Week 2 Sucks

So every single game that I featured in last week’s blog I lost. Almost. Indy managed to pull it out in the end as efficiently as possible. Let me just say that one surprise pick that I didn’t include last week's blog was the Patties losing to the Jets. This will be my reigning theme throughout the season. The Patties are the worst good team I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t see them winning a Super Bowl with their current roster.

Last year the Patties were the #5 offense in the NFL and missed the playoffs. Arizona was #4 and lost the Super Bowl to the #1 defense in the league, Pittsburgh. The year before the phenomenal Pattie offense, easily #1 in the league, lost to the second best NFC defense in yards allowed. In the 2003 season, the Patties won the Super Bowl with a #4 ranked defense over the #5 ranked defense of Carolina. The Patriots repeated the following year with the #1 defense in points per game (14.9!!!). This doesn’t even come close to the top ten NFL defenses ever, but with a great decision maker at quarterback in Tom Brady, the Patties are bound to capitalize on good defense.

The style of offense the Patriots have run since the arrival of Randy Moss is a short pass sustained spread offense. While most teams use the establishment of a running game to set up the rest of their offense, the Patties use the short passing game to set up their long pass and draw runs. That’s not to say they can’t (or don’t) walk up to the line with two tight ends and pound the rock. They just choose not to. And when they score, they do it quickly and put their defense right back on the field.

I don’t see this spread style of offense as sustainable in the NFL. In recent memory, the only team to pull off a Super Bowl with that style offense was the ’99 St. Louis Rams. But they had a natural balance in the backfield in Marshal Faulk. No matter how many graphical statistics they create for him in game, Kevin Faulk doesn’t compare except in name. Seeing how Freddie Taylor ran against Buffalo early in week one’s game, I was a little worried they might have brought balance back, but it appears that the Evil Empire will continue down the path it’s chosen.

Now that Darth and the Emperor have been addressed, let’s look at some terrible results from this week.

Jacksonville over Arizona – What a joke. Okay, it wasn’t an all around joke. I just didn’t expect defensive/special teams points to come from Arizona, and this one got out of hand early. And since this game wasn’t on TV, I’m still asking myself if Arizona (and for that matter, San Fran’s Dee) is for real. Sure, the team scored a lot. But I still just don’t know whether to pick them in upcoming matchups. Either way, I was way off the mark with this one.

Tampa Bay over Buffalo – I was having multiple flashbacks at the end of the first half of this game. Buffalo dominated nearly every aspect and seemed to be handing it away again. Going into the locker room I was ready to burn all of my Buffalo Bill paraphernalia and call it the quits. Seriously. So I ended up emotionally disconnecting myself for the second half, which is a shame, because there was a lot to cheer about. The Bills looked great on offense, defense, and special teams throughout the game (except for before mentioned late first half). They actually repaired some old wounds with their second half showing. Now if they start Freddy Jackson over Marshawn Lynch against the Saints, they’ll have an outside shot at winning. They won’t though. Trust me.

Seattle over San Francisco – Ugh. Seattle looked terrible! Even before Hasslebeck went out. I guess St. Louis is really as bad as they appear. San Fran is another monster all together. It’s going to be tougher and tougher to pick against them after the first two victories. Especially their next game on the road against Minnesota.

Cleveland over Denver – Yuck. Seriously, I never specifically want to see Denver win. I can’t believe their in first place again. They’ll likely beat the Raiders and be 3-0 to start the season. Then OMG we’re going to hear all the Bronco worshipers come out. Thanks a lot Cleveland.

I was 7 and 9 this week. That’s just awful. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one with problems, as the rest of the crew stumbled quite a bit. Unfortunately, I would have been even if the Chargers could have pulled out a win. What the heck does it take for them to beat a good team in the regular season? Oh well. Tomorrow I’ll try to decipher Week 3.