2014 NFL Picks Week 2

Week 2 NFL Previews

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September 12th, 2014

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

JULIAN PRITCHER
NFL Genius

These two teams had almost completely opposite performances last week. The Steelers scored 27 points in the first half, highlighted by a ridiculous Ben Roethlisberger scramble and pass to Antonio Brown for a 35 yard touchdown. Keeping up with the big play trend, Le’Veon Bell ran for a 38 yard touchdown on the very next drive. Pittsburgh would not score again until they absolutely had to. Shaun Suisham kicked a field goal in the waning seconds of the game to fend off a Cleveland comeback. It was an offensive performance the Steelers needed, proving they now have some explosive playmaking ability after lacking it for the last three seasons.

For all my hopes about the Ravens offense this season, judging by the first week I could not have been more wrong. Now, it’s still very early and there’s plenty of time to adjust to Kubiak’s scheme, but it’s not like the Ravens have never used a zone blocking scheme before. Bernard Pierce ran for a measly 2.3 yards per carry. With that terrible rushing performance, it’s no wonder Joe Flacco was forced to throw 62 times. He completed 35 of those throws, including an 80 yard bomb to Steve Smith to overcome Cincinnati’s five field goal lead. A.J. “Raven Killer” Green struck again though, juggling a 77 yard pass from Andy Dalton and juking his way into the endzone.

What bothers me the most about Baltimore’s performance was their complete lack of a running game. Flacco cannot throw the ball 62 times and expect good results. With Ray Rice gone and Bernard Pierce plodding in the backfield there looks to be a lot more passing for the Ravens this season.

With all that said, this is a rivalry game, and the Ravens are not going out with a whimper. The Ravens defense still looks to be a very good unit. If it weren't for the 77-yard pass at the end of the game, the Ravens would have outgained the Bengals by about 100 yards. With emotions riding high and an amped up Baltimore crowd under the lights, I'm going with Baltimore

The Score: Baltimore 23 Pittsburgh 10

Chicago Bears at San Francisco 49ers

MIKE TREVELISE
NFL Staff Writer

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The Bears had the most disappointing week one in the NFL. Matched up with the lowly Bills, they failed to get an easy win, while both the Vikings and Lions earned victories. The NFC North is going to be very competitive, and the Bears need to get in the win column if they want a shot at winning the division, but this won’t be the week for them.

The 49ers are coming off a strong game against a dismal Cowboys team. In the game Kaepernick was efficient even if he lacked the explosiveness some predicted. He is consistently the most ‘wow’ quarterback, able to elude pressure and complete passes off balance, in mid air, off his back foot, it really doesn’t seem to matter. More impressive than Kaepernick was the debut of the new backfield for the Niners. Carlos Hyde was frighteningly explosive and looks primed to start to take more of the running game from Frank Gore. But what Niners fans should be most excited about was that their defense played well. It seems crazy that we should be talking about defensive worries for a perennial defensive powerhouse, but the fact is this defense is depleted. No Navarro Bowman or Aldon Smith is very significant, but Dan Skuta filled in well on the edge and Michael Wilhoite did his job as well. The Niners forced turnovers, which is going to be very important for them this year, and something that they can exploit against the Bears.

The Bears are a good team, and they will be competitive this year, but they are going to have to dig themselves out of an 0-2 hole. They had three turnovers against a mediocre Buffalo defense. Jay Cutler will need to be more careful with the ball against a more experienced defense in the Niners. The rushing defense did an awful job containing CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson last week, and now they are facing another deadly duo in Gore and Hyde. The Bears need Lamarr Houston and Jared Allen to get to Kaepernick if they want to beat this Niners team. I expect the big athletic Bears receivers to do well against the Niners secondary. Jay Cutler just needs to ensure that he makes smart decisions and does not repeat Tony Romo’s mistakes from last week.

These are two of the better teams in the NFC and should both be playoff teams. Chicago will come out with a chip on their shoulder, but ultimately it won’t really matter because San Francisco’s efficient offense will wear down their defense. Expect the Niners to force an early turnover forcing the Bears to play catch up and ultimately dooming them.

49ers 28 Bears 24

Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills

MIKE TREVELISE
NFL Staff Writer

Follow @PickSix_NFL

Nobody expected this week two matchup to be between two undefeated teams. The Dolphins shocked many people by beating the Patriots last week, and the Bills shocked even more people by beating the Bears.

The Dolphins are an emerging talent in the NFL, but their biggest issue is failing to win the winnable games. Last year, for example, they lost to Buffalo in both of their matchups with the second loss coming in a crucial week 16 matchup following an upset of the Patriots.

The Dolphins are thin at linebacker and the Bills bring a powerful run game. This is a bad matchup for Miami. Last week the Dolphins played the entire second half without any of their three starting linebackers, and shut the Patriots out, but the circumstances were such that the Pats needed to throw because they were playing from behind. If the Bills can get a lead early in the game and establish CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson’s presence on the ground, then the Dolphins will be in a lot of trouble. The defensive line is solid, and expect the Dolphins to be loading the box early and often, but there is only so much they can do with less than desirable talent. EJ Manuel should be able to burn the Dolphins on some play action as the game progresses.

The Dolphins were the benefactors of two Tom Brady fumbles last week, and forcing turnovers from the Bills will go a long way in helping them win this game. EJ Manuel is susceptible to interceptions, and the Dolphins will rely on their secondary to try to pick a few balls off. The Miami offense should be able to move the ball on the Bills, and expect Ryan Tannehill and Mike Wallace to exploit the absence of Jairus Byrd at safety with a few long ball attempts.

