Week 2

GREEN BAY PACKERS (27) vs. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS (18)

I think it is fair to say that the Packers are legitimate playoff threats this season. Just four days after shutting down the Lions, they followed it up by holding Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders to just eighteen points while scoring twenty-seven. Right now, Green Bay is one of the top two teams in the NFC and it is very possible that they can soar to the number one spot if they continue to have a dominating season.

Truth be told, the score should have honestly been a lot worse. Besides committing ten penalties for seventy-yards, there were a couple minor setbacks that kept the Packers from scoring thirty or more points. On the opening drive, the offense decided to go for it on fourth and three at the Washington thirty-three yard line. Initially, they were hoping to snap the ball quickly, but a defensive lineman ran onto the field thinking it would be a field goal and it thus delayed the process of spotting the ball. Nonetheless, Green Bay still ran the play and Love took a deep shot down the post to Matthew Golden, but the pass was underthrown and broken up. Throughout the rest of the game, there were more than a few deep passes that fell short of the mark, plus a missed field goal from Brandon McManus gave Washington some breathing room at the end of the first half. However, there were more bright spots than rough patches. 

Jordan Love had his most efficient performance thus far this season, throwing for over 290 yards with a couple touchdown passes and no interceptions. Even though Jayden Reed fractured his collarbone on the opening drive and Matthew Golden finished the night with zero catches, the main star of the show was tight end Tucker Kraft. The third year rising star hauled in six passes for 124 yards and scored the touchdown that ultimately put the game away in the fourth quarter. It was also somewhat of a more consistent night for running back Josh Jacobs, who carried the ball twenty-three times for eighty-four yards, so it will only be a matter of time before he has his first huge game of the season. 

However, the biggest reason why Green Bay won in the fashion they did was because of their defense. In the first quarter, they allowed eleven yards. They did not give up a touchdown until the fourth, when Washington cut their deficit to seven after trailing 17-3. It took until the final drive just for this entire offense to reach over 200 total yards, with only 51 of them on the ground. Jayden Daniels got sacked four times, and to make matters worse, he suffered a sprained knee because of the amount of hits that he took. That is not even adding the fact that Austin Ekeler tore his Achilles. 

As much as Green Bay proved how legitimate threats they were on Thursday night, this game also showed that the Commanders are in for a bit of a regression this year. Their offense has not been lights out over the first two weeks of the season, and there is a strong chance that their numbers will continue to dip if Daniels is going to miss extended time. The defense is not completely terrible, but it is a group that can only do so much. They have a limited pass rush with a shaky run defense, and if you saw how Marshon Lattimore was getting picked on constantly, then you would know that the secondary has some holes to fill as well. Time will tell to see how long Marcus Mariota will start and if he will take advantage of his opportunities, but Washington better figure it out quickly or else they are going to fall out of playoff contention quickly.

The Packers impress once again as they start the season 2-0 and will take the road to see if they can stay undefeated as they play the Cleveland Browns. Meanwhile, the Commanders run over a big bump on the road and drop to 1-1, heading back home for what should be a difficult matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (33) vs. TENNESSEE TITANS (19)

After a strong opening start where Puka Nacua scored on a 45 yard rushing touchdown on fourth down, it felt like the Rams were about to blow the Titans out the way it was expected at the start of the week. However, just like last Sunday against the Texans, LA fizzled out and let the Titans hang around for a long while. They only scored three more points for the rest of the first half, the defense let up a game tying touchdown with less than forty seconds left in the period, and an interception by Cody Barton allowed them to take the lead with a made field goal by Joey Slye! We were starting to see some of the positive flashes from Cam Ward that made him the first overall pick in the draft, but at the same time, the Rams were starting to fall into a trap game. 

With less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, Tennessee was still ahead 16-13 after both teams kicked field goals on their opening possessions, but Sean McVay’s offense got back into a rhythm. It only took four plays for them to regain the lead, but Ward still had a chance to make a surprising statement in the opening minutes of the fourth. Unfortunately, that is the moment when the game blew wide open. On his own twenty-nine yard line, Rams linebacker Byron Young flew off the edge and stripped the ball out of the rookie quarterback’s hands, with standout Nathan Landman recovering it at the twenty-one to give the offense tremendous field position. From that point on, Los Angeles reached the endzone on two of their final three drives, while the Titans could only score three more points for the rest of the day. All of a sudden, the Rams were ahead 33-19 when they were down 16-13 just ten minutes prior. 

From LA’s perspective, they looked better than they did last week, but I just want to see more consistency. Their offense shows up in spurts and to their credit, they took this game over in the fourth quarter, yet there has to be a game where they do not take their foot off the gas. This team has way too many playmakers for them to be in these somewhat close contests, so while I am not going to completely overreact, this is something that needs to be monitored throughout the rest of the season. 

The Titans, on the other hand, are still as abysmal as they were last year. The only difference is that the offense is not turning the ball over at an alarming rate this time. Cam Ward got sacked five more times on Sunday afternoon, which already has brought his total up to eleven through the first two games. He got thrown into a raging fire, and while there are definitely things he could improve on, he has little to no help around him. The team is leading the league in penalties after getting flagged ten more times for sixty-two yards. Their defense has allowed 300 total rushing yards, which is the fourth highest in football. If head coach Brian Callahan cannot turn things around quickly, then he might not make it through the year. 

