NFL Takeaways: Week 2
Photo from CBS Sports
It’s really nice having football back, isn’t it?
As we get into the colder weather and my favorite time of the year, we also learn more about what we’re seeing week in and week out.
And week 2 showed what may have been real, and what was potentially a mirage.
Let’s dive right in.
Bills defeat Lions 41-31
The Bills offense looks outstanding.
The Bills defense? Ehhh…
There’s still some clear concerns there.
And as for the Lions side of things, let’s get to another game from this weekend first.
Vikings defeat Bears 9-3
Twitter was ablaze on Thursday night as the Lions were losing that it was a crucial mistake for the Lions to not fire Dan Campbell after a 15-2 season (?????) and just promote Ben Johnson to be head coach.
After all, Ben Johnson and the Bears scored 59 points in week 1!
And then on Sunday, the Bears offense struggled heavily in tough conditions against a good defense even before the Caleb Williams injury, only putting up 3 points in their loss to Minnesota.
The Lions issue isn’t offense, it’s their defense, which is something the Bears have had incredible issues with themselves.
The Lions are probably going to be fine. The Bears are probably going to be fine. This is not the massive thing everyone is making it out to be.
Let’s all just take a breather, eh?
As for the Vikings, they’ll gladly steal two wins to start the year against division rivals. Good for them.
Panthers defeat Falcons 34-3
I know they’re on QB3 and then switched to QB4 mid game, but man, the Falcons are just really, really bad.
That was tough to watch.
The Panthers offense looks awesome, on the other hand. Bryce Young is making a statement so far.
Eagles defeat Titans 24-20
Was it pretty? No.
Did they almost lose? Yes.
But winning on the road, especially in a place the Eagles have literally never won, is always a good thing.
Even though it’s two wins in not extremely convincing fashion against two weaker opponents, you just have to take the win and move on.
Patriots defeat Steelers 20-3
The Steelers should honestly be spending this year playing either Drew Allar or Will Howard and seeing if they have a future at quarterback going forward or not.
The problem is, their current quarterback is Aaron Rodgers, who will never ever be benched because his ego won’t let him.
Not that it’s his fault, though.
He said it himself in the post game press conference that he keeps telling the coaches that the plays are bad.
It’s never his fault.
Packers defeat Jets 20-17
This was an incredibly winnable game for the Jets, and a win that would start to make people believe that maybe these guys will be ok!
So, naturally, they had to find a way to lose it.
Classic Jets.
Browns defeat Buccaneers 23-19
Todd Bowles ended last year with a 2-7 stretch which put his career record in Tampa at 35-33.
It was extremely clear last year that the Bucs should make a change at head coach.
They didn’t. They gave him another year.
And that year has started with a brutal loss to the Bengals, and a terrible home loss to the Browns.
I’m not sure why they thought this year would be any different.
Saints defeat Ravens 24-17
The Saints are one two point conversion away from being 2-0 with road wins over Detroit and Baltimore.
They just genuinely look to be a good football team.
As for the Ravens, they’ll be fine, but maybe people were a bit too early to crown Declan Doyle as the next great head coach in the NFL.
Only five carries for Derrick Henry in the 2nd half is certainly an odd choice.
Bengals defeat Texans 20-6
I was excited to see CJ Stroud in this game after a really good performance against the Bills.
Maybe he got back to his rookie year form and will make another statement against a questionable Bengals defense.
But it was more of the same with only 6 points on the board.
Maybe the Bengals defense finally is good this year.
But either way, it’s another 0-2 start for Houston.
They can’t keep digging these holes.
Broncos defeat Jaguars 20-13
The Broncos offense in the first half was really, really bad.
It looked like week 1 all over again where they were dead in the water.
Thankfully for them, the second half was a completely different story, finally clicking and getting two 4th quarter touchdowns to win, which was crucial considering how hard their schedule is.
Speaking of hard schedules…
Raiders defeat Chargers 26-14
Here is the Chargers schedule from weeks 3 through 10.
@ Buffalo
@ Seattle
Denver
@ Kansas City
Bye Week
@ Los Angeles Rams
Houston
@ Baltimore
It is incredible, undeniably, brutal.
Which is why it was so crucial for them to win their first two home games against the Cardinals and the Raiders.
Instead, they’re now 0-2, and they’re staring up Mt. Everest to try and get this thing fixed.
They look done to me.
The Raiders signing Kirk Cousins this offseason was one of the smartest moves in the NFL.
The Raiders have a good QB that can win them games and build a winning culture under first year head coach Klint Kubiak, and first overall pick Fernando Mendoza can sit and practice and grow into the NFL without worry.
Brilliant decision.
Cowboys defeat Commanders 37-20
The Commanders almost beat the Eagles last week, and were playing their tails off against Dallas on the road.
Down 17-10 with 3 seconds left on the goal line, Washington passed up the points to try and go for it to get a touchdown.
Jayden Daniels was stepped on, tried to catch his fall, and dislocated his elbow.
From that point on, it all fell apart, and now the season might be done depending on how long Daniels is out for.
Why Dan Quinn decided to not just simply kick the field goal there and take points, I’ll never know.
There’s no benefit of pinning the Cowboys deep in their own end if you don’t convert.
I hated that decision, and it might have cost them everything this year.
Seahawks defeat Cardinals 31-7
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 155 yards of offense.
The Cardinals themselves had 151.
The Seahawks had a 16 play touchdown drive.
The Cardinals had 14 plays in the entire second half.
This was complete and utter domination.
49ers defeat Dolphins 35-13
A Kyle Shanahan offense against a first time head coach with a lot of young guys on the defense.
There was only one way this game was going to go.
Credit to the Niners for not playing with their food against a lesser opponent. They did what they needed to do, and moved to 2-0.
Chiefs defeat Colts 33-30
This was an absolutely awesome game that ended with a sour taste in my mouth.
Not because of a bad call.
Not because the Chiefs won.
But because Shane Steichen and the Colts offense, after a beautiful 48 yard deep pass on the first play of overtime, were on the Kansas City 17 yard line where a touchdown would win the game.
Play 1: -1 yard run in a stacked box.
Play 2: -2 yard run in a stacked box.
Play 3: 5 yard scramble from Daniel Jones
Play 4: Act like you’re going to go for it and try to get an extra five yards, but don’t actually do anything to try and make the Chiefs jump offsides before taking a delay of game penalty and then kick the tying field goal.
They had a legitimate chance to win a huge road game, and they tucked into their shells like scared little turtles.
Shock surprise, Patrick Mahomes was able to get the Chiefs into field goal range and win the game.
Massive missed opportunity.
Rams defeat Giants 28-6
In week 1, the Rams went to Australia the day of the game (which their coach is now admitting was maybe not a good idea), and they got crushed by the Niners.
In week 2, they faced a Giants team who lost QB Jaxson Dart in the first 3 minutes of the game, and won 28-6.
Would they have won so easily if Dart plays the full game? I don’t know!
But I also don’t know if they would have gotten crushed or not if they showed up to Australia earlier.
Two weeks in, and the Rams are still a mystery in my eyes.
