Coach from the Couch – Tuesdays’ look back on The NFL Week Two.

By Dave Wiley

With two weeks in the books, the good looking teams and the not so good looking teams are already starting to distance themselves from one and other. Eleven teams sit at 2-0. Ten teams are even at 1-1. Nine teams are 0-2. Eight of those nine teams are two games back in their divisions already. This does not bode well for the eight teams in this position. Lets start out by looking at who appears to have just been unlucky so far, and who really is that bad.

The 0-2 teams are the Buccaneers, the Panthers, Packers, Lions, Redskins, Chiefs, Raiders, Texans, Titans, Browns and Dolphins. Of the teams, four are animal related, five are named after some sort of human, one is named after whatever a Packer is, and one team chose the color of poo as their insignia. Since the Browns are 0-2, being named after the color of poo kind of makes sense. The rest of them, well, there doesn’t appear to be any sports betting relevance. Out of the 0-2 teams, the Packers, Lions, Texans, Titans, Raiders, and Browns all seem logical choices for the category, defeated soundly. The Dolphins expected better with the arrival of Dante Culpepper. Unfortunately for them, Culpepper’s season thus far has been mediocre at best. Interesting that owning a sports star can swing both ways. Minnesota sits for a number of years with sports star Culpepper and Moss and does not make the playoffs. Moss goes away, Culpepper goes away, and now they are 2-0 and a surpise to most. Miami picks up the highly paid Culpepper after just coming off a season where they rattled off seven straight wins, thinking Dante will push them over the top, and instead they are 0-2. Hmmmm….

Also on the Should-be-fairing-better list are the Kansas City Chiefs. Losing Trent Green was a big blow, but really so far the Chiefs are just losing. Expect them to rebound. Finally the Panthers are a better ball club than their 0-2 start. I suspect they are the best 0-2 team in the league, which, really when you think about it, means absolutely nothing.

Shifting to the 1-1 teams, everyone is pretty much where they should be with the exception of the Philadelphia Eagles. There is no way they should have lost to the Giants, but lose they did. 2-0 to 1-1 and a division loss was a tough blow. On the opposite side of the coin, it was a huge moral boost for the Giants and could propel them to greater heights.

Finally looking at the 2-0 teams, only the Saints look like they are playing above their collective heads. A squeaker against 0-2 Cleveland and then a victory over the 0-2 Packers mean, if they keep playing 0-fer teams, they will be undefeated!! The biggest surprise in this category, and perhaps one of the strongest teams in the NFL is the Baltimore Ravens. Here is an example of star power blending perfectly into a team to make them better. Steve McNair was a fantastic pickup for the Ravens and puts them in my Scariest team in the league category. The Falcons are a close second in the 2-0 surprise parade. A lot of people would throw the Vikes into this category as well. Not me. They look fundamentally solid and are playing great team ball so far.The Seahawks appear to be the most vonerable to drop from the ranks of teams with zero losses.

Best games of the week would have to go to the Vikings vs Panthers, and Giants vs. Eagles. The Vikings used trickery to secure their second win of the season, while the Giants scored seventeen unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take the game to overtime, and then end up winning. Giants win 30-24. Vikings win 16-13.

Fieldgoalfests go to both the Jaguars/Steelers matchup, and the Broncos vs. Chiefs. The Jags/ Steelers game was the lowest scoring ever for a Monday night contest, yet it was still an entertaining game. Broncos Chiefs? Not so much. Jags win 9-0, Broncos win 9-6. All hail the field goal kickers!!!

Biggest stompings of the week go to Ravens over the Raiders 28-6, the Bears over the Lions not where the Detroit Tigers play, 34-7 OH MY!! Chargers beat the Titans 40-7 as I look up exactly what a Titan is and find out it really is what I thought. The Colts whip on the Texans 43-24. The Cowboys beat up the Redskins 27-10. Finally, although the Falcons only beat the Bucs 14-3, it was still a stomping.

Most interesting comeback. Even though the Giants had the biggest comeback, the most interesting would have to go to the Jets. They didn’t make it all the way back, but certainly gave New England a scare, scoring seventeen in the last half and causing the Patriots to test their sweat glands.

Sneaker pick – The Bills beat Miami and are my pick for the most underrated 1-1 team in the league. Watch out for the Bills!!! Check your mailbox for the next Bill on its way to you. Bills win 16-6.

Back to the Drawing Board. The Cardinals were hoping to use the Seahawks as a measuring stick to see how much better they really are. A 21-10 loss would say, not much. The 49ers take down the Rams 20-13 and have to make St. Louis scratch their collective heads wondering where they go from here. San Fran, on the other hand has to be happy with their performance and hope good times are a comin’.

Should they defect and form a league of their own? The Browns and Packers have to be wondering whether or not either will win a game this season. The Bengals take down the Browns 24-17. Unfortunately for Cleveland,, it looks like they are in one of the toughest divisions in the league this year. They get to play the Defending Superbowl Steelers twice, two with the undefeated Bengals and two with the Ravens. This is almost an assured six losses, especially after losing to the Saints week one. The Packers don’t fare much better with the likes of Chicago twice and Minnesota twice. They do, however get two against the Lions. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Next weeks intriguing matchups. Phili/Baltimore should be a winner. Cincinatti and Buffalo is a sleeper good game. Chargers and Bears Pit two undefeateds as does Seattle and Indy.

 

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