Big Herm
Pretty much a regular
This will be my first week of posts, ready to get it started after seeing how things shook out in week 1. I like 3 early games at 2 units apiece.
Tenn PK -
Tennessee's D is stout and last year was 5th in Rush Yards PG allowed and top 10 in pass yards and points allowed. The Titans had 7 sacks and will pressure Palmer all day long. On the offensive side of the ball, Young is out, but I am not sure that will hurt the Titans much. They will likely still rely on rookie Chris Johnson and TE Bo Scaife to dump off passes, similar to what Baltimore did to them last week as they completed 7 of their 15 passes to RBs and TEs. The difference between Collins and Young is that Collins will be able to take some chances down field and perhaps spark a big play at some point.
Cincy's defense needs to pressure Collins to make something happen today, I just don't think they are capable. Cincy's offense needs to establish the run today, but I just don't think the Chris Perry/Kenny Watson combo is going to suffice. Tenn was 5-3 on the road last year, so they have proven that they can go into another stadium and take a victory. I'm rolling with the team that I think is much better in Tenn.
GB -3
Green Bay was 13-3 last year, 6-2 on the road. There is little doubt in my mind that they are a far superior team to Detroit, basically because of the discrepency in defensive ability. Favre was obviously a key player on last year's offense, but is Aaron Rodgers really that big of a drop? He's unproven still, but was very effective when he needed to be last week against Minnesota and he isn't your typical first year starter as he has had time to adjust and get ready for the role. Detroit's defense is just terrible and Rodgers should be able to spread the ball around and get yards when he needs to. The real key to the game will be Detroit's offense vs. Green Bay's defense. GB was 6th in PPG against last year and certainly has the ability to at least contain Detroit's high powered offense. Kitna is a capable QB, but prone to the int, which could bite him in the ass today. GB has won the last five meetings by an average of 10 points(twice in Det), only once failing to cover a 3 point margin(push). I'll ride GB, who is once again underrated this season.
Carolina -3
I'm not sold on Chicago. It is certainly impressive how they went into Indy and took a game from a great team, but Indy came out flat and was not in synch, shooting themselves in the foot with a safety and a fumble that was returned for a TD. Mistakes like that will absolutley kill your momentum and in this case killed their chance for a victory. On paper it looks like CHI's run offense was fairly dominant, almost 200 yards rushing. If you take Forte's 50 yard TD, they just look like a team that was grinding out a victory after jumping out to a lead and kicking a few FGs. On all other carries, they average 3.5 yards - nothing special really. I expect Carolina to clamp down on the run and make Orton beat them passing the ball, which he can't do. Chicago's line is questionable as well, so perhaps Carolina's D comes up with a big, game-changing play at some point. Carolina will hit Chicago's defense with their dual-headed running attack and Delhomme is capable of spreading the ball around on offense and should be able to open up some down field throws to his WRs Muhammed and Hackett, who are both capable NFL WRs. As bad as Indy looked last week, they did complete 23 passes to their 3 WRs.
Tenn PK -
Tennessee's D is stout and last year was 5th in Rush Yards PG allowed and top 10 in pass yards and points allowed. The Titans had 7 sacks and will pressure Palmer all day long. On the offensive side of the ball, Young is out, but I am not sure that will hurt the Titans much. They will likely still rely on rookie Chris Johnson and TE Bo Scaife to dump off passes, similar to what Baltimore did to them last week as they completed 7 of their 15 passes to RBs and TEs. The difference between Collins and Young is that Collins will be able to take some chances down field and perhaps spark a big play at some point.
Cincy's defense needs to pressure Collins to make something happen today, I just don't think they are capable. Cincy's offense needs to establish the run today, but I just don't think the Chris Perry/Kenny Watson combo is going to suffice. Tenn was 5-3 on the road last year, so they have proven that they can go into another stadium and take a victory. I'm rolling with the team that I think is much better in Tenn.
GB -3
Green Bay was 13-3 last year, 6-2 on the road. There is little doubt in my mind that they are a far superior team to Detroit, basically because of the discrepency in defensive ability. Favre was obviously a key player on last year's offense, but is Aaron Rodgers really that big of a drop? He's unproven still, but was very effective when he needed to be last week against Minnesota and he isn't your typical first year starter as he has had time to adjust and get ready for the role. Detroit's defense is just terrible and Rodgers should be able to spread the ball around and get yards when he needs to. The real key to the game will be Detroit's offense vs. Green Bay's defense. GB was 6th in PPG against last year and certainly has the ability to at least contain Detroit's high powered offense. Kitna is a capable QB, but prone to the int, which could bite him in the ass today. GB has won the last five meetings by an average of 10 points(twice in Det), only once failing to cover a 3 point margin(push). I'll ride GB, who is once again underrated this season.
Carolina -3
I'm not sold on Chicago. It is certainly impressive how they went into Indy and took a game from a great team, but Indy came out flat and was not in synch, shooting themselves in the foot with a safety and a fumble that was returned for a TD. Mistakes like that will absolutley kill your momentum and in this case killed their chance for a victory. On paper it looks like CHI's run offense was fairly dominant, almost 200 yards rushing. If you take Forte's 50 yard TD, they just look like a team that was grinding out a victory after jumping out to a lead and kicking a few FGs. On all other carries, they average 3.5 yards - nothing special really. I expect Carolina to clamp down on the run and make Orton beat them passing the ball, which he can't do. Chicago's line is questionable as well, so perhaps Carolina's D comes up with a big, game-changing play at some point. Carolina will hit Chicago's defense with their dual-headed running attack and Delhomme is capable of spreading the ball around on offense and should be able to open up some down field throws to his WRs Muhammed and Hackett, who are both capable NFL WRs. As bad as Indy looked last week, they did complete 23 passes to their 3 WRs.
