NFL Week 2: What To Look For

Week 2 of the NFL season is upon us, and there are a few questions posed during Week 1 that are begging to be answered. Here are some things that I will be watching for:

Pittsburgh Steelers:

Last week was one of the worst losses by the Steelers in recent memory.  Only the 13 point loss to the Patriots last year in Week 10 comes close to the level of domination the Steelers felt last week in Baltimore.  Luckily for Pittsburgh, one of the NFL's worst teams is flying in from the left coast to help erase the memory of last weeks debacle. 

Last year the Seattle Seahawks were the 27th ranked defense in yards allowed, and the 28th ranked offense in yards gained.  With Matt Hasselbeck gone, and Tavaris Jackson at the helm at quarterback, one could only assume that the offense is trending downward. 

Prior to the season, most analysts put Pittsburgh among the elite in the AFC. After last weeks pathetic performance, those predictions are in serious doubt.   Questions that were raised about the aging defense, and the stability of the offensive line are now at the forefront of the debate.  Only a lights out defensive effort, and stellar offensive performance can put those issues to rest for the time being.

Detroit and Buffalo:

I will grant the fact that the Detroit Lions are a much improved team compared to the last few years.  The problem I have with all the hype surrounding them is that they are The Detroit Lions. In recent years the Lions have been the Pittsburgh Pirates of professional football, and until they prove otherwise, I am not buying. 

They beat a decent Tampa Bay team last week 27-20, and this week face the Kansas City Chiefs.  With the Chiefs embarrassing 41-7 loss to the Bills last week, the Lions won't prove much with a win this week.  A loss however goes a long way to saying that the Lions are just pretenders once again.  So like the Steelers, Detroit needs to pull of a fairly convincing win to quiet the naysayers such as myself.

The Buffalo Bills are another team that is garnering a lot of attention thanks to that blowout victory last week in Kansas City.  Coming into this season, nobody put them near the top of any power ranking.  Now, thanks to one big victory, Las Vegas has them three point favorites at home over the Oakland Raiders,  I am not saying that the Raiders are a juggernaut, but they are the superior team of the two in my eyes.  Regardless of the Vegas line, any victory in this game is a huge step in the right direction for the Buffalo Bills.

Arian Foster:

The NFL's top rusher in 2010 missed Houston's Week 1 game vs. Indianapolis due to a nagging hamstring injury.  According to Coach Gary Kubiak, Foster "looks ready to play." Hamstring injuries are one of those problems that can linger on, and cause issues all season long. 

While a full workload is out of the question, it would be nice to see a strong performance without any signs of weakness from Foster.  If he can make it through the game without limping off the field, then a huge weight will be lifted off the Houston Texan's backs. 

Arian Foster is one of the cornerstones of that perpetual middle of the pack team, and they need him 100% to finally break through to the top of the AFC.