NFL Week 2 picks, plus Prisco's Power Rankings and breaking down Broncos' baffling late-game decisions

Here's everything you need to know about the NFL for Sept. 13

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

After a crazy opening weekend of NFL football, I didn't think that things could possibly get any crazier on Monday night, but somehow, they did. Russell Wilson got welcomed back to Seattle with boos and in a twist of irony, he probably wanted to boo his own team after the way things went down during Denver's shocking 17-16 loss to the Seahawk on Monday night. 

Wilson played a great game, but got no help from his head coach, who made one of the most head-scratching decisions of all time late in the game. We'll be covering that decision in today's newsletter, plus we also have my picks for Week 2 and Prisco's Power Rankings, so we should probably get to the rundown.  

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1. Today's show: Recapping the Seahawks' shocking win in Russell Wilson's return to Seattle

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The only thing crazier than the Seahawks' wild win over the Broncos was the podcast we put out afterward. I joined Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson, and we spent roughly 45 minutes going over every aspect of this game. We probably could have spent three hours talking about the game, but we didn't want to overdo it.  

With that in mind, here are three key things from the game that we touched on: 

• Nathaniel Hackett made an inexplicable decision at the end of the game. I'm not sure if a coach can be on the hot seat after just one career game, but Hackett is definitely testing that possibility after the way he handled things in the final minute on Monday night. With the Broncos trailing 17-16 and facing a fourth-and-5 from Seattle's 46-yard line, Hackett had two options: Go for it or attempt a 64-yard field goal. The obvious choice would seem to be to give Russell Wilson a chance to win the game, but Hackett didn't do the obvious thing. Instead, he sent his kicker out for a virtually impossible field goal (In all of NFL history, kickers are just 2-for-41 on attempts from 64 yards or longer). The decision backfired after McManus' kick missed, and now, Hackett will be dealing with people second-guessing his decision this week and possibly for the rest of time. If you want to see a clip of the field goal, be sure to click here. The other problem with the field goal is that Hackett let the clock run down from 1:01 to 20 seconds before calling a timeout prior to the kick. There was plenty of time for Wilson to make something happen if Wilson converted a fourth down, but Hackett decided he wanted to try a field goal. Hackett's NFL debut as a head coach could not have gone any worse.  
• Broncos fumbled away their chance at winning. Although everyone is questioning Hackett today, the fact of the matter is that the game probably wouldn't have come down to a field goal if not for two huge fumbles by the Broncos. Not only did Melvin Gordon lose a fumble on a fourth-and-goal play from Seattle's 1-yard line during the third quarter, but later in the game, Javonte Williams ALSO lost a fumble on a play from Seattle's 1-yard line. If you're wondering how rare it is for that to happen, the Broncos were the first team since 1987 to lose two fumbles at the 1-yard line in the same game. 
• Geno Smith was unstoppable. One reason the Seahawks were able to pull off the upset is due to the play of Geno Smith. The Seahawks QB came out of the gate on fire, completing his first 13 passes for 101 yards. That total includes a wild first-quarter TD pass where he was able to hit Will Dissly for a 38-yard score after escaping pressure (You can see the play here). Overall, Geno finished 23 of 28 for 195 yards and two touchdowns. 
• Russell Wilson did everything but win the game. This loss had to be tough on Russell Wilson, who actually looked pretty good on Monday night. In his first game as the Broncos starter, Wilson threw for 340 yards and a touchdown. It's not Wilson's fault that his running backs can't hold on to the ball and it's not his fault that his new coach has no idea how to handle a late-game situation. Wilson did enough to help the Broncos win, but they didn't end up pulling it out in the end. 

We talked about those three things, plus everything else you could possibly want to know about Monday's game, if you want to listen to the rest of our recap, be sure to click here. You can also watch today's episode on YouTube by clicking here. 

2. Prisco's Power Rankings heading into Week 2

After a wild opening week to the NFL season, Pete Prisco stayed up all night so that he could reassess his power rankings. Since no one really knows quite what to expect to start the season, the biggest changes in the rankings almost always come between Week 1 and Week 2 and this year was no exception. There were a total of 10 teams that moved at least five spots in this week's rankings. 

Some of the biggest changes came near the top with the Chargers and Eagles both cracking the top five:

1. Bills
2. Chiefs
3. Buccaneers
4. Eagles
5. Chargers

Dropped out: Bengals, Rams. 

I'm not going to spoil the rest of the power rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets. Here's what has changed since last week. 

