BwareDWare94 723 Posted September 10, 2014 (edited) Sunday: New England Patriots @ Minnesota Vikings What to Expect: When Tom Brady last ran into a Mike Zimmer defense, he was held to 6 points in a 13-6 Bengals victory with Mike Zimmer calling defensive plays for Cincinnati. Keep in mind that the Cincinnati defense in question was much more proven than this Vikings bunch. At the same time, Zimmer has made a career out of getting the most out of his players, regardless of their skill level (ie: late career Terence Newman). The Vikings defense has plenty of potential, but there's nothing special about holding the Rams offense under 10 points, especially when Austin Davis plays quarterback in the second half. Offensively, the Vikings have a plethora of quick play weapons that allow Matt Cassel to stear clear of too many deep drop pocket passing plays that reveal just how immobile the USC product is. With weapons like Peterson, Patterson, Rudolph, and Jennings, the Vikings are well stocked on offense. Look out for an eventual emergence by Jerrick McKinnon, as well. The Patriots come to town at 0-1, which is unfamiliar territory for our Foxborough friends. They ran into a buzzsaw last weekend thanks to Miami's fearsome pass rushers against perhaps the weakest Patriots OL in quite some time. Tom Brady is still the second best quarterback in the league, though, and Rob Gronkowski is at least suiting up, this season. The Patriots also have a budding defense that, barring injury, will be special by season's end. Don't expect a Bill Belichick coached team to look as though they're 0-1 and not 1-0. Prediction: Patriots 27 Vikings 23 I expect Belichick to push a gameplan that gets the ball out of Tom Brady's hands quicker, thus giving the offensive line a break against the blitz happy Mike Zimmer. Brady shouldn't end up planted on his ass nearly as much as week 1, and therefore won't turn the ball over. Minnesota will continue to show promise on offense thanks to New England's porous run defense, but Darrelle Revis will remind us why he's one of the best cornerbacks in the league by holding Cordarrelle Patterson without one single catch, and Matt Cassel will be forced to rely on Jennings and the likes of Jarius Wright, in the passing game. Minnesota's defense will show more good signs, but their beat up secondary (Xavier Rhodes has a groin injury--he might be active but I doubt he'll be 100%) will fold on some plays, giving the Patriots plenty of points. Sunday: Detroit Lions @ Carolina Panthers What to Expect: Detroit, fresh off of an impressive performance against a re-tooled New York Giants defense, heads to Carolina to face off against a much better front 7, but much, much worse back 4. Calvin Johnson should go bananas in this game, I'm talking 200+ receiving yards bananas, and Golden Tate might even find the endzone, at some point. Unfortunately for Detroit, against a better team like Carolina, who knows how many points they'll actually score, even if they roll up the statistics. Defensively, the Lions still have question marks in the secondary, but solid play by Darius Slay and Glover Quinn will continue to provide some bright spots on the back end. Carolina nearly choked away a win against Tampa Bay, regardless of how seriously Derek Anderson takes this shit. With an emerging Kelvin Benjamin, solid tight end, and dangerous running game, the return of dual threat Cam Newton should open up the offense a bit, unless Suh punches Cam in the ribs, which wouldn't surprise me. Defensively, the Panthers looked really good holding Vincent Jackson under 40 yards receiving, and keeping the Bucs out of the endzone, check that--off the scoreboard, until late in the game, says a lot about just how effective a fantastic front 7 really is. Davis and Luke are two of the best linebackers in the game, and those 2 alone make the Panthers worth watching. Prediction: Lions 23 Panthers 13 I don't trust this Panthers offense, right now, and I really liked what I saw out of Matt Stafford on Monday night. I feel like the Lions might have turned a corner, which has completely blindsided me because I have never had faith in either Stafford or Jim Caldwell. Obvious improvements are obvious improvements, though, and to blindly turn my eyes away from the legitimately good team I saw on Monday Night Football wouldn't do justice to these pick threads. The Lions look very dangerous, especially if their defense holds up, and I see no reason why they won't look better against a depleted Panthers offense with an injured Cam Newton. Sunday: New York Jets @ Green Bay Packers What to Expect: The Packers, fresh off of an ass whupping handed to them courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks, come home to face a significantly easier foe in the Geno Smith led New York Jets. Aaron Rodgers and his weapons are still very dangerous, and Packers fans can only hope that Eddie Lacy can play. Defensively, the Packers actually looked fairly decent against Seattle--I particularly loved what I saw out of Sam Shields, and Clinton-Dix had some nice plays. The Packers have liabilities at linebacker, particularly Brad Jones, but most teams end up looking worse than they really are in Seattle. The Jets picked up a rather lackluster win against a bad Oakland squad, but 1-0 is 1-0 and Jets fans can only hope that Oakland is a little tougher on the field than they are on paper. The Jets have a nice rushing attack in Chris Johnson and Chris Ivory, and that attack will only get better as soon as Powell returns. Eric Decker will hopefully have a breakout performance soon, but with #7 throwing to him instead of #18, God knows when that will happen. On the other side of the ball, the Jets are very depleted in the secondary, which doesn't bode well when traveling to Green Bay. Prediction: Packers 33 Jets 17 The Packers offense will be too much to handle for a weakened Jets secondary. This game will be in hand by the end of the first half and Geno Smith will struggle, throwing picks early and late. The Packers OL will