A week of big performances and crucial injuries littered week 2 of the NFL season. We are starting to get a clue as to who is hot, who is not and who hasn’t figured out what they are, only seven teams remain undefeated after two games and with a further seven are without a win. Week 2 gave us a couple of shocks, a couple of thrillers and a couple of impressive comebacks along with some intriguing individual performances;
Cleveland Browns 27 Indianapolis Colts 19 The Browns finally recorded a win over the Colts but without Peyton Manning at Quarterback who couldn’t. No team should be this dependant on one man, remember the Patriots winning 11 games without Brady and Pittsburgh starting 3-1 without Big Ben last year, and serious question marks will have to be raised as to the leadership of the team. On the other side the Browns can only beat what was in front of them and a solid performance from Colt McCoy bodes well for the future.
Jacksonville Jaguars 3 New York Jets 32 Somewhere former Jags QB David Garrard would have been sat laughing as the man they decided to replace him with literally threw the game away with four interceptions. Luke McCown went 6 of 19 for 59 yards to go along with the 4 interceptions and conceded a safety meaning the Jets never had to get out of second gear. Jacksonville did get a look at first round pick Blaine Gabbert who certainly looked better than McCown and may get the start next week but this surely can’t have been the master plan.
Seattle Seahawks 0 Pittsburgh Steelers 24 Pittsburgh bounced back from an opening day humiliation to heap problems on Pete Carroll and his flightless Seahawks. The Seahawks put up little resistance and didn't take an offensive snap on the Steelers' side of the field until midway through the fourth quarter while being shut out for the first time since their last visit to the Steel City in 2007. While there will be tougher challenges for the Steelers this at least allowed them to find some rhythm while Seattle may as well start scouting for next year’s draft and a top five pick now.
Kansas City Chiefs 3 Detroit Lions 48 It’s difficult to put Detroit’s win into much context as the Chiefs are another team that cannot move the ball or stop the other team but a 48-3 victory speaks for itself. Matthew Stafford is a huge talent at QB and if he can stay healthy maybe this is the year the Lions take a big step forward. Kansas City’s season just got a whole lot worse with the news pro bowl RB Jamaal Charles has been lost for the year with a knee injury but after two weeks they have a combined score line of 10-89, these are certainly two teams heading in opposite directions.
Arizona Cardinals 21 Washington Redskins 22 Washington needed a late Graham Gno field goal to squeeze past Arizona and stay undefeated. These were two very evenly matched teams that are going through major transitions but are better than most people expected pre season. Rex Grossman has showed more’ good Rex’ than ‘bad Rex’ and a lively defence will keep any game close with Ryan Kerrigan off to a great start to his NFL career. Arizona will vie with San Francisco for the division that could yet again be won with eight wins.
Carolina Panther 23 Green Bay Packers 30 Cam Newton has revolutionised the passing game in Carolina and is breaking records all over the place, unfortunately the defending Champion Packers have seen this before and a clinical performance from Aaron Rodgers was enough to tame the Panthers. If Newton can cut the turn overs the Panthers team has the tools to record victories but against Green Bay anything less than perfect wasn’t going to cut it as the Packers have picked up from last year and are still the cream of the crop.
Baltimore Ravens 13 Tennessee Titans 26 If further proof was needed of the parity in the NFL Baltimore who destroyed Pittsburgh in week one fell to the Titans after focussing too much on Chris Johnson and allowing Matt Hasselbeck to pass all over them and Rob Bironas’ four field goals laid the foundation for success. Hasselbeck’s performance not only stunned the Ravens but will have those in Seattle wondering why he isn’t doing this in a Seahawks uniform. Was this just a case of an inability to repeat the week one performance against a lesser opponent or did Tennessee highlight serious issues on Baltimore’s lines?
Oakland Raiders 35 Buffalo Bills 38 Fans in upstate New York were treated to a thrilling contest as Buffalo overcame a 21-3 half time deficit to win in overtime and go to 2-0. Ryan Fitzpatrick is going a long way to paying back the faith the team showed in not drafting a QB in the draft with 264 yards and 3 touchdowns leading his team to touchdowns on all five second half possessions and Marcell Darius, who they did take with the third overall pick, could be a dominant force on the line for years to come. Oakland can take heart in a great performance from Jason Campbell but conceding 35 points in the second half is a worry.
Chicago Bears 13 New Orleans Saints 30 All the Bears problems from previous seasons came back to haunt them as they regressed from the team that beat Atlanta in week one to the team the lost the NFC Championship game in January. Mike Martz forgot he has a running game, put his QB and inexperienced line in jeopardy and handed a win to the Saints. To his credit Jay Cutler played well in spite of Martz’s idiotic play calling but for a team that ‘gets off the bus running’ to only call 11 rushing plays is indefensible. On defence the play of the safeties is again worrying as deep passes ripped the ‘cover 2’ apart. New Orleans will be pleased to bounce back from week one defeat with a solid performance on both sides of the ball and a win over a playoff team with go a long way to easing their tough opening to the season.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Minnesota Vikings 20 Josh Freeman led his Bucs to a fourth quarter comeback as the trailed 17-0 at the half as Adrian Peterson and the Vikings got off to a quick start. LeGarrette Blount’s touchdown with 31 second left sealed victory and moved the Bucs to 1-1 as they will need to keep pace with the Saints and Falcons. Minnesota certainly improved on week one with Donavon McNabb able to move the ball but defensive frailties are unwelcomed in a division that has three teams capable of scoring plenty of points.
Dallas Cowboys 27 San Francisco 49ers 24 Tony Romo went a long way to silencing his critics after leading the Cowboys to victory with a fractured rib and a possible punctured lung. Romo’s 77 yard completion on the first play of overtime set up the winning field goal and his 345 yard 2 TD game saw America’s Team home. Romo wasn’t the only QB on display with a point to prove as Alex Smith is still public enemy #1 to many 49er fans, but he looked assured and carried a team that struggled to run the ball and nearly pulled off a famous victory if not for the heroics of Romo.
Houston Texans 23 Miami Dolphins 13 Houston’s potent offense didn’t post huge numbers but they had far too much for Miami’s porous defence. If the Texans don’t win the AFC South something is wrong as with one of the league’s top offenses the defence only needs to keep pace and apart from allowing a 100 yard rusher they were never really troubled. Miami are already two games back on the rest of the AFC East and after the fireworks of week one the offence returned to its sedentary and predictable pace and are 1-11 at home since late 2009.
San Diego Chargers 21 New England Patriots 35 Two of the league’s premier QB posted over 800 yards of passing offense but Tom Brady came out on top as the Chargers committed key turnovers in scoring positions. These miscues along with a fourth and goal stop handed the Patriots victory as a clinical first half performance by Brady and the offense left San Diego to play catch up and try and force the issue leading to turnovers.
Cincinnati Bengals 22 Denver Broncos 24 Willis McGahee turned back the clock to rush for 101 yards and carry the Broncos to their first victory of the season, but an ever increasing injury count, that even led to backup QB Tim Tebow lining up at wide receiver, is not making things easy. The Bengals will take heart from their top two draft pick working well together as 124 of QB Andy Dalton’s 332 yards went to AJ Green. Neither team will trouble the playoffs but will look to improve on last year’s dismal displays and build for the future.
Philadelphia Eagles 31 Atlanta Falcons 35 Matt Ryan certainly had ice in his veins as he threw four touchdown passes and led the Falcons to a fourth quarter comeback and spoil Mike Vick’s return to Atlanta. After a close first half Atlanta took a 21-10 on Ryan’s second TD pass to veteran Tony Gonzalez but 21 unanswered point by the Eagles looked to have won the game only for Vick to leave the game through injury allowing Ryan to throw his fourth TD and Michael Turner to seal a much needed win for the Falcons.
St. Louis Rams 16 New York Giants 28 In a less than inspiring Monday night contest the Giants capitalised on several mistakes from an injury riddled Rams team to record their first victory. Eli Manning threw for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns but it was costly fumbles by the Rams including one that Michael Boley returned 65 yards for a score that summed up the game. New York have a long season ahead as they face a tough division but things a even tougher for St. Louis who promised so much but are losing key players to injury.
5 points from the week 2 action;
1. The league is becoming predominantly passing led with only six players rushing for over 100 yards (Buffalo’s Fred Jackson, Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson, Miami’s Daniel Thomas, Houston’s Ben Tate, Denver’s Willis McGahee and Atlanta’s Michael Turner) but many more receivers having 100 yard games.
2. Even when you haven’t played the game it makes you wonder how some of the decisions of coaching staff and team executives keep them in a job. From Mike Martz’s refusal to run the ball in Chicago, Jacksonville’s release of David Garrard, Indianapolis not providing a suitable back up to Peyton Manning or Seattle’s belief that Tavaris Jackson was an adequate replacement for Matt Hasselbeck certain people are able to get away with anything even when fans, pundits and other teams can all see the decisions are not going to move the team forward.
3. And speaking of David Garrard, surely some team must be putting in a call to his agent as he is a proven passer in the league coming off a 2010 season where he threw 23 touchdowns in a run dominated team, yes I am looking at you Seattle, Miami, and Indianapolis, oh and even you Jacksonville, swallow your pride admit you were wrong and bring him back as Luke McCown is definitely not the option.
4. Injuries are already becoming a factor in the league with Kansas City, Denver, St. Louis and the New York Giants worst affected so far. Injuries happen all the time in sport but people will look to a shortened pre season and jump to their own conclusions.
5. Somebody needs to remind the rookie QB’s that they are supposed to struggle in their first starts in the NFL as Cam Newton and Andy Dalton are making this look all too easy. And it’s not just the QB’s as several rookies including Miami’s Daniel Thomas, Arizona’s Patrick Peterson and Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan all making impressive starts to their professional careers.
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