• The biggest jump in the power rankings went to the Ravens, who moved up eight spots from 16th to eighth after beating the Jets. Usually, a win over the Jets isn't that impressive, but apparently, Prisco was wowed by what the Ravens did. 
• In news that probably won't surprise anyone, the biggest tumble went to the Cowboys. With Dak Prescott expected to miss more than a month, Prisco dropped them nine spots from 15th to 24th.
• The biggest tumble in the AFC went to the Bengals, who fell six spots from fifth to 11th following their crazy loss to the Steelers. In a twist of fate, the two teams that dropped the most will be playing each other this Sunday in Dallas when the Bengals face the Cowboys. 
• At the bottom of the power rankings, Prisco still has the Falcons in the cellar. Apparently, he wasn't impressed with the fact that Atlanta almost beat his sixth-ranked team (the Saints).    
  

If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco's Week 2 Power Rankings, be sure to click here. If you want to argue with Prisco over his rankings, you can do that on Twitter by clicking here. I argue with him all the time about everything. 

3. Breech's Week 2 picks: Vikings pull off another upset

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If it's Tuesday, that can only mean one thing: It's time for my weekly picks. 

If this is your first season with us, here's how the formula works around here: I stay up until an insane hour every Monday night so that I can give you my picks every Tuesday morning. This newsletter will feature three of my picks and then if you feel like reading the rest of them, you can click through and check them out. 

Last week, I went 9-6-1 with my picks and I would have gone 11-4-1 if Cade York didn't make a 58-yard field goal and if the Broncos didn't fumble every time they got to the 1-yard line against the Seahawks. I called a few upsets last week, including the Vikings over the Packers, which I'm only mentioning because I will be predicting the Vikings to pull off another upset again this week. 

With that in mind, here are three of my picks for Week 2:  

• Colts (-4) at Jaguars (1 p.m. ET, CBS): I have no idea how it happened, but the Colts have lost seven straight games in Jacksonville and the streak doesn't make sense because the Colts have been the better team in almost every single one of those games. I mean, we all saw what happened in the season finale last year: The Colts missed the playoffs because they lost in Jacksonville. I thought the Colts would struggle in Week 1 because it would take Matt Ryan a second to get comfortable in the offense, but he now looks comfortable, so I'm taking the Colts. PICK: Colts 27-20 over Jaguars
• Bengals (-7) at Cowboys (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS): The Cowboys couldn't score with Dak Prescott under center, so I'm not sure how they're going to produce points with him out. Unless Joe Burrow has another five-turnover game, this just feels like a blowout waiting to happen. The Bengals are 0-1, so they're not going to overlook the Cowboys here. The Bengals are going to put their foot on the gas on offense and I have a hard time seeing the Cowboys keep up with Cooper Rush at quarterback. PICK: Bengals 31-17 over Cowboys.  
• Minnesota (+1.5) at Philadelphia (Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC): I can't pick the Eagles here because this is Week 2 and they burn me every year in Week 2. I'm not even kidding. The Eagles are somehow 0-5 both straight up and against the spread in Week 2 over the past five years. Maybe they should start asking to get their bye in Week 2. PICK: Vikings 23-20 over Eagles. 

4. One thing we learned about each team in Week 1

Now that all 16 games from Week 1 have been played, Jeff Kerr decided to wade through the aftermath to figure out what we learned about each team. 

Here's a look at what we learned about five teams: 

• Falcons: New Falcons are same as the old Falcons. "The Falcons earned the crown of blowing huge leads by blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl and that meme won't be going away any time soon. Atlanta took a 26-10 lead over New Orleans with 12:41 to play, yet allowed 17 unanswered points the rest of the way to fall to 0-1."
• Ravens: Lamar Jackson can pass. "Jackson rushed for just 17 yards and the Ravens had their fewest rushing yards in a game (63) since Jackson became the starting quarterback, yet he still threw for three touchdowns and finished with a 98.3 passer rating."
• Bills: Von Miller was the difference-maker that Buffalo needed. "The Bills had 19 pressures in the blowout win over the Rams while Los Angeles only had five. Miller finished with two sacks and gave the Rams' offensive line fits all night. Buffalo has the edge rusher that's going to close out games in the playoffs -- and get the Bills to where they want to go come January."
• Lions: De'Andre Swift has the Lions ground game looking dangerous. "Swift is due for a breakout season, and is off to an excellent start after torching the Eagles' defense for 144 rushing yards and a touchdown -- averaging 9.6 yards per carry. The Lions ran for 181 yards as a team, the second-highest total in any game since Dan Campbell arrived."
• Chiefs: The offense seems to work fine without Tyreek Hill. "The notion the Chiefs were going to take a step back because they traded Tyreek Hill always seemed silly. Reid is the only head coach to win 100 games with two different franchises and he has arguably the best quarterback in the NFL at his disposal. Mahomes went 30 of 39 for 360 yards and five touchdowns in a dominant performance over the Cardinals, showcasing how much deeper the Chiefs are at wide receiver and in the passing game."