The Rams take care of business on the road and are still undefeated at 2-0, but this team will be put to the test as they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, the same squad that sent Los Angeles home in the playoffs last year. Meanwhile, the Titans get clobbered once again to begin the season 0-2 and will stay home to welcome the undefeated Indianapolis Colts.

CINCINNATI BENGALS (31) vs. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (27)

The good news is that the Bengals are 2-0 for the first time since 2018. The bad is that it came at a huge cost as Joe Burrow suffered a turf joe injury early in the second quarter, which will force him to miss the next three months! Unfortunately, this has been half of the story of the promising quarterback’s career. When he is on the field, he is a sure-fire MVP candidate and one of the best players in the league. At the same time, however, injuries have taken a constant toll. He tore his ACL and MCL in his rookie year, then had a forgettable 2023 dealing with a tweaked calf and torn ligament in his wrist, and now the turf toe. The silver lining is that this one will not keep him out for the rest of the season, but who knows how Cincinnati will look by the time he is cleared to play?

When Jake Browning took over for the injured Burrow, the Bengals were trailing 14-10. The Jaguars offense got off to a promising start with two early touchdown drives, but two interceptions from Trevor Lawrence allowed Cincinnati to keep some momentum and not fall hopelessly behind. Near the end of the first half, Browning gifted Jacksonville a chance to drive an early stake in the ground with a high interception to Eric Murray, but zero points were scored on the ensuing possession as the Bengals only trailed by seven at the break. What ensued after that point was as up-and-down of a showing as you could expect.

One drive, the Bengals offense is torching the opposing defense down the field. The next, Browning is letting them right back in the game with a boneheaded turnover. After Mason Tinsley tied the game with an incredible one-handed snag in the end zone on the opening drive, Cincinnati’s defense forced an early three-and-out to give the offense a chance to take the lead. Four plays later, Browning forced a horrible pass into triple coverage that got picked off by Andrew Wingard, and Lawrence capitalized by throwing his third touchdown pass of the day to give Jacksonville the lead. Just a few plays after that, though, Tee Higgins got free on a go route down the sideline and broke two tackles for the tying score at twenty-four. Based on that sequence, this was a game that was going to come down to the final drive, but only one of these offenses would have a chance to seal the deal.

In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the Jaguars drove the ball all the way from their own twenty-five to the Cincinnati seven for a first-and-goal situation. However, Lawrence nearly threw another interception that landed into double coverage, but the pass fell incomplete and they had to settle for a field goal to go ahead 27-24. This gave the Bengals time to get more points on the board, but after going three-and-out on their next possession, Browning threw his third interception of the afternoon that got snagged in the air by Devin Lloyd! The fourth year linebacker returned it all the way to the twelve yard line, and all of a sudden, Jacksonville had a chance to officially put the dagger in! Unfortunately, the red zone drive stalled out again as they faced fourth and five at the seven yard line. However, head coach Liam Coen decided to be bold and keep the offense on the field to convert on the play.  When the ball was snapped, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. was wide open on the stick route and was going to get the first down. As Lawrence threw the ball, it looked like the pass would be complete, until it fell out of the receiver’s hands to result in a turnover on downs. That turned out to be the turning point of the game because once Browning got the ball back at the eight yard line, he turned into Joe Burrow and put the team on his back. 

There were multiple fourth down attempts that the Bengals attempted on the opening drive, but instead of setting themselves back like they did earlier in the game, Cincinnati converted and kept their chances of winning alive. With one minute remaining, they were already in field goal range, but we all knew this team was not going for the tie. As the sticks kept moving, the Jaguars were forced to burn all of their timeouts, which allowed the Bengals to control the clock the rest of the way. Eventually, Browning drove his team all the way to the one and capped off the game winning drive with a reach over the goal-line to give his team a 31-27 lead. Lawrence got the ball back with eighteen seconds left, but a sack from Trey Hendrickson put the final dagger in the game, and a late desperate lateral play did not succeed.

Sometimes, it is really not about how you start, but how you finish. Up until the final drive of the game, Jake Browning had moments where he looked really sharp, but then others that kept setting the team back. If this was last year, there is no question that the Bengals would have lost, but their defense once again buckled down when it mattered. They were nowhere near perfect for forty-five minutes, yet they made so many critical plays in the fourth quarter that played a huge part in the win. They might not have been the ones to force the fourth down drop, but at the same time, they were the ones to create that situation in the first place. After Jacksonville kicked the go-ahead field goal to lead 27-24, the Bengals only allowed thirty-six more yards of offense and it took a bad interception from their quarterback just to be in prime field position. This defense might not be elite, but things are getting better, which is all that anybody wants to see.

From the other side of the table, the Jaguars let so many promising chances fall out of their hands. Many will pinpoint the drop from Thomas as the biggest reason why they lost, but there were other moments that played a huge part. For starters, Liam Coen could have just kicked the field goal to go ahead by six, instead of going for broke on fourth and five. The two interceptions thrown by Lawrence resulted in the only ten points Cincinnati scored in the first half. The offense could not put the game away in the fourth quarter and the defense predictably fell apart on the final drive! Sure, the drop will be the biggest visual of the afternoon, but that should not tell the whole story.