Ultimately, this game is going to come down to which team can better establish the run game. Both have good tandems in the backfield and developing quarterbacks under center. I think turnovers will play a key role in this game, and the team that can avoid beating itself will win the game. Expect good days from all four running backs. Ultimately, one explosive play from the Dolphins should be able to elevate them above the Bills.

Dolphins 24 Bills 20

Atlanta Falcons at Cincinnati Bengals

JULIAN PRITCHER
NFL Genius

Follow @PickSix_NFL

The first week always has its fair share of overreaction. The Patriots will be better. The Panthers will be worse. Neither played like it last week, but both teams have all season to prove us (Pick Six Previews) right. Another overreaction might be that the Falcons are back to their winning ways. Atlanta, formerly the kings of closing out close games, were awful in them last year. Part of it is luck, but after last week’s comeback against the Saints, one can assume that they’ve got their mojo back.

Another overreaction could be that Hue Jackson, new Bengals offensive coordinator, isn’t very good at his job. Cincinnati didn’t score a single touchdown until the fourth quarter when A.J. Green (as mentioned earlier) broke the Ravens back with a 77 yard touchdown catch. All their previous scoring drives ended in field goals. Its good thing to have a reliable kicker, but when you have a roster like Cincinnati’s and want to compete for the Super Bowl, three points need to turn into seven. Now Andy Dalton needs to prove it as well after the Bengals decided to show him he is their franchise QB (that means he got paid).

It still remains to be seen whether Jackson’s offense works, or Andy Dalton misses Jay Gruden down in Washington. A home opener in week 2 should give us some clues, however. Expect a bounce back game from the Bengals offensive woes last week. Atlanta still needs to prove they beat a quality opponent on the road, not just in the comfort of the Georgia Dome.

Cincinnati 27, Atlanta 23

Philadelphia Eagles at Indianapolis Colts

JULIAN PRITCHER
NFL Genius

Follow @PickSix_NFL

The Eagles just weren’t any good in the first half. Largely due to Nick Foles’ ineptitude, Philadelphia couldn’t score in two quarters, allowing the Jaguars to score 17 unanswered points. But this tale of two halves saw Eagles fans dread to into joy as they scored 34 straight points to beat Jacksonville in their home opener.

There are a lot of things to like about Philadelphia’s performance, depending on how you look at it. Chip Kelly can seemingly turn an awful quarterback performance into a pretty good one. This leads me to think that the guy under center in this fast paced system he runs almost doesn’t matter. I am willing to bet that if Mark Sanchez replaced Foles at halftime, he could have had the same results. Did you see that touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin? He was so wide open that the term “wide open” has been given a new meaning. There’s something about the pace and the quick decision making that allows quarterbacks to avoid mistakes and rack up the yards.

Indianapolis is certainly a place where the quarterback does matter, because Andrew Luck saves the Colts from losing double digit games. This team is pretty boring outside of Luck, who seemingly has to put the entire team on his back and carry them to victory. He almost did it against the AFC’s best last week, engineering a small comeback against the Broncos in the fourth quarter before falling short.

Part of that comeback was the Colts ability to stop the run. Denver couldn’t wind down the clock by handing it over to Montee Ball. Peyton Manning was forced to throw more than he needed to and ended up not converting third downs that led to punts and more time for Luck. The Eagles rushing attack is much better, and they will prove it on Monday night. This game looks like a shootout, with both offenses clearly superior to the defenses they are matched up against. The Colts have Andrew Luck, however, which is enough to give them their first win of the season.

Indianapolis 30, Philadelphia 29

Detroit Lions at Carolina Panthers

MIKE TREVELISE
NFL Staff Writer

Follow @PickSix_NFL

In this matchup, we get two teams that could find themselves anywhere in the standings at year’s end. The Lions have a lot of talent offensively and the Panthers have talent defensively. The Lions are coming into Carolina on a short week after a 35-14 victory over the Giants. Matthew Stafford looked strong and Calvin Johnson dominated a very weak New York defense. The Panthers survived against the Buccaneers in a Cam Newton-less week. This week it looks like Cam will be a go, which will be a relief for Panthers fans. Newton and his offensive line will have their hands full with a strong pass rush led by Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley. The Panthers will need to rely on their pass defense heavily if they want to win this game. Stafford and Johnson are a deadly duo and the Giants were reminded of that last week. The new secondary in Carolina did a good job against Josh McCown and Vincent Jackson, but they will have their hands a little fuller this week with Stafford. Expect to see another big game from Calvin Johnson this week. Reggie Bush should be active in the passing game as well. Luke Kuechly can't cover Bush and the three Detroit Tight Ends by himself.

Kelvin Benjamin had a nice first game with an incredible touchdown reception and a few other nice grabs as well, look for Newton to really try to establish a connection early with Benjamin in this game, if that connection fails to produce then it will be a lot of Greg Olsen in the passing game.

The Panthers can’t afford to fall behind by any significant margin because their passing game is so one-dimensional. If the Lions can put up early points like they did last week in New York then this game has the potential to get boring quickly. I expect the Panthers to put up more of a fight than the Giants however. The explosive play potential for the Lions will swing this game, though. The Lions are the more talented team, and if Stafford can limit his mistakes like he did last week, even if it was against a weaker defense, then the Lions will comfortably do away with the Panthers.

Lions 34 Panthers 17

Week 2 NFL Previews

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears at San Francisco 49ers

Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills

Atlanta Falcons at Cincinnati Bengals

Philadelphia Eagles at Indianapolis Colts

Detroit Lions at Carolina Panthers

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