jonzac

Father, Husband, Retired Veteran.

[Ryan Reynolds @RyanReynoldsNFL]

NFL Week 2 Preview

The second week of the season is among my favorites, because it’s correction week. Here’s what I’m looking at on this slate:

- Ben Johnson vs. Brian Flores is the best interdivision coaching matchup in the league currently. The Bears offense has the raw talent edge in said matchup.

- If Bill Belichick was calling a game against Caleb Williams, I think he’d try to make him play from the pocket while selectively blitzing, and when he did I think he’d send heat at Caleb’s throwing side, and he’d probably dial up more pressure with speed. Flores is not Belichick, but he’s scaled back his blitz rate against Johnson in the past and he’s on the short list of defensive coordinators that I could see really coloring outside the lines against Johnson/ Caleb.

- Kevin O’Connell vs. Dennis Allen is another excellent coaching matchup, where in this phase the Vikings have the more talented roster.

- Kyler Murray being out reduces the ceiling of Minnesota’s offense, but I’ll also say that Carson Wentz’s relief appearance against Green Bay last week is the best I’ve seen him play in years. That said, I need to see Dennis Allen limit Carson Wentz at home after what I saw in Carolina last week, where short to intermediate in breakers were basically free for the whole game.

- If Minnesota loses with Wentz at the controls, that’s not a big deal to me, the pressure is more on Chicago to put this one away against a division rival, and no one in the NFC North is an easy out.

- Broncos vs. Jaguars is the most interesting game on the slate for me because I have these two teams in the same relative bucket, where I went with Denver having a more successful 2026 and winning this game when I mapped things out this offseason.

- Denver’s pass rush has a trench advantage in this contest, and their offensive line should be able to mitigate the strength of Jacksonville’s defense, which is their front. In fact, I could see Denver having a sneaky good game on the ground in this matchup. I’m very curious to see if Davis Webb leans into that after bombing last Monday night.

- Trevor Lawrence is the X-Factor in this contest, where I am a week away from outright saying that I’d rather have him than Drake Maye long-term, which is one of the reasons I’m really looking forward to this contest.

- Speaking of Maye, he draws another quality front and a Steelers’ defense that he struggled against/ lost to last season. One that added talent this offseason, but it looks like it will be without Joey Porter Jr. Maye is a nice young player, but he has not played very well against real NFL defenses. I’ll be curious to see how he bounces back coming off what might have been his worst game as a Patriot to date last week.

- The other side of the ball is where I see New England having an edge, as you get Mike Vrabel’s defense, coming off a loss they had very little to do with, against a Steelers offense that quite simply let Cooper Rush’s Falcons hang around all day last week. Keep in mind that Pittsburgh also scored defensively on an outlier play by T.J. Watt in their 20-13 win over the Falcons last week.

- I have defended Aaron Rodgers over the past two years, as he’s had plenty of good to impressive games for a quarterback over the age of 40 during that span. He has not been at the peak of his powers, nor should anyone have expected him to be given his age, but he’s been solid or better more often than not. I did not want him to return this season because I thought that might change, and I’m concerned that I’m right after Week 1.

- Houston’s defense is coming off a shootout that they lost, where they’ll now get a second high-powered offense manned by another elite quarterback in Joe Burrow, who is a bit banged up but is playing. The Texans pass rush/ secondary combo against Burrow/ Ja’Marr Chase/ Tee Higgins is as good of a heavyweight matchup as there is.

- Nico Collins is out, which gives C.J. Stroud a very thin group of pass catchers against an otherwise beatable Bengals secondary. What’s interesting for me here is Cincinnati’s front had a pretty good game against Tampa last week, and the Bucs have a significantly better offensive line than Houston does. I could see the Bengals front being impactful in Houston, if not the difference in this contest.

- Cowboys vs. Commanders isn’t quite a loser leaves town matchup, but it’s close. Dak Prescott is coming off a pretty middling game, where I could see the Cowboys offense bouncing back against a well-coached, but mediocre at best Commanders defensive roster.

- On the other side of things, we just saw Jaxson Dart play ultra efficient football against the Cowboys’ defense. Jayden Daniels could carry this game, giving this contest some very high scoring potential if both quarterbacks are on.

- The Rams are in the most obvious correction spot on the slate, especially Matthew Stafford who is coming off one of the worst games I’ve ever seen him play.

- I’m throwing out the Australia game for the purposes of evaluating the Rams, but Stafford did look a little old in that matchup, so the primary thing I’m looking for here is was that just a veteran quarterback coming off an outrageously long flight, or did father time catch up to the future Hall of Famer a bit this offseason? I expect Stafford to be fine, but I have my eyes on that.

- The Giants pass rush has an abnormal amount of talent at edge, but that group did not have much of an impact against Dallas. Is that a group that feasts on bad offenses/ bad tackles, or can they be a factor against a contender? If you’re a Giants fan, I’d have my eye on that.