The Bengals are in rare company as they begin the season 2-0, but they will have a huge game coming up as they take the road for an intriguing matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, who will also be without their starting quarterback due to injury. The Jaguars come up short in a tightly contested finish but are still 1-1 and will head back home to see if they can bounce back against the division rival Houston Texans.

BALTIMORE RAVENS (41) vs. CLEVELAND BROWNS (17)

The fact that I am relieved that the Ravens did not find a way to get embarrassed against the Cleveland Browns tells you everything you need to know about this team. They fortunately won via blowout, but this should not be viewed as a statement performance. Heck, they were only up by seven at halftime. To their credit, though, Baltimore eventually got their focus back and managed to pull away.

It was not a great game for Derrick Henry as he only totaled twenty-three yards on eleven carries. While it might have been outlandish for Browns safety Grant Delpit to point out that Henry is not hard to tackle, this Cleveland defense backed it up with a pretty strong showing. The only consequence is that they got to watch Lamar Jackson throw four touchdown passes. The crazy part was that none of them were to Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews, but to guys like Devontez Walker and Tylan Wallace! For the record, DeAndre Hopkins was able to score as well. While the Ravens offense was not completely flawless the entire day, they did more than enough to win and made the least amount of mistakes, which is exactly the opposite of how Cleveland performed on Sunday.

In Joe Flacco’s return to M&T Bank Stadium, there were fans hoping that he would have a vintage performance and get the last laugh in a surprising upset win. However, the Ravens defense was more than motivated to return to the field after last week’s choke job to the Bills and they shut Cleveland down. Flacco only threw for 199 passing yards on 45 attempts, scored ten points, and became the biggest reason why that game transformed into a blowout.

After the Ravens settled for a field goal on the opening drive of the second half, the Browns had a chance to get more points on the board and make it a one score game again. However, just three plays into their first possession, Flacco heaved a pass into triple coverage that was intercepted by Nate Wiggins and returned all the way to the five yard line! Baltimore easily scored on the ensuing possession to go ahead by seventeen and the gates burst themselves open. In the middle of the fourth quarter, the 40 year old quarterback coughed the ball up again on a strip sack by Tavius Robinson that turned into a scoop-and-score for Roquan Smith. By the time Flacco got benched for rookie Dillon Gabriel, the Browns were losing 41-10 and there was no chance for a comeback in sight. Baltimore deserves a ton of credit for bouncing back the way they did, but Cleveland knows that they had to play perfect for this team to have a chance and that did not happen whatsoever.

The Ravens fight back with a dominant home performance and are back in the win column at 1-1, staying home for a primetime showdown against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Browns got crushed as they fall to 0-2, heading back home for what should be another grueling game as they play the Green Bay Packers.

BUFFALO BILLS (30) vs. NEW YORK JETS (10)

A busted nose on the third drive of the game was not going to stop Josh Allen from playing. This was going to be a legitimate test for both teams. The Bills defense was coming off a dramatic come-from-behind victory and needed to prove that it was only a one time thing against Lamar Jackson. For the Jets, they came up two points short at home against Pittsburgh, but want to finish the job this time against a tougher opponent. Right away, it was very clear that the Bills were better from the start. 

All it took was an early strip sack from Joey Bosa for this game to blow wide open, and as a result, the offense scored on four of its first five possessions. Josh Allen only threw for 148 yards, but offensive coordinator Joe Brady implemented a run-first gameplan to beat this team. Not only did Allen pick up 59 yards with his legs, but James Cook was able to total 132 yards with a couple long touchdowns, which allowed Buffalo to finish with 224 on the ground and dominate the time of possession by having the ball for thirty-eight minutes.

 Before leaving the game due to a concussion, Justin Fields completed just three out of eleven passes for 27 yards. Unlike Pittsburgh last week, Buffalo was able to zone in on the rushing attack by holding Breece Hall to just 29 yards on ten carries, while Garrett Wilson was the only receiver to catch more than one pass. The Jets could not convert a single third down on eleven tries and could only total 154 yards, with the only touchdown scored taking place in garbage time. Overall, Buffalo just proved to be the more dominant football team and I do not even think the outcome would have changed if Fields did not get hurt. How do I know this? Well because when opposing teams score 21 or more points, Justin Fields is 0-24. Just ask the Steelers how it worked out for them last week. I was just hoping that this one would be a little more competitive, but then again, it is the Jets we are talking about. They will always let you down.

The Bills pull off a more convincing victory and will stay undefeated at 2-0, but have a short week as they stay home to welcome the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Jets get shut down on their home field as they fall back to 500 at 1-1, with a long trip ahead as they head to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (33) vs. MIAMI DOLPHINS (27)

The Dolphins might be a team in absolute shambles right now but it cannot be exaggerated enough just how big a win this was for the Patriots. The city of Miami has been the definition of hell as New England always struggles when they have to play there. Entering Sunday afternoon, Tua was undefeated against this football team. The Patriots had not won a game in Miami since 2019 when Tom Brady and Ryan Fitzpatrick were the starting quarterbacks. This was a game that they needed to win to regain some dignity and respect. Right from the beginning, you could tell that New England looked like a way better team than they did last week against the Raiders.

