I try to keep this blog and all my social media light and fun. Obviously this past week was tough in our country. There was another school shooting 13 miles from my house. Charlie Kirk was sadly murdered. Whether you agreed with him or not, free speech is important to our country and no one deserves to die for speaking their mind. And then we remembered 9/11. I was not in the mood to write funny things so it took me a few days to get here. But I also think laughter and thinking about meaningless things like football can be a healthy break from the tragedies of our world. If you aren’t ready for that, I understand but if you are, then read on as I present this week’s 6 for Saturday.

Battle of disappointing Cats: Jaguars @ Bengals

I am more of a dog person myself. If you have ever owned a cat, you know they are crazy. Most of them could care less about your existence and they can be staring at a wall and all of the sudden freak out and take off running. They can be rather disappointing pets. But that is not the cats I am talking about here. Back in the 2022 season, these cat teams were on the rise. The Jaguars one a playoff game and challenge the Chiefs in the second round. The Bengals went to the Super Bowl and had beaten the Chiefs 3 times in a row. But then they lost to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. Since then, the Bengals have not made it to the playoffs and have lost to the Chiefs 3 straight times. The Jaguars have been even worse and missed the playoffs both years as well and fired their coach. The Jags won their opening game against another disappointing cat team in the Panthers. The Bengals squeaked by an awful Browns team. Now these two teams with pretty boy quarterbacks face off in week 2. The Jags looked good but again they were playing the Panthers. The Bengals made a lot of changes to make sure they didn’t suck at the beginning of the season but still sucked in week 1. I don’t trust either of these teams at this point but give me the Jags since it is week 2 and the Bengals typically don’t start playing good ball until October.

Jaguars 24 Bengals 21

The Replacements: Browns @ the Former Browns (also known as the Ravens)

If you have been reading my blog over the past few years, you know I love to bring up the fact that the Ravens are actually the Browns and the current Browns are the expansion team. The Ravens were more than happy to give the Browns their old crappy history. But as of late, the Ravens look like the Browns I remember from the late 80s, a very good team that finds a way to rip defeat from the jaws of victory. This was evident this past week when they blew a big lead against the Bills. The Browns meanwhile had their own heartbreaking loss to the Bengals when their kicker missed an extra point and a field goal and lost by a point. The Browns are lead by their replacement quarterback, Shane Falco…I mean Joe Flacco. He’s been in the league for a while now and can still chuck it around the field. The Browns defense is pretty dang good and I think the Browns might not be quite as bad as I expected which doesn’t take a lot. But they are still the Browns and have a lot of self inflicted wounds. Meanwhile, the Ravens lost in heartbreaking fashion in week 1 last year and turned around and lost a terrible Raiders team at home in week 2. Will history repeat itself this week? Vegas doesn’t think so as it is the biggest spread of the week. I can’t see the Ravens losing this one, but I will laugh if they do. But if it is close, either of these teams could find a way to lose.

Ravens 31 Browns 17

Bo knows turnovers: Broncos @ Colts

Both these teams are 1-0 after the Broncos edged out the Titans lead by a rookie quarterback and the Colts blew out a bad Dolphins team. This will be a bigger challenge for both teams. The Colts led by Daniel Jones of all people looked awesome. The Colts d is solid and their offensive weapons are solid. They just need some pretty good play at the quarterback position. Danny Dimes led them to scores on every single drive last week. However, he faces a much bigger challenge this week against a very good Broncos defense. The Broncos D basically won the game as they shut down every attempt the Titans made to make a come back. However, Bo Nix did not look good. I expected much more from him to start season 2 but he made a lot of mistakes and forced balls where he didn’t need to and threw to the wrong people often. Will he bounce back this week? I predicted the Broncos would go undefeated in September so I am rolling with them but if Bo plays like he did last week, it will be tough for them to pull it off. But also don’t expect Daniel Jones to play as well as he did last week against this Broncos defense.

Broncos 23 Colts 16

Super Bowl Rematch…minus some guys: Eagles @ Chiefs

As a Chiefs fan, I am just trying to forget last season’s Super Bowl. Unfortunately this week that has been hard to do. To make matters worse, Rashee Rice is suspended and Xavier Worthy is hurt. However, I am more worried about the defense after Justin Herbert carved them up last week. The Eagles will be without one of their offensive lineman and their tight end, Dallas Goedert. That evens the playing field a little but the Eagles are still the better team. We are going to need Mahomes magic to pull this one off. If anyone can do it, it is Pat. He has literally never lost 3 games in a row and never started the season 0-2. I will be doing my part to try to help by busting out my Mahomes jersey that I only wear for special and big games. But I fear it won’t be enough. But don’t fret fellow Chiefs fans, I told you it was going to be a rough start to the year but things will get better. Just not this week.

Eagles 31 Chiefs 20

The future is bright game: Falcons @ Vikings

Both these teams have quarterbacks that the franchises have a lot of hope in. Michael Pennix played a heck of game last week and got the Falcons in position to win the game until their kicker missed the game winner. The coach is so upset about it that the kicker is now benched and they got a new one. JJ McCarthy played fairly awful for 3 quarters but then turned it on in the 4th and led the Vikings back to victory. You can tell his team and his coach, quarterback whisperer Kevin O’Connell believe in him. JJ’s wife also had a kid this week so he has had a busy few days. This should be a fun one. I like what the Falcons are building and I think they will have some success offensively. I’m interested to see if we will get a little more 4th quarter JJ this week and a little less of the JJ we saw for the first 3 quarters last week. Ultimately I’m going with the home team with the better defense to pull off a close victory.

Vikings 24 Falcons 20

Battle of the lack of fan bases: Chargers @ Raiders

The winner of this one will be a top the AFC West division. The Chargers can move to 2-0 in the division. It has to be some sort of oddity to start the season with 3 divisional opponents in the first 3 weeks. But if they can win all 3 they can take a strong hold on the division. The Raiders kicked off their season with a win against the Patriots but we don’t really know if the Patriots are any good. Typically the Raiders home games are filled with a bunch of fans from the other team. But luckily for the Raiders, the Chargers don’t have any fans. The Raiders don’t have a ton either but this should be a mostly home game for them. Unfortunately, I just don’t think the Raiders are actually that good. The Chargers impressed me last week and I think they will keep it rolling. I am sure the Chargers will fold at some point this season because you know…they are the Chargers but I think they will pull off the victory here.

Chargers 31 Raiders 21