Battles Between The Undefeated Lead Week 2 Slate

Is the Ravens offense for real? Who wins the rivalry game between the Vikings and Packers? Will the Dolphins keep the Patriots under 50 points? And will the Saints get revenge for that controversial ending in their playoff loss to the Rams in 2018? This is your NFL Week 2 preview.

Arizona Cardinals +12.5 (-109) @ Baltimore Ravens -12.5 (-112)
Baltimore in week 1 steamrolled the Miami Dolphins 59-10. The game was essentially over 10 minutes into the contest, with Mark Ingram leading the rushing attack and Lamar Jackson leading the way through the air of all places. Jackson had a historically great game, but the consensus among most pundits after his performance was “But it was the Dolphins”. Fair enough, but it’s the National Football League, and “any given Sunday...” anyone can beat anyone. Are the Ravens as good as how they performed? Probably not. Are the Dolphins as bad? Probably not. After only one week, no conclusions should be made about any team. The Arizona Cardinals come into Baltimore after a week 1 tie, which if you watched that game, if there’s any such thing as a “good” tie, that was it. They were dominated by the Detroit Lions the entire first half and into the third quarter, but then all of a sudden rookie QB Kyler Murray and rookie head coach Kliff Kingsbury and their “Air Raid” offense started to click. Thanks to a couple of ridiculous errors by the Lions, they scored 18 unanswered points to get the game to overtime, where both teams could only muster a field goal, and subsequently the game ended in a tie. This is the Ravens home opener, the crowd will be in a frenzy and the team will want to put on a show. It will also be a very tough environment for a rookie QB and rookie head coach in their first road game. The Ravens rarely get this amount of juice versus any team, so the moneyline sticks out like a sore thumb and is not worth it, no thank you. The values here are in the spread and total points. ​Over 46.5 points (-110)​ is the play here.

Minnesota Vikings (+120) @ Green Bay Packers (-148)
An early season NFC North battle between two fierce blood rivals is next on the docket. The Vikings come into Lambeau Field after absolutely dominating their week 1 opponent, the Atlanta Falcons. They out-performed Atlanta in all facets of the game, culminating in a surprisingly easy 28-12 victory. Dalvin Cook, fresh off a 2018 season-ending ACL injury, looked impressive, racking up 111 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Catch-everything wide receiver Adam Thielen also found the endzone once. Their defense picked up right where they left off last season, sacking Matt Ryan four times and intercepting him twice. Most of Atlanta’s yards came during garbage time when they were down 28-0 and the game was no longer in doubt. The Packers opened the centennial season of the National Football League with a victory, but it was FAR from pretty. With a new high-flying (allegedly) offense installed, Aaron Rodgers and company could only muster ten points, luckily for them their revamped defense only gave up three. Reports came out this week that Rodgers was trying out a wristband cheat-sheet for the first time ever in practice, but the jury is out on if that will help put more points on the scoreboard. This game has “defensive struggle” written all over it. ​Under 43 points (-110​) is the play here. We also love ​Away Team and Under at +290 (moneyline and 43.5 points)​. ​The Vikings at +120​ come out of Lambeau with the victory.

New England Patriots -19 (-110) @ Miami Dolphins +19 (-110)
New England absolutely dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday night, 33-3. Tom Brady was nearly perfect, throwing for 341 yards and three touchdowns. New England’s defense was just as good, holding the Steelers to 32(!) yards rushing and keeping the vaunted Steelers aerial attack in check the entire night. Now they waltz into Hard Rock Stadium with shiny new toy Antonio Brown as one of the largest point favorites in the history of the Patriots-Dolphins “rivalry”. For good reason. What more can be said that already hasn’t about the abysmal display the Dolphins put on in week one? There is literally nothing good to say about this team. The uniforms looked nice in the South Beach sunshine? That’s about it. When the week began, the spread was 14 points, and it’s just kept growing from there. But as I mentioned before, “any given Sunday...”. Does that mean Miami has a snowball’s chance in South Florida to win this game? No. I’m not crazy. I do think, however, after a game like last week’s when you’re the punchline of every joke because of your performance, some semblance of pride comes into play. This is a divisional opponent that they have had SOME success against in the past, mostly at home. 19 points is a lot of points in this league, and for me the play here is to take that gift and run with it. ​The Dolphins cover the +19 (-110)​ spread. We also like the game going ​over 48.5 points (-110).

New Orleans Saints +2 (-110) @ Los Angeles Rams -2 (-110)
This game is a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship game, where the Saints lost due to an awful non-call by the officials on a blatant pass interference. Nothing is a guarantee, but the call being made would’ve put them in position for a game-winning chip shot of a field goal. This is only a regular season week 2 matchup with far lower stakes, but defeating the Rams in their home opener would give New Orleans at least a little satisfaction. The Saints are coming into LA after defeating the Houston Texans30-28 in what was arguably the best game of week one, a back and forth Monday night affair where they seemingly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It took them awhile, but Drew Brees and his array of offensive weapons, got things going in the second half and with under a minute left drove down the field and put them in position to kick the game-winner. The Rams won last week as well, going into Charlotte and defeating the Panthers 30-27. Their offense did not look great, quarterback Jared Goff throwing for a middling 186 yards with an interception and a touchdown. Running back Todd Gurley answered any health questions by running well all game, rushing for 97 yards on only 14 carries. The Rams have just as many offensive weapons as New Orleans, with wide receivers Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks, and the return of Cooper Kupp, who missed last year’s playoffs due to a knee injury. LA’s defense is anchored by their defensive line, specifically defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Look for him to be double-teamed a lot in this game if Brees has any hopes of staying off the turf as Donald is a sack machine. This game will be highly entertaining, and we see the scoreboard lighting up all day. The over at ​52 points (-110)​ is a great play here. We also like the Saints moneyline (+107)​ and ​Away Team and Over (moneyline and 52.5 points) at +280​, plays.

Good luck to everyone and enjoy week 2!

*Credit for the main photo in this article goes to Butch Dill/Associated Press