NFL Analysis: Week 2 Wrap-Up

Week 2 of the NFL season proved to be the one so big it couldn’t be confined to a single post. Either that, or TheSportsNotebook lacks all discretion in understanding what makes a story. However you explain it, our recap of Week 2 encompassed four posts, including this one.

This installment will serve to link you to the other three and clean up commentary on the seven remaining games that didn’t fall under the umbrella of the three other posts. Between them all, you can read up on all 16 games from Week 2.

WEEK 2 NFL ANALYSIS
Seattle’s Win Over San Francisco More About Sloppiness
Is The AFC West This Good Or The NFC East This Bad?
AFC Powers Struggling Early

OTHER WEEK 2 DIVISIONAL GAMES

Chicago 31 Minnesota 30: Sloppy game, with seven combined turnovers, but thrilling finish, as Jay Cutler hits Martellus Bennett for the winning touchdown with 18 seconds left. Biggest positive for Chicago is how well Cutler spread the ball around. Brandon Marshall was still the leading receiver, but Bennett and running back Matt Forte combined for 18 catches.

Cincinnati 20 Pittsburgh 10: The Steelers may as well just junk the running game and put the rest of the season in Ben Roethlisberger’s hands. This offense just has a lot of problems right now. Cincy didn’t look great, but they were good enough to win on Monday night at home.

New Orleans 16 Tampa Bay 14: Tampa got its running game going, with Doug Martin leading an attack that produced 160 yards. Josh Freeman remains a mess, though, and it allowed Drew Brees to hook up with Jimmy Graham often enough (10 catches, 179 yards) to get a winning field goal on the last play and steal a divisional road win.

FOUR MORE NOTABLE GAMES FROM WEEK 2

Buffalo 24 Carolina 23: There’s every reason to be impressed with the Buffalo offense. E.J. Manuel was efficient, at 27/39 for 296 yards, and he was clutch, leading a drive to the winning touchdown with two seconds left. And C.J. Spiller got loose for 103 yards on 16 carries against a Carolina defense that had collared Marshawn Lynch in Week 1.

Miami 24 Indianapolis 20: The Fish are 2-0 with both wins on the road, but the other one was at Cleveland, so I’m not overly excited yet. My takeaway is regarding Indianapolis. They barely survived Oakland last week and now lose to Miami this week, both games at home.

he come-down-to-earth theory seems to be holding up for the Colts after the magic ride of 2012. And this game continues the hold the city of Miami has on Indianapolis in sports, including the last two years in the NBA playoffs.

Atlanta 31 St. Louis 24: Great day for Matt Ryan and Julio Jones—the latter had 11 catches for 182 yards in Roddy White’s absence, but I’m again impressed by the way St. Louis fights from behind. They rallied from 11 down in the fourth quarter last week to win, and this time around they trailed 24-3 and pulled to within seven with 2:09 to go. I want to see the Rams start setting a better tone early, but Sam Bradford’s newfound comeback skills have to be heartening for the folks in St. Loo.

Arizona 25 Detroit 21: The Lions go on the road, play well and lead in the fourth quarter, but 101 yards worth of penalties do them in. Big surprise.

Here at TheSportsNotebook it was again a decent week in making picks against the moneyline, as is done for most every game. I ended up (+75) on the week, which brings me to plus (+157) for the season. I’m getting shut out in the big national showcase games, but grinding out some upsets (had San Diego over Philly at +265) to keep things moving forward.