The First Weeks of the NFL are in: Here's What We Know

Moving on to the AFC West, we have another really solid set of teams. Leading this division are the Kansas City Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes and his offense has scored over 70 points in their two games. Not too far behind are the Chargers and the Raiders, two rivals from last season who are off to good starts. The Chargers have star quarterback Justin Herbert and an elite wide receiver duo in Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, while the Raiders have a solid quarterback in Derek Carr and a prime wide receiver target in Davante Adams. Although their defenses and running backs could use some work. And finally, we have the Denver Broncos, a team struggling to adapt to their new quarterback, Russell Wilson. 

The National Football Conference (NFC) is a completely different story. The NFC East in particular has some surprisingly great teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, led by breakout quarterback Jalen Hurts. Another surprise team is the New York Giants, who won their first two games for the first time since 2016. Next up is the Washington Commanders, who are doing pretty good all things considered. Carson Wentz and Antonio Gibson are shaping up to be a good QB/RB duo, and Logan Thomas is a great tight end too. And finally, there are the Dallas Cowboys who can only be described right now as “broken”. Dak Prescott is injured, Ezekiel Elliott is underperforming, CeeDee Lamb is struggling, and Dalton Schultz is hurt as well. They will need time to rebuild and get back to full strength. 

Now on to the dreaded NFC North. This is another case where all of the teams have a 1-1 record, however, the reasons for that are drastically different. The Minnesota Vikings have Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, and Justin Jefferson (an elite QB/RB/WR trio), however, they have yet to prove themselves this season. The Green Bay Packers seem to be moving away from throwing the ball and are starting to rely on their rushing game a lot more, maybe too much. The Lions, a team infamously known for their 0-9 record in the middle of last year’s season, is looking up a little bit. They have a good RB in D’Andre Swift and a good WR in Amon-Ra St. Brown, however, their straight awful defense drags them down. And finally, there’s the Chicago Bears, a frustratingly mediocre team that just doesn’t seem to tap into its full potential. 

And for our final division, we have the NFC South. This is probably the most polarizing division, as its good teams are really good and its bad teams are… not very good, to say the least. On the upper side, we have the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two playoff contenders with great offenses and even better defenses. Key players on these two teams include Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, and of course, Tom Brady. On the lower side, we have the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons, who are both 0-2. While I think both of these teams have the capability to be at least semi-decent, I think their lack of good quarterbacks and wide receivers is just too much of a gap to cover this season.