Week 2 Thoughts & Observations

[Tom Kessenich]

Here are some random thoughts and observations about Week 2 of the NFL season as I wonder how Dynasty owners who started Antonio Brown, A.J. Green and Donte Moncrief on Sunday are feeling today.

Answer: Not good.

Not good at all.

The Rams haven’t scored a touchdown this season and are 1-1. I’m tellin ya, Jeff Fisher was born under the luckiest mutherf’n star in the entire galaxy.

Get well soon Adrian Peterson. Nobody wants to see you go down like that.

Speaking of which …

Peterson.

Arian Foster

Doug Martin

Jon Stewart.

Ameer Abdullah.

Dan Woodhead.

Thomas Rawls.

That was pure bloodshed at the running back position this week. Absolute carnage. And don’t give me how this proves you should wait on running backs either. Only Peterson was an early round pick. So if you waited on running backs you still got hit hard. Football’s just a violent game. You can’t avoid it and you can’t protect yourself from it no matter how hard you try.

Maybe we should go to Team Running Backs in the future?

Kidding.

Seriously, I’m just kidding.

I’m a Packers fan but I’m not gonna lie, I’m happy for Sam Bradford. I’ve always wanted to see him land in a good situation and he’s finally in one. He’s always been able to play but he’s been on chit teams with chit coaches usually surrounded by chit talent in chit systems. No more. Mike Zimmer’s a damn good head coach and Stefon Diggs just might be a star in the making. With that defense Bradford just needs to play within himself and get the ball to Diggs and this team can do the rest.

Damn Stefon Diggs. Just damn.

Memo to Mike McCarthy: Normally, I’m going to rip you for being so ultra-conservative but in a low-scoring game where points are at a premium you kick the damn field goal on fourth-and-short down three points late in the game. But if you are going to go for it, USE EDDIE LACY ON A RUNNING PLAY NOT JAMES FREAKING STARKS.

FOR THE LOVE OF FREAKING GOD MCCARTHY.

The man’s eternal fascination with the pedestrian (at best) Starks continues to befuddle me.

Oh, and while I’m on the subject of the Packers, is there a reason why you signed Jared Cook and then decide not to use him in the middle of the field when the entire middle of the field is wide open for most of the game?

Oh, and while I’m still on the subject of the Packers here was Davante Adams’ first-half work for the green-and-gold:

Fumble.

Dropped touchdown in the end zone.

Offensive pass interference.

Impressive work. But hey just keep force-feeding him into the offense, McCarthy. That seems to be working out real well.

Anybody else think the whole Demaryius Thomas has a hip injury thing was just a whole bunch of hooey?

Yeah me too.

Speaking of which, that Denver defense is still downright nasty.

Dak Prescott has thrown 75 passes without an interception in two games. Kid’s got some moxie in the pocket, that’s for sure.

By the way I’m a big fan of the word “moxie.”

I don’t mean to laugh at the people who were pushing the 50-50 Matt Forte-Bilal Powell split this season with the Jets but … LOL.

Stefon Diggs

Travis Benjamin

Corey Coleman

Mike Wallace

Danny Amendola

Marquise Goodwin

Those were some of your top Week 2 wide receivers. Wait on running backs? The hell with that. The 2017 draft strategy will be wait on wide receivers. That’s be the ticket.

Matt Ryan for $1. Somewhere Michael Edelman knows what I’m talkin about.

Just when you wanna start feeling good about the Detroit Lions they go out and remind you they’re still the Detroit Lions.

Thank God I left Vegas last week. I guarantee you I would’ve put a ton of money on the over in the Saints-Giants game. Whew. That’s what we call dodging a big-time bullet.

Sometimes, spending in free agency doesn’t work and sometimes it does. When it does it really works out nicely. The Broncos are proof of that and so far this season the Giants’ defense looks like the money spent on that side of the ball has been money well spent as well.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Tyler Lockett’s got some Antonio Brown in him. It won’t be long before he’s the Seahawks’ No. 1 receiver. In fact he might already be their best offensive weapon. Is it a coincidence their offense self-destructed after he exited following his 53-yard catch late in Sunday’s loss to the Rams? Maybe. Maybe not.

Speaking of which, I’m not panicking about the Seattle offense but there’s definitely cause for concern. That’s two games in a row now Russ Wilson hasn’t looked like himself. He definitely needs a strong showing in Week 3 to right the ship. Fortunately, the 49ers pretty much stink at football so that should be the Get Well card he needs.

I still like Jameis Winston a lot but that was one hard slap in the face he got in the Arizona desert on Sunday.

On the plus side, Mike Evans is all kinds of good. Answering questions on my Twitter feed Sunday morning it’s blatantly obvious a lot of people don’t realize just how good this guy is.

