Some teams got to shake the rust free in Week 1. Some teams are participating in overreaction Monday. And some teams already are watching their key players go down.
Before looking towards Week 2, let's first recap Week 1. Congratulations to Terry from Greenwich. He is the only person who picked better than me in Week 1, getting 14 of 16 games correct. Want to beat me in Week 2? Make sure you download the Q101.7 app and participate along with me!
RICK'S PICKS - WEEK 1: 13-3
Missed Games:
Miami Dolphins @ Indianapolis Colts: I did not see this coming. I know there were members of the Miami Dolphins who were on injury reports heading into Week 1 but never did I see Tua having as dismal of a game as he did. Daniel Jones came on a mission, wanting to prove that his days as a New York Giants was not indicative of his true skill. Whether or not Indianapolis is for real will take a few weeks to settle, but Miami is looking very shaky.
Las Vegas Raiders @ New England Patriots: I thought the home atmosphere for New England would allow the Patriots to perform slightly better than the Raiders. Geno Smith looked solid against the Patriots, and he's got Pete Carroll calling the action from the sidelines.
Pittsburgh Steelers @ New York Jets: Aaron Rodgers must have heard what I have been saying about him being done. He shut me up with that 4 touchdown effort that not only silenced other critics, but increased questions about that Jets defense. And now that defense has to put up with the Buffalo Bills.
WEEK 2
WASHINGTON COMMANDERS @ GREEN BAY PACKERS - Thursday, 8:15pm, Amazon Prime
Jayden Daniels and company looked good, but they were facing the New York Giants. The Green Bay Packers are not the Giants, and have stars on both sides of the ball. That was a solid win over the Detroit Lions to emerge as a threat to still be playing come the late weeks of January.
RICK'S PICK - Green Bay Packers
CLEVELAND BROWNS @ BALTIMORE RAVENS - Sunday, 1:00pm, CBS
Cleveland played Cincinnati much closer than I was expecting, but needs Joe Flacco to take much better care of the football. Giving a strong offense like Baltimore more chances to run and gun is a recipe for trouble, and if it wasn't for a Derrick Henry fumble, the Ravens would be along Cincinnati and Pittsburgh as Week 1 winners in the AFC North. Baltimore's defense needs some work, but not every week will be against a team like the Buffalo Bills.
RICK'S PICK - Baltimore Ravens
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS @ PITTSBURGH STEELERS - Sunday, 1:00pm, FOX
DJ Metcalf gets to play the team he was a centerpiece of, now as a member of the Steelers. He had the most yards of any of the Steelers receivers against the Jets, but failed to find the end zone as Aaron Rodgers went to four different receivers for his touchdowns against the Jets. Chris Boswell's 60 yard rocket made the difference against the Jets.
Seattle took the lead thanks to Jason Myers's leg against San Francisco, but Brock Purdy and company drove down the field on the next drive to take the lead for good with 1:44 left. Ball security needs to be a priority for the Seahawks, who fumbled 3 times against the 49'ers, losing two of them.
Pittsburgh wowed me enough in Week 1 that I will have to side with the Black and Gold.
RICK'S PICK - Pittsburgh Steelers
BUFFALO BILLS @ NEW YORK JETS - Sunday, 1:00pm, CBS (CBS 6 Albany)
Think the Jets had a moral victory against the Steelers? Here comes the Bills to eliminate your optimism.
Buffalo already leads the AFC East by a game after winning a game they had no right winning. After 55 minutes of shaky defense, Ed Oliver and the Bills defense finally slammed the door shut and Josh Allen and the offense did the rest to get them back from 15 points down. That defense will need to be stronger as they move through the season because not every team will provide opportunities for the Bills to come back from a multiple possession deficit in the 4th quarter.
Keon Coleman potentially showed improvement from last season, but will that momentum sustain in Week 2?
The Jets allowed Aaron Rodgers to throw 4 touchdowns against his former team, against a defense that supposed to be one of the better squads in the NFL. Justin Fields played well, but if it wasn't for a Chris Boswell 60 yarder, the Jets would have come away with the win. But Buffalo is too much.
RICK'S PICK - Buffalo Bills
SAN FRANCISCO 49'ERS @ NEW ORLEANS SAINTS - Sunday, 1:00pm, FOX
The San Francisco 49'ers are going to be without George Kittle, already marked out for Week 2 with an hamstring injury. And if they weren't going to be up against the New Orleans Saints, I would be more concerned here. While New Orleans's game against Arizona was much closer than I had anticipated, I still am not impressed with the Saints enough to pick them here.
EDIT: It also has been announced that the San Francisco 49'ers will be without Brock Purdy, who is going to miss 2-5 weeks with a form of turf toe. Mac Jones is the 49'ers backup, but who will be Jones's backup is a question mark.
So ... hope Mac Jones doesn't get injured? This isn't enough for me to change my pick, however.
RICK'S PICK - San Francisco 49'ers
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ MIAMI DOLPHINS - Sunday, 1:00pm, CBS
While New England disappointed me with their Week 1 loss to Las Vegas, nobody was more stunning than the Miami Dolphins. While this has traditionally been a trap game for the Patriots dating back to the years of Tom Brady, the Dolphins have not provided me any assurance that they have figured it out. Seeing Tyreek Hill's reactions to the Dolphins Week 1 loss to Indianapolis screams to me that the drama may only be building.
RICK'S PICK - New England Patriots
LOS ANGELES RAMS @ TENNESSEE TITANS - Sunday, 1:00pm, CBS
Matt Stafford tossed for 245 yards with a touchdown against the Houston Texans, a playoff team that has lost enough talent that they may be outside looking in this season. It was not an inspiring game for Cam Ward against the Denver Broncos, completing only 42% of his passes for 112 yards. Maybe more telling is the 6 sacks that Ward took, showcasing concerns the offensive line might have a hard time protecting their young quarterback.
When it comes to the difference in lineups, I totally trust LA better.
RICK'S PICK - LA Rams
CHICAGO BEARS @ DETROIT LIONS - Sunday, 1:00pm, FOX
For 45 minutes, Chicago looked unstoppable. Their defense absolutely swallowed up J.J. McCarthy and made him look so uncomfortable out there on the field. Caleb Williams looked hot through his first 10 passes. Then ... it came apart. A Bears team that should of been up by more was caught and overtaken by the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
It turned out to be the same ol' for a Chicago Bears team that disappeared off the map after the Hail Mary against the Washington Commanders last year help propel the Commanders season ... and essentially ended the Bears season only weeks into the young season.
Now their coach gets to go to Detroit, a team that he was the offensive coordinator of through last season's divisional championship run. A Detroit team that was kicked and punched by a Green Bay Packers team that has emerged as an early favorite to play the final Sunday of January. Detroit has weapons, but they sure didn't show on Sunday against the Packers.
The run game was non-existent, some because of the game script. But when David Montgomery only has 25 yards, that's telling. And that's on 11 carries. And Jarred Goff needs to prevent the turnovers, especially since the Bears were fed a Pick-6 in their game against Minnesota.
Detroit's got to get it together, as the week 3 against Baltimore could be harder to stomach at 0-2.
RICK'S PICK - Detroit
NEW YORK GIANTS @ DALLAS COWBOWS - Sunday, 1:00pm, FOX (FOX 23)
The New York Giants looked terrible against the Washington Commanders. They were clearly overmatched as Russell Wilson was not able to make a difference in the Giants season. No touchdowns, and 168 yards that was obtained through a QB Rating of 59.3. It was evident who was winning that game early on.
Dak Prescott at least kept pace with the Philadelphia Eagles. Drives he began ended in touchdowns, even if it came thanks to Javonte Williams capping the drive with his 2 scores. CeeDee Lamb contributed with receiving 110 of Dak's 188 passing yards. Even if Micha Parsons is no longer in the Cowboys silver and blue, defensively the Cowboys did a better job at stopping the Eagles than the Giants were at stopping the Commanders.
RICK'S PICK - Dallas
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS @ CINCINNATI BENGALS - Sunday, 1:00pm, CBS
Cincinnati is lucky to walk away with the win over Cleveland, after picking up the second worst yardage in all three categories in Week 1 - total, passing and rushing. Only two teams possessed the ball less than the Bengals did in Week 1. Yet they won, while holding the Browns to only 49 rushing yards.
Fans are hoping that's a sign that maybe Joe Burrow doesn't need to work his butt off this season for the defense to give up the game. Whether that's to be true will get tested against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There are a few in the internet who feels Jacksonville will emerge with the AFC South as Houston regresses. Lawrence threw for 178 yards against Carolina, but threw an interception as well. Travis Etienne Jr. rushed for 143 yards and added 13 more receiving yards.
