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We have gotten through two weeks of NFL action, so we should have a pretty good idea on what teams are good and what teams have more quesitons than answers. I believe, we are already seeing some teams seperating themselves and other teams showing that they don't belong in the playoffs conversation down the road. It is crazy to say, but there are a few contenders who are entering week 3 looking for their first win. If you start 0-3, I don't know if you can dig yourself out of that hole. Unless, you have a super easy schedule and your team find their footing very soon.
Below are my predictions for Week 3 one o'clock games! Enjoy!
49ers at Gaints
Normally, I would give the Gaints no chance vs the 49ers, but this is a extremely banged up 49ers team. I don't think any team has faced more injuries than this squad has. They also should be thankfully that all of these key injuries has happened now, not when they face the hardest part of their schedule. Are they healthy enough to beat the Gaints?
I believe the injury to Barkley was huge for this New York team. He is a special talent and he is the engine that makes this team go, in my opinion. I don't believe this Gaints' team is very good, without Barkley. I am not coutning them out totally, but I don't have any faith in Daniel Jones to take this game over. The Gaints have set up Daniel Jones for failure and that's more on them than it is on Daniel. You can't expect a Quarterback to have a lot of success, if you give him no weapons to use. Sure, he has Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton as WRs and Evan Engram as his tight end. But I don't believe any of those guys are legit No.1 options. Tate is the clostest thing you have to one and he isn't that guy at this stage of his career. With all of that said, I believe it is enough offense to contend with a super banged up 49ers team on both side of the ball. The fact that it is a deabate, says a lot about how good of a coach Kyle Shanahan is. He is an offensive genius, so I expect him to put together a gameplan cartered to his team's current strengths.
Prediction - Close Game until the 49ers find a way to pull away in the second half! 49ers by 6 points
Washington at Cleveland
Washington have had a lot of turnover the past couple off-seasons and should be excited about their future. And I will admit that they have done better than I expected to do this season, so far. And the Browns were one of the most hyped up teams this off-season (i wasn't buying the hype from them) and they haven't really lived up to the bill through two weeks. Even though, they did beat the Bengals in week 2 on Thursday night.
Washington enters week 3 with a 1-1 record. I think most people (including myself) are very surprised by the Washington Football Team. I think many experts expected them to be in the running for another top 3. It's early, but they don't look like a bottom three team so far. They did run into a buzz saw in week 2 vs a very good Arizona team. There's clearly some holes on this team, but they can move the ball down the field when the ball get into the playmakers hands. The Browns have a very talented offense, but I think this team will go as the running game does. I know that is a tough reality for a guy like Baker Mayfield to accept, but they have by far the best one-two punch in the league. Only an idiot would try to pass 40 or 50 times, when you could easily rush for 150 yards on the ground. This team has the chance to be really good, but they to have play to their strengths.
Prediction - The Browns take care of bussiness in week 3 and get over .500 for the first time this season by rushing the ball down their throats!
Bengals vs Eagles
This is a great chance for a young Joe Burrow-led team to get a win against a struggling Eagles' team. The Eagles have started the 2020 season with 2 straight losses and the Bengals are a lot better than they are given credit for. While the Eagles are very banged up and easily could lose this game. Are they in danger of missing the playoffs, if they start 0-3? I wouldn't go that far yet, but they would flirting with that soon. There's always been a great debate on weather Carson Wentz is elite or not, I think it is time for him to answer the bell. If he is legit one of the best Quarterbacks in this league, then he has to put his team on his back and just win! I don't care about the excuses, this Eagles' team should win this game and Wentz has to get them there.
The Bengals have enough talent on offense to beat this beaten up Eagles' team, and I believe it will be a very tightly contested game from start to finish. There's a lot of good pieces on this Bengals' team, but I think they have to get the ball into their playmakers and not turn the ball over. If they do those two well, then I think they have a good shot at getting the upset on the road!
Prediction - Eagles manage to stop the bleeding and finally get into the win column by a late field goal! But Joe Burrow outperforms Carson Wentz through the air!
Raiders vs Pats
I know a lot of people jumped off the Pats' bandwagon after Brady (whom isn't the same guy anymore in my opinion) left this past off-season, but I think this Pats' team will be just fine here in 2020 and moving forward. This team starts and end with Bill, he is more than capable of being dangerous with a Quarterback such as Cam Netwon. Personally, I have been very impressed with Newton and thought he looked better throwing the ball than ever before. He was on fire in week 2 vs Seathawks and I was rooting for them (shockingly). I think their defense needs a lot of improvement, but their offense can move the ball up and down the field pretty well.
