–Not a great week for can’t miss viewing. The NFL is showing this week it doesn’t have enough good matchups for a 17 game season. Two games – Buffalo at the Commanders on Sunday afternoon and Eagles at Tampa Bay Monday night- -feature 2-0 teams with the winners going 0-3. But Buffalo and the Eagles should have the edge in these two games so they may not be worth watching.
–The Sunday night feature game is Pittsburgh at the Raiders. This was a great rivalry in the 1970s when they met in the playoffs five years in a row. The first game is remembered for the Immaculate Reception and the last three were in the AFC title game with the winner winning the Super Bowl. That was then and this is now. Both are 1-1 but Pittsburgh avoided a 0-2 start on two defensive touchdowns against the Browns even though they were minus seven yards in fourth quarter. The Raiders were thrashed by Buffalo 38-10 to fall to 1-1 but both teams have national followings so they are being featured on Sunday night.
–Fox gets the doubleheader on Sunday but half the country gets Chiefs-Bears and the other half gets Dallas-Phoenix. The Chiefs and Cowboys figure to win easily but Chiefs are the defending champions and the Cowboys are, well, the Cowboys so they hope to get decent ratings.
–The Patriots will try to avoid a 0-3 start when they go to the Meadowlands to face the Jets, who are playing without Aaron Rodgers. The Patriots figure to win their 15th game in a row against the Jets but the odds are against them making the playoffs since they are in the same division with the Dolphins and Bills.
–The Chargers and Vikings are two disappointing 0-2 teams and one will fall to 3-0 when they meet at Minnesota. Both teams made the playoffs last year. If the Vikings lose, there is chatter they could trade Kirk Cousins and go into a tanking mode. Chargers coach Brandon Staley can’t afford to tank because he could be on the hot seat if the Chargers don’t turn things around. He can’t afford to keep losing with Justin Herbert as his quarterback, especially after the 27-0 meltdown against the Jaguars in the playoffs last January.