Another week of football
Thursday Night saw the opening of the new stadium in Buffalo as the Detroit Lions came to play the Bills. Buffalo ended up winning 41-31 but the game was not as close as the score indicates. Detroit had a disastrous first quarter. They had 7 plays for a total of negative one yard. Meanwhile, Buffalo scored twice on both first quarter possessions. Buffalo scored another TD at the beginning of the second quarter before the lions finally had a good drive and scored a TD of their own. On Buffalo’s fourth drive was a Buffalo fourth TD. They missed the extra point, but Buffalo was comfortably up 27-7 at that point and didn’t look back. Josh Allen had 5 total TD’s. The Bills look really good in the early goings of the NFL season.
On Saturday night, Ole Miss got the victory on LSU. It was definitely a shocker as I thought that LSU would win. I was happy for Ole Miss. Look, I don’t care about the alleged history of Lane Kiffin in his personal life. He was the coach of Ole Miss and it really was the worst kept secret in sports that he was going to take the job at LSU. That’s not even a big deal. People leave for what they feel are better jobs all the time. The problem that I have with his departure from Ole Miss is that he helped guide his Ole Miss squad to the playoffs. And rather than lead them into the playoffs, he left for his new job immediately. Those kids at Ole Miss came to play for Kiffin. Those kids played hard for that coach to make an impact in football and he couldn’t be bothered to lead them further. Just my two cents.
Looking at Sunday, I’m not a believer in Bryce Young. But I have to admit that the kid and that team are playing really well. They destroyed Atlanta 34-3. Let’s see how they do when they play a good defense though. Which their next two games are against Cleveland and Detroit. They don’t play a good defense until week 5 against the Eagles.
What does a team that scored 59 points in week one do for an encore? They score three points the next week and look absolutely abysmal. You can blame the stormy weather if you like but that was a Chicago team that just made mistake after mistake. Players on offense not being set. Too many false starts. The DeAndre Swift fumble at the two yard line. Then you factor in the fact that Caleb Williams was injured and forced to leave the game when they were in the red zone. Chicago had ample opportunities to win the game as their defense actually played pretty well. The mistakes on offense will have to be taken care of if Chicago wants to make the impact that they were predicted to make.
What a come from behind victory for New Orleans over Baltimore! The Saints outscored Baltimore 18-3 in the second half. Head Coach Kellen Moore is putting something together in NO. If they want to progress even more though, that running game is going to have to improve.
If you had Kansas City starting the year 2-0 then you’re a better person than me. A great game by Mahomes as he threw for 382 yards and three TDs. But Kenneth Walker has put this team on his back. He is exactly what this Chiefs team needed. Sure, Mahomes was injured last year and that affected what KC was able to do. But Walker is a clear upgrade over Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco from the 2025 season. He already has 290 yards and a TD on the ground combined with the 9 catches for 79 yards and a score as a receiver in two games. And to think, for some reason Seattle always tried to push Zach Charbonett and Walker as a one-two punch when Walker is clearly a lead back. Don’t get me wrong, it worked out for Seattle because they had a really good running game. However, now Kenneth has been let off the leash.
On to this week and we have a few top 25 matchups in college football. #1 Texas is at #15 Tennessee. Tennessee really hasn’t been tested yet while Texas had that huge win over then #1 Ohio State. I could totally see Tennessee getting the win, but I think Texas will win by 3.
#4 Ole Miss vs #21 Florida. Florida went from unranked to #21 after last weeks big win over Auburn to get to 3-0. Can Ole Miss avoid the hangover of beating LSU? Florida in the Swamp is a tough assignment. I believe that Ole Miss will win a tight one 37-36.
#17 Iowa vs #18 Michigan. I, like many sports fans, do not like what happened at the end of the Michigan/Western Michigan game. And I’m as petty as they come so, it would not upset me in the least to see Michigan lose every game. But it seems like the offense might be coming around finally. Ugh, I hate that I feel this way, but I think Michigan wins by double digits.
#23 Texas A&M vs #10 LSU. A&M looked horrible last week and I expect LSU to rebound after the loss to Ole Miss.
#20 Oregon vs #12 USC. Oregon has not looked good this year and I expect USC to roll.
#19 Missouri vs #24 Mississippi State. No opinions on this game but it is a top 25 matchup.
Please gamble responsibly.
I have that little disclaimer because I noticed a couple of things when doing some research this week. I belong to a group that does a CBS Pick ‘Em game every week against the spread. There are a couple of lines that really intrigue me.
The Jets are +6.5 against the Lions. I have this feeling that this will be a closer game than people think. The Jets have actually played decently so far this year. And the Lions secondary is still not playing well.
The Titans are +2.5 against The Giants. Man, Jameis Winston looked horrible on Monday Night after Jaxson Dart went down to injury. And yes, he will have a full week to prepare as the starter. I am not a fan of Cam Ward. But the Giants played so badly with Winston in the game that I would smash the Titans this week.
Other games that I’m looking at that don’t involve gambling. How about the Houston Texans going into Indianapolis to face the Colts? Both teams are 0-2. This is a must win for both teams. Only six teams that have started 0-3 have come back to make the playoffs. Last done by the 2018 Houston Texans. What’s happening to Houston? The defense gave up 36 points to Buffalo week one. And then the offense only scored 6 points last week against Cincinnati. I’m on the fence on this game. Houston is better than what they’ve displayed so far. And I’m not a believer in Indianapolis. Houston gets the win here as both sides of the ball decide to show up together.
New England Patriots vs the Jacksonville Jaguars. Both teams have started 1-1. The Patriots defense has started the year by giving up just 16 points in two games. Meanwhile, the Jaguars offense looked really good in week one when they played the Browns but didn’t look so good the next week when they played a good Denver defense. The Patriots offense has not played as well as most people thought that they would. My initial thought is that Jacksonville will be able to come away with the victory in an incredibly close game. 23-21