Raiders are a shockingly 2-0 to start the season and pulled off the big upset vs the Saints on MNF. The Raiders looked really good vs a solid Saints' defense. I don't believe enough people talk about how good this Raiders' team really can be in 2020. They have a lot of good pieces on this roster and they have another really good chance to display it. I think we will find out if Raiders are legit or the Saints were just frauds in week 2.
Prediction - Raiders give the Pats a good fight, but Pats don't lose back-to-back
Bears at Falcons
The Bears have started the 2020 off with a 2-0 record, but they haven't really done too much to show that they are legit playoffs contenders. They beat the Lions in a come from behind win and then beat the Giants in last week's game. I wasn't super impressed in either game. While the Falcons have displayed a lot of firepower and are easily the best 0-2 team in football. That offense has been running wild and I am not sure how they lost last week's game vs Dallas. They even looked awesome in week 1 vs Seattle.
I think the Bears have to hope that their defense is good enough to slow down the Falcons to where their offense can outscore them. I think the chances are low of that happening honestly. This Falcons' offense have plenty of playmakers and I don't believe the Bears' defense is as good as the past couple seasons. Mitch gonna have to be awesome!
Prediction - Falcons get their win of the season vs overachieving Chicago's team whom really haven't faced a good offense through two weeks. Here in week 3, I think it will show!
Rams vs Bills
This is a really interesting game and one I might check into because this might be the best game of all the 1 pm games. Both teams are undefeated and both teams are expected to be postseason bound (Especially the Bills.) The Rams look more like the 2018 Rams (whom went to the Super Bowl) than the 2019 Rams whom couldn't even crack the playoffs. While the Bills have gotten better each season and seeing Josh Allen off to best start of his young career. I think the Bills' management need to be credited for putting the right coaching staff and supporting cast around him, too. Something I am very hard on, when it comes to teams not giving these young Quarterbacks a chance by putting good people around them. The Bills get it and they been aggressive in getting the right pieces to work with Josh Allen. Not only that, but the Bills have pieced together once again another great defense at every level. There aren't many weaknesses on this defense. I see good players at every position on the field. Typically that will translate to good things!
Since Sean McVay entered the league as a head coach, he has been credited as an offensive genius and we didn't really see the results in 2019. People started to question, if Jared Goff was the right guy to run this offense and I think that question has been laid to rest in the early going. Of course, I am sure there are still a lot of doubters on this Rams' team, though. They are very good on both side of the ball, so I am expecting a very entertaining contest this afternoon.
Prediction - Another tight game, but Bills get another win and have one of best starts in their history!
Vikings vs Titans
A lot of experts were picking the Vikings leading up to the season's opener to win the division, which I thought was pretty silly. Considering how much turnover this Vikings' team saw in the off-season. Most of the pieces that they lost, they ended up replacing them with young and/or unproven talent. You can't replace expereince and expect everything to be fine. Almost every team whom get rid of decent amount of expereince for young players will see decrease in production. That is just nature of the bussiness. Now, I think this Vikings' team will be good before this season is over, but they aren't right now. They are young and injuried. That's not a great combo with the kind of schedule that they were given for the first few months of the season. It doesn't help that the Vikings' offense has looked like a trainwreck for the most part! They did come alive in the 4th quarter vs the Packers. But they were down by mutliple scores after 3 quarters of play.
Titans are on the opposite end of things, though. They are off to a great start and trending toward being one of the better teams in the NFL. They run the ball well as anyone in this leauge and are led by their star running back in Derrick Henry. They also have a pretty underrated quarterback in Ryan Tannehill. A year and half ago (when they traded for him), I wasn't expecting much from him. As he really didn't do a lot to impress down in Miami. But with the right system, he has really has shined up in Tennessee.
Prediction - Titans gives the Vikings another lost and send the state of Minnesota into panic, as the Vikings become 0-3 to start the 2020 season!
Steelers vs Texans
I feel like this game could go either, hoenstly. The Steelers haven't bad, but I wouldn't go call them great, either. They are just good enough to be 2-0, but still they have Big Ben back, so they are a threat to make the post-season. Even though, their defense was good enough last year to probably make it. And a lot of their same pieces have returned here in 2020. The Texans, on the other hand should be more worried. However, they faced the Chiefs in week 1 and the Ravens in week 2. I think they have a better shot to win in week 3 vs the Steelers. Still, I think this team needs to figure out who exactly they are. Because through two games, I don't believe they know what kind of football team they are.
Prediction - Texans will have to wait another week for their first win, as the Steelers grab another win in the 2020 season.
Email - Garrybriggs265@gmail.com
Twitter - @Garryy12
