by Ivette Ricco

September 20, 2004

Six teams bounced back from opening day losses, six teams no one bet on winning – won.
As Gomer Pyle would say, "surprise, surprise, surprise."

0-2 isn’t exactly what Dick Vermeil and surprised KC fans had in mind for the Chiefs, after all this was to be the Chiefs run to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs “D” is still getting failing grades in spite of a coaching change this season. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see a shake-up on defense before too long. Disappointed Kansas City fans are seeing red, bright, Kansas City Chiefs blood red.

Unbelievable as it may seem some teams felt they were in must-win situations going into the second game of a 16 game season!

Talk about unreasonable expectations. Personally, I haven’t held high expectations since the high school playboy winked at me during my Senior Prom. Well that’s another story.

Maybe just maybe, it’s a blessing to start the season with a loss. Seems to me that last season the Pats lost their season opener, and were shut out to boot and they had a pretty nice 2003 season, right?

But, if your team is 0-2 then the only way to go is up. This is also known in coaching circles, as the glass is half full sermon. Coaches can be heard murmuring in their sleep “If we can eliminate the turnovers, we’ll be just fine.” “If we can stop the run, we’ll be fine.” “If we can convert on third down, we’ll be fine.” If teams didn’t lose games, coaches would get way too much sleep!

Among the teams desperate for a win in week 2 were the Colts and Titans. After losing to their nemesis, the New England Patriots, the Colts made a statement in week two and have served notice to the rest of the AFC that they are not to be trifled with.

The Packers looked like the cream of the NFC crop in week one, the Panthers looked like cream puffs. Yet, in week two, the Panthers, although smarting from the loss of Steve Smith and Stephen Davis, their two offensive weapons, managed to beat the Kansas City Chiefs, rather easily indeed.

Meanwhile Brett Favre and the Packers weren’t able to overcome 3 turnovers in week two. Just as we were moving them up the Power Rankings, they fell back to earth. I suspect the Pack took the Bears a little bit too lightly. After all the Bears have been the Packers whipping boys for some time now.

Two weeks into the season the “surprise” teams are the Falcons, Jets, Jags and Lions are all at 2-0. Let the parade preparations begin!

But what about the so-called contenders?

What’s wrong with the Bucs, Rams and Vikings?
From the coach’s point of view, it’s not time to panic; we’ll get on track real soon.
From the fan’s point of view it’s the obvious end of the world, as they know it.

Hey fans get over it, this is the way it’s supposed to be! The weak get stronger, the stronger get weaker. It’s called parity with a capital P baby!

And How ‘Bout:

And how ‘bout them J-E-T-S and them Jags and how ‘bout them Colts and Falcons. And how ‘bout the Pats and Lions? And how ‘bout the rebound of the NY Giants, and the Ravens?

We’re hooked yet again:

It is as they say “why they- yada yada yada”, and so they played the game.
And we watched with anticipation and perhaps less than the usual expectations as the NFL season kicked off on September 9, 2004, knowing that all bets were off. We fully expect that winners will become losers, and losers will become winners.

In just two short but exciting weeks, it has happened, again, it has sucked us back in!
Instantly drawn in by its power and drama, once again, hopelessly hooked.
It's the annual 16-week long love affair that hurts so good as it continues to make slaves out of us.

As the second week of NFL action ends, let’s remember the highs and the lows, and enjoy every moment of it. After all there are only 14 sweet weeks to go.

Femmefan Picks Record for Week 2 – 10-6
Click here to see Week Two Picks
Click here to see Week Three Picks

Week Two Results:

Bengals 16 Miami 13:
Fish are in deep doo-doo and shallow water.

Jets 34 Chargers 28:
Pennington and Curtis Martin are hotter than a New York summer day. Brees got bonked.

Seahawks 10 Bucs 6:
Chucky where have you gone?

Ravens 30 Steelers 13:
The Ravens bounced back and jumped all over Tommy Maddox.

NY Giants 20 Redskins 14:
Redskins generously give the ball to the G-Men.

Bears 21 Packers 10:
G-r-r-r-r-, the Bears and Lovie Smith pounced on a slumbering Pack.

Lions 28 Texans 16:
Harrington to Williams, a winning combination.

Raiders 13 Bills 10:
Raiders sack Bledsoe, and forget Rice.

Saints 30 Niners 27:
Niners showed lots of guts but came away without the glory. This young team has heart and their effort and underdog image may endear them to the fans. Now, if they could just win some of these close ones.

Falcons 34 Rams 17:
Rams’ rally fall Vick-tim to Falcons.

Jags 7 Broncos 6:
Jags have teeth and Quentin Griffin has the bite marks to prove it.

Colts 31 Titans 17:
MVP vs. MVP, Manning rallies Colts in MVP fashion.

Panthers 28 Chiefs 17:
Oops, looks like my Super Bowl picks are in trouble.

Cowboys 19 Browns 12:
Sloppy Boys and Sloppy Browns = Sloppy Win for big D.

Pats 23 Cardinals 12:
Just another happy Brady Family Sunday.

Eagles 27 Vikings 16:
T.O. wasn’t the determining factor in this game, McNabb was. The Eagles simply outplayed the Vikings in every phase of this game, particularly on defense.