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Jerrad Peters: How I see it
20 September 2007

I spent most of last Saturday afternoon listening to people explain just how the Tennessee Titans were going to upset the Indianapolis Colts. They hate the champs already, it seems. Because I cannot understand exactly what about week-one’s results indicated a Tennessee victory. Oh well. They were wrong; I was right. Go figure.

The Titans will be involved in another interesting tilt on Monday Night Football. And although the host New Orleans Saints have struggled mightily so far this season, I have a feeling they’ll break through against Jeff Fisher’s team. You could make the argument that a club could go 0-3 to open the season and still make the play-offs in the NFC. But it’s risky business to flirt with extended runs of poor form; and I feel that we’re about to see the breaking-out of the Saints that everyone’s been waiting for.

Tennessee, on the other hand, just doesn’t do it for me. Behind Vince Young and a decent running game, I simply do not see enough quality to sustain a push for a wildcard spot. I think .500 is a far more realistic goal for the Titans than the play-offs.

Cowboys supporters are already booking time off for an early-February jaunt to Arizona. And why wouldn’t they? There seems to be enough parity in the NFC that a prolonged stretch of good performances will be easily enough for a play-off spot, if not a bye. And Tony Romo fans, they call themselves ‘Romosexuals’, are becoming easy to spot on almost any street in any city. They’re the guys happily strolling down the sidewalk, whistling a tune, and chatting cheerfully with everyone who stops to say hello.

The Chicago Bears, absolutely shredded by the Chargers in week-one, will host the Cowboys at Solder Field on Sunday Night Football. And although they rebounded enough to defeat a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad last weekend, Bears fans should not get ahead of themselves. After the Cowboys game, they will face division rivals Detroit and Green Bay on back-to-back Sundays away from home. Both are undefeated; and, all of a sudden, the NFC North doesn’t seem so secure anymore. Of typical concern is the quarterback position. Rex Grossman has the bad habit of showing all the tools one week, and falling flat on his face the next.

Those undefeated Green Bay Packers will host the San Diego Chargers in one of Sunday’s early kick-offs. Brett Favre, average in week-1 despite a fortunate win over the Eagles, was sensational against the Giants last weekend – completing 29 of 38 passes for 286-yards and three touchdowns. Most encouraging is that each of the passing majors was completed by one of three different receivers. Bubba Franks, Donald Lee, and Donald Driver ran Favre passes into the end-zone to go along with two rushing scores from Deshawn Wynn.

The Chargers, meanwhile, were rocked 38-14 by the New England Patriots. Philip Rivers, after a brutal first-half, responded with two touchdown passes in the second period. Most troubling, however, was the ineffective performance of LaDanian Tomlinson. He averaged just 2.4-yards per-carry and had no impact on the proceedings. Recent form would suggest that the Packers will be 3-0 by Monday; and I’ll buy into that theory. San Diego have looked too Jekyll-and-Hyde under Norv Turner.

The New York Giants, now 0-2, probably began the season thinking that they’d be at least 2-1 by the end of week-3. Their optimism was due in no small part to back-to-back contests against the Packers and Washington Redskins. But after getting hammered by the Green Machine last week, they are now underdogs to beat their 2-0 division rivals.

The Redskins are surprising everyone. Jason Campbell has come out of nowhere and fit right into the offense; and Sean Taylor and LaRon Landry were brilliant in nullifying the Eagles’ passing game on Monday. Quite frankly, the Skins have elite players who can make plays. Santana Moss, Antwan Randle El, Clinton Portis, and Chris Cooley provide plenty of options for Campbell. This team should have no problem scoring points. And if Monday night was any indication, they’re more than adept at keeping the ball out of the end-zone as well. I see Washington neck-and-neck with the Cowboys at 3-0 after this week.