Walker-Sports NFL Preview Week 2: Its never too early to have your back against the wall
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by user BigPPup
Its week 2 of the NFL season, and already the storylines are piling up. Are the Carolina Panthers really that bad? What happens to Kansas City now that Trent Green is out for a few weeks? And how can the Packers and Raiders, two of the NFL’s most storied franchises be that bad? Well as we wait to see how these situations shake out, let’s take a look ahead to the upcoming weekend, and see who is prepping for a big game.
Let’s start in the NFC South and look at the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Bucs as they prepare to do battle. Last week, the Falcons opened their season by thrashing in division foe Carolina. Last year the Falcons had one of the worse rushing defenses in the league, so revamping that unit was the primary focus of the off season. It paid off. Last week Atlanta held the Panthers to 77 yards on the ground. Carolina was many peoples pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. The Falcons manhandled them on the ground, and without Steven Smith, the shutdown corners of the Falcons dominated the weak receivers.
The Bucs are coming off a playoff appearance last season, and high hopes for young QB Chris Simms, they entered the 2006 season ready to go. Unfortunately the Bucs ran into a revamped Baltimore Ravens team. Subsequently the Bucs were trounced 27-0 in the season opener, leaving doubts with experts around the league about how good the Bucs really are.
After last weeks devastating defeat, the Bucs are at the bottom of many peoples Power Rankings. Despite it being week 2 of the season and still very early, Tampa Bay can hardly stand to go 0-2 to start the season especially since both loses will be in the Division. Making up ground in the NFC South will be difficult.
The Bucs cover 2 defenses was unable to stop the rushing game of the Ravens. Jamal Lewis made his debut after a troubled 05 season and ran all over what has been considered one of the best defenses in the league. The Bucs are lacking a big run stuffing D-Linemen in the middle. While Derrick Brooks is still a solid producing linebacker he is aging and the amount of talent around him has not improved. Simeon Rice is a talented pass rusher, but he struggles covering the run on the edges, and can only show his talent when chasing a QB.
That being said, the Falcons looked amazing running the ball on Sunday against a talented Carolina front four. They ran the ball 47 times averaging 5.4 yards a carry as a team. As a team they racked up 252 yards on the ground, and this included an average day for Mr. Vick who had 7 carries for 48 yard. The workhorse for the evening was too often underrated RB Warrick Dunn who carried the ball 29 times for 132 yards. The Falcons dominated the point of attack, creating creases for Dunn to slip through, get downfield and show off his speed.
Against the Bucs, look for the Falcons to do the same thing. Carolina has one of the best front four in the league and they could not contain the Atlanta attack, Tampa will struggle containing the multi headed attack. Atlanta will look to run right at Simeon Rice, forcing him to step up and make plays in the backfield, and not give ground on the edges. With Warrick Dunn’s speed he is able to get to the edge quickly forcing Rice to step up and make a play at the point of attack, or Dunn escapes to the second level before meeting a defender. Throw in the threat of Mike Vick rushing (which we have not seen to this point of the season) and the Falcons have put together a solid rushing attack to put pressure on opposing defenses.
If the Falcons can muster any sort of a passing game they will be a multidimensional threat. Getting Crumpler, Jenkins, and Lelie involved in the offense, will be key for the long term success of this team. As for Sunday, the powerful running game will work to set up the pass for later in the season. With the success of the running game, it will allow Vick to play action and roll out allowing him to be mobile in the pocket which is where he is best suited to make big plays.
The sports line for this game is Falcons +6, I like that pick and then some/
Atlanta Falcons 28
Tampa Bay Bucs 17
In the AFC West, there is a must win situation brewing between Division rivals. The Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs both dropped their season openers last week. Now with a week 2 match up against each other, neither team wants to drop to 0-2 in what have been on of the most hotly contested Divisions in football the past few yeas.
Last year the Denver Broncos seemed ready to turn the corner. They defeated the dynasty New England Patriots in a home playoff game. Jake Plummer had settled down in the playoffs and seemed like he gotten past his gunslinger days to become an effect QB. Then came the AFC Championship against the Steelers, and a complete meltdown from the Broncos. After an off season of rebuilding, and shipping off unused players (Ashley Lelie and Ron Dayne) the Broncos game into 2006 ready to compete. Too bad someone forgot to remind Jake Plummer of how to play. He completed just 50% of his passes for 138 yards and 3 picks with no TD’s in a losing effort to the Rams. A few more performances of that and the “Bring on Cutler” chants will be too loud to ignore.
For Kansas City, opening week was nothing to cheer about either. The Chiefs fell 23-10 to a talented Bengals team, no shame in that. The problems lie in the injury to starting QB Trent Green. Green went down late Sunday to a vicious hit and suffered a severe concussion. He will most likely be out at least 3 weeks. Enter Damon Huard. Who!?!?! Exactly… Huard has been a journeyman backup QB who made climbed the depth chart in Kansas City only after longtime backup Todd Collins left for Washington.
Trent Green may have been the most underrated QB in football. His numbers across the past five years in Kansas City have been amazing. They have just often been overlooked because of the gaudy rushing numbers Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson have been able to put up. Replacing Green is anything but a small task.
