5 bold predictions that could actually come true in NFL Week 2

Week 2 is when we’ll be able to see a teensy bit of the trends that teams have, and we’ll get an idea of whether what Week 1 gave us is reality. However, you have to remember, the New Orleans Saints outscored their opponents 91-29 in the first two weeks last season, and then they ended up with a -60 point differential. 

Yeah, we might be able to learn a little more about everyone, but it’s not always super sticky. So, since there’s a little bit of chaos still going on around the NFL, it seems right to make a handful of bold predictions for the second week of the 2025 season.

Week 1 chaos turns into Week 2 mayhem

Because the world is grounded in reality, or whatever, we’re scaling the boldness of the predictions up. Think of it like coffee: if it’s 90 percent cream, it’s not going to do anything for you; that’s not a super bold prediction. Snorting espresso, on the other hand… that’ll wake you up; that’s bold, baby.

Glass of milk with a splash of bean juice: Fantasy Football isn’t the absolute worst

If you’re mad about everything fantasy being terrible, you’re right. If you drafted a wide receiver in the first or second round, you probably had a bad time in Week 1. If you’re in a non-PPR league, Ja’Marr Chase got you a cool 2.6 points. A.J. Brown was at 0.8 points. Amon-Ra St. Brown was at 4.5. Nico Collins, 2.5. Drake London, 5.5… and that’s just the guys at the top. It was terrible.

Luckily, things are set up to be better in Week 2. Chase draws the Jaguars. Brown’s only ever had two bad games in a row, like twice ever. St. Brown and the Lions are due for a bounce back. Collins gets a lackluster Buccaneers corner duo. London… Well, he’s a little banged up, and it might not be great. 

Listen, I’m not a fantasy expert. I’m just here to try to cultivate good vibes and manifest points. 

Mocha: The Saints win a game

Going into the season, DraftKings Sportsbook had the New Orleans Saints' win total at O/U 4.5 games, which is crazy-low. If you bet on the over, you’re pretty much betting that the Saints are going to luck into five wins. Week 2 is primed for the Saints to get some of that luck.

They get an incredibly injured San Francisco 49ers. They were already void of any playmakers going into the season, but Week 1 was a bloodbath for them.

Their All-Pro caliber tight end, George Kittle, went on the IR with a hamstring thing, which is mega-tough. Then, on Wednesday, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that it was “a long shot” that Brock Purdy plays on Sunday because of a non-throwing shoulder injury and also something going on with a toe. 

That means the infamously terrible Mac Jones is going to be the dude slinging it for San Fran. That’s exactly what you don’t want. There isn’t a soul in the world who went into this season thinking that the Saints’ quarterback Spencer Rattler was going to outplay the other team’s QB. Not. A. Soul. This is the chance for him to do it. 

If you’re interested and feeling saucy, as of Thursday morning, DraftKings has the Saints as a three-point underdog.

Latte: Staggered Monday Night Football rocks

Just a reminder, there are two Monday Night Football games in Week 2: the Buccaneers at the Texans, and the Chargers at the Raiders. Typically, we’ll get that kind of schedule early in the season, but they’ve had one game start at 7:30 pm and the second game start at 8:15 pm (or something like that). 

This week, it’s going to be different. The first game is going to start at 7 pm, and the second game is going to start at 10 pm. That’s daunting. That means that the second game is going to end on Tuesday. 

BUT… That means that instead of four hours of football on a double header, it’s going to be six hours… on a Monday. Which sounds crazy, and that’s why this is in the mid-bold. 

Keep in mind that of the four prime-time games of this season, three of them have ranged between ‘pretty good’ and ‘I have to pee, but I’m not going to miss a second of this’. The Eagles/Cowboys game was good until the lightning delay, the Bills/Ravens game was sick all the way through, and the Bears/Vikings game had an awesome comeback. 

There’s a fat chance that both of these Monday night games are going to be certified bangers, but if the game in Houston ends up delivering something, the one in Vegas is going to be an ironically delightful nightcap.

Black: Mike McDaniel just doesn’t come to work

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone having a worse week than the Dolphins' head coach, Mike McDaniel. First, his team was assassinated by the unlikely hero Daniel Jones to the tune of 33-8.

In the subsequent days, he’s spent his time standing at a podium trying to act like the world isn’t burning down around him. To no one’s surprise, that’s not working… even a tiny little bit.

It’s like watching Nick Sirianni’s and Liam Coen’s introductory press conferences, and then cranking the ‘someone euthanize me’ levels up to 1,000.

Now, to be fair to McDaniel, this is exactly how he’s carried himself since he took the job in Miami. The difference is that now, everything is crumbling around him. Before, everything was about to crumble around him. It’s a minute detail, but it’s a super important detail. 

As I was looking at that video, I noticed this reply:

So, I thought it would be fun to see how @DDom1313 felt about the Dolphins after the Week 1 disaster. Turns out, not great:

The point of all this is, Mike McDaniel could very well just not wake up for his alarm on Sunday, and no one could blame him. Everyone has dreamed of quitting a bad job and not giving a two-week notice. He could not give a two-hour notice, and no one would blame him.

Shoot, if he dipped out right now, there are two or three teams that would hire him as an offensive assistant immediately, and then hire him as their offensive coordinator next offseason.  That’s not bad… and it’s certainly better than potentially getting blown out against a division rival.

Black Coffee, with a splash of diesel: Daniel Jones does it again

ESPN’s Ben Solak summed the Colts’ Week 1 experience with the Dolphins’ defense nicely: “This was certainly a good day at the office, but I'm confident [Anthony] Richardson also could have scored 33 points against the Dolphins' defense on Sunday. (And QB3 Riley Leonard would have gotten a solid 27 points himself.)”

But, What if… What if… he does it again against a real defense? What if Daniel Jones is real? What if he can do what the Titans and Cam Ward couldn’t in Week 1? What if Shane Steichen doesn’t make the same mistakes Brian Callahan made? There’s a real possibility.

In Week 1, Ward looked like a rookie quarterback in his first game. He took some dumb sacks, missed some open reads, and didn’t have a great game sense. Daniel Jones can do exactly that, but at least he has the experience not to do that.

Did I purposefully say that Mike McDaniel quitting his job on a whim is a bolder prediction than Daniel Jones having two good games? Of course I did… It’s Daniel Jones. There’s not a chance in hell he’ll back up a career game with another one. Shane Steichen’s a good quarterback guy, but he’s not that good.

More NFL news and analysis: