Week 2 gave us some thrilling games. Unfortunately, I ended up on the wrong side of several of those. Pain. Agony. Horror. With one saving grace. Check it out:
Pain
I want to focus on the OT games in this section. First, Chargers/Titans. This matchup is the epitome of a lose-lose situation. You’ve got the Chargers, good roster but always find a way to lose if you need them to win. Then there’s the Titans, a largely uninspiring group, but they’ll mess around and win against just about anybody. You’d think that a high-flying offense like the Chargers would have no issue scoring in OT, but instead of any intelligent play design, Justin Herbert just aired it out thrice and walked away from this one a loser. Me too.
I feel less bad about the Lions falling to the Seahawks. After all, it was a bit of a coin flip. It is sort of refreshing to see that Geno Smith can still play; I certainly had some doubts after Week 1. I’m not even that mad about this one, my only regret is not starting Tyler Lockett in fantasy (in favor of what I thought was a cheeky last minute pick up of Josh Kelley who would of course put up Ekeler-like numbers in his absence thanks a lot Chargers). I think we can all celebrate the fact that neither of these games ended in a tie. I hate ties. ABOLISH THE TIE GOODELL YOU COWARD.
Agony
Ah, the agony. Only one game is gonna fall in this category, Ravens/Bengals. Again, this is a game that you really just have to take a guess on, and my logic was: Ravens injured + Bengals can’t be that bad two weeks in a row. I guess none of that matters, although the Bengals did play a little better this week, making this a close one.
Horror
This one’s for the comebacks. I watched in horror as some of the games I thought were pretty safe slowly faded into big fat Ls. First, the Packers. The Packers may be victims of the Bears Effect. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s something like this: Team plays the Bears in previous week, beats up on ‘em real good. Then, they play an actual NFL team the next week and maybe they’re a little underwhelming. I don’t know, right now it’s just a theory.
Imagine me, sitting smug on my couch as I’m watching the Cardinals decimate the Giants early. Perfect revenge for their lousy offensive production against Dallas. As a bonus, I’m playing against Saquon in fantasy and he’s not exactly doing much. Now, imagine me an hour later watching in horror as the Giants flipped the script in the second half and began chipping away at the lead. And then the game-winning field goal. I’ve never been so upset about a game between two bottom-5 teams.
Last but not least, I got a friendly reminder that the Russel Wilson Broncos are not to be trusted. I definitely should’ve given him the nod in fantasy, but that’s entirely beside the point. This one didn’t make me that mad, I didn’t even remember who I picked at first actually.
Browns @ Steelers
The one miss I could care less about. Firstly, we hope that Nick Chubb has a full recovery from his gruesome injury. Nobody wants to see something like that happen. On a game related note, what a roller coaster. 6 total turnovers, mostly bad offense, wacky plays, you name it. It was even crazy for AFC North standards. Seeing the defense play out of their minds was a refreshing sight after the woes of Week 1. Of course, there were still plenty of blown plays and each and every one of them put me one step closer to insanity. In the end, there may or may not have been a missed call, in this sort of instance I’d say let ‘em play. If the situation was flipped I’d probably have a hand written letter on Roger Goodell’s desk before he got to work tomorrow. It’s all about perspective.
The Wins
Vikings/Eagles – Hey, Kirk wasn’t bad. Too bad his defense was. Eagles must’ve woke up and had a Bloody Mary because there is no Super Bowl hangover there.
Raiders/Bills – Told ya so. Bills are back.
Chiefs/Jaguars – Would’ve liked to see some more scoring? I dunno. This was supposed to be a highlight match this week, it was more of an afterthought.
Colts/Texans – Both teams playing better than I anticipated. Unfortunate for the Colts is that Anothony Richardson is in concussion protocol. Fortunate for the Colts is that Gardner Minshew is a pretty solid backup.
Bears/Buccaneers – Bears bad. Bucs mid.
Niners/Rams – Okay the Rams might be back? They didn’t win this one of course but Matthew Stafford is whipping the ball around and this young group of recovers is performing well – all without Cooper Kupp. In a weaker than normal NFC, watch out for the Rams. The Niners are of course, pretty good.
Jets/Cowboys – Thought it’d be a little closer. Zach Wilson had some decent play but it’s pretty obvious he’s not the guy. Do we get to see the Cowboys play a real offense sometime? Looks like not until Week 5 at San Francisco.
Dolphins/Patriots – Limiting the Fins to 24 isn’t too bad of a day. Only putting up 17 on a average defense won’t cut it. I don’t think the Pats are bad, just incredibly mid.
Saints/Panthers – Not much to say on this one as I was pretty invested in the Pittsburgh game. Saints won, that’s all I care about.
World’s Worst Gambler?
So close to another winless week! 1-2 on the week which brings my season total to 1-5. I already touched on the Packers loss, so I won’t reiterate any points on that front. Niners were barely able to cover the -7 with the Rams hanging around all day. As for the Chiefs/Jags over, absolute fat L. Oh well, on to the next one. Week 3 Power Rankings out tomorrow.
Strong Side Sports 