Week Two of the 2022 NFL season kicks off on Thursday night with a huge AFC West clash between two teams with genuine Super Bowl aspirations. The Chargers travel to the Chiefs on the back of a hard-fought win over fellow divisional rivals The Raiders. Derek Carr threw three interceptions in this one but despite this the Chiefs only won by 5 points. The Chargers probably won’t find Patrick Maholmes as generous and talk of the Chief’s demise following the Hill trade have been well and truly quashed.
Kansas City cruised past a good Cardinals side, dominating on both sides of the ball. Maholmes threw for 360 yards and 5 TDs with no interceptions. More importantly, four different players were involved in these showing their depth on offense.
Both of these sides are expected to make the postseason but given the West is by far the most competitive division in the AFC the win could prove important even at this early stage. This one should be worth sitting up for.
Thursday Night Game
Chargers @ Chiefs
Prediction
Kansas City 28 LA Chargers 17
Sunday Early Games
The Sunday early games are headed by an NFC South clash between the Buccaneers & the Saints. Tampa had an impressive start to the season winning a lowish-scoring affair in Dallas. The ageless Tom Brady had a quiet night by his standards, but the Buccs’ running game and defense stepped up. Their trip to the Saints is another test and a win here will be a big statement. New Orleans showed in the draft that they intended to compete this year, and if Jamies Winston can avoid his penchant to throw interceptions they could be a wild card team at least.
The other game which should interest the neutral is the Dolphins @ Ravens. Both narrowly missed the playoffs last year and will be keen to make amends this time. Tua Tagovailoa had an impressive game throwing for 270 yards and a TD and more importantly making very few bad decisions. They had the defense and now it looks like they might have the offense to match. Baltimore was always in control at the Jets last week and Lamar Jackson looked like a man playing for a huge payday with a solid 3TD performance. They look pretty evenly matched and it could come down to who’s defense steps up.
Worth Keeping an eye on
The Jets, Browns game is also worth a watch if only to see if Joe Flacco can build on last week’s decent showing. If he does then Zac Wilson might not walk back into the staring QB spot when he recovers from surgery.
The Indianapolis Colts have lost seven straight in Jacksonville and will be hoping to snap that run. They fought back well to get a tie against Houston last week and with Matt Ryan under centre, they will be favourites to snap that losing run. It is also worth watching to see how Trevor Lawrence gets on.
Image: Jamie Lamor Thompson/Shutterstock.com
Predictions
Dolphins @ Ravens
Prediction
Baltimore 20 Miami 14
Jets @ Browns
Prediction
Cleveland 24 New York Jets 20
Commanders @ Lions
Prediction
Detroit 17 Washington 14
Colts @ Jaguars
Prediction
Indianapolis 31 Jacksonville 24
Buccaneers @ Saints
Prediction
Tampa 28 New Orleans 17
Panthers @ Giants
Prediction
Carolina 20 New York Giants 17
Patriots @ Steelers
Prediction
Pittsburgh 21 New England 17
Sunday Late Games
The Sunday late games are headed by the interconference clash in the West when the cardinals travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders. Both lost last week and given that both the AFC & NFC West divisions are arguably the strongest in the NFL neither can really afford to slip to 2-0.
The Bengals’ trip to Dallas looks a lot easier than it did, given the Cowboys will be without Dak Prescott for the game. Cooper Rush is the only other QB on the Dallas roster so not surprisingly Cinncinati are strong favourites in this one.
Predictions
Falcons @ LA Rams
Prediction
LA Rams 31 Atlanta 17
Seahawks @ 49ers
Prediction
San Francisco 20 Seattle 10
Bengals @ Cowboys
Prediction
Cincinnati 31 Dallas 14
Texans @ Broncos
Prediction
Denver 28 Houston 13
Cardinals @ Raiders
Prediction
Las Vegas 22 Arizona 16
Sunday Night Game
The night game is an all-NFC North grudge match between these long-time rivals. The Bears ground out an unexpected win over the 49ers last week in pretty atrocious conditions. To be fair conditions that pretty much contributed to the dire performances by both QBs. Green Bay didn’t look good against the Vikings in their opener, but with a few rookies on the field season opening nerves played a part. They should be more settled for the experience. The Packers have a habit of staring badly and the Bears might just get the backlash of last week’s below-par showing.
Prediction
Green Bay 31 Chicago 17
Monday Night Football
Two good games this week with all four teams expected to compete for a post-season place at least. Buffalo looked mighty impressive last week when winning at the Rams and they can frank their position as early Super Bowl favourites with a win over Tennessee.
The Eagles and Vikings look evenly matched and it could end up a shootout with the last holding ball winning. It’s another game it will be worth sitting up for.
[…] So a great start to this week’s football and plenty to look forward to. You can check out the rest of the week’s fixtures and our predictions here. […]
[…] So a great start to this week’s football and plenty to look forward to. You can check out the rest of the week’s fixtures and our predictions here. […]