The Los Angeles Rams and running back Todd Gurley travel to Silicon Valley to face the San Francisco 49ers to bore us to death in another Thursday Night Football game
2017 NFL SEASON
Week 3: #NFL Game Predictions (w/ spreads
& analysis)
Week 2 results: 10-6 wins (season: 20-11; .645); 8-8 v. spread
(season: 13-18; .419)
Los
Angeles Rams 1-1 (-3) @
San Francisco 49ers 0-2 (40):
Rams 21-13
Thursday, 8:25 PM, Levis Stadium, Santa Clara, CA (Weather: Partly cloudy; 60s)
Reasons: These aren't the teams to be playing on
short notice, and both teams are coming off of a tough loss. So I guess we should expect another terrible Thursday
Night Football game. The NFL needs to get rid of these games. That's not
happening any time soon, so tonight we'll see an offense that has surpassed
early expectations (33 ppg; 362.5 ypg)
and a defense that has largely met early expectations (18 ppg; 331.5 ypg) in the Rams against a defense that has allowed
fewer points per game (17.5), but has
only managed an average of six points per game on offense in the 49ers. This
game will come down to one defense on the rise against one already established
defense ready to take the next step against two running backs with the same
motives in Todd Gurley (LAR) and
Carlos Hyde (SF). Unfortunately for
San Francisco their defense is already dealing with attrition, like many teams
in this latest Collective Bargaining
Agreement era. The Rams don't have to travel far to beat the 49ers, but
don't expect the game to be exciting.
Sunday, 9:30 AM, Wembley Stadium, London, England (Weather: Indoors)
Reasons: No team wants to travel to London to play
at 9:30 EST, especially to play the London Jaguars at home, but the Jaguars
come into the game a little banged up. I’m being facetious, because the Jaguars
remain terrible despite winning their opening game, while the Ravens are one of
only eight remaining undefeated
teams. Still, the defense widely considered one of the best in the NFL, the
Ravens, gives up 5.5 fewer yards per game then Jacksonville, but the Jaguars
come in limited at cornerback, meaning Joe Flacco could abuse them in the air
since Baltimore is limited at running back. The Ravens are not limited in the
secondary, as they lead the NFL in INTs (8).
In fairness, the Jaguars lead the NFL in sacks (11), so maybe Flacco doesn’t air it out. These London games are
like TNF games, where we never know what to expect, but they’re usually bad games*
due to their travel logistics and general irregularity.
*(61%
of games were decided by one score [eight points], but the average score over
18 games is 31-18)
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN (Weather: Indoors)
Reasons: The Browns are favorites on the road for
the first time since 2014, but it’s not because they’re good; it’s because the
Colts are atrocious. Indianapolis is averaging 11 ppg on 273 total ypg, and it’s
even worse from the defensive side (398
yards allowed per game). The Colts are already on their second quarterback (QB Jacoby Brissett) in the continued absence
of Andrew Luck, but the Browns rookie quarterback has also struggled, throwing
four INTs already. Cleveland is still a bad football team, but they’re not so
bad they’re giving up more than 136 than they’re gaining per game.
Pittsburgh
Steelers 2-0 (-7.5) @ Chicago Bears 0-2 (44): Steelers 24-17
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL (Weather: Hot; 80s)
Reasons:
The Bears have a tough match up at home
Sunday afternoon hosting one of the best defenses in the league to compliment a
dynamic offense that hasn’t even started clicking yet. Mike Glennon will be
under fire all day under the Sun and against a Steelers defense with nine sacks
in two games, while allowing only 13.5 ppg, and to make matters worse, running
back Jordan Howard was limited all week. Pittsburgh is dealing with some injuries
themselves on defense, but nothing that won’t prevent the Steelers from rolling.
It's the New York Jets fan's turn to wear the paper bags on their heads this season.
Sunday, 1:00 PM, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
(Weather: Hot; low 90s)
Reasons: The unusually hot fall weather across
the country could affect several games, but no 90-degree game will make the
visiting team more comfortable than the Miami Dolphins will feel in northern
New Jersey Sunday. Miami is only playing their second game because of Hurricane
Irma, but we have plenty on the Jets to know how terrible they are. It’s still
hard to imagine a team that has given us less confidence in recent years being favored
by nearly a touchdown on the road. The Jets are that bad. The Dolphins should cruise,
but Cutler’s weapons could be limited Sunday.
