Week Two Preview and Picks
Week one has come and gone. There were a couple mildly surprising results but for the most part, teams are who we thought they were. Week two is an opportunity for some teams (Cleveland, Philadelphia) to right the ship and for others (Patriots, Jaguars) to prove week one was no fluke. Carolina and Baltimore both face a step up in competition this week, so let’s dive in with our week two predictions.
Carolina AT Tampa Bay
Both teams are coming off disappointing week one losses. For Carolina the young defense did not play up to expectations, struggling with tackling and an inability to get any pressure on Carr. More concerning at this point though would be the communications and play-calling issues. After the game Coach Rhule had this to say: “We had some first game communication issues. I think it might have been between 10-12 times where called the play in and it really wasn’t the defense that we ran in the first half.”
In addition to problems getting plays called, the offense for some reason decided to largely go away from Christian McCaffrey in the 1st half. The issue seemed to be rectified in the 2nd when he saw 17 touches but on a critical failed 4th and inches late in the game Joe Brady called FB Alex Armah’s number instead. This kinds of mistakes should be cleaned up as the players and coaches get more experience working together, more concerning though was the complete lack of pressure from the front 4. That will need to improve drastically if they’re going to have any shot against the Bucs plethora of receiving weapons. Brady looked like a shell of himself in week one but if he’s able to get comfortable Evans, Godwin, Gronk, and Howard will eat Carolina’s secondary alive.
What to watch:
Carolina Pass Rush: It’s early in the season and several of these players are still trying to find their way in the NFL, but the pass rush has to be better than it was in week one where they tallied 2 hurries, no hits, and no sacks. Burns, Gross-Matos, Short, and Brown are going to determine whether this defense can tread water and give the Panthers offense a shot to win games or if they’ll drown in a sea of free running wideouts.
Baltimore AT Houston
The Ravens and Texans had polar opposite opening weeks. Baltimore cruised to a 32 point win against an over matched Browns team while the Texans didn’t at all resemble the team who has won the last two AFC South championships and 4 of the last 5. The only bright spot for Houston was the semi resurgence of David Johnson who finished with 109 yards and one touchdown. That was more than offset by the conspicuous absence of DeAndre Hopkins, which highlighted the overall ineffectiveness of the Texans passing game. Run defense is the one area where Baltimore really struggled against the Browns, unfortunately much like week one, it likely won’t matter.
Lamar Jackson has been a revelation since taking over for Joe Flacco midway through the 2018 season. Now joined by a healthy Marquise Brown and (hopefully) emerging Miles Boykin, the Ravens passing game looked effortless at home in week one. Baltimore got a scare when Ronnie Stanley left the game but as of Thursday afternoon he’s practicing and expected to play. Good news for the Ravens who could stand to clean up their pass protection a bit and get their historically great run game on track, bad news for the Texans gave up 138 yards to rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Look for a similar outcome to last year’s week 11 beatdown.
What to watch:
Baltimore Offensive Line: Nothing to overreact to but the Ravens gave up a bit of pressure against Cleveland, 7 hurries and 2 sacks. Part of that was due to Stanley leaving the game, partly because they started a rookie at RG, and partly because Cleveland has a talented defensive front. The line had their struggles run blocking as well, with Ingram, Dobbins, and Edwards combining for 3.2 ypc. The run game wasn’t really needed with the game out of hand early and Lamar beating the Browns defense at will, but we’d like to see a better performance ahead of the showdown with Kansas City in week 3.
Week Two Picks (will be updated later in the week):
Brodny (11-5)- Bengals, Tampa, Chicago, Atlanta, Green Bay, Tennessee, Minnesota, Buffalo, San Fran, Rams, Denver, Arizona, KC, Baltimore, NE, NO
Jose (11-5)- Browns, Rams, Cowboys, Buccs, 49ers, Broncos, Titans, Packers, Bills, Vikings, Cards, Ravens, Chiefs, Seahawks, Saints
Eric (10-6)- Bengals, Bears, Cowboys, Packers, Titans, Vikings, Bills, Jets, Broncos, TB, Cards, KC, Seahawks, Ravens, Rams, Saints
Jansen (12-4)- Bengals, Bears, Cowboys, Packers, Titans, Colts, Bills, 49ers, Rams, Steelers, Bucs, Cardinals, Chiefs, Ravens, Seahawks, Raiders
Brandi- Bengals, Tampa, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Green Bay, Tennessee, Indy, Buffalo, San Fran, Philly, Pitt, Washington, KC, Seattle, N.O