NFL - Week Two Review

Surprises abound in the NFL in Week Two as several "underdog" teams won in
what was a wild Sunday around pro football.
The Jacksonville Jaguars stunned the Miami Dolphins, 23-20 as quarterback Blake Bortles connected twice with wide receiver Allen Robinson (six catches for 155 yards) for touchdowns and rookie kicker Jason Myers made the game winning 28-yard field goal in the final minute.
The Atlanta Falcons sent the host New York Giants down to defeat in the fourth quarter as they scored twice to rally for a 24-20 win. Atlanta QB Matt Ryan (363 yards passing) threw a scoring pass and running back Davonta Freeman scored on a two-yard run with just over minute to go to seal the win.
It was the second straight week the Giants blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead.
How about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who looked so pathetic in the season opener, going on the road and beating the New Orleans Saints, 26-19?
Buccaneers rookie QB Jameis Winston ran for a score and passed for another to lead the offense, which out gained the Saints. And just breaking was a report that Saints QB Drew Brees suffered a shoulder injury in the loss and may have to miss some games.
The Washington Redskins were another surprise winner, beating the St. Louis Rams 24-10 behind pin point (23 for 27) passing by QB Kirk Cousins and rookie RB Matt Jones, who scored two TD and ran for 123 yards. The Redskins defense limited the Rams to just 213 yards in total offense.
The New England Patriots throttled the host Buffalo Bills in a big early season AFC East showdown, 40-32 as they raced out to a 24-point lead after three quarters and then held off a furious Buffalo rally.

Pats QB Tom Brady

Heftyinfo NFL co-Player of the Week Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns and lit up the Bills defense for 466 yards passing. Overall, the Patriots gained 507 yards while their defense intercepted Bills QB Tyrod Taylor three times.
The Oakland Raiders rallied back and toppled the visiting Baltimore Ravens, 37-33 as QB Derek Carr (351 passing yards) threw his third TD pass of the game with just 26 seconds remaining to pull off the upset. Ravens QB Joe Flacco passed for 384 yards in the loss.
The Dallas Cowboys knocked off the listless Philadelphia Eagles, 20-10 as they limited Philly to just SEVEN YARDS rushing for the game. It was a costly victory for the Cowboys, however as QB Tony Romo went out with a broken collar bone and is expected to be out for at least 6 to 8 weeks.

Larry Fitzgerald torched the Bears

The Arizona Cardinals crushed the host Chicago Bears, 48-23 behind four touchdown passes by QB Carson Palmer, including three TD strikes to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Heftyinfo NFL co-Player of the Week, who along with three touchdowns, had eight receptions for 112 yards.
Bears QB Jay Cutler suffered a hamstring injury/strain and didn't return to action while trying to make a tackle when he threw a "pick six" interception.
The Sunday Night Football Game was a good one as the host Green Bay Packers knocked off the Seattle Seahawks, 27-17 with QB Aaron Rodgers throwing for two touchdowns while kicker Mason Crosby drilled four field goals while becoming the all-time scoring leader in Packers' history.


                             Elsewhere around the NFL  . . . . .

Johnny Manziel threw two TD passes to help the Cleveland Browns beat the visiting Tennessee Titans, 28-14 . . . . .  Cincinnati topped the San Diego Chargers, 24-19 behind three TD strikes by QB Andy Dalton . . . . .  The Minnesota Vikings won their home opener, 26-16 against Detroit with QB Teddy Bridgewater running and passing for a score while RB Adrian Peterson rumbled for 134 yards . . . . .  The Carolina Panthers rode QB Cam Newton's big day (two TD passes and a scoring run) to beat the visiting Houston Texans, 24-17 . . . . .  Pittsburgh crushed the San Francisco 49ers, 43-18 as Steelers' QB Ben Roethlisberger passed for 369 yards and four touchdowns, including one to WR Antonio Brown, who had nine catches for 195 yards . . . . .  The Thursday night game saw the Denver Broncos rally for 14 points in a nine second span in the fourth quarter to shock the host Kansas City Chiefs, 31-24 as QB Peyton Manning had three TD passes and the defense scored the winning TD on a fumble recovery return . . . . .  The Monday Night Football Game followed the week's theme as the New York Jets surprised the host Indianapolis Colts, 20-7 behind two TD passes by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets defense forced five turnovers for the second consecutive game as Colts QB Andrew Luck was intercepted three times and also lost a fumble.

NFL - Week Two Preview

For it being so early in this 2015 NFL season, there are some key games already taking place.
The big games Sunday include the Dallas Cowboys playing against the Eagles in Philadelphia as Eagles running back DeMarco Murray faces his old team for the first time.
Another big one is the Sunday Night Football Game in Green Bay where the host Packers face the Seattle Seahawks, the team that knocked them off in overtime in last year's NFC Championship Game.
The Packers blew a big lead in that game and a bungled onside kick resulted in Seattle getting the ball to tie the game in the final minute to force the OT session, where they scored a touchdown to win the game and advance to their second straight Super Bowl appearance.
The New England Patriots travel to play the Buffalo Bills this week as well and these two teams are both coming off opening week wins. The Bills in particular looked real good as they throttled the Indianapolis Colts, twice intercepting Colts' quarterback Andrew Luck and holding the mighty Colts offense to a paltry 14 points.

The following offers the capsule style look at the games this week, followed of course by the Heftyinfo predictions for Week Two.

New England (1-0) at Buffalo (1-0) - Brady and the Patriots going into hostile enemy territory. This should be a great game.

Houston (0-1) at Carolina (1-0) - Houston already switching starting quarterbacks. The Panthers won a methodical game against a weaker Jacksonville team.

Arizona (1-0) at Chicago (0-1) - The Cardinals looked real good beating the Saints while the Bears held their own against the mighty Packers in a loss.

San Diego (1-0) at Cincinnati (1-0) - Philip Rivers and the Chargers coming off a huge comeback win last week. The Bengals crushed the Oakland Raiders ... this game could go down to the wire.

Tennessee (1-0) at Cleveland (0-1) - Marcus Mariota (Heisman Trophy winner of 2014) vs. Johnny Manziel (Heisman 2012 winner) ... take Mariota and the Titans.

Detroit (0-1) at Minnesota (0-1) - Both teams smarting as they come off tough losses.

Tampa Bay (0-1) at New Orleans (0-1) - The Buccaneers looked down right awful in their opener ... the Saints struggled as well.

Atlanta (1-0) at New York Giants (0-1) - The Falcons looked impressive last Monday night while beating the favored Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants let a win get away on the road in Dallas in their opening game ... Take the Giants.

San Francisco (1-0) at Pittsburgh (0-1) - The 49ers throttled the Vikings last Monday night while the Steelers have had ten days to rest after an opening loss in New England.

St. Louis (1-0) at Washington (0-1) - The Rams stunned Seattle with a late comeback win while the Redskins looked listless in a close loss to Miami.

Miami (1-0) at Jacksonville (0-1) - The battle of Florida teams ... is it really worth fighting for? Take the Dolphins.

Baltimore (0-1) at Oakland (0-1) - The Ravens will be angry after losing a close one to Denver. The Raiders could be in for another long afternoon in the Bay area.

Dallas (1-0) at Philadelphia (0-1) - The Eagles need to get off to a better start this week with their so called "high flying" offense. The Cowboys lucked out last week in their opening game win.

Seattle (0-1) at Green Bay (1-0) - The Packers will be looking for their revenge against Seattle up in Wisconsin and they likely will get it.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 
New York Jets (1-0) at Indianapolis (0-1) - The Colts will be facing another strong defensive team, only this time they will be in the friendly confines of their home field. 

The Heftyinfo picks for Week Two  . . . . .  (HOME TEAMS are listed BOLD; Lock of the Week is listed in BOLD CAPS)

Kansas City over Denver
New England over Buffalo
Carolina over Houston
Arizona over Chicago
Cincinnati over San Diego
Tennessee over Cleveland
Minnesota over Detroit
New Orleans over Tampa Bay
NY Giants over Atlanta
Pittsburgh over San Francisco
Washington over St. Louis
MIAMI over Jacksonville
Baltimore over Oakland
Philadelphia over Dallas
Green Bay over Seattle
Indianapolis over NY Jets

Last Week's Record: 12-4

SEASON RECORD: 12-4

Lock of the Week Record: 1-0

The Republican Presidential Debate

Here is your GOP America . . .

NFL - Week One Review

The 2015 NFL season got off to a rousing start last Thursday night with Tom Brady (pictured right) and the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots taking care of the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-21 at Gillette Stadium.
Brady threw four touchdown passes, including three to tight end Rob Gronkowski to lead the way.
Steelers' QB Ben Roethlisberger had 351 yards passing along with a TD pass and one interception while running back DeAngelo Williams ran for 127 yards in the loss.
On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks lost a bizarre game on the road in overtime by a 34-31 count to the St. Louis Rams, who rallied late to force the extra quarter on a 37-yard TD pass from QB Nick Foles to Lance Kendricks. Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein nailed a 37-yard field goal in OT to help win the game. The Rams defense stuffed running back Marshawn Lynch on fourth-and-one to seal the game.
The Green Bay Packers took care of the Chicago Bears, 31-23 behind three TD

Aaron Rodgers

strikes from QB Aaron Rodgers, including two to wide receiver James Jones.  Matt Forte led the Bears with 141 rushing yards and scored a touchdown in the loss.
The Buffalo Bills throttled the Indianapolis Colts, 27-14 as the defense put the clamps on Colts QB Andrew Luck with two interceptions. A pair of rushing touchdowns and a 51-yard scoring pass from Tyrod Taylor to WR Percy Harvin paced the Bills.
Houston got blasted at home by the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-20 as Chiefs QB Alex Smith connected twice with tight end Travis Kelce for touchdowns. Texans starting QB Brian Hoyer was yanked in the fourth quarter in favor of Ryan Mallett (TD pass) but the rally fell short.

Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week

Tennessee Titans rookie QB Marcus Mariota, the Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week, threw four touchdown passes in his debut as they crushed the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 42-14.  On the flip side, Tampa Bay rookie QB Jameis Winston
struggled with two interceptions, including throwing a "pick six" on his first pro pass attempt.
The Denver Broncos rode a "pick six" interception of 51 yards by Aqib Talib to defeat the visiting Baltimore Ravens, 19-13 in a defensive struggle.
The New York Jets smashed the Cleveland Browns, 31-10 as their defense forced five turnovers and Chris Ivory scored two rushing touchdowns to go with two TD passes from QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Miami Dolphins squeaked out a 17-10 win at Washington as Jarvis Landry sealed the game with a 69-yard punt return for a score to beat the Redskins.
Carolina won a yawner at Jacksonville, 20-9 as QB Cam Newton threw a TD pass and Josh Norman returned an interception 30 yards for another score to spoil the home opener for the Jaguars.
Arizona held off the visiting New Orleans Saints en route to a 31-19 win as Carson Palmer threw for three touchdowns along with 307 passing yards. Saints QB Drew Brees threw for 355 yards against the Cardinals defense in the loss.
Cincinnati pounded the Oakland Raiders, 33-13 as Bengals QB Andy Dalton had a pair of TD passes and running back Jeremy Hill scored two rushing touchdowns to pace the rout.

The San Diego Chargers opened their season with a huge comeback win, 33-28 against the Detroit Lions as QB Philip Rivers (pictured left) overcame a rough first half (two INT, including a "pick six") to throw for 404 yards and two touchdowns on 35-of-42 passing accuracy. San Diego ran off 30 consecutive points to turn the game around.
Lions QB Matthew Stafford had a TD pass but was intercepted twice in the loss as they coughed up a 21-3 first half lead.
The Sunday Night Football game saw the Dallas Cowboys score 14 points in the final eight minutes to shock the visiting New York Giants, 27-26 as QB Tony Romo (356 passing yards with three TD and two INT) threw his second TD pass to TE Jason Witten with only seven seconds remaining in the game.
The Monday Night Football games saw the Atlanta Falcons surprise the visiting Philadelphia Eagles, 26-24 as QB Matt Ryan threw two scoring passes while the Falcons defense held the highly regarded Eagles offense to just a field goal while building a 20-3 halftime lead.
Eagles RB DeMarco Murray scored twice to forge a second half comeback, but the Falcons responded and held on for the win.
The night cap game in San Francisco saw the host 49ers dominate the Minnesota Vikings, 20-3 as the 49ers defense limited Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to just 31 rushing yards while 'Niners RB Carlos Hyde ran wild for 168 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way.

