Sanders's Week 2 Game Predictions!

NFL Week 2 Predictions

 Writer's note: This WILL BE EDITED mid way through Sunday's game as the afternoon predictions will not have been written yet. Nothing will be change as I want to be kept honest and would like to see how good my predictions are as well as my football/analyst knowledge. :)

Week 1 is in the bag and Week 2 is already here with some spicy matchups already. I have tried considering whether or not to judge teams so early on by dominant performance but then I remember teams like the 4-0 Cardinals a few season back went to finish 5-11 or that the chiefs who started 1-5 last year finished 10-6. It’s like Coach Bellichick said in the offseason; he won’t even know his own team until October and what their strengths are so it’s hard to judge after just one game of action. With that in mind, I will be taking strong and weak performance from every team with a grain of salt.

ON THE PREDICTIONS

Sanders is 12-4 on the season with his predictions

Jets vs Bills

Yes, yes I know this post is late so I won’t do any analyzing but I will post a screenshot of my Facebook post to show you I made a prediction before the game started as I was super busy with college and homework and couldn’t write predictions until an hour before the games started on Sunday.

San Francisco 49ers vs Carolina Panthers

Not gonna lie, I was impressed by the 28-0 shut up the 9ers gave to the LA Rams. However, this just means they won’t be the 3-13 team I thought they will be and might chalk up 6 wins instead of 3. As for Carolina, they were about to win the Super Bowl 50 rematch until Denver made an amazing two minute drive down the field to score the game ending field goal. Carolina is just the better team here unless Chip Kelly outcoaches Ron Rivera or Carolina suffers a massive collapse. Carlos Hyde needs to have another monster day if the 9ers hope to outscore  the Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin connection.

Key Matchup: 49ers ground game vs Panthers front seven

49ers 16 Panthers 31

Baltimore Ravens vs Cleveland Browns

Seen a few people believe the Browns can beat the Ravens because Josh McCown is playing. That is laughable for two reasons. 1. The Ravens Offense looks much better this year while the Browns D looks awful and headed for the 32^nd best defense by the end of the season. 2. McCown didn’t face a Ravens pass rush last year and Baltimore has Suggs back to wreck havoc in the pocket this time around.

The Ravens shouldn’t have a problem winning this game even with it being in Cleveland. Also, Joe Flacco is 13-3 against the Browns. Make it 14-3 after this week.

Key Matchup: Cleveland Passing Game vs Baltimore Secondary

Ravens 20  Browns10

Tennessee Titans vs Detriot Lions

It’s tought to judge the Detriot Lions defense. They looked dominant in the first half but seemed to crumble in the second half against the Colts. However, Andrew Luck is just amazing enough that he can destroy any defense he wants at will so I will give the Lions the benefit of the doubt and wait a couple more games to judge. The same goes for the Titans as  their “exotic smashmouth” offense was anything but exotic last week however it was against the Vikings who have one of the best defense in the NFL continuing their trend from last year. The big key decision for me is that Matt Stafford looked like a beast in his last 8 games last year and he continued that streak in week 1. I believe in Matt Stafford this year. About time he realized his full potential.

Key Matchup: Tennessee WRs vs Lions Secondary

Titans 20  Lions 27

Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Texans

The Chiefs offense made an incredible comeback last week. In addition Alex Smith made 48 PASS ATTEMPTS. The big 4-8. Whoever would have thought it would be Alex Smith having a shootout with Philip Rivers to win the game. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the Chiefs look good but its worrisome that the Chiefs didn’t receive any momentum until the Chargers were depleted of some of their best players. While I believe the Chiefs are the better team overall, I feel that the Texans have a defense good enough to stop the Chiefs offense in their tracks and an offense good enough to beat the Chiefs big D. It’s only Week 2 but I think we can call this prediction on upset.

Key Matchup: Texans front seven vs Chiefs O-line

Chiefs 23 Texans 24

Miami Dolphins vs New England Patriots

I hate to say it, but I am pretty sure my predictions with games concerning the Dolphins will always be short unless they are playing bad teams. In accordance, I will continue a theme to sum up my feelings on the Dolphins. Until the Dolphins can prove me otherwise, they are a mediocre team that will be beaten by superior teams every time. The Patriots are a superior team and they just beat the most loaded roster in the NFL at home, on Sunday Night, WITHOUT TOM BRADY OR ROB GRONKOWSKI. A literal WTF is deserved here. Bellichick is just that good at coaching.

Key Matchup: Dolphins Passing Game vs Patriots Secondary

Dolphins 14 Patiors 24

New Orlean Saints vs New York Giants

This was a classic shooutout last year. If anyone remembers, the score was 49-52 in last year’s clash. However, I can’t say it will be the same this year. It’s hard to judge whether Drew Brees’s offense is that good this year, or the Raiders D just sucks when the Saints put up 34 points this year. I am airing on the side of caution and saying the Saints offense is pretty good but with such a poor defense, the Giants offense can rack up the score as well. When it comes down to it, the game will depend on which defense can prevent more points.

