Week 2 Sweet 16

[ivanvamp]

1. San Francisco (--) - Impressive performance against Green Bay. They are excellent in every area of the game.

2. Denver (--) - Hard to watch that 2nd half against Baltimore and not think that this team will be a very, very tough matchup. Loaded on offense.

3. Seattle (--) - Good start for the Seahawks, especially defensively.

4. New England (--) - No change for the first four teams. Pats made some uncharacteristic mistakes on unforced turnovers, and the injury bug is biting hard.

5. Houston (+3) - Nice comeback win to open the season.

6. Dallas (+6) - Got lots of turnovers and beat the Giants at home. I'm not sold on them, but everyone else above them basically lost. So up they go. I don't think they'll stay here long though.

7. Atlanta (-1) - Tough loss against New Orleans; this team is still very good.

8. Green Bay (-3) - As good as they are, they can't seem to solve San Francisco.

9. New Orleans (+6) - Terrific win against Atlanta. This Saints team is for real.

10. Indianapolis (+3) - Beat a lousy Raiders team by 4. Not super impressive, but hey, it's a win.

11. Philadelphia (N/A) - Leap into the sweet 16 after an impressive showing against the Redskins. For all the hubbub about their fast-break offense, they ran 12 fewer plays than the Patriots did.

12. Baltimore (-5) - Got rolled by Denver. Let's see if they rebound this week.

13. NY Giants (-4) - WAY too many turnovers against Dallas. I think they'll get that corrected though.

14. Cincinnati (-4) - Not a good way to start the year, losing at Chicago.

15. Kansas City (+1) - Nice win to start the year. Let's see it continue before moving them up too much.

16. Washington (-5) - Looked awful in the first half against Philly. 2nd half was a big improvement. Maybe it just took them a half to get their legs under them.

 

[l_j_r]

first thought was houston doesn't deserve to be #5 (i put the comeback on a SD chokejob moreso than giving houston credit) ... i think i'd still have ATL & GB ahead of them even with the tough loses.

 

[TriplecHamp]

first thought was houston doesn't deserve to be #5 (i put the comeback on a SD chokejob moreso than giving houston credit) ... i think i'd still have ATL & GB ahead of them even with the tough loses.

I don't know, Houston came out sleeping and it looked like they woke up more than anything. Run defense clamped down and everything else followed.

 

[borg]

Squeaking by Buffalo, scoring only 6 points in the second half, losing play makers to the injury bug.....if NE is the 4th best team right now...then the league is in trouble. I would drop them to the 8-9 range. The early cupcake schedule will make it tough to know the truth about this team.

Some stats that support what we already know:
'13....scored 23 points vs Buffalo....6 punts
'12....averaged 44.5 pts vs Buff...averaged 2.5 punts
'11....averaged 40 pts vs Buff......averaged 2.5 punts

One game does not make a trend but.....
PS...I just added Edleperson to half my fantasy starting rosters.....come on JE...this is your time to shine. Big pay checks are in your future

 

[Sivy]

Just week 1, but Balt looked SOOOO bad, like bottom half of the league bad. Joe Flukeo was made famous by Bolden and that's a proven fact now. I hope they suck just as bad all year.

 

[ivanvamp]

Squeaking by Buffalo, scoring only 6 points in the second half, losing play makers to the injury bug.....if NE is the 4th best team right now...then the league is in trouble. I would drop them to the 8-9 range. The early cupcake schedule will make it tough to know the truth about this team.

Some stats that support what we already know:
'13....scored 23 points vs Buffalo....6 punts
'12....averaged 44.5 pts vs Buff...averaged 2.5 punts
'11....averaged 40 pts vs Buff......averaged 2.5 punts

One game does not make a trend but.....
PS...I just added Edleperson to half my fantasy starting rosters.....come on JE...this is your time to shine. Big pay checks are in your future

I hear you. But, as I said several times in the post-game discussion, the 3 Pats' turnovers which led to a -24 point differential were *all* completely UNFORCED. Totally uncharacteristic and unnecessary turnovers. None were even close to being caused by Buffalo. Just whoops! That game should have been a big blowout by the Pats - the other game stats supported that conclusion. Buffalo was VERY lucky to even be in that game.

 

[Gronkandez]

I hear you. But, as I said several times in the post-game discussion, the 3 Pats' turnovers which led to a -24 point differential were *all* completely UNFORCED. Totally uncharacteristic and unnecessary turnovers. None were even close to being caused by Buffalo. Just whoops! That game should have been a big blowout by the Pats - the other game stats supported that conclusion. Buffalo was VERY lucky to even be in that game.

True, but on the other hand good teams don't make dumb plays like that. The same thing happened in the preseason game vs the Lions. Maybe this is who they are, a young mistake prone team.

We know they don't have a capable KO returner and they're down to one healthy RB and TE.

I'm hoping Thompkins reverts to his preseason ways tonight. He has to.

 

[borg]

I hear you. But, as I said several times in the post-game discussion, the 3 Pats' turnovers which led to a -24 point differential were *all* completely UNFORCED. Totally uncharacteristic and unnecessary turnovers. None were even close to being caused by Buffalo. Just whoops! That game should have been a big blowout by the Pats - the other game stats supported that conclusion. Buffalo was VERY lucky to even be in that game.

No doubt the two fumbles were anomalies, but lets not get carried away about the blow out conjecture. The Pats two TDs were thanks to the defense handing them a short field...16 yds and 32 yds. Other than that, 6 punts and 3 FGs......a far cry from what we have grown accustomed too. Both teams feasted off of turnovers and only Buffalo was able to sustain a long drive for a TD(80 yds). This game was a flash back to 2001.....opportunistic scores/field position/last team with the ball wins.
As far as the ranking goes...I just don't see the Pats keeping pace with plus offenses so I can't rank them top 5. Hope that changes when a healthy roster comes together...for the final push. I do appreciate your effort ranking 16 teams with explanations. I look at it more macro....the whole AFC blows so I drop them all several pegs.