If you want to see the one thing we learned about all 32 teams, you can check out Kerr's entire story by clicking here. 

5. NFL Week 1: Overreaction or reality 

Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things and that's especially true when we're talking about the first week of the NFL season. With that in mind, Jeff Kerr decided to take a look at several things that happened around the NFL this week to decide if we're all overreacting. 

Situation: Dak Prescott's injury kills the Cowboys chances of repeating as NFC East champs. 
Overreaction or reality: Reality. "The Cowboys needed Prescott healthy to win the NFC East. The best quarterback in the division is out multiple weeks, setting the stage for another new winner in the division."

Situation: The 49ers should turn to Jimmy Garoppolo if Trey Lance continues to struggle. 
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. "Trey Lance was not good in the 49ers' loss to the Bears, but San Francisco shouldn't rush to Jimmy Garoppolo yet. The 49ers played in weird, rainy conditions in Chicago that could affect any offense and had 12 penalties for 99 yards in the loss. Let's see a bit more from Lance before he's sent to the bench, even though Shanahan is 8-29 when Garoppolo isn't his starting quarterback."

Situation: Saquon Barkley is a top-five running back. 
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. "The running back put up 164 rushing yards and a touchdown and 194 yards from scrimmage in the Giants' 21-20 upset over the Titans. When Barkley is healthy, he is certainly a top-five running back in the league. He has to prove he can stay on the field."

There are plenty more of overreactions from Week 1 and if you want to check those out, be sure to click here.

6. Rapid-fire roundup: Dak Prescott could be back sooner than expected, plus more injury notes

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It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Cowboys hoping to get Dak back sooner than expected. When Prescott had thumb surgery, the initial diagnosis was that the QB would be out six to eight weeks. According to NFL.com, the Cowboys are now hoping that he can return in four to six weeks. Also, Jerry Jones revealed on Tuesday that Prescott WON'T be going on IR, which would automatically cause him to miss at least four games. The Cowboys are clearly hoping he'll be able to make a quick recovery.  
• T.J. Watt's status is still up in the air but looking promising. The Steelers star definitely has a pec injury, but it's still unknown how long he's going to be out. On Tuesday, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Watt would miss the Week 2 game against the Patriots, but offered a positive update about the star pass rusher. Watt is currently getting a second and third opinion on the injury. According to ESPN.com, if it's determined that Watt needs surgery, then he'll miss the rest of the season. However, if he doesn't need surgery, then he could be back on the field in as little as six weeks. 
• Jamal Adams suffers 'serious' injury. The Seahawks' win on Monday did come at a cost as Jamal Adams had to be carted off the field. After the game, Pete Carroll called it a "serious" injury, which means the Seahawks safety is likely to miss some time. 
• Ravens corner out for the season. The Ravens' secondary took a big hit this week with starting corner Kyle Fuller now out for the season. Fuller tore his ACL during the fourth quarter of Baltimore's win over the Jets. 
• 49ers starting running back to miss at least two months. The 49ers are going to have to play a big chunk of their season without Eli Mitchell. The running back sprained his MCL on Sunday and Kyle Shanahan said that the team is expecting him to miss at least two months. 
• Chiefs sign kicker. With Harrison Butker dealing with an ankle injury and the Chiefs playing on Thursday this week, the team decided to bring in some kicking insurance by signing Matt Ammendola to the practice squad, according to Pro Football Network. They also have safety Justin Reid, who nailed an extra point as the emergency kicker in Week 1. If you want to see a safety kick an extra point, you can see the clip by clicking here. 
  
• Andy Reid's son pleads guilty in DUI crash. Former Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid has pleaded guilty to one charge of felony driving while intoxicated that resulted in a serious injury. The crash took place just days before the Chiefs were getting set to play in the Super Bowl back in February 2021. According to the Associated Press, Reid will be sentenced on Oct. 28. Under his plea deal, the maximum sentence he can get is four years in prison.