It is always hard to know how much to read into the offseason and preseason, and then there is a tendency to overreact to the week one results so I’m going to go through the opening slate of games and work through whether I would be worried or not if I was a fan of that team.

Carolina Panthers 20
Denver Broncos 21

The Broncos will be happy to have got a win following the same formula as last year. In fact, the offence looked like it flowed better now that it was working how Gary Kubiak would draw it up if he wasn’t making allowances of an ageing Peyton Manning. The defence still looks good and they will be hoping this is just the start of the defence of last year’s Super Bowl

Fans of the Panthers shouldn’t over react to this loss as Trevor Simian did not look like a rookie, and they did get some pressure, but the offence looked better with the return of Kelvin Benjamin. They can’t keep running Cam Newton as much, particularly with the headshots he was taking or he won’t finish the season, but they are not too far behind yet.

Tamp Bay Buccaneers 31
Atlanta Falcons 24

Getting off to a losing start against a divisional rival is not a great way to start the year, and with the streaky play of last year still a memory, the Falcons will need to sort the defence if they are to do better. Still, Mohammed Sanu leading receivers with eighty yards and a touchdown from five catches gives hope the offence might be more balanced this year.

The Buccaneers got the season off to a good start, with Jameis Winston take a step forward and we will see how far this is going to go, but it looks headed in the right direction now.

Buffalo Bills 7
Baltimore Ravens 13

The Bills got off to a slow start, with an offence that was worryingly unproductive with only one hundred and sixty yards of offence I get the feeling that things are not going to go well in Buffalo, but there is plenty of time to turn it round.

The Ravens ground out a win, and look to have some receivers for Joe Flacco to throw long to this year, but I don’t know if they are going to compete for the playoffs this year.

Chicago Bears 14
Houston Texans 23

The Texans got the win despite barely any production from JJ Watt, but Brock Ossweiler threw for a pair of touchdowns and two hundred yards with one interception. I’m still waiting to see how Ossweiler settles into the offence and this was only against the Bears, but as the only team with a win in the AFC South the Texans have to be happy enough with their start to the season.

The Bears are still a team in transition, and whilst the defence definitely looks like it is heading in the right direction, particularly with their linebackers, this was not the defence that would allow us to truly evaluate how they are progressing.

Cincinnati Bengals 23
New York Jets 22

The Jets biggest worry will be that they didn’t win this game, but their defensive front looked fearsome getting seven sacks, and there offence did enough to win the game if they had not had a field goal blocked and missed an extra point. The addition of Steve McLendon from the Steelers certainly was a potent addition to the already formidable decfensive line, and Quincy Enunwa was effective at receiver give the Fitzpatrick more options to throw to.

The Bengals struggled with protection on offence, but AJ Green and Andy Dalton did enough to win, whilst the defence limited the Jets receivers to relatively modest totals. This was not an easy way to open the season, and they will be very happy to have got the win as they head on to Pittsburgh for one of the marquee matchups of week two.

Cleveland Browns 10
Philidelphia Eagles 29

The Eagles got off to a better start than I was expecting, and whilst I’m not prepared to declare him the future after one game against a poor Browns team, Carson Wentz got his NFL career off to a winning start. He looked poised in the pocket as he registered a triple digit passer rating, justifying the faith the font office had in him when they traded Sam Bradford away. The defence is likely to take a little time to settle in, but Fletcher Cox has already registered his first sack of the season, and I wouldn’t bet against Jim Schwartz forming them into a strong unit.

The Browns thought that they could turn round Robert Griffin’s career, but sadly the oft injured quarterback broke the coracoid bone in his left shoulder, which may or may not require surgery. Already the Browns are saying that he will miss at least the next eight games. This might lead to an improvement in the passing game given that Josh McCown is a very competent backup who will throw a more accurate pass and so we’ll likely see more than the heave it up to Coleman or Pryor of RGIII. Both receivers are raw but intriguing prospects. I’m still prepared to back the process in the long run, but it does look as if this season is going to be painful and there will be some who will be wondering about their decision to trade the number two pick and not take Wentz given how good he looked in his first game.

Packers 27
Jaguars 23

The Jaguars gave a very creditable account of themselves, but ultimately lost against a Packers team that are still finding their way. Still, the only team in their division to get a win were the Texans and they won’t be worried too much about this loss unless it becomes a habit.

The Packers offence still looked a bit like it did last season, but it is perhaps not surprising that Jordy Nelson is still knocking off the rust as he comes back from last year’s significant injury. They look to be favourites for the division, but they will want the offence to improve over the coming weeks.

Vikings 25
Titans 15

The worry for the Titans is that they went into half time with a ten-zero lead, and ended up losing the game as their defence fell apart. I’m not necessary sold on exotic smash-mouth football as I don’t believe you setup the pass with the run, but that you setup your offence by being convincingly dangerous at both running and passing the football. I do like that the Titans are trying to do something different in terms of the trend in the league being passing offence, but you need the play-action deep threat to make sure that the opposition don’t just stuff the box. There’s a version of this offence that can work, look how effectively the Panthers run the ball with a myriad of options, but I’m not sure the Titan’s are there yet.

We knew that the Vikings’ defence was good, and they kept the team in this game, but it is slightly worrying that Adrian Peterson only got thirty-one yards on nineteen carries. Still, Stefon Diggs did manage over a hundred yards receiving and with a bit more time to settle Sam Bradford in, the Vikings will hope to be competitive in their new stadium, even if the Packers are not the easiest of visitors.

San Diego Chargers 27
Kansas City Chiefs 33

The Chiefs defence is banged up, and I am somewhat worried about their loss of Sean Smith over the offseason as the secondary only really came together last season once he returned from injury. Still, it does seem that Andy Reid has the trust of his players, and Alex Smith looked very good as he led the Chiefs back in the second half to win the game.

The Chargers were doing so well in until their injury curse struck again when they lost Keenan Allen and things just seemed to fall apart for them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t’ concerned for their season, but they do seem to have improved from last year and it is too early to write them off yet.

Oakland Raiders 35
New Orleans Saints 34

As I feared, the Saints defence was porous as it doesn’t look to have improved significantly from last year and so it looks to be another season of Drew Brees trying score enough points to keep them in games, but how this will go I do not know.

The Raiders got off to a winning start, and there is no shame in giving up points to a Drew Brees led offence, but they will want to be more in control of games if they are to push for playoff this season, but things are definitely looking like they are heading in the right direction. I love the aggression of going for the two point conversion to win the game, and the NFL is a better league for having the Raiders be competitive.

Miami Dolphins 10
Seattle Seahawks 12

The Seahawks offensive line is indeed a problem, which in this game held them back and got Russell Wilson a sprained ankle. The defence is still going to be good, and they will be competitive, but we will have to see if the offensive line is bad enough to be an Achilles heels. For the record, I loved their approach to the national anthem, by standing arm in arm they made a strong statement of unity.

The Dolphins should have won this game, but for a dropped pass by Kenny Stills and blocked field goal, but the defence did enough to stifle the Seahawks even if the offence sputtered. The worry for me is how that defence is going to fair against better passing teams, and we’ll know more when we see how they do against the Patriots.

New York Giants 20
Dallas Cowboys 19

The Cowboys got a solid performance from Dak Prescott, who didn’t turn the football over and kept them in the game, but Ezekiel Elliot struggled to match up to the expectation placed upon the rookie running back. These are one of the teams that I’m not sure how to read because there are too many unknowns, and not being sure how the Giants are going to be this season, I’ll just have to see how they go over the next couple of weeks.

It appears that I was overly sceptical about the Giants offseason moves, and whilst I’m not saying I was entirely wrong, their defence does appear to have been better than I was expecting. I’m looking forward to finally getting to see them play to see for myself, and so I might have to watch them soon.

Detroit Lions 39
Indianapolis Colts 35

The Colts will be relieved that Andrew Luck looked like the quarterback that everyone expects him to be, but the defence looks to be a problem, at least until they Vontae Davis back and even then this unit could cause them problems. It is good to see Luck playing well, and he is a lot younger than Brees so there is plenty of time to win a Super Bowl, but the Colts really need to build consistently around him if they want to make the most of having a second franchise quarterback in a row.

