NFL Week 2 Betting – Schedule & Marquee Matchups

Monday, Sept. 20 Time (ET) TV Location
Saints at 49ers 8:30 PM ESPN Candlestick Park

NFL Week 2 Betting Marquee Matchups:

Ravens @ Bengals

Given the nasty offseason the Pittsburgh Steelers have endured, the AFC North should be a two-team race between Baltimore and Cincinnati. Therefore, this week two clash is packed with meaning. Head-to-head matchups represent the foremost tiebreaker come week 17, and in-division records also rank high on the tiebreaker list, so these two rivals will want to get a leg up on each other. The Ravens are one of the top four favorites in the AFC, given their defensive depth and prowess. The Bengals are the defending North champions, and they want to build on that success in 2010 instead of regressing, as they’ve historically done in the years following an appreciable amount of prosperity. If Baltimore wins on the road, the Ravens will immediately know – just two weeks into the campaign – that they can do big things and make a run at the brass ring. If Cincinnati can protect home field, the Bengals will have delayed Baltimore’s planned ascendancy… perhaps to the point that said ascendancy never gets off the ground.

Patriots @ Jets

These two teams met in week two of the 2009 NFL season, also in New Jersey, and the Jets knocked back the Patriots. The game fed New York’s AFC team a badly-needed helping of confidence. Sure enough, that banquet of added belief propelled rookie head coach Rex Ryan all the way to the AFC Championship Game. In 2010, the Patriots – once the undisputed masters of the NFL – are increasingly old and frail, while the Jets are the popular pick to, at the very least, return to the AFC title tilt in mid-January. This is the number one game of week two, the five-star attraction everyone will want to see. The big question marks lie not with the Jets, for so long a punching bag in the AFC East; no, on this occasion, pro football analysts will want to see if the Patriots can march into an enemy lair and find the swagger that has been missing for the last few seasons.

Saints @ 49ers

Is this the year the San Francisco 49ers take hold of a weakened NFC West and return to the playoffs? Is this the year a once-proud franchise, so horribly run and managed by the York family, finally gets its act together and reacquaints itself with a portion of prestige and prominence? This game could very well tell the tale, as the Gold Rush Gang hosts the Super Bowl champions in the City By The Bay. Drew Brees and his teammates figure to receive a stiff test from a physical 49er defense that’s itching to bring the heat – and the hurt – to the Saints’ offensive juggernaut and its skill position studs.