struggle, at times, against the Jets front 7, but Aaron Rodgers is very mobile and should be able to compensate, most of the time. The Jets have some promise, but it won't be enough to pull off a win at Lambeau. Sunday: Chicago Bears at San Francisco 49ers What to Expect: Fresh off an embarrassing loss to the Bills, the Bears roll into San Francisco to face a much tougher test. The Bears still have weapons all over the field on offense, and one of the best backs in the league in Matt Forte. What remains to be seen is if Jay Cutler can start to minimize mistakes or if he'll always be the same old, inconsistent Cutler. Defensively, the Bears have already held one team under 30 points, so that has to be a plus, moving forward. The 49ers come into this game off of an impressive and decisive win on the road, though their failure to score in the second half against the Cowboys is alarming. Kaepernick is still wildly inconsistent, but weapons like Boldin, Crabtree, Davis, Gore, and Hyde will more than make up for it. As for the defense, the secondary held up fairly well against a Dallas team that has plenty of firepower. It'll be interesting to see how they handle Marshall and Jeffrey Prediction: Bears 30 49ers 27 I think Cutler plays much better, and Kaepernick plays much worse. Marshall, Jeffrey, and Bennett will all catch scores, and the Bears will build a surprising lead that will give their fans a bit of hope, but they'll take it all away with a late game defensive collapse that'll nearly result in a loss. Edited September 10, 2014 by BwareDWare94 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
butta54 371 Posted September 10, 2014 I wrote a very long breakdown of each game, but like a rookie I didn't save it on Word just in case...and it all got deleted. Maybe I will re-write it all sometime idk. So I will just shortly sum up my Bears preview...there has been NO other team in the league the last three seasons that has impressed me in their run game more than San Fran. Not just a player like Adrian Peterson. I'm talking about a complete dedication to a running SYSTEM from personnel to the old school formations. The only other person who hits a hole quicker and with more determination than Frank Gore is Carlos Hyde who unfortunately is on the same team. Put that together with the Bears' defense that was last in the league last year against the run and look to go ahead and repeat that. I'm scared to death of what is about to happen to us on Sunday. Unless our offense comes back healthy and ready for a shoot out then I see this being a nast blowout. YAY Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theMileHighGuy 656 Posted September 10, 2014 (edited) I see the Vikings trouncing the Pats. Last week, the Pats could not stop Knowshon from running all over them, and now AP and company are coming to town. Patsies start the season 0-2 24 - :Patriots: 17 Pretty much agree across the board on the rest of the games. Edited September 10, 2014 by theMileHighGuy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Burfict Storm 39 Posted September 11, 2014 The Vikings are going to be the Cinderella team this season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OSUViking 505 Posted September 11, 2014 You've cursed us, you bastard. Why didn't Jerrick McKinnon play at all against the Rams? Or did he play? I didn't see him on the field, but I'll admit I wasn't paying much attention to who was running the ball that game because I was more focused on how the passing game would do. That being said, I DID hear that McKinnon had a lot of potential. Is it possible/probable that he will eventually set more playing time than Matt Asiata Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Burfict Storm 39 Posted September 11, 2014 You received a godsend. It's the Redskins that got cursed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted September 12, 2014 30 :Patriots: 20 I see I'm not the only one taking Minny in this one. 24 20 All the talk of this "depleted Panthers offense" is beginning to annoy me. Its better than it was last year and we were 12-4 then. It's the secondary I'm worried about. We have no one who can cover Megatron, which means the pass rush better be up to the task. 27 13 Blowout from start to finish. 31 13 See above. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted September 12, 2014 You've cursed us, you bastard. Why didn't Jerrick McKinnon play at all against the Rams? Or did he play? I didn't see him on the field, but I'll admit I wasn't paying much attention to who was running the ball that game because I was more focused on how the passing game would do. That being said, I DID hear that McKinnon had a lot of potential. Is it possible/probable that he will eventually set more playing time than Matt Asiata I saw one running play where the line imploded and he was stopped for no gain. I hope he plays ahead of Asiata, and soon. While I like Asiata, he should be used situationally. McKinnon should get every other 3rd down or something along those lines. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted September 12, 2014 28 :Patriots: 24 45 6 34 14 16 24 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradyFan81 404 Posted September 12, 2014 (edited) Patriots run defense struggled because they weren't putting any players in the box. They got demolished by the run, but in a completely different way than Minnesota runs it. Miami wasn't lining up in I-formation and pounding it down our throats, they were shotgun drawing us to death. I think we'll load up against the run this week and force Cassel to beat us through the air. :Patriots: 20 13 Edited September 12, 2014 by BradyFan81 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted September 14, 2014 Can we stop talking about the "depleted offense" now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
butta54 371 Posted September 26, 2014 Can we stop talking about the "depleted offense" now? I don't know did you see that Steelers game? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