The Detroit Lions won this game off the back of a more assertive performance by Matthew Stafford, who made the most of the balance that Marvin Jones and Golden Tate gave him at receiver. We will have to see how the defence shapes up, but I have faith that under Jim Bob Cooter the offence will continue to develop.

New England Patriots 23
Arizona Cardinals 21

The Cardinals will be incredibly disappointed to lose this game against the Patriots given the players they were missing. However, whilst Carson Palmer was not looking the sharpest he ever has, the Cardinals should have won this game were it not for another missed field goal and both Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson looked great. The secondary looked like they were struggling opposite Patrick Peterson, but I have faith the defence will improve as this coaching staff will not let things stand still and are too good.

What else can we say about the Patriots? The game plan worked as usual, the offence did enough despite the players they were missing, whilst the defence once again is really good with Chris Long enjoying life on a competitive team. With the most difficult game of the four without Brady out the way, it’s very possible that they could be 4-0 by the time he returns.

Pittsburgh Steelers 38
Washington 16

The big story I missed during the podcast recording was the amount of money Washington paid Josh Norman to have him playing zone whilst Antonio Brown ran riot on the other side of the field. I have heard some ex-players questioning why he didn’t demand to cover Brown, but I confess it would not a challenge I would fancy. I wasn’t expecting Kirk Cousins to maintain the form he had at the end of last season, but he will need to be more consistent if he is to help Washington get back to the playoffs.

I knew the Steelers were going to be scary once they got all their players back, but they didn’t even wait for that with a performance that underlines just how good Antonio Brown is, and the skill Ben Roethlisberger has in finding him deep. They already look like one of the teams to beat in the AFC so of course the Bengals are visiting next week in what should be one of the games of week two. Yes I am nervous already.

Los Angeles Rams 0
San Francisco 49ers 28

The 49ers surprised everyone by not just being competitive, but by shutting out the Rams offence as they ran out easy winner in this one. The fact that Dan wants me to watch the coaching tape to find out what happens says everything, but whilst I’m not totally changing my mind on how they will do this season, clearly they are going to be more competitive than I expected this season and I am curious to see how the team develop under Chip Kelly and what he has learned after his experience in Philidelphia.

The Rams didn’t even manage agricultural manure seven and nine football. The offence clearly sputtered, with some very worrying running figures for Todd Gurley stretching back to the tail of last season. The big question that is going to surround them is that the first round quarterback that they traded for didn’t even dress for this game. I am not actually totally against this, as they gain nothing by throwing Jared Goff in before he is ready, and everything to lose, but I’m sure no one will be happy about this state of affairs. We learned through Hard Knocks that the Rams’ defensive line coach is pretty terrifying, and so I’m sure they will be better next week. In fact, given the Rams will be playing their first game in LA, Jeff Fisher will be hoping for a big response from his players.

 

Finally let’s take a look at tonight’s game:

Jets @ Bills (-0.5)

With all that I have written above, I can only pick the Jets to win this one, especially getting half a point.

Gee’s Pick:           Jets
Dan’s Pick:           Jets

I am going to avoid writing about last night’s Broncos at Chiefs game in case you’re trying to catch up with it without hearing the score. I will write it up over the weekend as it is a good one, but for now let’s take a look at the rest of the week 2 games.

Falcons @ Giants (-2.5)

The Giants managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of a victory that I was really not expecting them to be in a position to get. In fairness, whilst they did okay in the run game, the passing game did not go as well as you might expect and the Cowboys offence outgained them by one hundred and forty-six yards. This can be highlighted by Odell Beckham’s modest forty-four yards on five catches, but the real story is that they were in a position to win the game, but bad clock management between Eli Manning and head coach Tom Coughlin gave Dallas enough time to go seventy-two yards in seventy-six seconds.

This week the Giants host a Falcons team coming off an impressive win in Philadelphia, although the Eagles did come back strongly against them in the second half. They are still making changes to their offence line, which is a worry, but the Falcons have a true franchise quarterback and receiver Julio Jones was amazing against the Eagles, amassing one hundred and forty-four yards from nine receptions and with the Giants’ questions in the secondary, this will be a match up to watch. The Falcons were setup to let the Eagles have the short throws and were betting they couldn’t sustain enough drives to win, which was a bet that paid off for them. We don’t know how typical this approach will be as it is too early in the season, but the defence is already looking better than last season.

