Week 2 is Just About Done

This week Mardi suffered a setback as the score tonight stands at 10-5 for me and 6-9 for her. The disagreed games all went in my direction on this Week 2 Sunday. Of those games, 3 of them could have easily gone her way, and in 2 cases it was last minute heroics that pulled them in my favor. This Sunday 8 of the 15 games were won by the visiting team.

One of those road wins came in Tennesse as the Texans defeated the Titans by a score of 34-31. This game was definitely one that should be on NFL Rewind this week. The Titans scored on several big plays from scrimmage, which kept Houston behind most of the game. The Texans also had several big plays (the most notable being the Andre Johnson one-handed catch for a touchdown). Matt Shaub definitely redeemed himself from Week 1 by going 25 for 39 with 357 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Andre Johnson had 10 catches for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns (includng his 500th career reception). The concerns for me were the big plays, 3 of which led directly to touchdowns for the Titans, given up by the defense. While they were aggressive, mistakes were made that kept the Titans in the lead most of the game. The running game was also dismal this week. Unless the Texans can get the running game going, there will be struggles later in the season.

Again I wasn't able to watch the Minnesota game, but I did follow most of it on ESPN GameTrax. While I figured the Lions would keep it competitive for the Vikings, I was still surprised by the slow start and overall performance of the Vikings. Although the score (27-13) doesn't reflect this, the Lions kept it competitive in the passing and rushing categories, resulting in both teams gaining a net 265 total yards. The key to the game was capitalizing on mistakes, in this case 1 interception and 1 fumble by the Lions that resulted in scoring drives by the Vikings. Brett Favre was in game manager mode again, with efficient passing going 23 of 27 for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 2 touchdowns came in handy as Adrian Peterson had a good day (92 yards on the ground and 1 touchdown) but not a great day. While it was enough to win the day, these numbers by the Vikings won't strike fear into the hearts of their opponents.

While I wasn't surprised the Cincinnati offense kicking into a higher gear, I was surprised that the defense for Green Bay didn't do a better job. The surprises came in the Pittsburgh game and the New England game (both of my picks lost there). Mark Sanchez performed more like a rookie in New York (14 of 22 for 163 yards), but the defense for the Jets proved to be the big winners as they held Tom Brady to 0 touchdowns (which hasn't happened since 2006). New Orleans scored 40+ for the second week in a row as they just lit up Philadelphia. I spotted 1 article already saying Drew Brees was the best quarterback this week (25 of 34 for 311 yards, 3 TD's, and 1 interception), although I think Matt Shaub's performance proves otherwise. And congratulations have to go to San Francisco for their big win over Seattle to take 1st place in the NFC West.

My play of the week has to go Andre Johnson's one-handed catch for 19 yards and 6 points in the 1st quarter against Tennessee. The boneheaded play of the week has to go also to the Texans for not covering Chris Johnson at the line of scrimmage, which led to a 75-yard catch and touchdown for Tennessee.

At this point the Texans are in 2nd place in the AFC south (as both Jacksonville and Tennessee are winless). Indianapolis will retain first place unless they lose by 17 against Miami on Monday night. The Vikings are currently in 1st place in the NFC North. While it is early to be looking at division play, the positions do begin to shake out in Week 2. Houston hosts a division game next week while the Vikings will host the NFC West.

The full record and the overall score for Mardi and me will be posted when I make my picks on Wednesday. Let's see what Mardi has to say about this week.