New England 30 d Oakland 20

New England will be a force again thanks to QB Brady and coach BB but may struggle to dominate the competition as they have in the past. Their defence doesnt look as strong as recent times and i reckon they will drop a few games this year. Home field advantage won them the game.

Oakland look to have improved with the pick up of Randy Moss and will be a force this year with a reasonable chance to make the play offs.


Kansas City 27 d New York Jets 7

Kansas City look to have improved their defence and were very good against a side that played poorly. If the defence functions like it did in week 1 then KC will be in the play offs. Offence is excellent but always has been.

NYJ were a big flop on the w/end. QB Pennington is not in good form and this scoreline would be considered a shock to them even though it was a road game. Would want to lift to make the play offs.



Cincinnatti 27 d Cleveland 13

Bengals won like they should have and are a slim chance to make the playoffs but may struggle against better sides.

Cleveland might well be the worst side in the league but their loss was no disgrace. The will be a cellar dweller this season however.




Buffalo 22 d Houston 7

Buffalo a good chance to win more than 50% of matches this season but wont know until they play better opposition.

Houston will be lucky to win a handful of games.




Pittsburgh 34 d Tennessee 7

Pittsburgh looked very good in the opener. Big chance to make the Superbowl this year and toyed with the opposition on the w/end. Could have won by more.

Tennessee will be in the bottom four this year and no surprise given the players they have lost. Should have won the superbowl against StLouis a few years back but failed be inches.




Miami 34 d Denver 10

Miami were very good in opening game against a side that won every practise game. They will win matches this year and when they get Ricky Williams back they will improve more. Not the worst side in it and will be an outside chance for playoffs. Give them a year or two and look out.

Denver were pathetic. Cant see them making the playoffs on that performance but are very hard to beat at home. Will win a fair amount of games but they failed miserably on the w/end.




Dallas 28 d San Diego 24

Dallas are starting to play well and QB Bedsoe was another teams reject but coach Parcells has groomed him for this outfit. Excellent effort to win in SD and this side can make the playoffs without surprise. Have the best coach.

San Diego werent hopeless but let this one slip. Dont think they have improved on last year but will be around playoff contention.




Detroit 17 d Green Bay 3

Detroit are in for a good year. They are well coached and have started the year nicely. In a weak division and i think they will make the playoffs.

Green Bay have lost the plot and cannot see them winning more than a handful of games this year. QB has seen better days and they are gone.




Atlanta 14 d Philadelphia 10

Atlanta looked fair against a team that looked ordianary. Any team that played ok would have beaten them on their form. Wasnt impressed and would say that they will be lucky to make the NFC championship game this year.

Philadelphia did everything wrong and still only just lost. I think this is a good sign. Probably the best team in the NFC and am sure they are better than Atlanta. McNabb had a bad game. Dont write them off.




Jacksonville 26 d Seattle 14

Jacksonville looked OK and must give themselves a chance of making the playoffs this season. Think they will have a good year but are in the tough side of the draw being the AFC.

Seattle might struggle this season but they are in arguably the weakest division of the NFC so playoffs are not out of the question.





New Orleans 23 d Carolina 20

New Orleans playing on emotion have beaten a good team. Losing their home ground cant help but this side will win matches. Dont know if they will reach playoffs but not impossible.

Carolina a bit dissappointing for mine. Did lose a few games early last season and stormed home. Will need to improve but i am starting to think this year might not be theirs.




Washington 9 d Chicago 7

Washington have a good defence but need to be able to score more points. They might win several games but their lack of offence will stop them making the playoffs

Chicago have a good defence and will upset a few good teams this year but you wouldnt think they would have a winning year.




Tampa Bay 24 d Minnesota 13

Tampa Bay have caused the major upset and didnt look too bad. On paper they have an average side but played above themselves on the w/end. Would expect to win several games but playoffs i dont think are in the picture.


Minnesota were terrible. Offence did not score a TD and their defence sucks. I have put the pen through them already.




San Francisco 28 d St Louis 25

SF have caused the upset but got lucky against a bad side. Might impove to win 3 or 4 games this year but definitely bottom four material.

St Louis are in for a long year with their bad defence. Cant see them making playoffs but they are in a weak division.




New York Giants 42 d Arizona 19

NYG have their offence primed and looked ok against an improved side. A small chance to make the playoffs after an ok season last year.

Arizona will win a fair share of games this year and could make the playoffs without surprise but need to find a couple of good players.