NFL - Week One Preview

It's a brand new NFL season about to kickoff and the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will be hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on the Thursday Night Football season opener.
The Patriots of course have been surrounded by controversy with the "deflate gate" that rocked quarterback Tom Brady during the entire off-season.
However, a judge in New York City ruled in Brady's favor per his appeal after he was given a four-game suspension by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell following the fiasco in last year's AFC Championship game, which New England won 45-7 against the Indianapolis Colts.
All that is (for now pending an NFL appeal of the decision to let Brady play) in the rear view mirror and the Patriots are ready to  defend their title against "Big Ben" Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Patriots come into the game with Brady leading the offense and he will no doubt be looking to get the ball to his favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski, in the passing game.  The Patriots passing game will be extremely important as their top running back, LeGarrette Blount is out for the opener.
On the other side, the Steelers will be without two of their top weapons on offense as well as running back LeVeon Bell (two-game suspension) and wide receiver Martavis Bryant will miss the game.
Roethlisberger will still have his tight end Heath Miller and WR Antonio Brown, who was last year's leading receiver in the NFL.
Both teams suffered some hits to their defenses in the off-season as the Pats lost both starting cornerbacks (Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner) to free agency. In addition, long time (and fan favorite) nose tackle Vince Wilfork wasn't re-signed.
The Steelers have a new defensive coordinator after long time mentor Dick LeBeau left for the Tennessee Titans and they also will be looking to replace perennial All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu, who retired after the 2014 season.
All in all, it should likely be an exciting season opener with the Patriots coming out on top due to the home field advantage and Brady and company playing with the proverbial "chip" on their collective shoulders due to the alleged cheating they did last year.
Remember how they reacted to the "Spy Gate" scandal in 2007?
They went on to go 16-0 in the regular season before being edged out in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants, which ruined their shot at a prefect season.

It's time for football.

PREDICTION - New England 24, Pittsburgh 17


Here are the rest of the Heftyinfo picks for Week One in the NFL . . .  (HOME TEAMS are listed in bold and LOCK of the WEEK is listed in BOLD CAPS.)


New England over Pittsburgh
Buffalo over Indianapolis
GREEN BAY over Chicago
Houston over Kansas City
Carolina over Jacksonville
NY Jets over Cleveland
Seattle over St. Louis
Miami over Washington
Arizona over New Orleans
San Diego over Detroit
Denver over Baltimore
Cincinnati over Oakland
Tampa Bay over Tennessee
Dallas over NY Giants
Philadelphia over Atlanta
San Francisco over Minnesota


Last Year's Record: 174-81-1 
Last Year's Lock of the Week Record: 15-2

2015 NFL Fearless Forecast

Here goes nothing as Heftyinfo attempts to pick the 2015 division races and eventual playoff teams and the winner for Super Bowl 50 in February.





NFC                                                                             AFC                                                                                                                                                                     
East                                                                              East
Dallas (10-6)                                                                New England (11-5)
Philadelphia (10-6)                                                      Buffalo (9-7)
NY Giants (7-9)                                                           Miami (8-8)
Washington (5-11)                                                       NY Jets (5-11)

North                                                                             North
Green Bay (13-3)                                                          Baltimore (9-7)
Detroit (8-8)                                                                  Pittsburgh (9-7)
Minnesota (8-8)                                                            Cincinnati (8-8)
Chicago (6-10)                                                              Cleveland (5-11)

South                                                                             South
New Orleans (9-7)                                                         Indianapolis (11-5)
Carolina (9-7)                                                                Houston (8-8)            
Atlanta (8-8)                                                                  Tennessee (5-11)
Tampa Bay (5-11)                                                          Jacksonville (4-12)

West                                                                              West
Seattle (12-4)                                                                 Denver (11-5)
Arizona (8-8)                                                                 San Diego (10-6)
San Francisco (7-9)                                                       Kansas City (10-6)
St. Louis (6-10)                                                             Oakland (5-11)
  
Wild card teams in italics

NFC Playoffs                                                             AFC Playoffs

Dallas over Carolina                                                Denver over Kansas City
Philadelphia over New Orleans                               Baltimore over San Diego

Division Round                                                      Division Round
Seattle over Dallas                                                  New England over Baltimore
Green Bay over Philadelphia                                  Indianapolis over Denver

NFC Championship Game                                   AFC Championship Game
Seattle over Green Bay                                         Indianapolis over New England


SUPER BOWL 50

Seattle Seahawks over Indianapolis Colts

Happy Labor Day

Have a great Labor Day weekend everybody and remember, it's organized labor and the UNION movement that made it happen.
It's not just the workers, it's not just the entrepreneurs, it's not just the business owners, and it's not just the politicians that make the laws to set precedent for jobs in the United States of America.
But, it's a little bit of each ... blending together to forge what (at one time anyway) is the greatest country and system in the entire history of the world.
There are some (ONE PERCENT) that want to destroy that system and have rigged the legal system to do just that.
Those people and their wrong agenda for this country MUST be stopped!
Have a great Labor Day weekend folks, and thank God for what we still have.
Let's keep it that way.