Drake Maye and the offense got off to as great of a start as you could ask for them to have with two touchdowns scored on the first two drives, but kicker Andres Borregales missed the ensuing extra points and New England was only ahead 12-0. Eventually, the Dolphins offense was going to get back into the game and right on cue, that is exactly what happened. After a quick three-and-out, they reached the end zone on their next couple of possessions to only trail 15-14 at halftime. Miami got the ball to start the third quarter, and every Patriots fan that was watching just had a strong feeling that this half was going to get out of hand very quickly because they have seen this movie before and it usually does not end well.

On the opening drive of the game, Tyreek Hill finally came up with a play that totaled over 30 yards on a 47 yard shot from Tua Tagovailoa. Yet, they stalled out and settled for a field goal to go ahead by two. That ended up being the summary of the entire second half for the Dolphins offense. Every time it looked like they were going to put together a strong drive together, either a bad penalty or a poorly timed sack would kill the drive and force Miami to sputter out. Near the end of the third quarter, they were only ahead 20-15 until a 55 yard catch-and-run from Rhamondre Stevenson gave the Patriots the momentum they needed to take the lead. Right after that momentum-swinging play, Antonio Gibson exploded up the middle for a 15 yard pickup to set up first and goal, and Maye capped it off with a go-ahead touchdown. Stevenson punched the ball in the endzone on the two point conversion and New England now led 23-20. 

In the fourth quarter, both defenses picked up the slack while the offenses sputtered out. It was going to take another huge play for one of these teams to pull through at the end, and initially, it looked like the Dolphins would be the fortunate recipients. With close to seven minutes left in the game, punt returner Malik Washington fielded the kick from his own twenty-six yard line and proceeded to spin his way out of three tackles to turn on the jets and take a 74 yard return all the way to the house! With Miami ahead 27-23, it felt like there was nothing else that could happen for them to lose that game. Then, the next play happens. On the proceeding kickoff, Antonio Gibson said “anything you could do, I could do better” with a 90 yard touchdown on his return! Even Mike Vrabel was trying to join in on the fun! However, there was still so much time left on the clock, so this game was far from over.

When the Dolphins offense got the ball back, they managed to reach the midfield point, but a sack from Harold Landry forced fourth and nine. Instead of punting the ball to pin New England deep in their own territory, Mike McDaniel kept the offense on the field and went for it to keep their hopes alive. On the play, Tua escaped out of the pocket by stepping up the middle and running to his left, but threw an interception to Marte Mapu that ended the drive! New England ended up settling for a 53 yard field goal with 1:47 on the clock, which was not ideal because their kicker missed two extra points earlier in the game. However, with ice in his veins, the rookie drilled the ball through the uprights in the clutch and the Patriot lead increased to six. Yet, there was still plenty of time for Miami to win like they normally do against this team.

Sure enough, thanks to a kickoff short of the landing zone, it only took two plays for the Dolphins to get into enemy territory. It appeared that Achane was going to be the hero of the game with a 44 yard score on the catch-and-run, but he stepped out of bounds at the twenty-six yard line and the points were taken off the board! With 1:09 left on the clock, a game winning drive was still expected until two more penalties and another sack from Robert Spillane forced Miami to convert on fourth and twelve. Hanging by a thread, Tua looked to push the ball down the field, but Milton Williams bursted up the middle and sacked the quarterback to officially end the game! 

While there was so much that happened in sixty minutes of play, the bottom line is simple: one team made more plays in the clutch while the other did not. The only points that the Dolphins scored in the second half were on the special teams, and while the Patriots did not look perfect themselves, they made the least amount of mistakes. This is easily the worst case scenario for Miami and if these perils continue even longer, then McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier might not even make it to week five. This is normally a game that this team wins in their sleep, but to New England’s credit, they simply wanted it more.

` The Patriots finally win in South Beach and are in the win column at 1-1, heading back home to see if they can pull off another big upset against the Pittsburgh Steelers! Meanwhile, the Dolphins fall apart once again and fall to 0-2, taking the road on a short week as they have to play the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers (26) vs. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (21)

Considering that the 49ers were without a few key starters on their offense, it should not be surprising that this game was close. However, I was a little bit surprised with how things played out for two reasons. The first was that Mac Jones played extremely well. You can say that the Saints defense only has a few good pieces, but nobody thought that Jones would throw for close to 280 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Sure, there were a few hiccups. The first was that new kicker Eddy Piñeiro missed the first extra point of the day, but made his next two attempts while also going two for two on field goal attempts. The next one took place on the first drive of the second half, when Jones got stripped by Chris Rumph that New Orleans recovered near midfield, which allowed their offense to move down the field and score a touchdown to trail 16-14. San Francisco might have been ahead by five points entering the fourth quarter, yet their final two drives totaled just twenty-one yards and ended with punts. This brings me to the New Orleans Saints.