I am still not convinced by the Giants, and whilst there are still questions around the Falcons on both sides of the ball, I just think they have enough talent to beat this Giants team.

Gee’s Pick:      Falcons
Dan’s Pick:      Falcons

Patriots @ Bills (+0.5)

The Bills defence were as impressive as we were expecting, with the changes Rex Ryan made paying off, but they also executed their plan successfully on offence as well as defence. The Bills offence ran the ball successfully, Tyrod Taylor looked after the ball, and he made enough big passes and runs to get them the win. However, it was Rex’s pressure on Andrew Luck that meant he wasn’t able to perform in the way we have come to expect. It will be fascinating to see what plans Rex Ryan has to deal with the Patriots offence.

The Patriots got the win against the Steelers, but whilst their offence was working very well, they were going against a defence in transition that was having all sorts of communication issues, and not just due to headset problems. I very much doubt that we will see Rob Gronkowski that open in this game. The other thing that struck me about the Patriots was that their defence seemed to be functioning much more of a bend don’t break principle, and whilst you would expect them to improve as the Patriots usually do through the season, they looked soft against the run game and the Steelers had no problems in the passing game until they got near the red zone.

I could regret this one, but I am getting a half point for a home team with a defence that is nasty, and a team that I think will be able to run the ball against the Patriots. No one should take a quarterback with as few starts as Taylor against Tom Brady, but that is what I am going to do this week.

Gee’s Pick:      Bills
Dan’s Pick:      Patriots

Cardinals @ Bears (+2.5)

The Bears are a team in transition, and they may have lost their opener to their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers, but a 31-23 loss does not seem that bad in the grand scheme of things. There are questions all round this team, but they ran the ball well and generated over four hundred yards of offence, even if Jay Cutler did throw one of his obligatory interceptions. The Packers didn’t exactly light up the Bears defence if you look at the statistics, but Rodgers is a great quarterback and still managed to throw for three touchdowns. It is going to be a long season, but this is not a team that I think will suffer the meltdowns they had last year.

The Cardinals had questions about their defence having lost Tod Bowles as defensive coordinator, and their offence given that Carson Palmer was coming back from a season ending injury. However, whilst the questions may remain about the defence, Carson Palmer looked good, throwing for three touchdowns without an interceptions, and over three hundred yards. This is a coaching staff that I still believe in, and I think even though they are on the road, that they will have too much for the Bears.

Gee’s Pick:      Cardinals
Dan’s Pick:      Cardinals

Chargers @ Bengals (-3.5)

The Bengals couldn’t have got off to much of a better start last week against the Raiders. Their offence was clicking, with the offensive line remaining as good as they were last year, and the players returning from injury meant that they just had too many weapons for the Raiders defence to stop. There was a real effort in the offseason to improve the depth as the tight end position, but Tyler Eifert really caught the eye with his two touchdowns, and one hundred and four yards, on nine receptions. The other side of the ball also played well, with the defensive line rotation continuing to look better than last season, and the secondary looked strong as well. The Raiders were 33-0 down going into the final quarter and the Bengals were playing a lot of backups in that final quarter.

In their home opener they welcome a Chargers team who won their opening game, but whilst Philip Rivers looked good, even whilst throwing two interceptions, there still are questions about their defence. In the game against the Lions they outgained Detroit by one hundred and eighty-one yards, but only won by five points.

I’m trying not to be too much of a Bengals fan about this one, but I like how the team look right now, and whilst the Chargers offence is going to be good, I think there are enough questions about their defence that I think the Bengals will take care of business in their home opener, particularly as they are still carrying a grudge from the post season loss two years ago.

