As we prepare for week 2 of the 2017 NFL season, Packernet has decided to put our predictive powers to the test. Each week we will give you our picks and see how we stack up.
*Special guest predictions by Tecmo Bowl*
Tennessee Titans (0-1) at Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0)
Line: Titans by 1.5. Total: 43.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Jaguars
If this were week 1, I would be taking the Titans without even thinking. That said, I picked the Jags last week because they are underrated. They rewarded my kind words with a 10 sack performance. The Titans, on the other hand, went on to demonstrate how to not move the ball against the Raiders, a feat no other team has been able to achieve.
Confident pick? No. But if the Jaguars can play smart by pounding the ground game as well as continuing to play stiff defense, they should win this game at home.
Jon’s Pick: Titans
Until Jacksonville beats a team that isn’t terrible, I’ll take the other team, and Tennessee isn’t terrible, so Tennessee.
Tecmo Sim: Titans 27 Jaguars 10
Bortles completes 41% of his passes for 182 yards and a pick. Burn.
Cleveland Browns (0-1) at Baltimore Ravens (1-0)
Line: Ravens by 7.5. Total: 41.
Ryan’s Pick: Ravens
This one is actually a lot harder than it should be. I liked the way the Browns played in week 1 and an upset wouldn’t surprise me. It would make me mad I didn’t pick them but not really surprise me.
The Ravens didn’t grade well at all on offense via PFF, and the Browns have a top offensive line, a good ground game, and a pretty impressive looking quarterback.
Still, there’s no way I’m taking the 0-1 Browns, on the road against the team that just shut out the Bengals.
Jon’s Pick: Browns
I’m taking Cleveland for an upset this week. Flacco is not in regular season shape yet, and although the defense blanked Cincinnati last week, Thursday night showed us that it was probably because the Bengals are awful more than the Ravens defense being that incredible.
Tecmo Sim: Browns 12 Ravens 24
Jon and are are both unsure of the Ravens in this game. Tecmo is not. The Ravens walked away with this game early and never looked back.
Buffalo Bills (1-0) at Carolina Panthers (1-0)
Line: Panthers by 7. Total: 42.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Bills
This game is going to come down to which team can overcome the other teams defense. Although you look at the Bills and say, they can’t pass the ball, their weapons on the outside are brand new. Jordan Matthews only caught 2 balls but they went for over 60 yards. Rookie Zay Jones had the most targets on the team. You have to assume this will improve every week and the Panthers don’t exactly have an elite DB group.
Beyond all that, none of it really matters because the Bills don’t pass. Between McCoy, Tolbert, and Taylor, they ran the ball 42 times for 190 yards. On the other side, the Panthers have made McCaffrey their running back, kick returner, and top receiver. They also ran a ton, rushing 38 times compared to just 24 passes.
Ultimately, in the battle of the run game, I’m taking McCoy over McCaffrey.
Jon’s Pick: Panthers
I’ll take the Panthers at home. I don’t think Buffalo is good enough to put 20+ on Carolina, and barring something crazy with a safety, Carolina should score at least 17 this Sunday.
Tecmo Sim: Bills 31 Panthers 28
Every went exactly as you would expect with the exception of the Bills offense. LeSean McCoy was absolutely unstoppable and carried the team to victory.
New England Patriots (0-1) at New Orleans Saints (0-1)
Line: Patriots by 6.5. Total: 54.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Patriots
I’m hopeful the Saints can pull out a victory but I don’t see it. The patriots have an incredible ability to adjust and win football games, especially after a loss.
Jon’s Pick: Patriots
The Patriots are better on defense than they played against KC in week 1. The Saints are spending all of their money on Brees, and he can’t win the game by himself. On top of that, consider all the statistical reasons to not bet against the Patriots coming off a loss. They’re looking for blood this week.
Tecmo Sim: Patriots 17 Saints 21
According to the almighty Tecmo, Coby Fleener is going to carve up the Patriots going for over 100 yards.
Arizona Cardinals (0-1) at Indianapolis Colts (0-1)
Line: Cardinals by 7.5. Total: 44.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Cardinals
You can feel the Cardinals imploding and it’s unfortunate for them. Still, I see no way whatever players are remaining for the Cardinals will play bad enough to lose to the Colts, even with Brissett playing.
Jon’s Pick: Cardinals
Arizona, and by a lot. I don’t think this game warrants an explanation.
Tecmo Sim: Cardinals 35 Colts 28
The Colts had a fantastic comeback but in the end, the clock just ran out.
Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) at Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)
Line: Chiefs by 4.5. Total: 47.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Chiefs
Week 1 won’t happen again but I think the Chiefs have some elite pieces and one of the few coaches that can turn those pieces into lethal weapons. Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and now Kareem Hunt are all capable weapons and Andy Reid is Bruce Lee. Maybe Haru is more fitting… Just google “Haru ninja”. It’ll be worth it.
Jon’s Pick: Eagles
Philadelphia wins on the road this week. Alex Smith did not suddenly become an elite quarterback. Philadelphia will play far better defense than the Patriots played in week 1. The Eagles offense is certainly good enough to do what the Patriots did, and I believe they will.
Tecmo Sim: Eagles 14 Chiefs 10
Just like that the Chiefs come crashing back to earth. Kareem Hunt doesn’t get 100 yards from scrimmage.
Minnesota Vikings (1-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
Line: Steelers by 6. Total: 45.
Ryan’s Pick: Steelers
This is really really tough. The Steelers have maybe the best weapons on offense of any team in the NFL with Bell and Brown. They nearly lost to the Browns but it’s week 1 and big Ben is notoriously terrible on the road. It’s a different game at home.
Still, the Vikings looked really good last week. If their defense can hold off the Steelers offense, they should be able to put up enough points to win.
With that said, I take the Steelers offense at home with a banged up Bradford unable to keep up.
Jon’s Pick: Vikings Steelers
With Bradford out the Vikings simply don’t have what it takes to win this game on the road.
Tecmo Sim: Steelers 28 Vikings 14
Tecmo is clearly a biased Packers fan. They have the Vikings at 0-2 on the season.
Chicago Bears (0-1) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0)
Line: Buccaneers by 7. Total: 43.
Ryan’s Pick: Buccaneers
The Buccs have a scary offense with an ascending quarterback and a wide receiver that, if he continues his trajectory, will be in the conversation for best receiver in the NFL.
Take into consideration the addition of DeSean Jackson, the Buccs health coming off a bye (technically), and a serviceable defense, and you would have to be on crack to take the Bears in week 2.
which leads us to our resident crackhead…
Jon’s Pick: Bears, despite my better sense
Fortunately for the Bucs, the Bears can’t score more than 17 points (they managed more than 17 only four times last season, and if last week is any indication of things to come, we’ll see similar results this season). Unfortunately for the Bucs, their starters haven’t played in almost a month, which could severely impact them down the stretch.
This shouldn’t be so many words, but this game is a huge toss up for me. The Bucs might ride an emotional high (winning for their city after the hurricane), but they might also come out rusty and unprepared. Winston throws a lot of interceptions, but they usually come against better defenses than Chicago’s (multiple INTs against Arizona, Denver, and Dallas last year, and they all have a better secondary than Chicago).
I’ll take the Bucs to put some points on the board early in the game, too many for Chicago to overcome, although they may draw it close as Tampa gets tired in the second half.
Tecmo Sim: Bears 14 Buccs 31
Things go from bad to worse for the Bears as they get out-manned on every front. First pick in the draft is not out of site at this point.
Miami Dolphins (0-0) at Los Angeles Chargers (0-1)
Line: Chargers by 4.5. Total: 45.
Ryan’s Pick: Dolphins
Melvin Gordon was going to be my secret weapon in fantasy this year after the Chargers drafted Dan Feeney and Forrest Lamp. Then Lamp went on IR and I don’t know what happened to Feeney. Doesn’t appear to be starting.
The Chargers already have a ton of injuries and just allowed Trevor Siemian and C.J. Anderson put up 24 points on their defense. No offense to the Broncos, but that shouldn’t happen.
The Chargers will struggle to run the ball against the Dolphins front and Keenan Allen is good for a half before he tears his ACL.
Jon’s Pick: San Diego (I know they moved, I just don’t care)
I’ll take Rivers to beat a Cutler led team yet again. Jay really likes to throw to the Chargers DBs.
Tecmo Sim: Dolphins 35 Chargers 16
The score seems outrageous but may I remind you the last time Tecmo predicted something this insane (Colts game last week) it was incredibly accurate. Set your fantasy lineups accordingly (Kenny Stills… you’ve been warned).
New York Jets (0-1) at Oakland Raiders (1-0)
Line: Raiders by 14. Total: 43.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Raiders
Don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t. Raiders win.
Jon’s Pick: Raiders
Oakland would win this if they played their backups. They’re playing their starters, so they’ll win it handily.
Tecmo Sim: Jets 21 Raiders 33
The Jets, bless their hearts, put up an admirable fight. In the end, Carr completing 80% of his passes for 300 yards and Cooper with nearly 200 receiving yards sums this game up nicely.
Washington Redskins (0-1) at Los Angeles Rams (1-0)
Line: Rams by 2.5. Total: 46.
