VITO'S VIEWS

The feature matchup this week pits Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady when Green Bay goes to Tampa Bay for the Fox doubleheader game.

Green Bay is unbeaten at 4-0, while the Bucs are 3-2 and coming off a game where Brady not only lost but lost track of downs in the final drive.

The Bucs are desperate for a victory.

—The Bills and Chiefs are both coming off their first losses since starting out 4-0, so the loser drops to 4-2. The defending champion Chiefs figure to get back on track.

—The Rams and 49ers lost the last two Super Bowls, but the Rams at 4-1 are playing like a team that was in the Super Bowl two years ago while the 49ers are 2-3 and playing like a team having a Super Bow loss hangover after losing it last year.

A loss would drop the 49ers four games in the loss column behind the 4-0 Seahawks, who have a bye, in the NFC West.

—The two New York teams are likely to fall to 0-6 as the Jets play Miami and the Giants play Washington. The interesting thing about the Jets is that they’ve not only lost five games, but they haven’t covered the spread in any of them. Betting against the Jets has been a good investment this year. They’re about a 10-point dog against Miami, but don’t figure to cover.

—Dallas starts the Andy Dalton era (who knows when Dak Prescott will be back) against Arizona. A loss would drop them to 2-4 but they’d still be in contention in the NFC East. The 1-3-1 Eagles figure to go to 1-4-1 with a loss to the Ravens, so the Cowboys could wind up tied for first with Washington, which is 1-4 and plays the Giants. This division is a dumpster fire.

—Carolina has been under the radar while winning the last three after losing the first two to climb into a first place tie in the NFC South with the Bucs and Saints. The Panthers play the Bears, who are 4-1. The big question for the Bears is how Nick Foles plays. He struggled against the Colts in his first start but outdueled Tom Brady last week.

—The Steelers and Browns are an old rivalry that dates back to 1950 although there was a three-year hiatus when the Browns move to Baltimore. Both are off to good starts. The Steelers are 4-0 for the first time since 1979 and the Browns are 4-1 for the first time in 25 years when they had a coach named Bill Belichick. But the Steelers have dominated the rivalry for decades and Baker Mayfield suffered a rib injury last week and may not be 100 percent, so the edge will likely go to the Steelers.

Tennessee posted the most surprising victory of the weekend, routing the Bills 42-16 in a rare Tuesday night game after dealing with a virus outbreak.

The victory kept the Titans unbeaten at 4-0, dropped the Bills to 4-1 and raised questions about whether Bills are as good as their record.

—The virus continued to cause havoc with the schedule as the Denver-New England game was first moved to Monday night and then postponed to an undetermined future date.The question remains whether the league will be able to play the entire season.

—Kansas City’s bid for a perfect season as defending champions ended with the loss to the Raiders and now, they find themselves only a game ahead of the Raiders in the AFC West.

—Dan Quinn was fired as the Atlanta coach after the Falcons fell to 0-5. They never really overcame 28-3. GM Thomas Dimitroff was also fired by owner Arthur Blank, so the Falcons will start over.

—Seattle did come back from a devastating Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. And Russell Wilson, who threw the devastating interception from the 1 in that Super bowl loss, remains an MVP candidate as he led the Seahawks to a 27-26 win over the Vikings by putting together a 94-yard drive in the final two minutes.

—Alex Smith completed an amazing comeback story after suffering a life-threatening leg injury two years ago and having to undergoing 17 surgeries. He threw his first pass in 683 days after Dwayne Haskins was benched and Kyle Allen was hurt. The Washington team still lost to the Rams, but it doesn’t take away from his amazing comeback.

—The 49ers’ 43-17 rout at the hands of the Dolphins dropped them to 2-3 and raised questions whether they are still a contender just a year after losing the Super Bowl to Chiefs. Were they a one-year wonder?

—The Browns at 4-1 are off to their best start in 25 years when they were coached by a guy named Bill Belichick.

—Dallas season is now in the hands of Andy Dalton after Dak Prescott suffered a season ending injury that raised doubts about his future and his bid for a new contract. His injury showed why players want long term deals and hate the franchise tag.

—A New York team has a good shot at getting the first pick. The Giants and Jets are 0-5.

Are you ready for some Tuesday night football?

The NFL, scrambling to keep the season going in the middle of a pandemic, has shifted the Tennessee-Buffalo game to Tuesday.

Assuming it is played then, the Bills’ game with the Chiefs scheduled for two days later will have to be moved. And the Broncos-Patriots game has been moved to next Sunday, necessitating the postponement of Denver’s game with Miami that day.

What a mess.

Moving games may be the new norm as the NFL copes with the virus.

—The big question for the Titans is how they will play after dealing with a Covid outbreak the last two weeks and having little practice time. They’re 3-0 but may have lost all their momentum.

—Winless Houston starts the post-Bill O’Brien era by hosting the 1-3 Jaguars. The Texans are favored under interim coach Romeo Crennel, who is trying to change the atmosphere that O’Brien created when he alienated many players and staff members.

—Washington and the Jets will be going with new quarterbacks. Washington benched Dwayne Haskins, who was demoted to third string, for Kyle Allen, and the Jets benched Sam Darnold for Joe Flacco. But both teams have so many problems that a quarterback change may not make a difference.

—Tyrod Taylor may be the latest NFL player to get Wally Pipped. Pipp was the player who saw out a game and never got it back after Lou Gehrig took over. Taylor was sidelined by an injury and a doctor’s mistake. That opened the door for rookie Justin Herbert and he is keeping the job now that Taylor is healthy.

—Punters are spending a lot of time on the sidelines. For the first four weeks of the season, punts are at an all-time low of 3.46 a game, probably because coaches are going for it more often. Will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

At the quarter pole, four teams – two in each conference – are leading the pack at 4-0. They are the Chiefs and Bills in AFC and Packers and Seahawks in the NFC.

The Chiefs and Bills play next Thursday night but the Packers and Seahawks don’t play in the regular season.

Remains to be seen if all four wind up in AFC and NFC title games. This year, though, only one team in each conference gets a bye.

–To steal a line from an iconic book, the NFL season is on the brink. The virus outbreak in Tennessee showed that the NFL can’t always contain the virus. The NFL has no idea where this is heading and what it means to the rest of the Titans season and the rest of the NFL season.

–The New England Patriots are finding out life without Tom Brady can be a challenge. They went 2-1 with Cam Newton but when he was sidelined with a positive test, they were left with Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham. Neither was effective as they handed the game to the Chiefs. If Newton doesn’t stay healthy, they aren’t a playoff team.

–An 0-4 start got Bill O’Brien fired as the Texans coach. But it wasn’t just the losing. He had worn out his welcome with his prickly personality and his shaky moves as a GM. At least they have a potential franchise quarterback in Deshaun Watson, but O’Brien traded away one of the league’s best receivers (DeAndre Hopkins) and their first two draft picks next year. J.J. Watt noted they have to build around Watson, but it is going to take time to repair the damage O’Brien did to the franchise.

–Two teams, the Jets and Redskins, changed quarterbacks. The Jets benched Sam Darnold for Joe Flacco and the Redskins benched Dwayne Haskins for Kyle Allen. Neither team is going anywhere anyway and now teams have big questions at quarterback.

–As the Lions fell to 1-3, coach Matt Patricia said when he took over the franchise than they had a lot of work to do when he arrived and they’re doing it. He overlooked the fact he took over a 9-7 team and it has gotten worse on his watch.  He is not likely to be back next year.

The NFL took a lot of precautions, but they couldn’t defeat COVID-19.

The outbreak in Tennessee caused their game against Pittsburgh to be postponed until later in the season, and the Pats-Chiefs game will be postponed at least a day or two because Cam Newton and a Chiefs practice squad player tested positive. If more players on either team test positive, it could be moved until later in the season.

This is probably not the last time this will happen and may mean the NFL will have problems playing an entire schedule. One suggestion is that the players be isolated in hotels like in camp the rest of the season, but the players aren’t likely to agree to that.

—The postponement of the Pats-Chiefs game means CBS had to switch the Bears-Colts to the Sunday afternoon late game slot and that game is nowhere near as attractive as the Pats-Chiefs game.

—The biggest loser in all this through no fault of their own is Pittsburgh, which will lose its normal bye week and won’t get a week off the rest of the season starting next week because of the outbreak in Tennessee.