- The other thing you’re looking for is what Jaxson Dart does in this spot. So far, Dart has been pretty good when he’s not facing what I’m going to start calling chaos pressure. The great ones succeed despite it, the good but not great guys do not. Myles Garrett is out, which obviously reduces the chances of the Rams front four derailing this game, even though Aaron Donald returns to the NFL for Monday Night Football.

- For me, Dart can’t really do anything that I’d flag as a real long-term negative in this matchup, apart from taking another front side hit on the chops that he doesn’t see. That’s a pattern I’d like to see him break. But if the Rams defense plays well, and Stafford returns to form, if Dart keeps New York in this game, that’s very encouraging.

- The 49ers are better at every single position group than Miami, where running back is the only one that’s close. San Francisco also has the far better, more accomplished coach, creating an environment that would require a catastrophe for them to lose given how many advantages they have.

- I saw very little out of Miami in Week 1, which is what I expected, but my biggest concern in this matchup is if Malik Willis has to play from behind for much of this game, he takes a lot of bad sacks. Further, San Francisco, arguably, has the best linebacker group in the league, which will limit his rushing upside. Like I said, I think it will require a catastrophe for the 49ers to lose here.

- Last week was the best I’ve ever seen Zay Flowers look, where I wondered aloud on two separate occasions last Sunday if he might be a top 5 receiver. I’ve always liked him, but that blew my top off a little last week. Flowers being doubtful is generally unfortunate, but he had a potential smash spot against New Orleans.

- That makes Lamar Jackson’s job tougher. If any quarterback in the league doesn’t need a difference making wide receiver to have a plus game, it’s Jackson. That said, given that Flowers absence makes Jackson’s legs his far and away biggest asset in this game, paired with the presence of the immortal Derrick Henry coming off one of his signature monster games, I wonder if New Orleans, who has been well coached since Kellen Moore took over last year, goes into the archives and tries to do their best to duplicate Brian Flores’ blitz-heavy approach that has shut down Jackson in the past. That’s easier said than done, but I’d put New Orleans on the short list of teams that might try it.

- Tyler Shough had one of the oddest games you’ll ever see last week, where he was genuinely bad for 40 minutes, but finished with over 400 yards passing after the overtime period. Jessie Minter’s Ravens are a significantly tougher out than the current Detroit Lions defense, that we just saw get annihilated by Josh Allen Thursday night.

- One thing on my radar is Baltimore has lost a few improbable games in September over the years.

- I’ve been pretty enthusiastic about the Jets long term prospects for a while, with the concern that they’d be just good enough to not be able to get a true future at quarterback in this year’s draft, as you can’t really trade up with teams that need a quarterback themselves. That said, I think Green Bay wins here and Jordan Love has a pretty high ceiling in this matchup.

- If the Packers get beat up a bit by Geno Smith, who actually has a pretty good supporting cast, I’ll be concerned about Green Bay’s defense given some of the changes they’ve endured this offseason.

- I also wonder if this sets up for a Breece Hall game, as Green Bay has been a run sieve in previous seasons in the recent past.

- You could say Baker Mayfield single handedly lost a winnable game in Cincinnati last week with his three fumbles. If he does not play significantly better in his revenge game against the Browns, who were atrocious last week, I will have many questions.

- Deshuan Watson is the only NFL player I’ll point blank say I don’t like, not only because of his off-field stuff, because he’s been a moron both before and after about it. He’s also had the strangest career drop off imaginable, as he looked like a future Hall of Famer in Houston, yet throughout his career in Cleveland he has been a guy that is a fringe NFL quarterback. I don’t recall any other instance that’s similar to this. He’s playing behind a bad line against a solid Bucs front, but this is also the kind of matchup where if he has anything left, he has to show some of it here.

- I would hope this is a KC Concepcion week, but it’s also a good spot for Jerry Jeudy.

- I thought the Jets were going to score some points on the Titans, but I could not believe that Tennessee did not keep up at all. I also cannot believe how little progress their offensive line has made, given the draft capital and financial investments they’ve made in that group. I also, as I’ve said many times, had zero enthusiasm for the Saleh/ Daboll hires. Facing this Eagles defense looks like a bad situation for this offense unless they can completely transform within a week.

- I have had good experiences over the years with Falcons fans, which is part of the reason I genuinely feel bad for them that they are opening the season with two games from third string quarterback Cooper Rush. I will say this though, if Atlanta ended up being the worst team in the league this season, where they could get a No. 1 overall pick quarterback, that may actually be the best thing for this franchise because they do have some pieces. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but if they end up being bad in the league’s worst division, I hope it’s that level bad.

- I could see this matchup with Carolina this week leading the slate in total running back touches between both teams.

