NFL Week 2 Results

We had a few surprises in week 2 and a few teams are shaping up to be much improved over last season.  Just when you think New England looks even better than last year, they have a weak game against Arizona.  San Francisco is looking very formidable and the Saints are in trouble early on.  We will be back later in the week with the most current odds from America’s Bookie and a short preview of the games in week 3. 

Thursday September 13, 2012

Chicago Bears 10       Green Bay Packers 23

Green Bay snapped back from their week 1 loss to San Francisco with a win over the Bears.  The Chicago OL definitely didn’t make things easy for Jay Cutler, giving up 7 sacks in the game.  It wasn’t a bad outing but still not the kind of numbers we are used to seeing out of Aaron Rodgers who went 22 of 32 passing for 219 yards.  He had 1 TD and 1 pick in the game.  Cutler made the first game look like a fluke as he had a dismal passer rating of 28.2.  As mentioned the sacks didn’t help, but some of the blame has to be on Cutler who had only 1 TD pass and 4 interceptions.

Sunday September 16, 2012

New Orleans Saints 27      Carolina Panthers 35

The Saints are off to an 0-2 start and showing that they have fundamental problems beyond bounty gate.  This is not exactly a stunning loss as most speculated that the Panthers would take a big step forward in Cam Newton’s second season in the NFL.  Newton was 14 of 20 for 253 yards and a TD.  He also rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown.  Dree Brees threw for 325 yards and a TD but had 2 picks on the day.  The Saints started to come alive in the 4^th quarter but it was too little, too late as they came up short.

Houston Texans 27      Jacksonville Jaguars 7

Despite Houston being the road team, this game played out just as most fans would have expected.  The far better team had very little problem handling their opponent in this contest.  Arian Foster rushed for 110 yards and 1 TD while Ben Tate ran for 74 yards and 2 TD’s but this was definitely the D’s day as they held Jacksonville to a franchise-low 117 total yards.  DE J.J. Watt led the effort with five tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, a fumble recovery, three quarterback pressures and two pass deflections at the line of scrimmage.

Tampa Bay Bucs 34      New York Giants 41

It looked like the Giants were going to start the year 0-2 but Eli Manning shook off a rough first half to lead New York back for the win.  Manning finished the game with a career high 525 yards passing and 3 TD’s to counter those first half picks.  The Bucs showed that they have a serious team this year but they will have to figure out a way to close out games like this after having a 14 point lead.

Cleveland Browns 27      Cincinnati Bengals 34

It turned out to be a pretty exciting game in what shaped up to look like a snoozer.  Andy Dalton was 24 of 31 for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win.  Good performance by the Browns though as Brandon Weeden shook off his poor performance in game 1 to complete 26 of 37 passes for 322 yards and 2 TD’s.  This was the most yards ever by a Browns rookie QB.  Trent Richardson also turned in a great performance on the ground and in the air.  He had 109 yards rushing and a touchdown and also had 4 catches and a TD.  Cleveland is shaping up to have a pretty good team down the road.

Oakland Raiders 13      Miami Dolphins 35

This was a surprising win by the Dolphins although the Raiders aren’t exactly that tough.  I said before the season began that their success or failure was going to depend on Reggie Bush.  With the rookie QB, Bush is going to have to shoulder the load.  He didn’t disappoint as he had 172 yards rushing and 2 TD’s.  The biggest improvement for Tannehill this week is that he didn’t make mistakes.  He got his 1^st regular season TD pass and had not interceptions on the day.  The defense looked good.  Maybe if the Fins can play tough D and get production out of Bush they will have an ok season.

Kansas City Chiefs 17      Buffalo Bills 35

The Bills looked much better in game 2 but we have to remember that they are playing the Chiefs, who are looking worse than expected after their first 2 games.  Buffalo’s defense came to life in this one recording 5 sacks causing 3 turnovers.  C.J. Spiller led the offense with 123 yards rushing and 2 TD’s.  Fitzpatrick didn’t have big numbers but he didn’t make mistakes in the game either.  He threw for 178 yards and 2 TD’s.  If the Bills can continue to get solid rushing performances out of Spiller it will greatly help Fitzpatrick.  He isn’t good enough of a QB to take the team on his back.

Baltimore Ravens 23      Philadelphia Eagles 24

I just had a feeling Philly win this one.  I think Baltimore is the better team but they tend to let down in week 2 or lose when they should win.  It really puzzles you how the Ravens let Philly get the win with Vick getting 2 interceptions, LeSean McCoy losing a fumble and the Eagles sputtering 3 times in the red zone.  Vick erased the turnovers with that TD run to go ahead with 1:55 left in the game and the Eagles are sitting at 2-0 going into a big NFC East showdown against the Giants next week.  Joe Flacco had a tough day, managing a QB rating of only 68.  Ray Rice had 99 yards on the afternoon for Baltimore.  The Ravens will be ok, but they sure make it tough trying to predict their games.