Although the Saints lost the game, Spencer Rattler probably had the best game of his career so far. He threw for over 200 yards with only seven incompletions, had three touchdown passes, and did not throw an interception. The problem for this offense was not moving the ball down the field and scoring. Instead, it was figuring out how to take the lead. For starters, they received the ball to start the game and actually managed to get into scoring range, but a near interception from Fred Warner forced a 40 yard field goal attempt from Blake Grupe that sailed wide right. Near the end of the third quarter, New Orleans’ offense got the ball back only down 19-14. Getting all the way to the San Francisco thirty yard line, they were in position to take their first lead of the afternoon, only for Alvin Kamara to fumble it away and give the ball back to the opposition. Even then, this group got the ball back with 2:40 left on the clock with a chance to win the game! Unfortunately, they could not cross midfield when facing fourth down and one, where Rattler got the ball knocked out by Bryce Huff on a strip sack to officially wrap things up. This was the same way the 49ers were able to hang on against the Seahawks last week, so there was deja vu from their side of the story.

While San Francisco did let their opponent hang around for too long, just like they did the game before, the bottom line is that the Saints failed to find a way to close the deal. This was the same way they lost to Arizona, and while they proved they might not be the worst team in the league, it still shows that this team still has so many flaws that will be too difficult to overcome. 

The 49ers survive on the road once again to stay undefeated at 2-0, but will head back home for what should be a grudge match against the Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Saints come up short in a hard fight once again and are now 0-2, taking the road to play the Seattle Seahawks.

DALLAS COWBOYS (40) vs. NEW YORK GIANTS (37)

Who could have ever guessed that this would be the highest scoring game of the week? In the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, the Cowboys were only winning 20-16 before it turned into a back-and-forth shootout between both offenses! Before we get to that, let’s figure out how we got there. 

Through the first three quarters, the Giants did an excellent job of putting up a strong fight and showing their hated division rival that this was not going to be a typical walk in the park, but the biggest problem for them was that they scored just one touchdown on seven possessions. On the opening drive of the game, backup left tackle James Hudson got flagged four times on the first six snaps! Two of them were unnecessary roughness penalties while the other two were holds, which made Brian Daboll furiously bench the fifth year player. However, not only did this offense eventually reach the end zone, but they led 13-10 at halftime! Heck, at one point, they were winning 13-3! Sure, it is not surprising that Dak Prescott was going to keep his team in the game, yet New York had the momentum on their side!

At the start of the second half, Daboll could not ask for a better start. Just two plays in, Prescott threw a wobbly interception right into the hands of Dru Phillips, yet the Giants offense failed to capitalize. They moved all the way to the ten yard line, but they faced fourth and three. Instead of kicking the field goal, though, they somehow decided to go for it by rolling out to the right and throwing an incomplete pass. Nobody was open, there was no design to the play, it fooled nobody, and it was really a momentum crusher that could have saved New York in the end. Dallas ended up scoring a touchdown on the next possession and it felt like the game would be decided there. Yet, it was not.

All of a sudden, both Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson were just torching the opposing defenses in the fourth quarter. Dallas corners Kaiir Elam and Tre’von Diggs were getting outright torched by Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson on shots down the field. Cam Skattebo and Miles Sanders punched it in on the ground. Any time that you thought one team was not going to have any time left to keep the game alive, they did just that. George Pickens scored his first touchdown as a Cowboy with 52 seconds left in regulation, only for Wilson to throw a moon ball to Nabers in the end zone to give the Giants the lead with twenty-five ticks on the clock! When Dallas got the ball back, Jake Ferguson found a sliver of space to get past midfield, but it was going to take a 64 yard field goal for Brandon Aubrey to send it into overtime. To nobody’s surprise, the ball went through the uprights.

Through most of the overtime period, both defenses got their sense of pride back and made this a murky affair, but the Giants still had more than a couple of minutes to get into field goal range. As long as they did not screw up, they were going to have a strong chance of winning. Yet just two plays into their final drive, Wilson just threw a horrible arm punt of an interception to Donovan Wilson and it once again gave Dallas the momentum it needed. All it took was a big play to Pickens and a long scramble from Prescott to get into field goal range as Aubrey put on the finishing touches with the 46 yard winner! 

In the game that everybody expected to be decided by a score of 40-37, the Cowboys simply made a few more plays in the end. The Giants had so many chances to pull off the most surprising upset of the season thus far, yet not only did their defense crumble in the end, the offense made one too many mistakes. They only scored one touchdown on their first seven drives, that failed fourth down attempt cost New York a chance to go ahead by ten early in the third quarter, and the horrible interception just officially killed any chance they had left of winning. Dallas might not have been flawless, but what they did was enough.

The Cowboys survive at home and are back in the win column at 1-1, taking the road for Matt Eberflus’ revenge game against the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, the Giants lose in a down-to-the-wire showdown to fall to 0-2, heading back home for a Sunday night contest against the Kansas City Chiefs.

DETROIT LIONS (52) vs. CHICAGO BEARS (21)

Ben Johnson made his return to Ford Field as the head coach of the Chicago Bears with the sounds of boos from Lions fans echoing across the stadium. This game meant something a little bit extra to both sides of this contest and we felt that right away on the opening possessions of the game with early touchdowns. Because Detroit got the ball to start the game, they got to be the ones to throw the first punch, which was why they led 14-7 near the end of the first quarter. The Bears had multiple chances to even the score and possibly take the lead, but just like last week against Minnesota, their offense fell into quicksand.