Herm Edwards swore at his press conference that he tried to utilize the old playbook of former Offensive Coordinator Al Saunders. He only did this to set up his explanation for switching back to his conservative run happy ways. With Green out of the lineup look for the Chiefs to rely on their rushing attack to jumpstart their offense. Normally this would be a solid plan, with the talented Larry Johnson in the backfield. However, the Chiefs are feeling the absence of Pro-Bowler Willie Roaf. The Chiefs O-Line was suspect last week against the Bengals, a team that has not traditionally been known for its run stopping dominance. The Chiefs O-Line is undersized (LT Kyle Turley at 285), and has trouble creating and maintaining holes large enough for the backs to slip through.
This is a crucial point in the season for Kansas City even at this early state. If the Chiefs can hold down the fort and defeat Denver on Sunday they have a chance to stay competitive in the division race as they wait for Green to return, and work to gain balance in their offense.
The Denver Broncos can look at this weekend as a blessing. Normally I would not give them a chance against Kansas City. Jake Plummer is cracking under the pressure of having a young gun staring over his shoulder. The Denver system of RB’s may have finally run out of answers as the Bell and Bell connection is proving to be ineffective, the receiving core is old and looking shaky as the only legitimate receiver left is Rod Smith, while still talented he is up there in age and not as explosive as he once was.
Despite all this Denver is a 10 point favorite and I have to agree with that. The lost of Trent Green is too much for the Chiefs to overcome. It won’t be pretty, and Plummer will struggle, but the Broncos will prevail.
Denver Broncos 27
Kansas City Chiefs 14
Finally Sunday night we will see yet another edition in what has to be the NFL’s greatest rivalry. Washington vs. Dallas, Skins and Boys. The NFL only has a handful of true rivalries: Steelers v. Browns, Chiefs v. Raiders, and Packers v. Bears. None of those are as big as this one, or showcase teams that have experienced as much success as Washington and Dallas have respectfully. On Sunday they will meet yet again, both teams coming off disappointing week 1 loses and looking to right the ship as both teams have talked Super Bowl in the preseason.
Dallas jumped out to a great start in the first quarter against Jacksonville. That was the last great thing they would do on the day after racking up a 10-0 lead. After giving up 17 unanswered points, the Cowboys eventually fell to the Jags in a 24-17 lost.
If there was ever a tale of two quarters this was it. At times the Cowboys looked like the Super Bowl contending team; they touted to be in the preseason. Other times they looked like bottom feeders ready to rival the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders for first pick in the April draft. Drew Bledsoe threw three picks on the day. Taking away any opportunity Dallas had to be successful.
Dallas has a young and talented defense that is supposed to be aggressive and attacking out of its 3-4 base schemes they showed that on Sunday, too bad they failed to cover the receiver as Jacksonville wideout Matt Jones had a field day against a soft Dallas secondary.
For the Redskins they went out and spent big more on big name free agents (mainly Antwan Randle-El) and they saw little results in their Monday night opener. The Skins mustered only 1 TD with their newly reshaped Al Saunders offense. Hardly the results they wanted from the purposive 700 page playbook Saunders brought with him from KC.
The one thing we do know about the Redskins is their secondary struggled against the Minnesota passing attack. Brad Johnson was able to convert third and longs almost at will against the Skins defense. With starting cornerback Sean Springs out, the Redskins have turned to former 49’er Mike Rump to step up as a starting DB. Rump proved he has a problem covering any NFL receiver with his performance on Monday. Even MNF announcer Mike Turrico noted how often Rump was getting burnt. The Skins are not looking strong on the other side of the field either as Carlos Rogers is still struggling with maintaining his man in single coverage. This is forcing the Skins to use their safeties (Archuleta and Taylor) to work in coverage something neither them are standouts at since they are hitting safeties.
Dallas will come out Sunday with their two TE set, and look to work the ball down field through the air, accompanied by a steady dose of Julius Jones on the ground. The air attack of the Cowboys may prove deadly for the Skins defense. T.O. and Terry Glenn form a much more talented pair than any combination of WR’s the Vikings have. Throw in Pro-Bowler Jason Witten at TE, and rookie Anthony Fassano and Dallas has four legitimate receivers on the field every down.
If the Dallas TE’s work the seems of the field, it will force the Washington safeties to come out of double coverage and mark them. This leaves single coverage on the edges for Owens and Glenn to work their magic. If the safeties stay back in coverage, then the Cowboys can work the seems with their TE’s all day long. New England did this against the Skins in week 3 of the preseason and Tom Brady had a field day finding his TE’s.
The key to this game will be how much pressure Washington can put on the Cowboys offensive line and getting to Drew Bledsoe. If they Skins can generate a solid pass rush it will disrupt the entire Dallas offense. We all know that Bledsoe is old, and more importantly he cannot escape any form of pressure in the pocket. If Washington can get this pressure they will force him to make poor decisions. That’s what Jacksonville did in the second half of their game last week and it worked as they racked up the victory.
Another side note of interest to watch for this game is the play of both teams QB’s as they are both on the hotbed in the eyes of their fans. After a bad performance last week Dallas fans are clamoring at the chance to get Tony Romo some reps in a real game. Mark Brunell is under the same scrutiny in Washington. If he starts to slip up, the calls to see Jason Campbell play will be tough to ignore.
The spread on this game is set at Dallas +6. Not bad, but I would not bet it.
Dallas Cowboys 30
Washington Redskins 27
Date
Thu 09/14/06, 11:32 am EST