Minnesota Vikings 20      Indianapolis Colts 23

Andrew Luck has his 1^st regular season win in the books and he had a good amount of help from the Vikings for the win.  Luck was 20 of 31 for 224 yards and 2 TD’s.  Not a bad game for QB Christian Ponder in the losing effort.  He was 27 of 35 for 245 yards and 2 TD’s on the day.  I like Indy big time before this game.  They are going to be a much improved team and we will see more respect from the oddsmakers, especially at home.

Arizona Cardinals 20      New England Patriots 18

This was a shocker that had to have made all the sportsbooks happy.  Or not.  I covered with my under here because I really couldn’t see laying 13 ½ on the Patriots, but I also couldn’t see betting against them at home.  The Pats still had a chance to win it late but Stephen Gostkowski missed a 42 yarder clinching the win for Arizona.  This one is very puzzling as New England looked very strong in their opener and looked like they had patched any holes from last year.  Oh well, it’s just week 2 and I still fully expect the Pats to be competing for the AFC championship come January.

Washington Redskins 28      St. Louis Rams 31

Good performance out of Sam Bradford for the Rams.  He didn’t get rattled when Washington got out to the quick lead and were up by 15 points in the second quarter.  He remained poised and finished the game with 310 yards and 3 TD’s.  Even more impressive about the win was that Steven Jackson was out for most of the last 3 quarters.  Not a bad followup to his debut effort by RG3.  This was not a terrible loss as we are going to see as the season goes on that the Rams are a tough team this year.

Dallas Cowboys 7      Seattle Seahawks 27

This game was all Seattle as the Seahawks shook off that opening season loss and roughed up Tony Romo all afternoon for the win.  QB Russell Wilson had an error free game as Marshawn Lynch led the offense with 122 yards rushing and a TD.  The defense made Tony Romo look more like Tony Romo.  It really makes you wonder how these guys were able to get the win over New York last week.  The Seahawks weren’t playing around and jumped on them quickly.  Felix Jones fumbled the opening kickoff for Dallas which led to 3.  Then Malcolm Smith blocked Chris Jones’ punt and Jeron Johnson ran it in for a touchdown to give Seattle a 10-0 lead in the first 5 minutes.  Teams better not overlook Seattle this year or they will definitely be sorry.

Tennessee Titans 10      San Diego Chargers 38

Good win for the Chargers as we really thought the Titans would give them more of a game.  Philip Rivers hooked up with Dante Rosario for 3 TD passes to lead San Diego to the win.  Rivers had a good outing and didn’t let 4 sacks shake him.  He finished with 284 yards, 3 TD’s and a QB rating of 119.  It was not a great day for his counterpart Jake Locker.  Locker completed only 50% of his passes for 174 yards.  He was equal on the TD’s and picks with 1-1 and ended with a passer rating of 68.  The Chargers are off to a 2-0 start but let’s wait and see.  They are famous for their collapses and we will just say that we are cautiously optimistic with San Diego so far.

New York Jets 10      Pittsburgh Steelers 27

The Jets were not able to build on their week 1 win and came back to reality facing the Steelers in Pittsburgh.  Mark Sanchez was back to being Mark Sanchez as he completed 10 of 27 passes for 138 yards.  I hope he was paying attention and taking notes from Big Ben.  This tough guy is what you look for in a QB.  He completed 78% of his passes for 275 yards and 2 TD’s.  New York went up 10-6 early on but once the Pittsburgh D got a read on them that was it for the afternoon.  Great effort by Ike Tayler stepping in for an injured Troy Polamalu.  He did a good job of pushing Santonio Holmes around all game.

Detroit Lions 19      San Francisco 49ers 27

Another good win for the Niners over a plucky Detroit Lions team.  San Fran looks like it has added scoring to their impressive resume of a year ago.  Alex Smith is coming into his game nicely getting a passer rating of 108 on the evening.  He was 20 of 31 for 226 yards and 2 TD’s.  The Niners’ defense continues to feast on the top QB’s in the league.  They held Matthew Stafford to 230 yards passing with only a single TD and 1 pick.  This defense seems not to have missed a step since the finish of last season.  If this offense of San Francisco continues to click this will be a long season for opponents.

Keep up with the action at NFL Scores and Odds.