After marching down the field on the opening drive, the next four drives resulted as such: punt, fumble, turnover on downs, interception. Yet it was still 14-7 because the Lions offense only picked up one total yard, punting after D’Andre Swift coughed the ball up and whiffing on a 55 yard field goal after the Bears gifted their opponent the ball at the 37 yard line. Fortunately, Detroit managed to capitalize off the interception thrown to Kerby Joseph with a touchdown to go ahead 21-7, which gave all of them the momentum they needed to make this a blowout. Even though Chicago reached the end zone once again in the second quarter to only trail by seven, the damage had already been done. As soon as Jared Goff connected with Amon-Ra St. Brown for the score with two seconds left in the first half, it was an utter and complete annihilation. 

The Lions looked a million times better than they did last week against Green Bay on all phases. Goff threw as many touchdown passes as incompletions with five, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 151 yards on the ground, and St. Brown scored three touchdowns. Jameson Williams only caught two passes, yet he still managed to total over 100 yards! In the second half, Goff only threw the ball seven times yet all of them were caught and three of them resulted in scores. That is what happens when you go six for seven in the red zone. 

Caleb Williams, on the other hand, just got embarrassed once again. He got sacked four more times and it took until a garbage time drive to throw for over 200 yards before ultimately getting benched late for Tyson Bagent. At this point, nobody knows how to save this team from despair every single year. The offensive line can be overhauled, different skill position players will come into the fold, the defense will change its identity, and the head coach is regarded as the best offensive mind in the league. Yet, neither of these changes have meant anything. The offense is still inept, their defense somehow looks worse than it did with Matt Eberflus, and now general manager Ryan Poles finds his job on the line. This organization is running out of answers and unless things finally manage to turn around, they are going to be right back at rock bottom.

The Lions pull off a tremendous bounce back performance to improve to 1-1, but will have a tougher test on the road as they face off against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, the Bears do not even make it close as they get pummeled to fall to 0-2, and will head back home to welcome back Eberflus and the Dallas Cowboys.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (31) vs. PITTSBURGH STEELERS (17)

Just one week after shining under the bright lights, Aaron Rodgers laid a massive egg in a home opener against the Seahawks. After completing his first three passes of the game, he finished the first half going two for nine with just twelve passing yards. Yet, they led 14-7 at the break. One of the biggest reasons why was because of his defense. 

After letting up an easy touchdown on the opening drive, the Steelers kept Sam Darnold out of the end zone for the rest of the half, picking him off twice in the process. Jason Myers doinking a 36 yard field goal off the uprights did not help Seattle out whatsoever, yet their defense did  a good job by themselves by limiting Pittsburgh to just six points off of two early field goals. They did give up a late touchdown to give up the lead, but that was because their quarterback decided to get too cute on fourth and one at the twenty-nine yard line. With Cam Heyward bringing heavy pressure on an unblocked rush, Darnold tried to force a pass to the left sideline, but the ball got tipped. That was what resulted in the second interception of the day as Nick Herbig ran it all the way back to the twenty yard line, meaning that the Seahawks defense did not deserve any blame for being in the deficit they were in on Sunday afternoon.

At the start of the third quarter, Seattle quickly marched right back into the game. Their defense forced a punt on the opening possession while the offense tied the game at fourteen points apiece. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, Jaylen Warren was really the only player giving this offense some life and set the tone early with a huge 65 yard catch-and-run all the way to the five yard line as he broke four tackles along the way! Normally, this would signal a big score to put the Steelers ahead, but that hope was crushed when Rodgers threw an interception to Darrion Kendrick. Half of it was because of the throw but the other half was due to the fact that two guys were in the same area code. Even though Seattle went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, that turnover shut down the Pittsburgh offense for good.

Myers made up for the doink by knocking a 54 yard field goal down the middle to give the Seahawks the lead… and then this play happened. On the ensuing kickoff, rookie Kaleb Johnson tried to catch the ball and get some decent return yardage, yet it fell out of his hands. Yet, the wildest thing happens afterwards. Normally, a player in that situation would go after the football to prevent the other team from recovering it, yet Johnson stood there thinking it would be a touchback. Little did the rookie know that once his hands touched it, the play was live and the Seahawks smartly sprinted towards the end zone and scooped it up for the touchdown. After that put them ahead 24-14, there was no way the Steelers were coming back to win that game. Yeah, Chris Boswell made a field goal to make it a one-score game, but the defense eventually tapped out as a 43 yard shot to Jaxon Smith-Njigba set up a dagger touchdown for Kenneth Walker. On the final drive of the game, Rodgers fittingly ended the afternoon with a second interception that officially put the icing on the cake.

In the second half, Seattle outscored the opposition 24-3. Truth be told, this game should have been a wipe out, but those two early turnovers from Darnold kept Pittsburgh afloat for a limited time. The Steelers stunk this home opener up even worse than they did against the 49ers two years ago. At least they were a legitimate Super Bowl threat, but what the heck was the excuse against the Seahawks? Give them credit because they were the better team but nobody on the other sideline showed up! The offense went nowhere, the defense got carved up for a second straight week, and the special teams had a brain fart! This team needs to figure out what their identity is going to be quickly because the more inconsistent they are, the bleaker their chances of another postseason berth.

