NFL Week 2 Preview-the late & night games

In the late and evening games of this week's schedule, there are a handful of interesting matchups.

Tampa Bay (0-1) @ Buffalo (0-1)

Tampa Bay: If the Bucs can run the ball the way they did against Dallas, it could be a long day in Buffalo. But don't overlook QB Byron Leftwich's performance. He threw the ball 41 times and had 276 yards. The offense was not the problem last week. WR Antonio Bryant was unable to practice on Friday and he is listed as doubtful for the game. On the other side of the ball, it's simple. The Bucs D must tighten up against the pass in order to gain a victory.

Buffalo: Losing last week was a heartbreaker. The Bills were up by 11 with about 5 minutes to go and let one get away. You can blame Leodis McKelvin all you want for taking the kickoff out of the endzone with the hands team on the field, but that was only one play. T.O. was right, the offense did miss a couple of oppotunities, but QB Trent Edwards must capitalize on those chances this week. And the rushing game must establish itself. The defense did play well enough for a win, but Tom Brady was able to dash those dreams. I look for the Bills to come out extremely hungry this week.

Seattle (1-0) @ San Francisco (1-0)

Seattle: RB Julius Jones had his best game as a Seahawk...and the offense needed it. I know they beat the Rams 28-0 last week, but getting a rushing game going is critical to this offense. QB Matt Hasselbeck threw 3 TD...and 2 INT. The turnovers must be eliminated this week against another divisional foe. TE John Carlson was Hasselbeck's favorite target and it could be more of the same this week. The D bottled up RB Steven Jackson last week and will try to do the same with RB Frank Gore. If they can, it should be a successful trip to San Francisco.

San Francisco: QB Shaun Hill did lead the 49ers on a drive to win the game last week, but that was really the only drive offense had. If RB Frank Gore can't get it going, it will make for a long afternoon. Gore is the key because I don't see the Niners winning again while posting another poor offensive showing. The D did "limit" the Cards to 259 yards through the air and the Seahawks shouldn't pose as much of a threat passing. It would be nice to say that the Niners stopped the Cards with only 40 yards rushing, but we all know the Cards can't run. The Seahawks may have found a rushing game and that may be the difference.

Pittsburgh (1-0) @ Chicago (0-1)

Pittsburgh: QB Ben Roethlisberger is building himself quite the reputation. That was evident in leading the Steelers on yet another late drive win the game against the Titans. We know Ben will be throwing but the Steelers have to run the ball. 23 carries for 36 yards will not cut it. But we might be seeing an evolution in the Steelers offense. As for the D, S Troy Polamalu is out with a knee injury. That will change the gameplan, but the Bears may face even more angles at which this unit can attack.. Dick LeBeau is a genius at that. The Steelers have had 10 days to prepare. Yipes!

Chicago: We all saw the 4 INT QB Jay Cutler threw against the Packers. One thing he must learn is that he is not Brett Favre and never will be. Once he can set his ego aside, this O unit will produce. Plus, Cutler does not have the same cast around him in Chicago that he had in Denver. RB Matt Forte has to find his stride for the Bears to compete. Good luck with that against the Steelers D. Add the fact that TE Desmond Clark is doubtful with a rib injury. On D, LB Brian Urlacher (wrist) is gone for the season and LB Pisa Tinoisamoa is lisetd as doubtful (knee). This leaves a major void in the LB corps and teh Steelers just may exploit that void with both the rush and the pass.

Cleveland (0-1) @ Denver (1-0)

Cleveland: QB Brady Quinn didn't have a bad game last week, but he didn't have a good one either. Even though RB Jamal Lewis averaged 5.2 yards a rush last week, he only had 11 carries. That must change for the Browns to be successful with both rushing and passing. WR Braylon Edwards was non existant last week, and the Browns can ill-afford another MIA game from him. Can the Browns stop the run? There are thankful that Adrian Peterson isn't on the other side of the ball. He torched the Cleveland D last week. The Broncos don't pose a threat there...or in the passing game. The X-factor is Joshua Cribbs. He took one back last week and he is a game changer.

