As good as the opening week of the 2015 NFL regular season was, Week 2 is shaping up to be fantastic.
This early into the campaign, it's impossible for any game to have major stakes in terms of the respective playoff races. Even starting the year 0-2 won't eliminate a team from postseason contention.
With that said, this week will feature a number of matchups that could prove important in the weeks to come. For example, imagine if the San Francisco 49ers had turned around their losses in Weeks 2 and 3 last season, the latter of which was particularly damaging as it came against the Arizona Cardinals, who snatched a wild-card spot. The number of what-ifs you could imagine if the Niners had been playoff-bound is enormous.
Keeping that in mind, the three games below could carry some significance by the time all is said and done in the regular season.
Week 2 Schedule
Games to Watch
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
As much as Peyton Manning's arm strength is a bit of an issue, he could throw the ball 100 miles an hour, and it would do nothing to remedy the Denver Broncos' biggest issue: pass protection. Michael Salfino of Meadowlands Media Group believes improvement in Denver's passing game starts with the offensive line:
Manning took a lot of punishment for Sunday, and the bad news is that he'll have little time to recover since the team is operating on a short week. As SportsPickle joked, the odds Manning is 100 percent against the Kansas City Chiefs are slim:
Beating the Broncos in Week 2 won't put the Chiefs in the driver's seat in the AFC West, but it could in retrospect prove to be a pivotal result in the event Kansas City and Denver are neck and neck in the division race.
New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills
It feels as though fans and analysts alike are in a race to retroactively be the first person to foresee Tyrod Taylor's Week 1 success. Pretty soon you'll hear somebody say he or she knew Taylor was an NFL quarterback after watching him play backyard football in elementary school.
This isn't to say Taylor's performance on Sunday was a fluke, but let's maybe wait another few weeks before singing his praises too loudly.
Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan, on the other hand, needs no more evidence before making his judgment.
"We said it all along, and you can ignore practices and you can ignore the film if you want, but we know who he is," Ryan said of his starting quarterback, per ESPN.com's Mike Rodak. "This guy's got some magic to him, with his legs. He's smart. He did a great job."
Taylor can hush his critics even more if he and the Bills beat the reigning Super Bowl champions at home.
Darrelle Revis is almost impossible to replace, so the New England Patriots secondary was bound to take a slight step back in 2015. Still, Malcolm Butler and Tarell Brown did well for the most part against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Patriots will not only be a great test of Taylor's true talent level; they'll also help in part determine whether Buffalo is already a serious contender in the AFC East.
Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
Imagine the outcry regarding Kam Chancellor's holdout if the Seattle Seahawks drop their first two games of 2015.
The fact he remains unsigned is somewhat surprising given the nature of Seattle's Week 1 defeat, per the MMQB's Robert Klemko:
Unless Chancellor and the Seahawks agree to terms on a new deal before Sunday, the reigning NFC champions could be in trouble.
The Green Bay Packers obviously miss Jordy Nelson, but Aaron Rodgers still went 18-of-23 for 189 yards and three touchdowns against the Chicago Bears in Week 1. Rodgers would be more than capable of exploiting Chancellor's absence.
Green Bay will also want to obtain a small measure of revenge on Seattle after its two losses to the Seahawks last year. Winning in Week 2 can't completely erase the pain from the NFC Championship Game, but the Packers would certainly enjoy getting the better of their conference rivals in 2015.
Note: Lines for each game are courtesy of Odds Shark.
via http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2567107-nfl-schedule-week-2-start-times-tv-coverage-latest-odds-and-predictions
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