NFL Week 2 wrapup

Week 2 in the NFL...

• Tom Brady looked rusty in week 1 against the Bills. He looked worse in week 2 against the Jets. Obviously, some of that credit goes to New York. I'm not ready, however, to give them as much credit as they're getting. I honestly believe that Sunday was far more about the Patriots offense not being in synch yet than it was about the Jets just shutting them down. The offense will come back together - there's too much talent not to. But it may take a month or a month and a half until Brady's right. Lets remember that, before last week's game, he'd play 7 minutes of football in 19 months. And the defense is going to improve as the year goes on as well. The start has been a little shakier than I expected, and it may last for a while. But this is going to be a very good or great team come playoff time, and no one's going to want them in the post-season. Including the NY Jets.



• Note to NBC executives: The presence of Keith Olbermann drives many who would be interested in Football Night in America away from that program. Some of us don't make it back for the game. Whatever your ratings are, it is difficult for me to imagine that they wouldn't be higher without him.



• As I dislike both the Giants and Cowboys, there was really nothing I wanted to see in that game. And I didn't. So I have nothing to say about what was probably the biggest game of the weekend, because I didn't see a single snap. If I were getting paid for this gig, I'd have had to watch it. But I'm not, and I didn't.



• The Stat of the week comes from the Monday Night game. Indianapolis scored 27 points despite running only 35 plays over 14:53 of possession time.



• Obvious pick: New Orleans blowing out Philadelphia.



• Obvious Pick which was dead wrong: Tennessee over Houston.



• Somewhere in this world, there's a man that picked Denver to start the season 2-0. I'd like to have him managing my stock portfolio.



• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say:
  
  

  New Orleans at Philadelphia - "Don't know how good New Orleans defense is. But I know that the McNabb and Vick-less Eagles aren't going to score enough to match the Saints."
  
  Arizona at Jacksonville - "The Cardinals are the epitome of the talented but inconsistent team, a team capable of getting blown out by a non-playoff team and starting a run to the Super Bowl two weeks later. Jacksonville is a faux NFL team, a bully team that isn't anywhere near as tough, physical, smart or effective as it thinks it is, or is reputed to be. Could the Jaguars win this at home? Sure. And they could win big, as the Cardinals can go way, way South when they go. But I expect Arizona to bounce back with their offense, and win by a touchdown."
  
  Tampa Bay at Buffalo - "The Bills did some good things on Monday night, but not as many, and not as well, as the score seemed to indicate. Their defense gave up tons and tons of yardage, and while they made a couple of 4th down stops, it seemed more a case of New England failing to execute than Buffalo stopping them. And, of course, when the game situation got critical, the Patriots scored 14 unanswered in less than five minutes. Lucky for them, they come out of it with their confidence up, and Tampa Bay is not New England."




• Evidence that you should be listening carefully to what I say (and betting the opposite [and there're a plethora of comments to choose from this week]):
  
  

  Houston at Tennessee - "Let's see. The Titans lost, on the road, in overtime, to the defending Super Bowl champs. The Texans got blown out at home to the defending 3rd place in the AFC East Jets. Hmm... Ponder, ponder. What should I do? Who should I take? Man, some of these decisions are so hard..."
  
  Cincinnati at Green Bay - "I think it's pretty clear that I think less of the Green Bay Packers than many of the pundits do. But we're talking about a Bengals team that lost at home to Denver last week. I'd have to think a whole lot less of the Packers than I do to take Cincinnati."
  
  New England at NY Jets - "The Jets aren't just going to beat the Patriots this week, they're going to embarrass them. Or not. I suspect not. The Jets may put 28 on the board. The Patriots will match them, score for score, plus score a couple more times. (And I'm still waiting for the commissioner to take away the Jets 2010 first round draft pick. After all, isn't that the established penalty for "cheating?")"




• For the week:
  Winners: 8-8
  ATS: 6-10-0



• For the season:
  Winners: 20-12
  ATS: 14-18-0