Etienne will definitely test that Bengal defense, and we'll get a better look to see which of these two are perhaps coming out of their struggles that kept either team out of the playoffs in 2024.
RICK'S PICK - Jacksonville
CAROLINA PANTHERS @ ARIZONA CARDINALS - Sunday, 4:05pm, CBS
Meanwhile the team that faced Jacksonville struggled. Even after a weather delay that only delayed the inevitable. Bryce Young caused 3 turnovers, two on interceptions and a third on a lost fumble. Chubba Hubbard may have been a bright spot on Sunday, but the receiving corps need Young to get them the football.
Combined with the shaky preseason, it's already looking dire in Charlotte.
Arizona may not have looked sharp, but they did just enough to walk out of New Orleans winners in Week 1.
Kyler Murray threw for two touchdowns and 163 yards against the Saints. Now he needs to show further his growth in the National Football League before the Cardinals get ready for back to back games against their division.
Judging by how Carolina's defense played against Jacksonville, this might be the game.
RICK'S PICK - Arizona
DENVER BRONCOS @ INDIANAPOLIS COLTS - Sunday, 4:05pm, CBS
Denver may be 1-0, but it wasn't pretty.
Bo Nix connected on 25 of 40 passes for 176 yards, but threw two picks in the win. At least it was Tennessee, a team that wasn't eyed by predictors for the playoffs.
Bo can't be throwing picks against Indianapolis. Especially since the Colts picked off Tua twice in their stunning win over the Miami Dolphins. The Colts not only saw 272 yards from Daniel Jones, they had the greatest differential of time of possession in Week 1. Now maybe the Colts are not quite there talent wise this season, but for the first few weeks of the season, they're building momentum for when the schedule turns challenging heading into October
RICK'S PICK - Indianapolis
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES @ KANSAS CITY CHIEFS - Sunday, 4:25pm, FOX (FOX 23)
Hey, Philadelphia... that was a bit nail-biting last week.
And I would worry more if the Eagles weren't about to face a Chiefs team that has question marks after their Week 1 loss to the Chargers down in Brazil.
After Xavier Worthy got knocked out by Travis Kelce on the third play of the season, a question of who Mahomes is going to give the ball to emerges. Hollywood Brown was the benefactor of Worthy's injury, picking up 99 yards on 10 receptions, and we know Mahomes can run. And there will be Kelce, But, it still leaves the Chiefs depleted on the wideouts until Rasheed Rice returns from his suspension.
The good news for Kansas City is that their Week 3 is against the New York Giants.
But they have to get through the Eagles first.
The Eagles shouldn't have made us sweat the amount they did against the Dallas Cowboys, but they survived. Some thanks to Jalen Hurts and his legs. He scored 2 of Philadelphia's 3 touchdowns, picking up more yards than Saquon Barkley did on fewer carries. Barkley came alive with his touchdown run, finishing with 60 total yards for the Eagles.
We'll have to see if the rust is shaken from the Eagles, or if they are going through the Super Bowl Hangover. If the Chiefs were healthy, I think this could be a tougher spot for the Eagles, especially at Arrowhead.
The true question is .. what's the over/under on number of Taylor Swift appearances on the FOX broadcast?
RICK'S PICK - Philadelphia
ATLANTA FALCONS @ MINNESOTA VIKINGS - Sunday, 8:20pm, NBC (Channel 13)
Minnesota... what was that?
You looked absolutely out of your element for 45 minutes. And then J.J. McCarthy got inspired and pieced together that 3 touchdown 4th quarter to overcome the Chicago Bears. If the first 3/4's of the game broke McCarthy's confidence, the final quarter restored it and then some.
But you're not going to get away with games like that all season. The Falcons got 298 yards from Michael Penix Jr. but the rushing was a distinct disappointment given the talent of Bijan Robinson on the Falcons roster. 12 carries for 24 yards.
Robinson did make up for his lack of rushing yards by leading the Falcons with 100 yards on 6 receptions, including a touchdown.
This game feels like a trap, because I don't know if we're going to get the Minnesota Vikings who got steamrolled for the first 45 minutes, or the comeback kings in the last 15. But momentum's on their side, at their home stadium.
RICK'S PICK - Minnesota
=== REST OF WEEK 2 PICKS COMING FRIDAY ==
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS @ HOUSTON TEXANS - Monday, 7:00pm, ABC (ABC 10)
RICK'S PICK -
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS @ LAS VEGAS RAIDERS - Monday, 10:00pm, ESPN
RICK'S PICK -
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