- The Chargers interior offensive line was unbelievably bad late against Arizona last week. Off the charts bad. I would think the powers that be in LA go into this game trying to help that group out, and keep Justin Herbert alive, which would start with a run centric game plan, get those interior players playing down hill early, move Justin Herbert outside of the pocket on one of the first plays, pair all that with a few short throws on first down. If this coaching staff basically ignores the problems they are having in the interior, I will be genuinely concerned.

- Right now, that group gives me no confidence in the Chargers.

- I like the Raiders long term outlook, but I’d put last week’s output more on Miami than anything that impressed me with Vegas, apart from Ashton Jeanty being a player and Maxx Crosby still looking like Maxx Crosby.

- I’ve never been a Drew Lock guy, he’s not a bad backup because he’s capable of a spike game, but he’s also capable of three turnovers on 20 attempts. That’s why I view this game in Arizona as close to a coin flip.

- I kind of like Arizona’s non-quarterback roster on offense and Jacoby Brissett has been better than anyone could have expected since taking over last year, but Seattle’s defense is an enormous problem to solve.

- I pretty confidently picked the Chiefs to win the West before the season and they certainly looked back in Week 1. Kenneth Walker already looks like a difference maker, Patrick Mahomes is still himself coming off a major knee injury and the defense is still a pretty high-performing group. They should take care of business against the Colts, the question for me is can Indianapolis hang after getting their doors blown off by Baltimore at home last week?

- When mapping out the season I had the Colts surging in the second half, but I’d like to see a more competitive game out of them Sunday Night, especially on defense.

I’ve watched every NFL game for roughly a decade now, which I do for sports speculation purposes.

I run a reality-based program here.

If you want me to keep doing this every week, comment or share this. As long as engagement justifies the time, I’ll keep putting stuff like this out consistently.

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@Cloverkid92 Wish we could have done this when we deployed to Bagram in 08

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@COLDCUT1000 @tylerjschoon What makes you think the Mannings would agree for Arch to go to the Chargers. They think the ownership and team aren’t serious and would tell Arch to stay at Texas…does no one remember Eli and the Chargers?

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@alexinsdorf99 I’m in a Time Machine and I’m watching the 2025 chargers. Right?

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@CommanderChiTwn @ThienemanSZN Your guy is Robert Griffin 2.0. One year and hurt the rest of his career

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@mitchrapp0965 @MLFootball @RamsHowse @RamblinFan @vinceayg_ @thewaynebreezie @49ersSpin @49ersSportsTalk @TheRealCoach_JB @dandakich @sagesteele Yes they have the soldiers and sailors act that stops California from taxing military income made in a different state. If your stationed in Cali it gets taxes. None of which allies to a football player.

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@josephalternate You mean the legal tackle to the chest? I didn’t realize that Chiefs fans expect the Mahomes exemption for ALL their players

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@Jringo1508 Can I hope you are “pantstrimg” more hard SF like Live free or Die?

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@Jringo1508 Amazing series. Reread it at least once a year.

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@GeorgeOnTap What the owners need to push for is no deferred payments with the entire contract value in escrow like I believe the NFL is. Although a floor and ceiling are both needed as well

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@BeatThyneMeat @Only_1_Bean @__cousin__ @ClaretRich @ZAMENZA I love futbol. Mostly like bball. Hate flopping in both cases

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@BeatThyneMeat @Only_1_Bean @__cousin__ @ClaretRich @ZAMENZA Your picking one small sample size and trying to say that SGA isn’t a flopper. He is…so are most NBA stars. He’s not unusual just very good at it. The point being if you hate soccer flopping then you should hate the NBA as well

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@ClaretRich @ZAMENZA When American fans say this show clips of LeBron SGA Luka Doncic flopping in the NBA. Same thing and they “mostly” complain about it…unless it’s their team then it’s ok. Sound familiar?

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@HelloBenWhite @stephenchip @UEFA You were also wrong in your analysis because the referee did NOT issue a card of any type until notified by VAR official to review. Which was done breaking FIFAs own rules. So if FIFA uses incorrect rules it’s ok, but reversing a bad call is somehow breaking the game?

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@cbatestn @SecAFOfficial To the uninformed that you are. You do not have free speech while wearing the actual uniform representing the Air Force is told to us it’s in the AFI’s and it’s trained and if you had served you’d known that.

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@Rep_Stansbury He literally said exactly what the constitution says. CONGRESS should make a law codifying what his executive order used to cover. It would have his support. Sooooo. He called on YOU to do your job

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@BBGreatMoments Pete Rose Without question

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@japan_nobunaga So having citizens armed prevented govt from imposing its will on citizens and provided the armed force of the new govt at the same time. Reinforcing the power of the people over the govt. which falls under founding father vision of individualism over tyranny

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@japan_nobunaga Two things. 2nd and 4th amendment. Right to bear arms and govt cannot house troops in your house. Both happened before revolution by England to enforce govt rule. This is antithesis of democracy. Also army then was citizen militia not professional army like England

[jonzac @jonzac1993]

@Oseisml7Rich @BBGreatMoments Except it hit him in the ass