Not sure there’s a quarterback in the league who loves the first half of the season more than Phil Rivers. As far as the final eight games? Well …

One of the least surprising things of Week 2 was Carlos Hyde crashing back to Earth after his big Week 1. Seriously, how did everyone not see that coming?

I didn’t start Xavier Grimble this week but I played his name in Words With Friends and kicked my sister’s ass so all in all I’m pretty happy with how things worked out.

And finally, if you started Andrew Luck, Adrian Peterson, Antonio Brown, A.J. Green, Allen Robinson and Travis Kelce this week of course you suck at this game because those players clearly all suck and you never should have drafted them so you should never play this game again. Quit. Go away. Just leave. You’re done. You’re finished. Have a nice life. Go find another hobby. Maybe knitting. Yeah knitting is fun. Do that. Go knit. With your grandma. Yeah go knit with your meemaw. She’d like to see you again. When’s the last time you even talked to her? What the hell’s wrong with you? You’re terrible for not talking to her more. Horrible. Yeah you’re a horrible horrible person. Spending all day Sunday screaming at the TV because Ben won’t throw to Antonio more. Meanwhile your grandma’s knitting by herself and she’s lonely wondering why you never call her anymore. What the hell happened to you? I don’t know what to say to you anymore. I‘m done with you.

[bald is beautiful]

Matt Ryan for $1. Somewhere Michael Edelman knows what I’m talkin about.

Haha. He was $2 in Vegas!

[TR]

The first touchdown at U.S. Bank Stadium, the new home of the Minnesota Vikings, didn’t turn out as well as home fans would have hoped. It was a first quarter Green Bay touchdown.
And even though the drive wasn’t an ideal way to ring in a new stadium, the stat line is surprisingly Minnesotan. It’s an homage to Prince, the Vikings fan and music legend who unfortunately passed away earlier this year. Prince’s full name is Prince Rogers Nelson. Aaron Rodgers threw that touchdown to Jordy Nelson.
Rodgers to Nelson. Really.
Twitter user Ryan Henning was one of the first people to to notice the correlation between the touchdown connection and the icon. You can call it a coincidence, but this is incredible.

[TR]

Those were some of your top Week 2 wide receivers. Wait on running backs? The hell with that. The 2017 draft strategy will be wait on wide receivers. That’s be the ticket.

That's actually what I did...major mistake early on seems to be drafting QB (Aaron Rodgers) in 4th...would have been better off going RB first 4 rounds (could have had Forte instead of Rodgers in 4th)

[Frozen Tundra]

Tom, Mike McCarthy is a mediocre coach. He and his GM have been riding the Aaron Rodgers gravy train for almost a decade. As a fellow Packers fan, I am beyond frustrated. We can't beat a team with a QB about a week on his job and without their best player for almost half the game. Unfortunately, how the majority of GB fans are still in TTs and MMs corner is beyond puzzling.

[KenGill]

RE: Jeff Fisher. LOL I hear you Tom.
Believe it's 9 more losses for him, and he has the all time record for most losses as an NFL head coach.
And the Rams are talking contract extension.
Unbelievable.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Unfortunately, how the majority of GB fans are still in TTs and MMs corner is beyond puzzling.

John, I'm not sure where you get that survey but I think the majority of Packer fans up here in Wisconsin are not in Teddy's corner. In fact, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has stated that it's time to move on from Teddy if they can't win the Super Bowl this year. The organization clearly has a succession plan in place with Elliot Wolf in line to take over for Teddy and that could be sooner rather than later. Anyone would be more aggressive in free agency and the trade market than Teddy, so it would be a welcome change.

As for McCarthy, his game decisions are baffling. He's the worst at challenges and he makes the worst decisions during a game. In a 10-7 game where points are hard to find, he should have just kicked the field goal and tied the game at 10. Instead he makes a stupid impulse decision and hands the ball off to James Starks on 4th and a long 1. He's been trying to prove he's a gambler since he became ultra conservative in the NFC Championship Game at Seattle and what we have now are just lame-brained game decisions.

And Rodgers has been awful in his last 14 games. He hasn't looked the same since taking a beating at Denver last year and I thought Monday was his worst game that I can remember in a long time. He threw off his back foot, he threw back shoulder passes to Jordy when Nelson was going deep. And he relied on Davante Adams way too much. He also feels the pressure so much sooner now when in the past he just stepped up into the pocket or dumped the ball off. Why he's not using the tight end more, especially Jared Cook, is surprising as well.

There's a lot of concerns in Titletown and having a bye in Week 4 won't help matters. We haven't seen this offense on all cylinders in over a year and I'm not sure if we will anytime soon. Bummer.

[calsuer]

Trade for Josh Gordon. With the next 4 games at home & A. Rodgers with a 3rd passing option-LOOK OUT. Might even become NFC favorites for Super Bowl?