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Records galore this weekend, which somehow felt reminiscent to me of the 1980's. I believe that the 80's and 90's (particularly the early part of the decade) were the golden age of NFL football. What specifically reminded me of those times? Well, the Dolphins have the most potent, dangerous offense in the entire league, clearly. And the Giants and 49ers locked up on a nationally televised night game, which also was reminiscent of the 80's and early 90's. Buffalo is rolling and once again look like a powerhouse, which feels particularly reminiscent of the late 80's and especially the early 90's, when they went to four straight Super Bowls.
Let's take a look at the games coming up for Week 3:
LA Chargers 28, Minnesota 24 - Two 0-2 teams battling it out. I felt suspect of the Vikings, and they showed why. That said, why in the hell would the Chargers go for the fourth down conversion, deep in their own territory when clinging to a narrow lead? Yes, Minnesota turned the ball over, but seriously! That could have lost them the game, and they would have deserved to lose. It feels like both of these teams have significant problems at the moment. My pick: Accurate
Houston 37, Jacksonville 17 - This one I didn't see coming. Yes, on any given Sunday, anything can happen. But the Texans going on the road and dominating the Jaguars, ultimately blowing them out? Nope, can't say that I saw that coming. . My pick: Inaccurate
Detroit 20, Atlanta 6 - The Lions once again looked like the team that could win the division and make some noise in the playoffs. They dominated the previously unbeaten Falcons, and looked very good doing it. The offense was efficient when it needed to be, and the defense postiviely shut Atlanta down. Impressive win.. My pick: Accurate
Green Bay 18, New Orleans 17 - When you are a 2-0 tea and possess an 17-point lead in the fourth quarter, it suggests that you are good enough to hang onto that lead and reach a 3-0 mark. But the Pack suddenly roared to life, and the Saints, who to be fair, had their starting QB injured during the game, suddenly looked lifeless and did not know how to stop the momentum. Yet, they still had a chance to steal the win with a relatively short field goal attempt in the end, but it was a miss. Now, everyone is questioning just how serious the Saints actually are, and with good reason. My pick: Accurate, But Just Barely
Cleveland 27, Tennessee 3 - I started off my preview by suggesting that these were two tough teams to make predictions for. Despite Cleveland's solid, dominant win, I stand by that. It's really hard to tell at the moment when either of these teams will be running on all cylinders, or will sputter to an embarrassing, lopsided defeat.. . My pick: Inaccurate
Miami 70, Miami 20 - The Broncos defense seemed to simply give up in this one. But you have to give the Dolphins offense tremendous credit for making Denver reach that point. The Dolphins put up te most amount of points that I have ever seen. Indeed, nobody has seen any NFL team put up this many points since 1966, when Washington beat the Giants, 72-41. Indeed, this marked only the fourth time in NFL history that a team has managed to score 70 points, and Miami evidently likely could have scored a field goal right at the end to tie the all-time record of points scored inn a single game, which was set by the Chicago Bears against Washington in the 1940 NFL Championship, which they won, 73-0. Otherwise, the only other time that a team scored 70 points was when the Los Angeles Rams beat the Baltimore Colts 70-27 in 1950. The Dolphins set numerous records with this game. They set a franchise record for most points scored, and produced 726 total yards, the second most in any NFL game ever. They also became the first team to earn five passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns. They became the first team in NFL history to produce both 70 points and 700 yards of offense in the same game. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is earning serious MVP discussion early in the season, particularly with this performance. He completed his first 17 passes and ended with 23 of 26 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns overall. Those are near perfect numbers, and he finished with a 155.8 passer rating. Just an awesome display! This is one of the things that felt reminiscent of the NFL of the 1980's, back when the Miami Dolphins always seemed to have the most explosive offense in the league. Wow! Just...wow! My pick: Accurate
Buffalo 37, Washington 3 - The Bills were my pick in this one. But I did not think that they would win it so easily! Washington looked overwhelmed, almost as if they were a joke. For one weekend, at least, it seems that Buffalo turned them into one. Wow! My pick: Accurate
New England 15, NY Jets 10 - This game felt like a cure to insomnia. Seriously, it was an ugly game. Even, aesthetically, it was a gray, rainy, soggy game. And the Jets played very sloppily, particularly quarterback Zach Wilson, who seems to have absolutely no confidence anymore. It seems clear that he is not the man to lead the Jets. Apparently, even Joe Namath called him out publicly and said as much, which is saying something! For the Jets, this marks a 15th straight loss to the Patriots, and it is also their second straight loss, with the Kansas City Chiefs now coming up. So it does not look like it will get much prettier for Gang Green. My pick: Accurate
Indianapolis 22, Baltimore 19 (OT) - The Colts eared a bizarre win, although it feels like the Ravens kind of blew this one, as well. Not the result I expected. But the Colts are apparently better than expected this season, while the Ravens, who's unbeaten start felt a bit suspect, are not yet ready to dominate this division, or anyone, really.. My pick: Inaccurate
Seattle 37, Carolina 27 - The Panthers roared to life early, and their offense looked good under Andy Dalton. However, the Seahawks proved tough enough to come back. They are always tough at home, and proved it in this one with an impressive win. My pick: Accurate
Arizona 28, Dallas 16- Speaking of unexpected results...what the hell? The Cardinals pretty much seemed to dominate the Cowboys, and were leading almost from the get go. Dallas looked nothing like the team that had raised eyebrows with dominant wins over the two New York franchises to open the season. A letdown for Dallas, and an impressive win for the scrappy Cards.. My pick: Inaccurate
Kansas City 41, Chicago 10 - The defending Super Bowl champs looked sharp and on point right from the beginning. And the Chicago Bears looked...well, frankly, like the worst team in the league at the moment. This game went predictably like we all figured it would. KC might have made it uglier, since they had a 34-0 lead by halftime. But they mostly seemed to take it easy on Chicago in the second half.. My pick: Accurate
Sunday Night Football - Pittsburgh 23, Las Vegas 18 - The Steelers won this one the way that you would expect. The Raiders suffered another disappointing loss, and just do not look good enough to warrant serious consideration as a playoff caliber team. My pick: Accurate
Monday Night Football Game 1 - Philadelphia 25, Tampa Bay 11 - The Eagles took care of business. The Bucs were able to make a bit of a game of it late. But Philly, who have not been nearly as explosive as they looked last year at this point, still handled it like an experienced championship team and shut the door on them. A solid win for the Eagles, who remain one of three undefeated teams left in the NFL. My pick: Accurate
Monday Night Football Game 2 - Cincinnati 19, LA Rams 16 - The rematch of Super Bowl LVI was a tight contest, just like the Super Bowl meeting was. But the Bengals pulled it off this time, just when they needed a win the most. The Rams have looked improved form their disastrous title defense season a year ago. But even if they are keeping games against contenders like San Fran and Cincy close, they are still losing. As for the Bengals, they finally earned their first win, which is good. But they still have some difficult games coming up, so let's see what happens. . My pick: Accurate
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