newton’s chain.
Meanwhile in spite of Josh Allen fumbling against air a couple of times and overthrowing a wide open receiver in the end zone, the Bills recorded a comfortable win over the hapless Jets.
While Miami at least has some semblance of competency that has eluded the Jets for the better part of a decade now, they are still a way off the Bills level.
It’s a huge test for the visitors if they are to announce themselves as a legitimate contender for the AFC East and as a whole, this side is more than capable of winning comfortably.
Some plays require a whole lot of deep thought, others just leap off the screen at you.
Atlanta went down swinging against the Seahawks last week and the Cowboys ran into a brick wall otherwise known as Aaron Donald.
We should be in for a high scoring clash in AT&T Stadium this week as the Falcons defence will struggle to contain Dallas’s offence the same way the Rams did.
Meanwhile the Falcons will be able to move the ball with plenty of success themselves so rather than picking a side in a clash that could go either way, the total points market seems like the way to go here.
Both of these sides pulled off impressive upset wins last weekend but Arizona was definitely the more impressive side, grinding out a tough win in San Francisco.
The Kyler Murray-DeAndre Hopkins combination was in sync from the word go as the two combined for 14 catches and the bulk of Arizona’s passing yards.
If they can just keep Chase Young off Murray then they should be able to take care of business and continue their quest for a playoff spot by moving to 2-0.
While Washington’s second half turnaround was admirable, their offence just can’t keep up with Arizona’s and anything more than 20 points looks like a big ask for this side.
Houston is a good team as a whole, they just are not as good as the top teams in the AFC, one of which is Baltimore.
Last season the Ravens humiliated the Texans in November, crushing them 41-7 and while this week they might not win by that much, there is only one way this game is going.
Watching Patrick Mahomes calmly move the ball up and down the field on this Texans defence really did nothing to boost my confidence in their ability to make enough stops.
Meanwhile, when the Texans have the ball they have a bunch of Robins and no Batman to really make the defence truly worry.
A single touchdown line is quite low for the Ravens, especially after their dismantling of the Browns but for some extra value I’ll thrown in the MVP Lamar Jackson to score a touchdown as well in a SGM.
Out of all the ways the Chargers could have christened their new stadium, welcoming the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way to get things off on a winning note.
There was nothing in San Diego Los Angeles’s performance against the lowly Bengals to make you think they will have a chance against the Chiefs, who somehow look even tougher this season.
We haven’t see a proper blowout in this series in quite a while with the biggest winning margin in the last two seasons being 10 points but the Chiefs could put together a convincing victory here.
I’ll back another SGM with the Chiefs to cover on the back of touchdowns to Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Travis Kelce.
If the last eight years have taught us anything, it’s that Seattle and New England is an almost guaranteed classic.
In 2012, the rookie Russell Wilson stunned the Patriots in a major upset victory thanks to two late touchdowns.
Then came Super Bowl XLIX at the end of the 2014 season… we all remember how that ended as the Butler did it.
When these sides last met in 2016, it was an epic duel between Brady and Wilson that the Seahawks came out on top thanks to a defensive stand of their own.
While this game is probably going to be another tight clash, there really is only one team to back here and it’s not New England.
Wilson began his case to be the 2020 MVP with a spectacular performance against Atlanta and while New England’s defence is better, it’s hard to see them limiting Wilson to a score Cam Newton and company will be able to match.
Of course Belichick may very well put out some ridiculous gameplan and spring an upset but if he does, it’s a loss I’m happy to take because Seattle should win this one by about a touchdown and have the result confirmed on the final play of the game.
We may as well call this game the “Hangover Bowl” as it is applicable a couple of different ways.
For starters, that is probably the most apt description of tourists visiting these teams’ respective cities and secondly, both sides could be feeling a bit hungover after emotional opening game victories.
Vegas was pushed all the way by Carolina in Carolina and finally gets to christen its new (unfortunately empty) stadium in prime time, which will rob this game and the team of some of the juice it would take here.
New Orleans had a statement win over Tampa Bay and emerged as an early favourite in the NFC but this will be a real test of their consistency, especially without go-to receiver Michael Thomas.
I’ll back the Saints man behind the curtain, Sean Payton to come up with some crazy, wacky schemes to move the ball on this vulnerable Raiders defence and win a high scoring clash.