Gee’s Pick:      Bengals
Dan’s Pick:      Bengals

Titans @ Browns (+1.5)

The Browns took a lead in the second quarter, but by half time they had surrendered it to the Jets in what was eventually a lopsided loss. The passing defence that was so good last year seemed to regress back to average and the Jets were able to run for one hundred and fifty-four yards. Whilst on offence they lost Josh McCowan to a concussion on the opening drive as he dived for the end zone, the Browns did manage to put up over three hundred yards with Johnny Manziel in the game. However, whilst he looked better than last year when he was simply horrendous, there are still questions about Manziel and his play was uneven to say the least. He managed to couple four fumbles, all of them lost to the Jets, and an interception, with his first NFL touchdown pass. The Browns are finding out Friday morning if McCowan will pass the league’s concussion protocol, and will start if he does, so we don’t really know what to expect this week except that the offensive line didn’t do a great job at the Jets and the running game was not that great. One of their big problems is that there are not a lot of their recent first round picks working out at the moment, and you can’t win if you routinely don’t hit often enough in the early rounds of the draft.

For the second season in a row the Titans got their season started with a win, but it was a real beat down they gave to the Bucs last week. Marcus Mariota looked good as he threw for four touchdowns without an interception, as Ken Wisenhunt used a number of familiar Oregon concepts to help his rookie quarterback settle into the NFL. It helped that the Bucs played with a lot of easy to identify coverage concepts, but already the decision to pick Jameis Winston is getting questioned. Part of that was the reads Winston had to make against an improving Titans team that added Dick LeBeau into the defensive brain trust in the offseason.

I don’t want to get too carried away with the start the Titans made, but they already look a more interesting team than last year, and I fancy them to get a win against a Browns team that just can’t seem to get everyone pulling in the right direction.

Gee’s Pick:      Titans
Dan’s Pick:      Titans

Lions @ Vikings (-2.5)

The Vikings were a team we were all expecting to make a step up again this year, and whilst it is too early to say that they won’t, it was no the start they would have wanted losing to the 49ers who had so much turmoil in the offseason. The offensive line problems that hampered them last year were not much better this year, and Adrian Peterson did not run the ball like he has in past years, although he didn’t get the number of carries he would usually expect. This perhaps is not that surprising as the Vikings defence gave up nearly four hundred yards, and I would imagine that Mike Zimmer will furious about the two hundred and thirty yards they gave up on the ground to the 49ers.

The Lions went into half time with an eleven point lead, and then watched it disappear in the second half, with Matthew Stafford throwing two picks to go with his two touchdowns. The Lions ran the ball modestly, but Ameer Abdullah got his first career highlight with a move on Eric Weddle that left him helpless as Abdullah fizzed past him to run in his first career touchdown. The defence is still adjusting to the offseason personnel changes, and they will be hoping that DeAndre Levy gets back from his hip injury quickly.

I’m a little worried about this pick, but whilst I think that the Vikings will do okay this season, and that Mike Zimmer will at least stiffen their defence again, I’m not sure that things will turn quickly enough for this game as they are on a short week, so I’m reluctantly taking Matthew Stafford on the road..

Gee’s Pick:      Lions
Dan’s Pick:      Lions

Rams @ Washington (+3.5)

The team from Washington might have got the result that I was expecting, but perhaps they were not quite the team I thought they were. The defence was improved on last year, but more impressively they were able to run the ball effectively with Alfred Morris running for over one hundred and twenty yards. They are still a mess at quarterback with Kirk Cousins throwing two interceptions, but they kept the game close against a team that may were tipping for the playoffs before the start of the season.

The Rams play the Seahawks tough at home, but they did a little more than that in week one, getting one of the results of the first week. There do appear to be problems with the Seahawks secondary and line, but the Rams defence got six sacks with Aaron Donald getting two whilst being very disruptive at defensive tackle. If the Rams defence was as good as we had expected, the play of Nick Foles shows there may be some hope for the Rams offence this season, throwing as he did for nearly three hundred yards and a touchdown without any interceptions. Add to that a run game that generated over a hundred and twenty yards, and a time of possession advantage of nearly nine minutes and you can see how this team beat the Seahawks.

They may be coming across the country to play this game, but I think they have enough to win in Washington.

