Stampede Blue’s NFL Week 2 staff picks

Week 2 of the NFL season brings about more intrigue after some of the results from Week 1. First and foremost, the Indianapolis Colts are traveling to take on a possible surprise team in the NFC East, the Washington Redskins, in a matchup that could end up in a downpour before it’s all said and done.

Can Andrew Luck lead the team to victory this week in spite of more injury concerns along the roster? If the defense can project more consistency than Week 1, they might not need the turnovers to stay in the game, but they certainly cannot give the ball away themselves with Alex Smith under center for the ‘Skins.

There is a healthy dose of divisional matchups in Week 2 as well (7) to look forward to, and for Colts fans the Texans and Titans might be one to keep an eye just to see if Week 1 was any indication into what each of them truly are in 2018. The Jaguars are taking on the Patriots as well, and while they nearly upset the Pats in the AFC Championship last season, the Stampede Blue crew doesn’t have much faith in the Jaguars to pull it off Sunday.

The Week 2 slate also provides a fun matchup with Patrick Mahomes taking on Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers which should give us a more grounded idea of what the exciting Kansas City QB truly is. We also get Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan versus Cam Newton as well as Drew Brees battling a very interesting Cleveland Browns defense.

It’s still early in the season, and we could definitely see some stinkers — even out of a couple of the better matchups on paper — but we might just see some surprises. Maybe Josh Allen gets the Bills in a better spot this week against the Chargers who weren’t all that impressive last week, and maybe Blake Bortles won’t have to rely on play action to complete a pass... Some call me a dreamer.

All in all, I don’t really care who does what this week outside of the Colts. I, like most of you, just want to see some good, competitive football.

*Our same eight staff members are picking the Week 2 games this week as well, and here’s a quick rundown of how they did in Week 1.

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Matt Danely: 9-6 | Chris Shepherd: 9-6 | Chris Blystone: 6-9 | Stephen Reed: 8-7 | Brett Mock: 8-7 | Jared Malott: 6-9 | Elliot Denton: 8-7 | Andrew Aziz: 6-9

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Thursday 8:20 pm ET

Ravens (5) @ Bengals | Contrarians — Brett Mock, Chris Blystone, Stephen Reed

Sunday 1:00 pm ET

Chiefs (5) @ Steelers | Contrarians — Andrew Aziz, Chris Shepherd, Mock

Dolphins @ Jets (7) | Contrarian — Aziz

Eagles (5) @ Buccaneers | Contrarians — Jared Malott, Matt Danely, Shepherd

Browns @ Saints

Colts (7) @ Redskins | Contrarian — Danely

Chargers @ Bills

Vikings (6) @ Packers | Contrarians — Aziz, Mock

Panthers @ Falcons (4/4) | Contrarians — Chris Blystone, Aziz, Mock, Malott

Texans (7) @ Titans | Contrarian — Elliot Denton

Sunday 4:05 pm ET

Cardinals @ Rams

Lions @ 49ers (7) | Contrarian — Danely

Sunday 4:25 pm ET

Raiders @ Broncos

Patriots @ Jaguars

Sunday 8:20 pm ET

Giants @ Cowboys (4/4) | Contrarians — Danely, Shepherd, Denton, Reed

Monday 8:15 pm ET

Seahawks @ Bears (6) | Contrarians — Malott, Reed