Denver Broncos 2-0 (-3) @ Buffalo Bills 1-1 (40.5): Broncos 24-17
Sunday, 1:00 PM, New Era Field, Buffalo, NY (Weather: Hot; 80s)
Reasons: This is a battle of two of the top
defenses in the NFL to start 2017, both with ball-hawking defensive backfields that
intercept passes. The Bills also get after the quarterback (3rd in the NFL with seven sacks),
which could rain on Denver signal-caller Trevor Siemian’s early parade. The
Broncos are also away, which means they won’t benefit from the stifling noise
of their crowd on opposing offenses, but it’s possible they won’t hear any crowd
noise Sunday.
Houston Texans 1-1 (+13.5) @
New England Patriots 1-1
(44):
Patriots 27-20
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA (Weather: Sunny; low 80s)
Reasons: The Texans are a bad offensive football
team (10 ppg), which doesn’t play well
against a New England Patriots team that can drop 40 points using players you’ve
never heard of. So teams like Houston rely heavily upon their great defenses with
monster defensive fronts to beat the Patriots, except even that hasn’t worked for
the Texans, who are 1-8 all time against New England, having lost six straight
since 2012 (by an average score of 34-16) . The Patriots will continue to tweak
their defense as the season goes on, which means you can’t really rely on
statistics to tell you a solid story in this game.
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Bank Of
America Stadium, Charlotte, NC (Weather: Sunny;
80s)
Reasons:
The Saints enter Bank of America Stadium to play the Panthers, but they should
probably secure a loan for some defensive players after allowing over 500 yards
per game to start the season. That should be refreshing news for Carolina’s offense, except tight
end Greg Olsen is on IR, center Ryan Kalil is out and Cam Newton has been dealing
with nagging injuries. The game will come down to a suffocating Panthers
defense and their ability to stop a desperate Drew Brees and Sean Payton.
The Carolina Panthers would like to see less of this and more of Cam Newton protecting himself, especially with safety net Greg Olsen set to miss 6-8 weeks.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1-0 (+1.5)
@ Minnesota
Vikings 1-1 (41):
Buccaneers 24-21
Reasons: The Buccaneers came away with a win in
their first game of the season last week, but it also came with some injuries, all
on defense, something every team is facing earlier than ever due to the changes
in collective bargaining between the players and owners. The Vikings will be
without quarterback Sam Bradford again Sunday, which means the game could fall
on the shoulders of rookie running back Dalvin Cook, who’ll have to take
advantage of key absences across the field for Tampa Bay.
Atlanta
Falcons 2-0 (-3)
@ Detroit Lions 2-0 (50.5): Lions 28-27
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Ford Field, Detroit, MI (Weather:
Indoors)
Reasons: This game is an incredible reminder that
although these two teams feature two of the best statistical quarterbacks in
the NFL, their level of play is still relatively marginal compared to their
older contemporaries like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron
Rodgers and Eli Manning, who combined with Manning’s retired older brother Peyton, have
played in 14 of the past 16 Super Bowls, four of those games featuring two opposing quarterbacks
from that list. It should be noted that Matt Ryan just lost to Tom Brady in
this past Super Bowl, but the point is that consistent statistical success has
looked great on paper for Ryan and Matt Stafford, but it hasn’t materialized
into many playoff wins for either team during their franchise quarterback’s reign.
The Falcons could feel at home on the Ford Field turf, but the Lions defense
is playing too well to let Ryan steal the show from Stafford at home.
Sunday, 1:00 PM, Lincoln Financial Field,
Philadelphia, PA (Weather: Hot; low 90s)
Reasons: The Giants offense looks historically bad,
especially along the offensive line and it doesn’t get any better Sunday on the
road versus a division rival without T/G Bobby Hart. The Giants defense
has the chance to be historically great, but not if the offense can’t score
more than 20 points, which has been their m.o.
the past half season. The Eagles are trying to find balance on offense, but
until they do they’ll rely on the young arm of Carson Wentz, who’ll be hoping
Janoris Jenkins can’t go Sunday afternoon. All eyes will be on the blonde drama
king Odell Beckham Jr., whose ankle assessments have only been matched in
wackiness to his behavior on and off the field. The Giants struggles continue
Sunday.
