AFC North Week 2 preview

Preview by Gordon Dedman

Tennessee Titans (1-0) at Cleveland Browns (0-1)

Here’s Johnny again! After Josh McCown was examined Friday for concussion symptoms, Johnny Manziel was announced as the starter for the Browns against the Titans.

With Manziel starting, it sets up a game where two former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks will battle it out in front of the Dawg Pound and surely will provide an interesting spectacle for the neutrals.

 

Last week, the Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota threw four touchdown passes from just 16 pass attempts with no interceptions for a perfect rating of 158.3.

Viewing that performance analytically, you could say it was against the Buccaneers and to produce a debut performance as good as that isn’t that remarkable. Against the Browns stern defense, he will be provided with a bigger test, but should produce the goods again.

Manziel’s teammates appear to favour McCown over Johnny Football and that tells a story in itself and makes me believe Mariota will continue his dream start to his pro career.

San Diego Chargers (1-0) at Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)

San Diego posted the most yards on offense in week one against the Lions, but in achieving the win quarterback Phillip Rivers had to overcome two interceptions and come from 21-3 behind to edge the contest 33-28.

The Bengals won’t allow Rivers the same opportunity as Cincinnati will want to ensure they continue their winning way after using Tyler Eifert to great effect in week one.

Bengals cornerback Adam Jones was fined $35,000 by the NFL for slamming a Raiders player’s head into his helmet. "I play with a passion," Jones observed. "There's no way I'd still be playing if I didn't play that way.” That desire will be required against the Chargers, but not the penalties.

San Francisco 49ers (1-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1)

San Francisco rushed for 239 yards against Minnesota in Week One while Pittsburgh gave up 134 yards on the ground against Tom Brady’s pass happy Patriots. It will be a stern test for the Steelers and if the 49ers new star Carlos Hyde gets anywhere near the 168 yards he amassed in week one, the Steelers will be in trouble.

Due to playing the previous Thursday, the Steelers had additional time to recover from their season opener, while the 49ers played late Sunday and have to travel from the west coast. This suggests the Steelers should have an advantage.

Although DeAngelo Williams put in a sterling performance last week, he doesn’t offer the passing options that Le’Veon Bell does and without Bell playing, the Steelers are 0-5.

The Steelers will find their home opener tough going, but should edge it if they can stop the run. Last season, the Steelers allowed a NFL sixth-best 97.1 rushing yards per game.

Baltimore Ravens (0-1) at Oakland Raiders (0-1)

The Ravens defense will need to step up to fill the void left by the injury to Terrell Suggs, but they won’t mind travelling to Oakland to test their revamped linebacker corp. The Ravens have signed journeyman Jason Babin, who has seen time with seven different NFL teams, to take the spot on the roster vacated by Suggs.

If they are to be considered serious contenders the Ravens need to overcome the Raiders and there are not many reasons why they should not. 2010 was the last time they met in Oakland with the Ravens taking a 21-13 victory.