Denver: Hard to believe the Broncos won last week, huh? Not really if you look at the numbers...never mind. They were beaten in almost every category by the Bungles last week. QB Kyle Orton did have a good game with a 100.7 QB rating, but 87 of his 243 yards came on the "tip drill". The Broncos must know that they can run, but they weren't very good at Cincinnati (20 rushes for 75 yards). The D was the key to last week's win. They held Cincy to only 7 points. They could replicate that this week against the Browns playing at Invesco.

Baltimore (1-0) @ San Diego (1-0)

Baltimore: QB Joe Flacco threw for over 300 yards? You're kidding, right? He had 43 attempts on top of it all. That's not the Ravens offense we're used to seeing, but it had to come as a relief to Ravens fans. Add this to the mix: they rushed for almost 200 yards. I don't know if it was because they played the Chiefs, but having the O perform like that on a consistent basis will relieve pressure on the D. And the D gave up 24 points to the Chiefs? That's not all true. One TD was on a return. That would make it 17 points and the D held KC to under 200 total yards. Same as it ever was.

San Diego: RB LaDainian Tomlinson is out and that may pose a bigger threat to the Ravens D. They must find a way to contain RB Darren Sproles. Even if that's possible (and I don't think it is) QB Philip Rivers has shown he can lead this team but it struggled to put the ball in the endzone against the Raiders last week. The D was dealt a severe blow with NT Jamal Williams being placed on IR. There goes the push from the D line. If the Bolts can't stop  the rush, it will be a gloomy day in San Diego.

NY Giants (1-0) @ Dalls (1-0)

Giants: Does anyone think for a minute the G-man will be in awe of Jerry Jones' new playpen? Hardly. But what may be even more striking is the amount of noise 100,000+ people can make. That makes it imperative that the rushing game dictate the flow of the game. RB Brandon Jacobs must improve on a 2.9/rush from last week. If the Giants can't run, QB Eli Manning could be vunerable to the Cowboys pass rush. And he doesn't want to be looking up at the Mega TV every play.

Dallas: Can QB Tony Romo have the same success he had last week? Most likely, no. Romo had a career game last week at Tampa and if he can be 75% of what he was last week, it should result of another win. But if Dallas is to pull off a win, the Cowboys will have to find a way to make the O more balanced. They did rush for over 100 yards last week and that trens must continue. We all know DeMarcus Ware is a beast...and so does Eli Manning, but the rest of the D is a bit suspect. They had no sacks last week against a good Bucs O line and that includes 0 sacks from Ware.

Indianapolis (1-0) @ Miami (0-1)

Indianapolis: How much will the absence of WR Anthony Gonzalez affect to O? It will seeing as the Colts really don't have a bona fide #3 WR. That role seemed like it actually belonged to TE Dallas Clark because of his talent. Leave all that to QB Peyton Manning. I'm sure he'll figure it out since he's the real offensive cordinator. The Colts got to run better. Averaging 2.3 yards a carry won't cut it and the Dolphins only allowed 2.5 last week. The D must make Chad Pennington beat them by stopping the rush. If they can turn Miami into a pass-first offense, all will be good.

Miami: If the Dolphins are to win, RBs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams will have to tote the rock. One way to beat the Colts is by winning time of possession and a good running attack will do that. The best defense for beating the Colts is a good offense and that means running the ball successfully. But what if you can't? Then two things come into play. One is QB Chad Pennington. He must make correct reads and decisions in the passing game. Pennington can do both. The second is the Dolphins D. They held Michael Turner and the Falcons to only 68 yards rushing. But it's the passing game that should have Dolphins fans a little worried. Matt Ryan didn't light up the scoreboard last week but he did have 2 TD and a 61.1 competion percentage.

There's all your week 2 matchups. If you missed the previews for the early games, you can catch them here. Enjoy the games!