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BwareDWare94
Where were you when the world stopped turning?
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Note: For Steelers prediction, see Week 3 Predictions: NFC South thread.
Sunday: Tennessee Titans @ Cincinnati Bengals
What to expect:
With a new contract in place, Andy Dalton has helped the Bengals jump out to a 2-0 start, but his critics continue to throw barbs at the TCU product. His arm isn't strong enough. It's hard to deny that one--when was the last time he didn't under throw a deep ball? He's not smart enough. This one I don't understand--his TD:INT ratio is pretty damn impressive, and I'm hard pressed to question his decision making as a result of 3 games. He relies solely on AJ Green. Here's where I fall off the Dalton hater bandwagon. Andy Dalton has 82 touchdown passes in his short NFL career, 30 of which have gone to AJ Green. Clearly, he finds other targets in the endzone. I feel like sports forum posters are a different breed--we don't think Dalton is either great or terrible. We understand that he's fairly prolific, but questionable in areas that we're told to care about. At the end of the day, he's a good starting quarterback with a few question marks that hopefully he can answer, and soon. Anyway, just thought I'd give some props to the kinds of fans and sports minds we have at sites like Sports Insomnia--objectivity seems to be a disappearing trait among sports fans. I often wonder if we're a dying breed. Back to the Bengals--Dalton is off to a slow start in the touchdown pass department, but has yet to throw a pick. So far, the Bengals have been reliant on their field goal kicker and their run game. They'll have to continue to do so against a tough pass defense when the Titans come to town. Defensively, the Bengals look be as dominant as we've seen them in recent years, holding their first two opponents to 16 and 10 points, respectively. Holding the Atlanta Falcons to 10 points is no small feat, and if this Bengals unit can stay healthy (and if Burfict can avoid any further concussions), we may be looking at the best defense in the AFC.
Tennessee were the darlings of some NFL fans--for a week, anyway. Last week, they suffered an eyesore of a loss against a Dallas squad that nobody thinks is any damn good. And why would they? Romo's hurting, has lost velocity on his throws and arm strength due to his back issues, and appears to be deteriorating, physically, before our very eyes. DeMarco Murray is almost guaranteed to get hurt if he continues to get 25+ carries a game, and Terrance Williams is one of the most questionable WR2's in the league. Then you have curious case of the Dallas defense, a defense that held Jake Locker and co. to a mere 10 points, at home. If the Titans offense can't muster more than 10 points at home against a questionable, if improved Dallas defense, what are they going to do in Cincinnati? How in the hell are they going to put points on the board against potentially the most ferocious defensive unit in the AFC? That remains to be seen, but things aren't looking good for the Titans offense, for two particular reasons. Bishop Sankey has yet to look as advertised, and that's unlikely to change against the Bengals. Jake Locker is still inconsistent, and is going to be hard pressed to play better than last week. Offensively, the Titans are SOL on Sunday. Defensively, they aren't facing a running back like DeMarco Murray or an offensive line as dominant as Dallas', but Gio Bernard is a completely different, significantly more elusive back who is going to pose plenty of problems, anyway, and it's not like Cincinnati's offensive is anything short of pretty damn good. It appeared the Titans would catch a break earlier in the week, but AJ Green is already practicing again, and appears primed to suit up for the game. Needless to say, things just aren't adding up for a Titans squad that looked promising after a week 1 ass-whupping of the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
Prediction: Bengals 31 Titans 13
The Bengals jump out fast and put this game away by the end of the first half. Dalton throws a pair of touchdown scores, neither of which goes to an ailing AJ Green, and Giovani Bernard finds the endzone twice, as well. I'm thinking this game is 24-10, by halftime, and all but over.
Sunday: Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns
What to Expect:
Things were ugly for Baltimore in week 1, and many of us were wondering if the Bengals would shut them out before a second half surge that proved to be pointless thanks to the magic of AJ Green. Week 2 rolled around, and many picked the Ravens to fall to 0-2, but the dirty birds were lucky enough to play an offense run by Todd Haley. Joe Flacco has found a new favorite target in Steve Smith, and Owen Daniels appears to be a nice addition, as well. Torrey Smith is all but invisible, and Marlon Brown has yet to make any real impact. Dennis Pitta is losing targets to Daniels. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that Flacco has a plethora of aerial weapons at his disposal, and a running back like Justin Forsett could quickly become a dynamic playmaker out of the backfield, as well. If Flacco can get comfortable in this offense, things could start to look up for a Ravens team that has a great defense that only requires its offense to score just enough points. What remains to be seen is if Bernard Pierce can provide anything whatsoever for a rushing offense that has struggled since the beginning of last season. On the other side of the ball, the Ravens boast a ferocious front 7 backed up by a somewhat questionable secondary. I'm still hesitant to call Jimmy Smith a good corner, and Darian Stewart is a question mark at the other safety position, though I think I'd call him an upgrade over James Ihedigbo. Needless to say, the Ravens are as good as they've ever been on defense, even with question marks at certain positions.
