fbpx
Skip to main content

Five NFL teams on upset alert in Week 2

Week 1 in the NFL delivered some unpredictable results. Along the way came some pretty intriguing early-season upsets.

Furthermore, both of the Monday Night Football games were won by at least three touchdowns. This left a couple of teams that were expected to perform better licking their wounds.

We now look forward to Week 2, where a few teams should certainly be on upset alert.

New Orleans Saints over New York Giants

Quarterback Drew Brees is already hot after kicking off the season with a four-touchdown performance. Plus, the offense as a whole tallied a league-high 507 yards.

The end result was disappointing, a 35-34 home loss to the Oakland Raiders.

No team will be fired up more to right that wrong than the Saints in Week 2. They’ll take out their frustration against a Giants squad that did not exactly light it up against the Dallas Cowboys. Eli Manning and Co. managed to win, but it came against a rookie quarterback by a grand total of one point.

Brees and the Saints’ offense should run the Giants’ defense ragged. And while some believe the Giants’ defense has improved, it’s going to take a tremendous performance to stop the combination of Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead.

The two combined for 315 yards and three touchdowns while catching 15 of the 18 balls thrown their way last week. Even more impressive than that, Cooks was clocked at 22 miles-per-hour when he scored a 98-yard touchdown against the Raiders.

New York’s offense is ultra-talented and should score plenty as well. But this tilt has the Saints beating the Giants on their home turf written all over it.

Kansas City Chiefs over Houston Texans

Courtesy of Kirby Lee, USA Today Sports

Does anybody remember what happened the last time these two teams squared off?

The Chiefs handily shut out the Texans by the score of 30-0 in that memorable wild card game this past January.

Things have obviously changed since. The Texans have a dramatically better offense in place after adding Brock Osweiler and Lamar Miller in free agency as well as Will Fuller in the draft. Defensively, both Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt are back healthy.

As a result, Houston handed the Chicago Bears the business last week. Things are going to be much more challenging with Alex Smith and his party in Week 2. The Chiefs’ offense recorded 413 yards compared to Chicago’s 258.

Furthermore, Kansas City’s defense woke up big time in the second half of its comeback win over San Diego, yielding only two field goals during that span.

Surely, Kansas City’s defense can create havoc for the young Osweiler. That should end up being the end result, leading to a 2-0 start to the season for the Chiefs.

Seattle Seahawks over Los Angeles Rams

Surprisingly enough, the Seahawks are 1-3 against the Rams over the past two seasons. Seattle actually lost both tilts last year.

Because Los Angeles was so pathetically horrible against a bad San Francisco 49ers team last week, we have Seattle easily pulling out the win in the Rams’ home opener.

That’s not the upset here. Instead, we’re going to project that the Rams are shut out for the second consecutive game. San Francisco’s defense handily managed this task in last week’s Monday Night Football contest. Who is to say Seattle cannot do the same?

The Rams were an utter mess in their season debut, tallying only 185 total yards on offense. Furthermore, their defense allowed 149 rushing yards and three rushing scores. A healthy Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael are going to eat it up on the ground.

Jacksonville Jaguars over San Diego Chargers

Blake Bortles Allen Robinson

It didn’t take much for the Chargers to tank a beautiful 21-point third-quarter lead and lose to the Chiefs in Week 1.

At this point, fans expect about as much from their team.

San Diego also lost top wide receiver Keenan Allen to a season-ending ACL injury. As par for the course, fans can probably bank on another loss in Week 2 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After all, the Jags nearly handed the Green Bay Packers an upset loss this past week.

Jacksonville’s defense did a fabulous job, limiting the Packers’ offense to only 294 yards and three touchdowns. Aaron Rodgers scored twice through the air and once on foot. But it was by no means his best performance. He struggled at times and completed only 58 percent of his passes.

Philip Rivers can certainly be forced into making mistakes. Melvin Gordon will also likely be challenged after the Jags’ defense allowed only 61 rushing yards to Eddie Lacy.

Oakland Raiders over Atlanta Falcons

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just upset the Falcons. Now, the team goes up against an improved Raiders squad.

Last week, the Falcons’ defense had no answer Jameis Winston, allowing him to throw four touchdowns.

It’ not going to be much easier against a Raiders offense led by young star Derek Carr. They will look to torch the Falcons’ defense after putting up a total of 486 total yards and four offensive touchdowns last week.

Look for the Raiders to pull off their second victory of the season while they send the Falcons to 0-2.

Mentioned in this article:

More About: