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24 Hours 'Til Sunday — Andy Richardson

Week 2 is almost upon us, where we start to get a better feel for who's good, who's bad, and whether nobody (a week ago) players like Matt Cassel and Dante Rosario were worth using that waiver priority on. Here's one thing to watch for in each of Sunday's games......

Chicago at Carolina: A meeting of two teams that pulled huge road upsets last week. Which one is for real? Compelling running back battle, with Matt Forte against the Carolina tandem that showed plenty of giddy-up against the Chargers last week.

Tennessee at Cincinnati: The Bengals are favored this week. I don't get it. Tennessee's defense looks pretty good to me, and I'm pretty confident they can run on the Bengals, too. The QB shouldn't matter for the Titans right now. Nor did I personally need or want to know whether Vince Young mentioned suicide at some point or not. Whatever happened to confidentiality among therapists/law enforcement? Somebody did the guy a disservice this week.

New Orleans at Washington: I swung a big trade for Marques Colston in my dynasty league this offseason. First he pulls a no-show in my 1-point week 1 loss, now he's out 4-6 weeks. Two years from now, though, I bet I'll be ecstatic I made this trade.

N.Y. Giants at St. Louis: A Giants loss would sure wreak havoc with the suicide pool I'm in. Suicide pools are kind of like fantasy football, in that they encourage you to root for or against teams that usually have nothing to do with your favorite NFL team. If you're a Rams fan, are you picking against your team in suicide pools? That really takes the whole fantasy football thing -- rooting for a quarterback or running back who happens to be facing your team -- to a new level. I mean, it's one thing to root for somebody to put up big stats against your team; if you're a Packers fan, you can root for Adrian Peterson to score even while rooting for the Packers to win, as happened last week. In a suicide pool you could actually find yourself rooting for your favorite team to lose. As for the game itself, I suppose I'm just wondering if the Rams are actually going to be as much of a trainwreck as they were last week, or if they can maybe show some pride at home.

Indianapolis at Minnesota: I think the Vikings should do what the Panthers essentially did in a game against the Falcons a few years ago -- run the ball on every offensive play. Every play! Why let Tarvaris Jackson decide your fate? Give it to Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor and get out of the way. That's what they should do, at least until Peyton Manning puts up a couple of touchdowns against a defense that sure looked overrated in Green Bay last week. And what they will do, too. Big game for Peterson.

Oakland at Kansas City: Kansas City nearly won in New England. Oakland sleepwalked through a home loss to their most bitter rivals. Doesn't make much sense, but I still think Oakland will have success here. This joins the Chicago-Carolina game as a game where I don't think either team will throw very much. Why bother? Keep it on the ground and get this thing over in about 2:45.

Buffalo at Jacksonville: I'm intrigued by the Bills. Wow, did they look good against the Seahawks. While the New York papers were calling the Jets "The Favre-ites" in the AFC East after the Brady injury, were they actually looking at the wrong New York team? I think the Bills will give the Jaguars a game this week. As for the Jaguars, you have to be a little concerned about their injuries on the offensive line. If they struggle to run the ball at home this week, it could be a long season.

Green Bay at Detroit: Every week will be a new "first" for Aaron Rodgers. First start last week. First road start this week. Next week, first start against the team that probably helped give the Packers decide they could afford to move on from Brett Favre (Dallas, who Rodgers played well against in relief last year). Rodgers should be fine here, even if Detroit bounces back from last week's inexplicable collapse in Atlanta. Huge game for whoever matches up with Al Harris, however, Calvin Johnson or Roy Williams.

San Francisco at Seattle: I'm feeling a little concerned about picking Seattle in my own suicide pool. They have no wide receivers! Julius Jones, feature back! Mad Mike Martz and Frank Gore across the way! Nah, it will be OK. Seattle's defense plays much better at home. They're going to bounce back from last week's debacle, Mike Holmgren's teams always do. I figure this game will be the beginning of the end of the Mike Nolan era in San Fran. And if not, well, Holmgren's retiring anyway (for a year or so, maybe), and I won't have to worry about my suicide pool any more.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay: The Bucs should win this game easily. The Falcons figure to be one of the league's worst teams, and the Bucs D plays much better at home. And yet, what if Matt Ryan has that special "it" factor that's going to make him an immediate star? What if Michael Turner goes for another two bills on the ground? I didn't really want to touch this one.

New England at N.Y. Jets: Is this Belichick's team or Brady's team? If it's the former, they should still have more than enough talent to win this game, probably go on to win 10-11 games and the division. If not, this will be the beginning of the end of their season. Who won't be there to see how Matt Cassel does? I'm also curious to see how Favre does against a very tough opposing defense without a running game to support him.

San Diego at Denver: Not much love in this matchup. It happened on Christmas Eve, I think, so not many saw it (and I don't know why I did except I guess I was wrapping presents and trying to make our month-old tree look lively), but a lot of trash-talking went on in last year's meeting, with Philip Rivers at the center of it with some Broncos players. Will I regret dealing away the Selvin Young-Andre Hall tandem this week? Is the Chargers defense now as bad as it looked against the Panthers? How huge of a game does Brandon Marshall have, in his quest to catch 140 balls in 15 games? Should be fun.

Miami at Arizona: I said last week that if Seattle got blown out at Buffalo, which wasn't a huge shock, that Arizona stood a chance to win this division. And so they do. They should move to 2-0 here against a Dolphins team that will be competitive but is probably looking at 4-12. Those who say the preseason is meaningless didn't see Pennington looking Anthony Fasano's way every chance he got when he played extensively. Good player. Can't believe I asked for Ben Watson in a trade instead of him.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland: It's Sunday night, which means the NBC studio of about 20 different talking heads flitting on and off the screen. Will they spend much time talking about Pittsburgh-Cleveland, or will it all be Patriots-Jets? My guess is the latter, because that's what they do: Don't talk about the teams and the games, talking about the stories involving the biggest stars.I know, I know, they're trying to reach the casual football fans -- they know we diehards are watching already. As for the game, well, I'm thinking, coming out party for Braylon Edwards, who hasn't had the national spotlight game much before (ever?). The Steelers' offense should also put up big numbers, so start 'em all. And enjoy.

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