—Detroit, which broke an 11-game losing streak, is not expected to win two in a row. They face a motivated New Orleans team that is trying to get back on track after a slow start.

—Dallas and Philadelphia, two of the most disappointing teams in the league, have no margin for error as the Cowboys face the Browns and the Eagles take on San Francisco. The only thing they have going for them is they play in the same division with the Giants and Redskins so one of them will make the playoffs. The Eagles-49ers game will be the Sunday night prime time game and doesn’t figure to get good ratings even though they both play in big markets.The Monday night game isn’t much better with Green Bay heavily favored against an Atlanta team that seems to specialize in blowing leads.

—One game that won’t get much TV coverage but is an interesting matchup of two young quarterbacks when Jacksonville goes to Cincinnati. Gardner Minshew, coming off a poor game last week, is in his second season trying to prove he is the long-range answer after being drafted on the sixth round a year ago, faces Joe Burrow, the top pick in the draft who has looked good at times, but plays for a bad Cincinnati team that is 0-2-1. Neither team is a contender but their quarterbacks will be under the microscope all year.

This was not a memorable weekend for the NFL.

The much-hyped Kansas City-Baltimore matchup turned out to be a dud as the Ravens were no match for the Chiefs. And the Titans had the league’s first Covid 19 outbreak so their game against the Steelers will be postponed until later in the season.

The only obstacles the Chiefs have to worry about in their quest for a repeat are probably injuries and/or a Covid 19 outbreak. After their takedown of the Ravens, they are big favorites to go become first team since 2003-04 Patriots to repeat.

–The Titans’ Covid 19 outbreak shows teams can’t let their guard down as they attempt to contain the virus. It is uncertain what caused the Titans’ outbreak but it was a stark reminder the virus can strike no matter how many protocols the teams follow.

–Nick Foles did his thing again for the Bears against the Falcons, coming off the bench after Mitch Trubisky was yanked to lead them to a come-from-behind victory over the Falcons, who have a reputation for blowing leads. They’re the first team to lose 15 point fourth quarter leads twice in the same season in 20 years. And, of course, they will never live down 28-3.

–The good showing Foles turned in coming off the bench earned him the starting job for the Bears against the Colts this weekend. Foles had a nightmarish season last year after signing a deal with the Jaguars. He was injured in the opener, struggled when he returned, lost the job to Gardner Minshew and was traded. He will now try to resurrect his career.

–Philadelphia at 0-2-1 and the Cowboys at 1-2 are two of the most disappointing teams in the league, but one of them is likely to make the playoffs because they are both in the NFC East with the 1-2 Redskins and 0-3 Giants.

–Going into the one quarter week of the season, seven teams, including the Chiefs, are 3-0. The other six are the Bills, Seahawks, Packers, Bears, Steelers and Titans. Two of them –Steelers and Titans – likely play this weekend although the date hasn’t been set because of the Titans’ virus outbreak.

–There are six 0-3 teams. They include both New York teams, the Jets and Giants, plus Denver and three disappointing teams – Houston, Minnesota and Atlanta. There are two games involving 0-3 teams, Jets-Broncos and Texans-Vikings.

It’s a bit early for the NFL to have its biggest game of the season, but the Kansas City-Baltimore game fits that category.

The winner will be favored to go to the Super Bowl as the AFC team. Among other things, the game is the youngest QB matchup of MVPs with 22-year-old Lamar Jackson facing 24-year-old Patrick Mahomes.

The Mahomes-Jackson matchup may be the Manning-Brady matchup of this generation.

One key factor is that the Chiefs No. 2 receiver, Sammy Watkins, is questionable with a concussion and neck injury. He will be missed if he can’t play.

The surprising thing is the game will be played on Monday night instead of Sunday night. The NFL will be looking closely at the TV ratings for this game.

—The big question this week is whether the defenses start catching up to the offenses. First two weeks were all offense – most yards, touchdowns and points. Did the offense get an edge because of the lack of an offseason?

—The NFL continues to do a good job containing COVID-19. The Falcons’ A.J. Terrell became the first player to be placed on the COVID list – which means he tested positive or was exposed to it – since the season started. The players must be taking the proper precautions and the league has already warned them to stay out of bars and clubs or face fines.