Key matchup: Saints D vs Giants D; who gives up less points?

Saints 27 Giants 31

Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers

An AFC North division rivalry game. Better yet, a look into a possible AFC Championship playoff game. Both teams looked solid last week. Well one looked solid and the other looked great. The Bengals escaped the Jets by one point  going 23-22 while the Steelers ran off with their win 38-16. However, I think the Jets are just that good and the Redskins just aren’t that good in comparison to the Steelers so it’s unfair to think the Steelers can see the same results against the Bengals. This game will be a shootout between Dalton and Roethlisberger but it’s hard to say who wins. I’ll take the Steelers as I believe Antonio Brown is superior to A.J. Green.

Key Matchup: Antonio Browns/AJ Green vs Bengals Secondary/Steelers Secondary

Bengals 30  Steelers 31

Dallas Cowboys vs Washington Redskins

Dak Prescott looked impressive in his very first NFL game but he wasn’t amazing by any means. It was not his fault the Cowboys lost the game, but he missed some obvious throws and open receivers that veteran QBs would have seen. Kirk Cousins looked just okay in his debut game of a make-or-break season. However, one thing can be said the same for both teams; their defense are straight up BAD. I don’t think this game will be a shootout but it could be a higher scoring affair between both offenses. I will take the Cowboys to win because they have a balanced offense while the Redskins can’t seem to figure out the running game and must rely on Cousins to carry them through a passing attack. That spells bad news for the Redskins as they struggled in the redzone last week.

Key Matchup: Redskins redzone offense vs Cowboys redzone defense

Cowboys 24  Redskins 21

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Arizona Cardinals

I’ll be quick. If the Bucs were at home, I would pick the Bucs. The Patriots picked apart the Arizona secondary without their starters and the Bucs offense has the potential to be extremely dangerous this year. However, the Cardinals are at home and I refuse to believe they lose 2 home games in a row or that Bruce Arians lets his team lose 2 in a row. This is the Cardinals we are talking about after all. The talent is supreme on this team.

Key Matchup: Bucs Wide Receivers vs Cardinals Secondary.

Bucs 21 Cards 30

Seattle Seahawks vs LA Rams

The Rams couldn’t have thought of a worse beginning to their season. Very disappointing performance by both the Rams O and D against the 49ers. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have their own worry as they did very little on offense till the very end of the game against the Dolphins last week. However, because the Rams don’t have an identity and the Seahawks do, I’ll take the Hawks to win.

KeyMatchup: Todd Gurley vs Seahawks front seven

Seahawks 16 Rams 10

Indianapolis Colts vs Denver Broncos

Ah, an unstoppable force vs an immovable object. Well, sort of. I don’t think the Colts offense is an unstoppable force but Andrew Luck can be when he is at his peak level perforamance. Whether Denvers defense allows that is a different story. I was impressed by Trevor Siemian though against a tough Carolina defense. I want to see what he can do against a talentless Colts D and if he can take advantage.

Key Matchup: Andrew Luck vs Denver D

Colts 24 Denver 27

Atlanta Falcons vs Oakland Raiders

So Matt Ryan had a decent day last week. The rest of his team didn’t. Yikes! Meanwhile the Raiders made a miracle comeback with Derek Carr leading the way and this offense looks to only get better. I’m looking for another shootout between Matt Ryan and Derek Carr. This should be a fun one.

Key Matchup: Matt Ryan vs Derek Carr

Falcons 24 Raiders 27

Jacksonville Jaguars vs San Diego Chargers

Another season, another year when San Diego suffers the injury bug. The question is whether Rivers can force production from his WR group. I think he can. The guy is a great QB that’s always been undermined by team injuries or poor defensive play. As for Jacksonville, the offense lived up to its hype in the first week against the Packers however they couldn’t close out the game. Not a red flag but we’ll have to see how they grow from there. I think Jacksonville takes over San Diego’s poor defense.

Jaguars 31 Chargers 21

Green Bay Packers vs Minnesota Vikings

This game should be hella fun. Aaron Rodgers loaded offense vs Vikings great big D. However, I have a lot of concerns for the Packers going into this game. First, Nelson has returned but all of the big plays came from Rodgers improvising last week. The receivers STILL can’t get open on initial reads but the combination of good blocking and Rodgers magic keeps plays alive. I don’t know how that will work against the Vikings defense. As for the opposite sides of the ball, the Packers have a pretty good D and Bradford is starting. Who knows what is happening there. The big key is that AP must be stopped and Bradford must be forced to make the plays. If he can’t, I see the Pack getting the win.

Packers 24  Vikings 21

Philadelphia Eagles vs Chicago Bears

Wentz looked very good last week even if he was playing a mediocre Browns defense. I think he should continue his streak of good performance against the Bears. The Bears have some playmakers but not enough to overwhelm Wentz. They will definitely test his mettle but I think he can pull it off.

Key Matchup: Bears O-line vs Eagles D-line

Eagles 20  Bears 16