(Image credit Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184/
Week 2 of the NFL Season has concluded and it was once again a scary time for certain games chosen in survivor. Some picks were successful while others were not. Let's dive into how I did and take a look at the teams I lobbied for heading into Week 2.
Week 2 Recap
Top 5 Options
Record Week 2 (4-1)
Overall Record (8-2)
1. Cleveland Browns (vs Houston Texans)
No surprise Cleveland won this game. Not going to go on long as there was a big scare as Baker Mayfield suffered an injury but luckily the injury was minor and he was able to come back and play the rest of the game. The game was closer than I thought it would be. Tyrod Taylor has proven to be a solid QB option and replacement for Deshaun Watson and Tyrod suffered an injury that will take him out for many weeks. Well now we get to take a look at Davis Mills and he was very inaccurate in this game and threw a terrible interception. I can't wait to see how he performs on Thursday Night against the Carolina Panthers.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs Atlanta Falcons)
No surprises here this game was an absolute mismatch. Again, I am not going to go on long here. The Buccaneers had the better offense, defense, and coaching. Again I will say poor Matt Ryan he deserves a heck of a lot more dealing with this franchise and I hope he deserves a chance at another ring. He is not getting it with this team and the Falcons have a long way left to go with this rebuild. I won't be shocked if Matt Ryan plays for a different team next year as it is clear that he is not the long-term option for this team.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (vs Las Vegas Raiders)
What a joke of a performance by the Pittsburgh Steelers. First off let's get to the three issues that I have with the Steelers. Let's start with the quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He has never been the same player since he has suffered an elbow injury. The injury was so bad that he almost had to get Tommy John surgery in order to fix it. Big Ben is back for another season and he did not perform well in this game. He did have 295 passing yards and a touchdown but he had a bunch of terrible overthrows. Including the interception that he threw and it is clear that injuries have completely derailed him. The most annoying part about Big Ben is the fact that he continues to blame the offensive coordinators for his recent struggles. I facepalmed at this; as he is doing the same moves that he did with Todd Haley and Randy Fichtner. Next, let's get to this o-line, and oh boy it is brutal. Who knew refusing to fix the o-line until the mid-rounds of the draft would backfire on this team. This offensive line was terrible all game and committed a ton of penalties that also hurt the offense. This offense is going to be a tremendous problem for games to come. Finally, let's get to Mike Tomlin. I have to be honest it still confuses me why Tomlin is still the head coach of this team. He honestly should have been fired after that loss in the playoffs against a Browns team that had improper practices for weeks and did not have their head coach in that game. There is no excuse for the way he was outcoached in that game and the team has had a habit of playing down to competition multiple times every year. Besides that, he made some questionable moves in this game against the Raiders as well. If there was one question I would ask Tomlin it would be this; The Steelers are down and it is a close game, need to score to keep your drive alive. It is 4th and inches you are on the 40-yard line and Najee Harris has been unstoppable all game and even had a Derrick Henry-like stiff-arm moment in this game. Why in the world would you punt? In fact How about a quarterback sneak there as well. I know Ben is not what he was but seriously you only need a few inches there is not a lot of time left and you decide to punt, Really. The Raiders did this three times with Carr who all game was battling an ankle injury and they did a quarterback sneak on 4th and inches. The moment I knew the Steelers were doomed is when TJ Watt left the game due to a groin injury. After that injury occurred this defense got extremely sloppy. The Raiders had a great performance and have proved to be contenders for a wildcard spot in the playoffs. But the division games are going to be extremely important for them to win in order to solidify a spot in the playoffs as the AFC West is highly competitive as the Raiders will have to face the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, and a rising Denver Broncos Team. Now as a result of the Steelers losing I have officially been eliminated from survivor pools. So for now on, I will go with the team who I would have gone with for each week of that survivor pick.
4. New England Patriots (at New York Jets)
No surprise that New England won this one. The Jets defense is too beaten up and the offense was terrible in this game. Zach Wilson was terrible as well and threw 4 picks in this game. The first two were not his fault but the last two interceptions he threw were absolutely terrible. Hopefully, this performance was just growing pains. Mac Jones had a solid performance as well in this game but did not light the world on fire as he only threw for 186 yards. The Patriots defense performed really well against the New York Jets. They held the Jets to only 6 points which is a job well done.
5. Green Bay Packers (vs Detroit Lions)
Aaron Rodgers is back from his terrible week 1 performance. He threw for 255 yards and for 4 touchdowns. Aaron Jones was the player of the game for the Green Bay Packers as he had 4 touchdowns in this game (3 receiving and 1 rushing). If you had Jones in fantasy football then congratulations as you most likely won your matchup in fantasy and survivor because of him. As for the Lions, I mean what is there really to say. Their defense is a complete mess. At least TJ Hockenson was impressive in this game, getting a touchdown and catching the ball 8 times for 66 yards. Jared Goff was solid in this game passing for 246 yards and throwing for two touchdowns plus an interception. But overall the Packers performed well in the 2nd half of this game.
Trap Survivor Pick: Cincinnati Bengals (at Chicago Bears)
This was a close one but it was not a surprise that the Chicago Bears won this game. I thought this was going to be a tremendous revenge spot for Andy Dalton after the Bengals wasted his prime. He left the game after a non-contact knee injury and it is luckily not a serious injury but he did not return in this game. Justin Fields was solid in this game but needs to improve his ball security as he threw an interception and fumble the football. The Bears terrible o-line did not help Fields as he was getting a ton of pressure from the Bengals defense. I got to be honest Chidobe Awuzie performed very well in the secondary. The Bengals offense performed well in this game but had committed too many issues. Ja’Marr Chase has reestablished his dropping issues as he dropped the ball 2 times. Burrow was so-so and he threw a terrible pick 6 to LB Roquan Smith. Burrow’s o-line is a complete mess and the Bengals made a mistake doing the bare minimum in providing Burrow with solid protection.