The Seahawks pull off a statement victory on the road and are on the board at 1-1, heading back home to play the New Orleans Saints. The Steelers get embarrassed at home and also find themselves 1-1, taking the road for a potential trap game against the New England Patriots.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (29) vs. DENVER BRONCOS (28)

Nobody could have expected that of all the teams to not punt throughout the first two weeks of the season, it is the Indianapolis Colts. Not only that, but with Daniel Jones as their quarterback. Going up against a Broncos defense that sacked Cam Ward six times last week, Jones only got taken down once. He did not turn the ball over, he scored twice, and threw for over 300 yards! However, I do not believe that the Colts would have won if it were not for Jonathan Taylor. While the offense did not score a touchdown in the second half, it was him that controlled the line of scrimmage and kept Denver on its heels. Last year in Mile High, he lost a fumble that swung things around in a game that Indianapolis felt like they could have won. This time, he totaled 215 yards from scrimmage and should be in the running for AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Having said all of that though, this was a game that they barely escaped by the skin of their teeth. In fact, before the final field goal of the game, the Colts only led for six minutes on two drives. As well as their offense looked, the Broncos were looking pretty sharp themselves. On four of his first six drives, Bo Nix threw three touchdown passes and they led by as much as eight at the start of the second half. Even though Indianapolis kept fighting back, two failed fourth down attempts at midfield forced them to still play from behind. However, all of the momentum began to change on Denver’s first drive of the fourth quarter. 

Just three plays after getting the second stop at the fifty, Nix did the one thing that he could not afford to do in this game: turn the ball over. On third down at the twenty-eight yard line, he threw a wildly high ball behind Courtland Sutton and it was intercepted by Cam Bynum! Funny enough, this was the same play the defender made last week against Tua Tagovailoa, when he horribly overthrew Tyreek Hill. Indianapolis might have only settled for three field goals after halftime, but two of them occurred after the interception took place. However, it was not like Denver’s offense completely shut down. They still managed to get into field goal range with a few minutes left and three more points meant that Indianapolis would need to score a touchdown for them to win. As Lutz attempted a 46 yard field goal, it doinked off the uprights and was ruled “no good”, so Jones was going to get promising field position on his final drive.

Yet instead of him marching the ball down the field to get into scoring range, head coach Shane Steichen played way too conservative with the clock. Instead of relying on his quarterback to move the ball down the field, Steichen kept forcing the ball to his running back and only a decent amount of yards were picked up. All of a sudden, Spencer Shraeder is sent out onto the field in the final seconds to kick a 60 yard field goal, which left me perplexed. Predictably, it sailed wide to the right, yet there was a penalty on the play for defensive leverage! Whether or not anybody wants to agree with the call is up to them, but nonetheless, it moved the ball forward an extra fifteen yards and Shraeder redeemed himself by kicking the game winner. 

Normally, the easy way to summarize this game would be that one kicker made a field goal in the end while the other did not. However, I can argue that the only turnover of the afternoon was what set everything in motion in the final few minutes. This was really Denver’s game to lose as they were favored to win the moment this matchup was announced, but they could not get anything done in the fourth quarter and their self-inflicted mistakes hurt them in the end.

The Colts impress once again as they lead the AFC South with a 2-0 record, with a chance to stay undefeated on a road trip against the Tennessee Titans. The Broncos fail to get it done as they drop back to 1-1, with a trip back across the country for a divisional rivalry road game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

ARIZONA CARDINALS (27) vs. CAROLINA PANTHERS (22)

Let me start by saying this: that game should not have been close whatsoever. The Cardinals were winning 27-3, their defense forced two turnovers on the first couple of drives that included a scoop-and-score to start the game, and it looked like this was going to be another ugly rout for the Carolina Panthers. Yet all of a sudden, their offense came to life after halftime and actually had a chance of winning the game! Their first three possessions of that period ended with touchdowns, running forty total plays, while Arizona kept doing everything they could to try to lose that game. It started with a horrible interception in the red zone on a drive that would have officially put the icing on the cake, then continued with a three-and-out, and it was capped off by letting the Panthers recover the onside kick after they cut the deficit to five! By that point, everybody was bored watching the Eagles run the Tush Push, so the Sunday Ticket holders got to watch the final two minutes of what turned out to be a near-furious comeback. The key word is “near.” 

That is because on their final possession of the game, Bryce Young did a good job of moving the ball into Cardinals territory, yet could not get inside the red zone. Thanks to a holding call and an intentional grounding penalty, the Panthers were forced to try to convert on fourth and fifteen at the thirty-eight yard line. There was a small chance that Arizona was going to bend on the play and keep the drive alive, but the ageless wonder Calais Campbell said “not in my house” and sacked the third year quarterback to give his team an ugly victory. 

I already went in on the Cardinals for nearly choking away a twenty-four point lead, but let’s talk about the Panthers for a bit. In the second half, Bryce Young played valiantly. He completed 24 out of 38 passes for 217 yards with three touchdown passes and zero interceptions. However, he was also the same quarterback that put this team into this big of a hole. While the potential is not lost, it does not mean anything if they keep losing ball games. Now that two of his starting offensive linemen are going to be out with long-term injuries, even more pressure is going to be placed on his shoulders to get this team out of their jam before the front office decides to move into a different direction at the quarterback position.

