Last week, the loathsome and detestable tacks continued their home dominance over the Jaguars, except the win was anything but dominant. Despite having a double digit lead, the tacks had a very hard time putting our Jaguars away. However, at the moment, they are alone in first place in the division at 2-0. The Jaguars battled back and had a legitimate chance to win late until a Minshew pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted. But the Jaguars have gained some respect these past few weeks, and Minshew has fueled speculation the team may have finally found their franchise QB. The Colts bounced back from a shocking loss to the not tanking Jaguars to thump the Vikings, while the Texans are winless at 0-2, with two more tough games in the next couple of weeks with games at Pittsburgh and home against the equally desperate Vikings. On the prognostication front, I went 2-1 for the second week in a row, this time missing on the Colts-Vikings tilt. Not ideal, but worlds better than my record at this point last year.
On top the games
Miami (0-2) at
Jacksonville (1-1)-In a battle of two pesky FL teams, the Fish come to Duuuvaaalll to take on the Jaguars. The Dolphins played well in their loss to well regarded Buffalo, having the lead in the 4th quarter before finally losing 31-28. Fitzpatrick is an experienced QB who had a very good game against a very good defense last week, but has a history of throwing INTs. If Buffalo didn’t pick him off, I’m doubtful the Jaguars will. However, the fish may be without CB Byron Jones, who left the game with an injury. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have some new faces of their own, and so far most of them have played well. CJ Henderson got rookie of the week honors in week 1. DE K’Lavon Chaisson notched his first sack last week. WR LaViska Shenault is the Jaguars’ Swiss Army knife, who has been utilized at QB, RB, and WR so far. It’s been a long time since I’ve typed this phrase,
but given the Jaguars edge at QB and being at home on the short week, I pick the Jaguars to win 27-21. Josh Allen records his first sack of the season.
Houston (0-2) at
Pittsburgh (2-0)-Right now, thanks in paart to a very tough opening schedule, the Texans are a lackluster team ob both sides of the ball. They aren’t blocking well and not throwing well thanks in part to the trade of DeAndre Hopkins. On the other side of the ball, they gave given up 34 and 33 Points to two of the most diverse and dynamic attacks in the NFL with Kansas City and Baltimore. With Big Ben healthy again, the Steelers, while not as dynamic offensively as KC or Baltimore, are still balanced and formidable offensively, and still retain their typically strong defense.
Pittsburgh wins 34-17. (see what I did there?)
Tennessee (2-0) at
Minnesota (0-2)-Tennessee is a good team that could easily be 0-2 so far. But they ARE 2-0. Minnesota, OTOH, is a team thought to be good but is a disastrous 0-2 so far. Despite the trade for Yannick Ngakouee, the Vikings defense has been shredded so far this year, and last week, their offense was horrific, with Kirk Cousins had a Blutarski level 0.0 QB rating into the 4th quarter of the 28-11 loss to the Colts. At the rate this is going, that 2nd round pick thet gave to the Jaguars for Ngakoue will be pretty high in the round. Tannehill has been reborn in Tennessee and shows what a QB can do when he’s given help.
Tennessee wins 26-20.
N.Y. Jets (0-2) at
Indianapolis (1-1). While the tacks exemplify what a QB can do when he gets help around him, the Jets exemplify what happens when a talented QB has no help around him. Right now, the Jets pose no threat offensively, averaging 15 ppg. Granted, they have gone against two of the best defenses in the league in Buffalo and SF, but they were hit by injuries to RB and WR.
Meanwhile, I think the Colts defense is better than they showed against the Jaguars, but not quite as good as they showed against Minnesota. But they are good enough to win 28-14.
Last week: 2-1
Overall: 4-2
Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!
