NFL Week Two Preview

Sep 19, 2020 - 1:03 PM ET

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Jets are seven-point underdogs against the 49ers; the Bears are favored by 5.5 over the Giants

I am a New Yorker. I am a Packers fan, but I still follow the Jets and Giants with great interest. Many of my friends are Giants fans while both my parents are Jets fans. I feel it would be irresponsible if I didn’t preview Jets’ games and Giants’ games. I mean, neither team is really good, but all you bettors deserve to know which way to spend your money. Without further ado, I present my picks for week two.

New York Jets (+7) vs. San Francisco 49ers (-7)

Wow! The Jets SUCKED last week. After a tumultuous off-season that saw the team’s star player leave, Gang Green was hoping that they would get 2020 started on the right foot. Instead, they got a foot shoved up the place where the sun don’t shine.

The Jets played an all-around horrible game, but God, the defense was atrocious. It didn’t start out too bad. New York was able to force a fumble thanks to Marcus Maye. After that though, it was all downhill. Gang Green would go on to allow three consecutive touchdown drives to the Bills. The game was essentially over before halftime. New York was down 21-0 before they could even find their footing. The Jets finished the first half with three points and 102 total yards of offense.

Things did get a little interesting in the second half. New York was able to score a TD to make it a 21-10 game. In the end, though, it was too little too late. The Jets didn’t have enough offensive firepower to make any real comeback. Buffalo would go on to win the game 27-17 as New York was held to just 254 total yards on 53 plays.

The most discouraging aspect of this colossal failure was Adam Gase’s inability to once again properly utilize Le’Veon Bell. As it turns out, Bell was reportedly injured during Sunday’s loss. Sports Illustrated says that the star Running Back hurt his hamstring in the second quarter. How was this handled by the head coach? Well, Adam Gase decided to put Bell back in the game. Now Le’Veon is out for at least three weeks nursing a hamstring injury. Adam Gase is once again proving he has no idea how to use his best players. Furthermore, he has no idea how to coach! Either way, without Le’Veon Bell, I expect the Jets to struggle even more than they originally would have this Sunday.

Bet the house on the 49ers covering the point spread. This is a pissed off team that just got embarrassed after blowing a fourth-quarter last week (something Kyle Shanahan is familiar with, ZING). I know Jimmy G is still the starting quarterback, and I know that George Kittle will be out this Sunday, but it does not matter. The Jets have one of the least talented rosters in the league while the 49ers have one of the most talented rosters. Trust me, the 49ers have their issues (Jimmy Garoppolo), but at the end of the day, New York doesn’t have enough talent to stop San Fran. 49ers win big.

49ers 31 – Jets 18

New York Giants (+5.5) vs. Chicago Bears (-5.5)

The Giants ran into a brick wall in week one. This new-rendition of the vaunted Steel Curtain held the G-men to 291 total yards on 64 offensive plays. The Giants performed better than the Jets, but they were still pretty dreadful. Perhaps the biggest concern for New York was their inability to get the ground game going. Daniel Jones (yes, THAT Daniel Jones) led the Giants on Sunday with, drumroll please, 22 rushing yards. Dion Lewis rushed once for one yard. Most worrisome though was Saquon Barkley’s performance. I don’t know if the offensive line was completely outmatched, or if Saquon just had an off day, but the star Running Back was held to a grand total of SIX YARDS on 15 carries. That averages out to 0.4 yards per rushing attempt. That is not good enough. The Giants need to establish the run if they want to win games. Saquon and the offensive line MUST be better.

I do have to give some credit to Daniel Jones. The second-year QB played quite well without any assistance from the rushing attack. DJ threw for 279 passing yards and two TDs, including an absolute beauty to Darius Slayton in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that is when the Giants’ offense lost momentum. After that glorious pass, Big Blue was held to just six more points the rest of the game while the Steelers would score 23 points to eventually take home the win.

The Giants suffered a tough loss, but there are a few positives to take away from the game. Darius Slayton has emerged as a true number one receiver. The former fifth-round selection caught six passes for 102 yards and two TDs on Sunday. Once Golden Tate returns to the lineup, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Daniel Jones put up some impressive numbers, not necessarily against the Bears though. Big Blue can also hang its hat on the performances of a few key defenders. Blake Martinez registered 13 total tackles in his first game with the Giants while Logan Ryan made his presence felt in the secondary. The best player wearing a Giants’ uniform on Sunday was Dexter Lawrence. The second-year defensive lineman recorded four tackles, one sack, and one tackle for loss. If Lawrence can continue to improve week-to-week, then the Giants may be able to solve the pass-rushing issue that has plagued them for the last few seasons.

Now let’s look ahead at the matchup between the Monsters of the Midway and the Giants. Even though the Bears are favored by 5.5 points, I still look at this as a pick ’em game. The only reason the Bears are favored is because they just barely pulled off a comeback against the lowly Detroit Lions. If rookie RB D’Andre Swift had been able to catch a perfectly placed pass in the end zone last week, then we would be having an entirely different conversation today. Regardless, let’s look at this game.

The Bears have a very talented defense, but their offense leaves something to be desired. Mitchell Trubisky is still an unproven entity, but at this point, it is looking like the Bears made a huge mistake by selecting him second overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. Outside of the QB position though, the Bears have a great roster. David Montgomery is a solid back. Also, Allen Robinson, Tedd Ginn Jr., Jimmy Graham, and Cole Kmet make up a respectable receiving core. The problem for New York is that the Bears’ defense can be just as good, if not better than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense. I think Saquon will certainly play better, but I still worry New York will see their offensive line is once again overmatched. The Bears will win this game and cover the point spread.

Bears 28 – Giants 22