Indianapolis 24 d Baltimore 7


Indy were sensationsal on the w/end. Defence has improved 1000% and their offence have slowed down to take the pressure of their defence. Clearly the best performance of week 1 in my eyes.

Baltimores defence withstood the pressure for first half but something had to give and it did. Injury to QB Boller wont help even though their defence is good. Will struggle this year i think. Playoffs a small chance.







Report Card -


Best Performances from week 1

Indianapolis A+
Kansas City A
Pittsburgh A
Detroit A
Dallas A
Miami B


Worst Performances from week 1

NYJ E
Denver E
Green Bay E
Minnesota E


Play off predictions -

AFC

New England
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Buffalo (wild card)
Jacksonville (Wc)


NFC

Philadelphia
Detroit
Atlanta
Arizona
Dallas (wc)
Carlolina (wc)


Superbowl winner - Indianapolis

Okay. No need to play the rest of the season. You've got it all decided for us.

Seriously though, thanks a lot for that summary.

Good morning AtC.

Thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts on each of the games. I look forward to your commentaries and with interest on how you apply the stats to predicting outcomes. I went 1-1 on my predictions here (detroit won, Baltimore lost). The service I subscribe to went 5-3 with wins on NE, Buffalo, Dallas,Detroit and ATlanta and losses on Balt, Seattle and Carolina. I feel real lucky with getting away with the Atlanta game and agree with you that Atlanta were not that impressive. The defensive won it with the turnovers. Not scoring for 3/4, no running in the the last half except for Vick and only one receiver (Crumpler) catching is pretty ordinary. The emotonal built up and home field played against Philly big time and they should bounce back.

I also keep detailed stats and pick games and totals from them. First round stats are pretty meaningless as its hard to tell whether a stat indicats a good offense or a bad defensive. If I may, I would like to add to your post by pointing out a few of the stats that I noted that may indicate future trends.

Oak-NE - Total yards Oak 351 Ne 379. Indicate a lot closer game then the score and may mean Oakland is a lot better than pre season polls indicate.

Hou - Buffalo - Passing Houston 9/21 for 25 yards. Sacks Buffalo 5. Buffalo either have a great passing defensive or Houston can't pass at all and their front line must be suspect.

Chi- Was - Rushing Chi 18 attempts for 41 yards. Total yards Chi 166, Wash 323. Either Wash has a tremondous defensive or Chicago can't run. Wash had twice the yards but only won by 2, very strange.

Denv-Mia - Denver has now lost 7 times in a row in Mami. Maybe they can't handle the heat. Miami scored 14 points on special teams which may have made them look better than they are.

TB -Min - Rushing Min 16 attempt for 26 yards. Turnovers Min 5, TB 2. +3 turnovers for TB indicates to not get too excited about them. If Min can't run they are in big trouble again.

NO - CAR - ?? Carolin won the stats and NO won the turnovers 4-2

Sea - Jax - 5 turnovers against Seattle tells it all

Ten- Pits. Rushing Ptts 41 for 206. Looks like they are starting off where they left off. Turnovers +4 for Pittsburgh. Against a poor rushing defensive, they should do extra well.

Cin -clev Big offensive numbers for both teams could indicate poor defenses.

NYJ- KC - Rushing KC 34 for 198. Passing NYJ 34/56 for 316. If KC can run like this they should clean up the West.

Dall- SD- ?? even stats

STL - SF. How did SF win this? Rushing SF 21 attempts for 34 yards, Passng STL 34/56 for 316. Total yards STl 405 Sf 217. Stats lie. SF fans better not get excited too quickly. However Sf sacked STL 7 times which isn't good for STL & Bulger

ARI-NYG - Rushing ARI 21 attempts for 34 yards. Too early to tell but the rest of the stats are even. Arizona may be not that bad but they did to run to win in the NFL

GB-DEt - As A Packer fan, this confirmed my opinion that Favre should have quit 2 years ago. Weak division with no SB aspirations. THe packer front line is hopeless and Favre didn't appreciate their efforts at all with 4 sacks. Rushing GB 17 attempts for 46 yards = very bad for them. Jury still out on Detroit.

Indy-Bal. Both offenses were ordinary. Baltimore defensive finally got tired & Indy got 4 turnovers which won it for them. Very disapointed in the Ravens.

ATl -Phil - Even stats except ATL rushing 40 attempts for 200 yards mostly by Vick near the end. Emotional home victory with not much to indicate the future. Philly need to improve which they should. Thought the best team lost.


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Hopefully AtC we can combine our talents to get a profitable season.

Cheers
Karla