Ryan’s Pick: Redskins
Last week I went out on a limb and said the Rams would lose to the Colts cause they are just that bad. They didn’t.
Because the Redskins are a much better team, and a little bit out of spite for ruining my brilliant upset pick by a million points, I’m going to stick with my “Rams suck” mantra and pick the Redskins.
Jon’s Pick: Redskins
I like Cousins to bounce back from a terrible performance last week. Despite all the garbage being thrown his way in the NFL media this week, he’s not a bad quarterback. In fact, he’s a pretty darn good quarterback (the same people castigating him this week are the same people that couldn’t stop praising him in the second half of last season). The Rams beat the brakes off a terrible team last week, and I’m not convinced they can repeat their performance against better competition.
Tecmo Sim: Redskins 24 Rams 30
Hopefully the players kissed their loved ones goodbye before this game because it’s brutal. The Rams win the game but 4 players are carried off the field.
Dallas Cowboys (1-0) at Denver Broncos (1-0)
Line: Cowboys by 2. Total: 43.
Ryan’s Pick: Cowboys
I don’t like the Cowboys but I respect the way they play. They are a solid team that just keeps coming for you. I think the Cowboys are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The Broncos are not.
Jon’s Pick: Broncos
Denver’s defense is too good for Dallas. And Denver will not get pinned deep on every drive like the Giants did, so they’ll be able to call plays effectively against the Cowboys defense. On top of all of that, Siemian is not as erratic as Manning, so he won’t miss wide open targets the way Manning kept missing Marshall in week 1.
Tecmo Sim: Cowboys 31 Broncos 28
Ezekiel Elliott runs wild for 142 yards, giving them just enough to edge out the Denver Broncos.
San Francisco 49ers (0-1) at Seattle Seahawks (1-0)
Line: Seahawks by 13.5. Total: 43.
Ryan’s Pick: Seahawks
The Seahawks legitimately may have the best defense in the NFL. After watching the the Packers game again I thought the offense looked really good. Unfortunately, the Seahawks incredible special teams pinned the Packers offense against the goal line consistently and it’s hard to sustain drives on that defense.
All that to say, even if there are questions about the Seahawks offense, it’s still good enough to score on the 49ers. Add in a lethal defense and incredible special teams unit and this game was over as soon as the schedule maker put this together.
Jon’s Pick: Seahawks
Seattle is fading, and fading fast, but they’re still better than San Francisco by a mile.
Tecmo Sim: 49ers 24 Seahawks 17
Tecmo seems to ultimately be predicting the end of an era in Seattle because that’s exactly what this is if the Seahawks fall 0-2 on the back of a 49ers loss.
Green Bay Packers (1-0) at Atlanta Falcons (0-1)
Line: Falcons by 2.5. Total: 53.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Falcons
It’s an extremely close call. There are so many variables in my mind that would give the Packers the win but ultimately the Falcons beat the Packers twice last year and the game is being played in Atlanta. As if that isn’t hard enough, it’s the grand opening of a new stadium so the place will be rockin’. Probably literally considering teams are now designing stadiums with decibels in mind.
Jon’s Pick: Packers
It may seem contradictory that I think Atlanta’s performance was real last week while I give other teams breaks, but the truth is, I didn’t even believe in Atlanta last year. I was certain it was going to fall apart, and ultimately, I was right… it just took until the second half of the Super Bowl for me to be right. I think Green Bay’s offense is too good for Atlanta’s defense. We’re talking about a team that would have lost to the Bears if Jordan Howard would have spent time learning how to catch in the offseason instead of
having Lasik surgery to make his eyes better (which was supposed to help him catch somehow, don’t ask me).
Tecmo Sim: Falcons 24 Packers 27
Overtime makes all too much sense and it’s exactly how Tecmo has this going. An overtime victory sealed by Crosby. For the record, Montgomery is all but erased in this game but Bennett goes off.
Detroit Lions (1-0) at New York Giants (0-1)
Line: Giants by 3.5. Total: 43.5.
Ryan’s Pick: Lions
The Lions played real strong last week and the Giants played horribly. There is nothing for me to look at objectively where I could give the Giants the win.
Jon’s Pick: Lions
Everything I’ve seen points to Beckham being out again this week. And everything I saw last week suggests to me that they can’t play offense without him on the field. Their performance against Dallas was one of the worst performances I can remember seeing in recent years.
Tecmo Sim: Lions 17 Giants 28
A massive upset, this raises a ton of questions. Are the Cowboys so good they made the Giants look as bad as they were? Are the Lions really this bad to lose to this team? Week 3 will hopefully yield more answers.