Seattle
Seahawks 1-1 (+2.5) @ Tennessee Titans 1-1 (42.5): Titans 21-20
Sunday, 4:05 PM, Nissan
Stadium, Nashville, TN (Weather: Hot;
high 80s)
Reasons:
The only offensive line in the NFL worse the New York Giants might be the
Seahawks. Fortunately for Seattle their quarterback is mobile, but that doesn’t
mean Russell Wilson enjoys running for his life, or that it’s a sustainable
approach. The Seahawks offense will struggle again on the road, especially with
tight end Jimmy Graham questionable, and the defense will have a hard time
bailing out their offense after traveling east twice in three weeks to start
the season. The Seahawks could luck out if DeMarco Murray can’t go, but young
battering ram Derrick Henry has proven a worthy, if not better, alternative to
Murray. Regardless, the Titans have a string defense themselves, and will look
to take care of business in a tough early match up at home.
Phillip Rivers has his work cut out for him to prevent the Los Angeles Chargers from starting the season 0-3 in the tough AFC West dividsion.
Sunday, 4:25 PM, Stub Hub
Center, Carson, CA (Weather: Sunny; low
80s)
Reasons:
The Chiefs could be the best overall team in the NFL right now, but the Chargers
are certainly the most talented 0-2 team in the NFL. Los Angeles can’t lose
their first three games to start the season, especially in the tough AFC West,
and they just might pull it off with Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston was
limited in practice all week and center Mitch Morse has already been ruled out.
The Chargers will probably need Melvin Gordon to go to beat this very good Chiefs
team, but Los Angeles is desperate, and I would never bet against a desperate
Phillip Rivers.
Cincinnati
Bengals 0-2 (+9) @ Green Bay Packers 1-1 (46):
Packers 28-20
Sunday, 4:25 PM, Lambeau
Field, Green Bay, WI (Weather: Hot; 80s)
Reasons:
Believe it or not the Bengals have one of the league’s best defenses through
two games, but you’d never know it because of all the screaming about how bad the offense,
and therefore, the Bengals are. Cincinnati is 0-2, but considering
Cincinnati played Baltimore and Houston, we should probably pump the brakes on
the Bengals demise. In addition, the Packers possess one of the league’s worst
defenses, which plays right into the Bengals hands, although those stats are
skewed having played the Falcons in Atlanta. Unfortunately for Cincinnati the
Green Bay offense is prolific, and they’re at home, which means they’re going
to be tough to stop no matter how good the Bengals have been playing on that
side of the ball.
Oakland
Raiders 2-0 (-3) @ Washington Football Team 1-1 (54.5): Raiders 30-24
Sunday, 8:30 PM, FedEx
Field, Landover, MD (Weather: Hot; high
80s)
Reasons:
The Raiders are feeling pretty good about themselves. Oakland’s leading rusher from
last year leaves the Raiders and gets replaced by the legendary Marshawn Lynch,
who appears, early in the season, not to have lost a step. Oakland’s star 2015 first
round draft pick wide receiver Amari Cooper isn’t even their top receiver so
far this season. On the other side of the field you have Washington, who
certainly always seems to feel good about themselves, but seemingly without
much reason. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has looked awful and now could be without
tight end Jordan Reed again, leading rusher Robert Kelley is hurt and star
cornerback Josh Norman is questionable against the best young quarterback in
the NFL. Look for the Raiders to pillage a win in the Mid Atlantic.
Dallas Cowboys 1-1 (-3) @ Arizona Cardinals 1-1 (47): Cowboys 21-20
Monday,
8:30 PM, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ (Weather: Indoors)
Reasons:
The Cowboys enter Monday night having faced their third top defense in as many
weeks to begin the season (NYG, DEN, ARZ).
That’s a tough test for the Cowboys sophomore stars, especially one (Ezekiel Elliot) under emotional duress for off the field
activities, and more recently, on the field apathy. Dallas and Ezekiel Elliot look
to get back on track after they both suffered one of the worst defeats of their
football existences, and what better offense to get on track against than the
hapless Cardinals. It could be a depressing game for some Arizona fans watching
Dallas take the field with a young bright star as their former quarterback star fades. Speaking of fading stars, all eyes will be
on Dez Bryant as he tries to salvage his top wide receiver status against one
of the best defensive backfields in the NFL.
Stay tuned for Tuesday's Gone: Week 3 Game Reviews coming Wednesday!
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