—The window may be closing for the Eagles and Falcons, who were both in the Super Bowl a few years back but now look like they won’t be returning any time soon. Both are 0-2 and Atlanta has a tough task against 2-0 Chicago while the Eagles face 0-2 Cincinnati. Neither the Eagles nor the Falcons can afford to fall to 0-3 if they are to be contenders.

—Tom Brady, Cam Newton and Philip Rivers are all 1-1 after losing their openers and winning their second games. Brady’s Bucs go to Denver, Newton’s Patriots go to Las Vegas and Rivers’ Colts hosts the hapless Jets. Bucs and Colts should win easily but the Patriots could face a tough test against the Raiders.

—Jalen Ramsey is toning down his act in Los Angeles. While he said Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen was “trash” when he was in Jacksonville, he now says he is “talented” as Rams defense prepares to face the Bills.

—Rookie Justin Herbert makes his second start for the Chargers against Carolina and this time he has a week to prepare. He was a surprise starter against the Chiefs last week when a doctor punctured Tyrod Taylor’s lung giving him a shot for cracked ribs. Herbert might have upset the Chiefs if coach Anthony Lynn hadn’t taken the ball out of his hands by not going for it on fourth-and-1 in OT. A first round pick, Herbert was supposed to be the quarterback of the future but the future may have already started for him. If he plays well, Taylor may not get the job back.

How fitting that a Seattle-New England game came down to the final play on the one-yard line just like their Super Bowl classic.

This time, the Seahawks won when they stuffed Cam Newton. But the interesting thing is Bill Belichick cost his team 20 seconds on the final drive when he failed to call time out with the team at the 29.

They might have had more than one play at the one if he hadn’t waited until there were three seconds left to call his final time out.

–Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes pulled out another comeback over the Chargers to go to 2-0 and set up what could be a preview of the AFC title game when the Chiefs meet 2-0 Ravens next Monday night. The Ravens beat Houston.

–Chargers coach Anthony Lynn blew a chance to upset the Chiefs when he punted on 4^th-and-1 in overtime. Better to go for it than to give the ball to Mahomes.

–Despite the loss, the Chargers seemed to find out that rookie quarterback Justin Herbert is the quarterback they thought he was when they picked him on the first round. He made an impressive showing as last-minute replacement for Tyrod Taylor. Taylor was sidelined when the team doctor punctured his lung when he tried to give him a pain killing shot for his cracked ribs. Taylor may never get the job back. 

–Two aging quarterbacks who changed teams, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers, bounced back from opening game losses to post victories. Meanwhile, another old quarterback, Drew Brees, lost so all three quarterbacks at 1-1.

–Dan Quinn of Atlanta and Matt Patricia are on the hot seat as they both blew leads to fall to 0-2. The Falcons became the first team to score 39 points and not get a turnover and lose. And the players apparently weren’t drilled on the onside kick rules when they watched as Dallas recovered the ball. Patricia has now lost 11 in a row and the Lions have blown double digit leads four games in a row.

–Coaches keep making mistakes on when to go for two. New Dallas coach Mike McCarthy went for two while down nine points. They failed to make it, remaining two scores down but were rescued when Atlanta botched an onside kick.

–Eleven teams — Jets, Dolphins, Broncos, Bengals, Texans, Giants, Eagles, Lions, Vikings, Falcons and Panthers – are off to an 0-2. With the playoffs expanded from 12 to 14 teams, it may be easier to overcome an 0-2 this year, but none of these teams have the look of a playoff contender. But it is likely that 21 teams are now fighting for 14 playoff spots.

–It’s interesting that there are not only 11 teams at 0-2, there are the same number at 2-0. They are the Cards, Rams, Seahawks, Packers, Bears, Bills, Chiefs, Raiders, Ravens, Steelers and Titans. Look for the majority of them to make the 14-team playoffs although I would never bet on a team with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback.

The NFL’s second week got off to a good start when none of the Bengals and Browns players tested positive for COVID-19.

Now the question is what happens before the weekend games now that the players are no longer in the training camp lockdown.

