??Jason’s Jewels?? Week 2 Recap

 

??Jason’s Jewels??

 

NFL Week 2 Recap

 

Thursday Night Football gave us the Bills at the Dolphins and the best I can say is that the first half didn’t disappoint.  

 

James Cook had 3 touchdowns in the first half as the Bills beat up on the Dolphins so bad that the Dolphins basically played out the last 5 minutes of the first half as if they had given up.  

 

Tua had 3 interceptions before leaving the game with another concussion.  I hope he can get well soon but after this latest concussion I sincerely hope he reevaluates his career.  

 

Bleacher Report is reporting this about his contract:

 

 

“Of note, he(Tua) still has $124 million of the $167 million in guarantees remaining. He would forfeit that money unless there was a customized settlement if he decided to retire while being medically cleared to play.

 

However, he would get to collect all of it if he was not medically cleared to play and forced into retirement.”

 

So there is an out for him to receive his money.  We shall see what the doctors say about his future at some point.  

 

The Bills looked great though. 

 

They entered the game as +2.5 point underdogs and they showed why the lines are just absolutely wrong sometimes.  

 

They were clearly the better team BEFORE Tua was knocked out of the game as they move to 2-0 on the season and look ready to capture another AFC East Division title.   

 

Speaking of 2-0 here is the list of teams that are sitting at 2-0 after two weeks of NFL action:

 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Houston Texans 

Los Angeles Chargers

Kansas City Chiefs 

Minnesota Vikings 

New Orleans Saints 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Seattle Seahawks 

 

8 teams out of 32 teams remain undefeated.  

 

As for the winless teams after two weeks:

 

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tennessee Titans

Denver Broncos

New York Giants 

Carolina Panthers

Los Angeles Rams 

 

9 teams out of 32 teams remain winless.  

 

The fun part is going to be which of the undefeated teams won’t make the playoffs. 

 

Which of the winless teams will make the playoffs? 

 

The Ravens and Bengals have both lost games they should have won so I expect better from both teams going forward.  The Ravens have Dallas this weekend and the Bengals have the Washington Commanders.  Stay tuned…….

 

The Pittsburgh Steelers sit atop the AFC North and as tough as that division will be who knows what will happen here by the end of the season.  

 

Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have their teams sitting at 2-0 right now.  

 

Sometimes stability is what is needed to see a QB succeed and while it is very early in the season it is good to see Darnold and Baker off to strong starts to help their teams gain some momentum early.  

 

If these two QBs can continue to trend in this direction then Tampa Bay and Minnesota very well could be in the mix come playoff time.  

 

The New Orleans Saints look absolutely insane right now.  They have scored on every possession they have had so far this season.  

 

They absolutely embarrassed the Dallas Cowboys in their home opener and Derek Carr is looking like the seasoned vet that he is.  

 

With Alvin Kamara still seemingly having his athleticism intact and the speedy Rashid Shaheed emerging as the #1 receiver in New Orleans this new offense under Klint Kubiak is looking electric and a lot of fun to watch.  

 

If their defense can hold up then I expect the Saints to be the surprise problem in the NFL this season.  

 

The Kansas City Chiefs will never beat the allegations.  

 

Yes, I know the Bengals shot themselves in the foot and gave away the game on Sunday at Burrowhead Stadium.  

 

It never fails though.  If the game is close at the end for the Chiefs they will get a favorable call from the officials that helps them gain a victory.  

 

They won’t beat the allegations.  Nothing I can do about that.  

 

Whether they threepeat or not remains to be seen.  

 

Either way, you better beat them good and take the whistle out of the officials hands.  

 

Otherwise you may end up sad and frustrated at the end of the game.  

 

It is what it is.  

 

Through the first two weeks of the season there have been less than 70 touchdown passes by quarterbacks so far.  

 

Here are some numbers on passing touchdowns in the first two weeks for reference which I got off of Twitter from Steve Palazzolo:

 

2019: 105

2020: 110

2021: 110

2022: 105

2023: 86

2024: 69

 

Now, I don’t know the cause of the downturn in passing touchdowns. 

 

My guess is mediocre QB play from top to bottom.  

 

The rushing touchdown numbers are roughly the same according to the NFL pundits who have discussed this downward trend.  

 

Lack of training camp repetitions, lack of talent, more mobile QBs, QBs that aren’t ready are all some of the many excuses being tossed out when this topic is discussed. 

 

Again, I have no clue as to why no one can throw the ball anymore.  

 

I do know that this makes those who can complete passes (New Orleans Saints) look even better and more competent.  

 

Hopefully it is just a training camp issue and things get to moving how we expect them to move amongst our QBs.  

 

If Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold are going to be the best QBs not named Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen then it could be a long and very strange year.  

 

The Arizona Cardinals may be better than expected.  Keep an eye out on them.  I don’t want to overreact but the Cardinals will not be one of the worst teams in the league if they can stay somewhat healthy.  

 

The worst team in the league is likely the Carolina Panthers.  

 

Having already benched Bryce Young and promoted Andy Dalton I do hope the Panthers do right by Young and allow him to learn and develop properly.  

 

It’s way too early to give up on him.  

 

My Lock of the Week last week was none other than the Dallas Cowboys at -6.5 over the New Orleans Saints.  

 

Shew.  Took it on the head last Sunday.   

 

That moves my Lock of the Week to 1-1-0 on the season and 16-5-1 overall.   

 

My Underdog of the Week was the New England Patriots at +3.5 against the Seattle Seahawks.   They did cover that spread but my moneyline sprinkle was snuffed as the Seahawks did win the game.  

 

That moves my Underdog of the Week to 1-1-0 and my money line sprinkles are 0-2 so far.  

 

This week there are a lot of interesting spreads.  I like more than one underdog and we are locking in two underdogs this week.  

 

As for my Lock of the Week I am going to roll with the New Orleans Saints after they humbled me last week.  I don’t trust Philadelphia’s defense to slow down the Saints in the Superdome.  The spread is Saints -1.5 and I think they can at least win by a field goal.  

 

Lock it in.  Lock of the Week. Saints at -1.5 over the Eagles.  

 

As for my underdogs I have two for you this week.  

 

First up I like the Vikings at home over the Texans and the Vikings are a +2.5 home dog.   The Vikings defense had the San Francisco 49ers on the ropes the whole game.  I expect the same sort of thing with the Texans next week.  I will be sprinkling this money line as well.  

 

Second choice for my Underdog of the Week will be the Arizona Cardinals I just spoke about earlier.  

 

They are at +3 against the Detroit Lions and again this is a home game for the Cardinals who have looked stronger than expected.  The Lions have shown some vulnerability through the air and the Cardinals have shown that they can be versatile through the air.  I’ll be sprinkling this money line as well.  

 

That’s all I got for this week.  Once Week 3 is complete I’ll break out the first Real Teams, Fake Teams, Real Fake Teams list as we should have enough data to make an informed list for 2024.   

 

Forget what happened last season.  A new season has began and it is time we all adapt and move on from what we learned about these teams last season.   

 

Y’all be easy.  ✌?