Cleveland looked like definite cellar dwellers in the first half of week 1, only to storm back and nearly pull off an upset against a Pittsburgh club that looked as good as advertised. Week 2 rolled around and only a handful of posters (and fans) were giving them a chance to upset the New Orleans Saints. The emergence of Terrance West has proven to be a nice addition to the Browns backfield, and with Ben Tate's injury history, there's no reason to assume the Towson product will lose carries any time soon. Brian Hoyer has come around over the past 6 quarters, and led a nice game winning drive against Rob Ryan's defense in week 2. The Browns were able to defeat the Ravens with Jason Campbell at quarterback last year. Who's to say they can't do the same thing with the undoubtedly superior Hoyer at the helm? I'm still not sold on Brian--it's only been 5 games, after all--but if he can string together some wins, continue to find later career receivers like Miles Austin for touchdown scores, I find myself excited to watch the Browns offense as soon as Jordan Cameron gets healthy and Josh Gordon returns from suspension. Defensively, the Browns haven't looked nearly as good as they did at times in the preseason, but back to back weeks against Big Ben and Drew Brees are known to do those kinds of things, even to good defenses. I'm excited to see Steve Smith and Joe Haden match up, and I don't expect the Ravens to be able to run the ball against Cleveland's front 7. This will be the first telling matchup for the Browns defense, as they're playing a mediocre quarterback for the first time this season.
Prediction: Ravens 20 Browns 13
In a matchup of field position, great defensive plays, and drives that stall past midfield, it's going to come down to the team that scores a second touchdown, and I believe it'll be the Ravens.
Sunday: Tennessee Titans @ Cincinnati Bengals
What to expect:
With a new contract in place, Andy Dalton has helped the Bengals jump out to a 2-0 start, but his critics continue to throw barbs at the TCU product. His arm isn't strong enough. It's hard to deny that one--when was the last time he didn't under throw a deep ball? He's not smart enough. This one I don't understand--his TD:INT ratio is pretty damn impressive, and I'm hard pressed to question his decision making as a result of 3 games. He relies solely on AJ Green. Here's where I fall off the Dalton hater bandwagon. Andy Dalton has 82 touchdown passes in his short NFL career, 30 of which have gone to AJ Green. Clearly, he finds other targets in the endzone. I feel like sports forum posters are a different breed--we don't think Dalton is either great or terrible. We understand that he's fairly prolific, but questionable in areas that we're told to care about. At the end of the day, he's a good starting quarterback with a few question marks that hopefully he can answer, and soon. Anyway, just thought I'd give some props to the kinds of fans and sports minds we have at sites like Sports Insomnia--objectivity seems to be a disappearing trait among sports fans. I often wonder if we're a dying breed. Back to the Bengals--Dalton is off to a slow start in the touchdown pass department, but has yet to throw a pick. So far, the Bengals have been reliant on their field goal kicker and their run game. They'll have to continue to do so against a tough pass defense when the Titans come to town. Defensively, the Bengals look be as dominant as we've seen them in recent years, holding their first two opponents to 16 and 10 points, respectively. Holding the Atlanta Falcons to 10 points is no small feat, and if this Bengals unit can stay healthy (and if Burfict can avoid any further concussions), we may be looking at the best defense in the AFC.