The success of the season depends on the players being cautious, staying home and wearing masks. The league has already warned them they can be fined for going to clubs and bars.

—After the TV ratings took a dip for the three nights of prime-time games last week, the Thursday night Browns-Bengals game got a slight uptick over last year even though it was competing against the NFL and NHL. But it was still the lowest-rated Thursday opener since 2011, so it remains to be seen how the ratings will be going forward.

—Joe Burrow is off to an 0-2 start, which is not unusual for a rookie quarterback – even the first pick in the draft – but he is showing promise. In the Browns game he became the first quarterback to throw 60 or more passes without a pick and threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns.

—Two veteran quarterbacks who each changed teams this year and threw two picks in losing their openers will attempt to avoid 0-2 starts. Tom Brady of the Bucs has the easier task against Carolina while Philip Rivers of the Colts has the tougher assignment against Minnesota.

—In the Sunday night game, New England goes to Seattle for their second game against the Seahawks since their Super Bowl meeting when Russell Wilson threw the infamous interception. Wilson is now in his prime and Brady has been replaced by Cam Newton, so the Seahawks have the edge. It’s also oldest coaching matchup in history when Bill Belichick faces Pete Carroll, who was replaced by Belichick two decades ago after the Patriots fired him. Carroll is 69 and Belichick is 68. Unless they play in a Super Bowl, the teams won’t meet again for another four years. Will they still be on the sidelines?

—The doubleheader game CBS is sending to most of the country Sunday afternoon is the Chiefs at the Chargers. Gus Bradley gets the assignment of trying to figure out how to stop Patrick Mahomes.

—Countless number of fans were knocked out of survivor pools when the Jaguars stunned the Colts with the help of Rivers two picks. Now the Jaguars try to show it wasn’t a fluke when they go to Tennessee where they haven’t won since 2013. They have also lost seven of the last nine.

The most noteworthy thing about Kickoff Weekend – calling it the first weekend of the season is so passé – is that the players and team personnel stayed in their training camp bubble and avoided the Covid 19 virus.

From September 6-12, just two players and five personnel tested positive.

Now that they are out of camp, the challenge for the players club personnel will be to continue to follow the safety guidelines. The league has told the players they can be fined if they go to bars and clubs.

The success of the season depends on the players being responsible.

–The players also showed they don’t need preseason games to be ready to start the season as most of the games were well played. Maybe the public needs them to get in the mood to watch football. The TV ratings for the prime-time games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights were all down. As well as the CBS Sunday games. What saved the day was Tom Brady’s debut in Tampa Bay. That was the Fox doubleheader game and it was up eight per cent. The Fox regional games were up seven per cent. Now the question is whether the ratings will improve in the coming weeks. The drop will be blamed on some on the league’s promotion of social justice, but it is uncertain if that was a major factor.

–Two aging quarterbacks who changed teams, Brady and Philip Rivers, both threw two picks – Brady’s second was a Pick Six – and lost to the Saints and Jaguars. Brady’s second one was an obvious poor throw, but coach Bruce Arians raised some eyebrows by blaming Brady for misreading the coverage on the first one. The Colts didn’t punt once in their loss to the Jaguars, but Rivers’ two picks and the Colts’ failure to convert on a fourth down instead of taking a field goal made the difference.

–The Kansas City Chiefs looked like a team that can repeat by opening with an easy win over the Texans. They now the Chargers on the road and then play at the Ravens on Monday night and then are home against the Patriots. If they start off 4-0, there will be talk about them running the table because the Saints may be their only tough foe the rest of the way.

–Bill Belichick plugged in Cam Newton at quarterback, changed the offense to suit his running style and beat the Dolphins. But Belichick doesn’t figure to win another Super Bowl as long as Patrick Mahomes stays healthy in Kansas City.

–The Lions blew a 17-point fourth period lead against the Bears but still could have won it if rookie D’Andre Swift hadn’t dropped a pass in the end zone with six seconds left.

–Kickers were shaky as they missed 19 field goal attempts, the worst first weekend record since 1982. Is this a trend or just a fluke? We will see.

–The officials also called only 18 offensive holding calls, a 78 per cent drop from the first week last year. Did the league tell the officials they were calling too many ticky tacky holding calls? This bears watching.