Article:NFL Week 2: Thoughts and Burning Questions

The Patriots are in fact still the team to beat in the AFC East. It may not mean much come playoff time, but they’ll be scrappy. They’ll be the “underdog team that no one is excited to face” in the first round this year.

Of course that all depends on if Buffalo is for real. I’m not taking them seriously yet, which has shades of the Tampa Rays all over it. (The good news is the Sox have finally caught them)

So Atlanta came back to Earth. I don’t expect them to be held to 7 points each week, but I don’t expect them to blow out the Lions every week either (shocking). They have some good skill players and it will even out in the middle.

The Seahawks are really opening things up in the NFC West. Is this finally the year we see the Cardinals in the playoffs again? All signs point to yes. Of course they’ve played San Francisco and Miami, so maybe we should hold off on that for now.

And the Cardinals have finally put the quarterback situation to bed. No more splitting time. When, in the history of football has splitting time between quarterbacks ever worked? It didn’t work for the Cardinals, it didn’t work for Ohio State, hell, it didn’t work for my JV Football team. It never works.

I’m not sure what the Kansas City Chiefs can do to look worse.

It’s amazing what the Packers are doing with a quarterback who makes reasonable decisions and doesn’t force the ball into bad spots. They have talent at the skill positions, a solid defense, and the NFC Central is there for taking.

It’s amazing what the Vikings are doing with a sub par quarterback who can’t make plays on his own. They have talent at the skill positions, a solid defense, and are totally blowing it. This team is really better off with Tavaris Jackson, rather than say, Kerry Collins? Maybe they can trade for Jeff Garcia, since it seems like he’s being pushed out of a job yet again.

The Pittsburgh-Cleveland game was ugly, like high school football ugly. This was due mostly to the wind, but wow. I said the Browns would start slow because of their difficult schedule, so this might be the time to buy Jamal Lewis low, really low. Also, as good as Santonio Holmes is, it seems like Hines Ward is still the favorite target in Pittsburgh.

Tough breaks for San Diego. I’d feel worse, but I played LaDanian Tomlinson in my salary cap league, so I’m pretty pissed off. LdT kills Denver. Seven touchdowns in his previous four games against them until yesterday, so now of course it’s seven in five.

What a game for Brandon Marshall. After reading about him, and how determined he was and whatnot, a lot of people had him figured for a big year coming back from the suspension, but wow, what a start. He now has 55 catches in his last five games.

David Garrard officially has as many interceptions this year as he had all of last. So much for having a strong defense, a strong running game (66 yards on 21 carries for Taylor-Drew), and a game managing quarterback. The Jaguars might become a sinking ship, and fast.

It’s too bad really, the Colts are by no means up to the form they’ve been in previous seasons, the Jaguars could have done some damage in that conference this year.

Dalla Clark goes out and the recipient of the extra looks is…Anthony Gonzalez? Wayne had something like 14 targets and Harrison was near ten. Harrison follows that up with a one catch performance, which you know, was awesome.

The Giants are looking strong, but of course the Rams are looking pitiful. And speaking of pitiful, the Bengals shouldn’t be much of test for the Giants next week either.

Jon Kitna’s stats are absolutely staggering. So many interceptions.

What a wild one on Monday. DeSean Jackson’s “fumble” won me a league, by giving Westbrook a bonus touchdown. Westbrook is certainly showing you why I had him ranked second going into the season. Where was Donovan Mcnabb’s head on that final possession? You have to at least throw the ball and give your team a chance to win. We couldn’t see down field, so maybe the Cowboys D actually sharpened up for a few plays, but still, you can’t roll out and fall down when your teams is down by four. And the Hook and Ladder is one of my favorite plays in football, but you can’t run the lateral right into the sideline, Westbrook had no where to go. You have the lateral come across the field the opposite direction, hoping the defense has chased the hook and opened things up.

The Cowboys offense still looks primed and ready to go. The NFC is there for the taking, and with the game against Green Bay next week, we’ll know exactly where everybody stands. The Eagles are no slouch, a healthy McNabb and one of the most versatile backs in the league, but their defense cannot be happy. I expected a lot more out of them from this game.

Between Dallas-Green Bay, Philadelphia-Pittsburgh, and even New England-Miami and Denver-New Orleans, we have some great match ups coming up in Week 3. The Atlanta bus should get crowded again next week, and Buffalo should probably improve to 3-0, while Seattle and St. Louis get to battle for their first win. Should be good, as always, looking forward to it.