Gee’s Pick:      Rams
Dan’s Pick:      Rams

Bucs @ Saints (-9.5)

The Saints travelled to Arizona and lost against a good Cardinals team. They threw the ball more than I was expecting, and did look effective doing it, although Drew Brees threw an interception to match his touchdown. The running game stuttered with them only gaining fifty-four yards at 2.7 yards per carry so you can perhaps understand their sticking with the pass. However, if the offence continues to put up over four hundred yards, it will have to be more efficient in their opponent’s half as they only managed one touchdown in this game, and were forced to kick four field goals. All of this as their defence gave up one hundred and twenty yards and a touchdown against the run, and over three hundred yards and three touchdowns in the air.

The Buccaneers had an awful start to the season and for once it doesn’t seem sensationalist to write that a coach could be on the hot seat after game one. Their first round quarterback threw a pick six on his first NFL play, and threw a second later in the game as the Bucs were thoroughly out played. Worse still was the defence, which was picked apart by a rookie quarterback for four touchdowns. The defensive problems are even more concerning given that Lovie Smith is a defensive coach, and it could be a very long season for the fans in Tampa Bay.

I am pretty certain that the Saints are going to win the game, and the points scare me, but as much as I want to take the Bucs to cover, they just lost by twenty-eight points to the Titans and so I can’t bring myself to do it.

Gee’s Pick:      Saints

Dan’s Pick:      Saints

49ers @ Steelers (-6.5)

The Steelers looked good on offence, moving the ball well despite their suspensions, but ran into an angry Patriots team that simply does not lose at home very often. Their defence though was a real mess in coverage, and whilst I’m sure this will improve over the year, it will continue to worry when they are giving as many points as this.

The 49ers came out in their Monday night game and physically dominated the Vikings, running the ball very effectively and containing the Vikings’ offence. I’m not sure how good they will be across the season, but they are not going to be the car crash that many were predicting. That said, there still are doubts about Colin Kaepernick in the pass game, even having spent the offseason working with Kurt Warner, but if NaVorro Bowman continues his impressive return to form on defence, then this team will be a tough one to face each week.

This is a tough travel week for the 49ers, coming across country after a late Monday night game, but whilst I think the Steelers will win this game, I think that between their defence and the missing offensive starters, the Steelers won’t cover this spread.

Gee’s Pick:      49ers
Dan’s Pick:      49ers

Texans @ Panthers (-3.5)

The Panthers ran out comfortable winners in their opening game despite losing Luke Kuechly to a concussion. However, the offence I was worried about was actually outgained by the Jaguars, but they took better care of the ball and got the job done. However, I’m still worried about their receivers, Cam Newton ran the ball more than you would want, and whilst the front seven of their defence looks good, the secondary doesn’t inspire confidence yet.

We don’t know how this team have practiced, so we can’t put too much stock in the comments we saw in Hard Knocks, but it is interesting that after seeing Hoyer be told he wouldn’t be on a short leash when given the starter job, he was pulled in the opening game. The Texans gave up five sacks to the Chiefs, Hoyer only threw one interception, but Bill O’Brien was clearly not happy with what he saw. On defence, JJ Watt got two sacks and was his usual disruptive self, but the team still gave up three hundred and thirty yards and three touchdowns.

I’m finding this a hard game to pick as I don’t really trust what I think about either team yet. The Panthers have injuries to deal with, but the Texans are in a mess at quarterback again and don’t have their Arian Foster in the running game. However, that extra half point just pulls me towards the Texans and JJ Watt.

Gee’s Pick:      Texans
Dan’s Pick:      Panthers

Ravens @ Raiders (+6.5)

The Raiders start to the season was horrible on both sides of the ball. There is plenty of time to turn things round, but there must be a real sense of not again floating around Oakland right now.

The Ravens fell in a close game to the Broncos and lost Terrell Suggs for the season to an Achilles tear. The defence is still going to be solid, but this is going to weaken their linebacker corp. Their offence however is thing that could be a cause of concern. It is best not to overreact to their week one showing given how good the Broncos look to be on defence, but there seems to be a lack of weapons in their offence and even the line was not at their best last week.

However, it is going to take a lot more points that this for me to back the Raiders against a good team.