Tennessee were the darlings of some NFL fans--for a week, anyway. Last week, they suffered an eyesore of a loss against a Dallas squad that nobody thinks is any damn good. And why would they? Romo's hurting, has lost velocity on his throws and arm strength due to his back issues, and appears to be deteriorating, physically, before our very eyes. DeMarco Murray is almost guaranteed to get hurt if he continues to get 25+ carries a game, and Terrance Williams is one of the most questionable WR2's in the league. Then you have curious case of the Dallas defense, a defense that held Jake Locker and co. to a mere 10 points, at home. If the Titans offense can't muster more than 10 points at home against a questionable, if improved Dallas defense, what are they going to do in Cincinnati? How in the hell are they going to put points on the board against potentially the most ferocious defensive unit in the AFC? That remains to be seen, but things aren't looking good for the Titans offense, for two particular reasons. Bishop Sankey has yet to look as advertised, and that's unlikely to change against the Bengals. Jake Locker is still inconsistent, and is going to be hard pressed to play better than last week. Offensively, the Titans are SOL on Sunday. Defensively, they aren't facing a running back like DeMarco Murray or an offensive line as dominant as Dallas', but Gio Bernard is a completely different, significantly more elusive back who is going to pose plenty of problems, anyway, and it's not like Cincinnati's offensive is anything short of pretty damn good. It appeared the Titans would catch a break earlier in the week, but AJ Green is already practicing again, and appears primed to suit up for the game. Needless to say, things just aren't adding up for a Titans squad that looked promising after a week 1 ass-whupping of the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
Prediction: Bengals 31 Titans 13
The Bengals jump out fast and put this game away by the end of the first half. Dalton throws a pair of touchdown scores, neither of which goes to an ailing AJ Green, and Giovani Bernard finds the endzone twice, as well. I'm thinking this game is 24-10, by halftime, and all but over.
Sunday: Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns
What to Expect:
Things were ugly for Baltimore in week 1, and many of us were wondering if the Bengals would shut them out before a second half surge that proved to be pointless thanks to the magic of AJ Green. Week 2 rolled around, and many picked the Ravens to fall to 0-2, but the dirty birds were lucky enough to play an offense run by Todd Haley. Joe Flacco has found a new favorite target in Steve Smith, and Owen Daniels appears to be a nice addition, as well. Torrey Smith is all but invisible, and Marlon Brown has yet to make any real impact. Dennis Pitta is losing targets to Daniels. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that Flacco has a plethora of aerial weapons at his disposal, and a running back like Justin Forsett could quickly become a dynamic playmaker out of the backfield, as well. If Flacco can get comfortable in this offense, things could start to look up for a Ravens team that has a great defense that only requires its offense to score just enough points. What remains to be seen is if Bernard Pierce can provide anything whatsoever for a rushing offense that has struggled since the beginning of last season. On the other side of the ball, the Ravens boast a ferocious front 7 backed up by a somewhat questionable secondary. I'm still hesitant to call Jimmy Smith a good corner, and Darian Stewart is a question mark at the other safety position, though I think I'd call him an upgrade over James Ihedigbo. Needless to say, the Ravens are as good as they've ever been on defense, even with question marks at certain positions.
Cleveland looked like definite cellar dwellers in the first half of week 1, only to storm back and nearly pull off an upset against a Pittsburgh club that looked as good as advertised. Week 2 rolled around and only a handful of posters (and fans) were giving them a chance to upset the New Orleans Saints. The emergence of Terrance West has proven to be a nice addition to the Browns backfield, and with Ben Tate's injury history, there's no reason to assume the Towson product will lose carries any time soon. Brian Hoyer has come around over the past 6 quarters, and led a nice game winning drive against Rob Ryan's defense in week 2. The Browns were able to defeat the Ravens with Jason Campbell at quarterback last year. Who's to say they can't do the same thing with the undoubtedly superior Hoyer at the helm? I'm still not sold on Brian--it's only been 5 games, after all--but if he can string together some wins, continue to find later career receivers like Miles Austin for touchdown scores, I find myself excited to watch the Browns offense as soon as Jordan Cameron gets healthy and Josh Gordon returns from suspension. Defensively, the Browns haven't looked nearly as good as they did at times in the preseason, but back to back weeks against Big Ben and Drew Brees are known to do those kinds of things, even to good defenses. I'm excited to see Steve Smith and Joe Haden match up, and I don't expect the Ravens to be able to run the ball against Cleveland's front 7. This will be the first telling matchup for the Browns defense, as they're playing a mediocre quarterback for the first time this season.
Prediction: Ravens 20 Browns 13
In a matchup of field position, great defensive plays, and drives that stall past midfield, it's going to come down to the team that scores a second touchdown, and I believe it'll be the Ravens.