Gee’s Pick:      Ravens
Dan’s Pick:      Ravens

Dolphins @ Jaguars (+6.5)

The Jaguars actually outgained the Panthers in their first game, but it was a familiar result for them, and they won’t win with Blake Bortles throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. Living in the UK you hear a lot about the Jaguars because of their commitment to playing over here, but they really need to do something to convince me that they are going to turn the corner that we keep hearing they might do.

The Dolphins made hard work of beating Washington, and didn’t exactly set the world on fire on either side of the ball. You can understand why they paid Suh the money they have, but the Dolphins won’t want him overstepping the line of hard play into dirty like he did against the Washington. That said, this is a game for them to get things going again, and I am not picking the Jaguars again until they can prove to me they have earned it.

Gee’s Pick:      Dolphins
Dan’s Pick:      Dolphins

Cowboys @ Eagles (-4.5)

The Eagles had a slow start in the first half of this game, and finished strongly, but couldn’t quite climb out of the hole they had dug for themselves. Perhaps more worrying was how they struggled to cover Julio Jones, and the play of Byron Maxwell will be a concern given the amount of money they gave him in the offseason. However, things really clicked in the second half for the offence, and the front seven of their defence looks very good.

The Eagles welcome a Cowboys team that stole a win from the Giants last week. The defence is still a concern, and you have to wonder how they will cope against the fast paced Chip Kelly offence if gets into gear again. However, in addition to the defence, the running game did not look good last week against the Giants, and the injury of Dez Bryant is huge, and I really hope they don’t’ rush him back as he has the same fracture that did for Kevin Durant’s season in the NBA this year.

The amount of points worries me in this game, but I have a lot of questions about this Cowboys team who were lucky to win last week, and so I’m sticking by the Eagles for now.

Gee’s Pick:      Eagles
Dan’s Pick:      Cowboys

Seahawks @ Packers (-3.5)

The Packers got their win against the Bears to start the season, and Aaron Rodgers was his usual other worldly self, resuming his chemistry with James Jones despite no offseason working with the receiver, as he threw for three touchdowns but only one hundred and eighty-nine yards. Despite losing Jordy Nelson, the worry for this team could well be on defence. They lost middle linebacker Sam Barrington for the year so they could well be thin there, and giving up four hundred yards to the Bears is not exactly encouraging, particularly giving up one hundred and eighty-nine of them against the run when the Seahawks are coming into town this week.

However, there may be some cracks appearing in the Seahawks this year. On offence it might be time to invest some time in their offensive line as they struggled last week against a good Rams front, but it would have been worse if Russell Wilson wasn’t such a mobile quarterback, and he was still sacked six times. If that wasn’t enough, the hold out of Kam Chancellor, and the depth at corner means that there are now questions about the Seahawks secondary for the first time in years, I was not expecting them to move Richard Sherman into the slot when playing nickel.

This should be a cracking game, but with Green Bay playing at home, and I would imagine desperate to make amends after the horrible playoff loss last season, I am backing them to get the win at Lambeau.

Gee’s Pick:      Packers
Dan’s Pick:      Packers

Jets @ Colts (-6.5)

The Colts really struggled last week against the pressure that Bills’ defence got against them, even if it only yielded two sacks, Andrew Luck threw for twenty-six completions on forty-nine attempts with two touchdowns and two interceptions. I am still stunned that they didn’t pick an offensive lineman until the seventh round, and in my opinion they had enough depth at receiver that they could have addressed this need in the first round rather than picking the receiver they did. The other worrying thing for Colts fans was the familiar one hundred and forty-seven yards they gave up on the ground against the Bills. This was a real problem for the defence last year, and this could be a tough second week for them given that they are playing a very similar team in the Jets.

The Jets also have what looks to be a tough defence, and an offence very capable of running the ball. The defence might not rush the passer as much as Ryan’s Bills last week, but you have to imagine that they have seen the tape and will be looking at trying to disrupt the middle of the Colts line again. They also ran for over one hundred and fifty yards last week on offence, and while Ryan Fitzpatrick might not have the legs of Tyrod Taylor, his best years in Buffalo were under current jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.

I’m not sure if I would go as far as to predict a win for the Jets, but I’m not sure the Colts are worth this many points at home, and so I’m backing the Jets to keep this game close.

Gee’s Pick:      Jets
Dan’s Pick:      Colts