The Cardinals hang on at home to stay undefeated at 2-0, but will face a huge test coming up as they take the road for a grudge match against the San Francisco 49ers. Meanwhile, the Panthers once again begin the season 0-2 and will head back home for a critical game against the Atlanta Falcons.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (20) vs. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (17)

In the fourth straight meeting between the Eagles and Chiefs, we got the similar script that we saw in 2023 on Monday Night Football in Arrowhead Stadium. Both quarterbacks looked pedestrian, their offenses could not get into a consistent flow, Kansas City let an early lead slip away, Travis Kelce’s stone hands gave Philadelphia needed momentum, and a deep shot to DeVonta Smith all but sealed the deal. The only difference besides the final score was the amount of Tush Pushes that were run to irritate everybody else. 

Right now, the Chiefs should be absolutely panicking right now. Their defense is undisciplined and the offense is literally one guy. ONE! They cannot run the ball, their future Hall of Fame tight end is washed up, and the only quality wide receiver they have right now is Tyquan Thornton. This group needs Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice back in the lineup immediately because there is absolutely nothing fun or exciting about this group right now. No wonder why they desperately want to get Tyreek Hill back. Patrick Mahomes is literally the only person keeping this team afloat, and while you cannot argue that the numbers are not great, I feel like any quarterback would be in a similar situation. 

Philadelphia, on the other hand, just simply made the least mistakes. However, their passing game looks atrocious. Dallas Goedert did not play, sure, but this group looked shaky when they had him last week against the Cowboys. AJ Brown got targeted more than once, which was a bright side, but he did not catch a single pass in the second half. There were only two reasons why Philly won: Saquon Barkley and the Tush Push. If you told me that Jalen Hurts was only going to throw for 101 yards, I would have said that Kansas City had this in the bag, yet that was not the case whatsoever. 

The Eagles once again hoist the crown and will stay undefeated at 2-0, heading back home for another postseason rematch, this time against the Los Angeles Rams. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are 0-2 for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era and will take on the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. Who could have imagined that both teams would be winless at the start of the year?

ATLANTA FALCONS (22) vs. MINNESOTA VIKINGS (6)

This turned out to be a sloppier game than expected. Just as you thought the Vikings would be on the right track after a fourth quarter comeback victory last week, they reverted right back to what they were throughout the first three quarters and performed pitifully. In the first half, they just could not score when they got into scoring range. Even then, the only reason why Minnesota was only down by three at the break was because of a breakdown in the secondary in the final seconds, where Justin Jefferson got wide open for a fifty yard gain in scoring range. When the third quarter started, though, the Vikings were simply shut down. JJ McCarthy ended the game with just 158 passing yards with two interceptions and six sacks taken down. In the final thirty minutes, he could not even score a point as he picked up just three first downs and failed to convert on third down. The score should have honestly been way worse, but his defense was playing outstanding for the most part.

On ten of their eleven total drives of the game, the Falcons could not score a touchdown. They ran the ball extremely well, picking up 219 total yards, but Michael Penix only threw for 135 on thirteen completions. Not all of the struggles were on him because Drake London did lose a fumble that allowed Minnesota to hang around, but when Parker Romo is responsible for fifteen of the team’s points on five made field goals, that is an issue. Fortunately for them, their defense played outstanding and the running game eventually forced Minnesota to tap out. Tyler Allgeier put on the finishing touches with a walk-in touchdown, McCarthy threw his second pick of the night on the last drive, and it was only fitting that the game ended with a fumble recovery on a muffed punt. It was nowhere near pretty, but Atlanta just simply made the least amount of mistakes and their offense was able to pull through in what turned out to be a defensive slugfest. 

The Falcons bounce back from last week and have jumped into the win column at 1-1, staying on the road for what should be an interesting matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Meanwhile, the Vikings get humiliated on primetime television as they finish the week 1-1. Now that JJ McCarthy is expected to miss the next few weeks with the ankle injury, Carson Wentz will get the start in the upcoming home game against the Cincinnati Bengals with Jake Browning at quarterback.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (20) vs. HOUSTON TEXANS (19)

What started out as a back-and-forth scorefest between both offenses turned into an ugly defensive dogfight. Both offenses were surgical on their first two possessions with Tampa ahead 14-10, yet that score did not change until there were close to five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The biggest reason why, in my opinion, was because neither offensive line could protect their quarterbacks.

 Right now, the Buccaneers are in shambles on the front five because their star left tackle Tristan Wirfs is hurt. They moved Graham Barton from center to left tackle, placed guard Ben Bredeson in charge of snapping the football, with Michael Jordan at left guard. As a result, Baker Mayfield got sacked four times and it was a huge reason why their passing game could not get in sync for most of the night.

The Texans, on the other hand, just simply suck. There is no other way around it. After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, they could only score three more points until their final drive of the night. It is hard to put the blame on just one person because everything is so bad. CJ Stroud has fallen off a cliff after his rookie year, they cannot run the ball consistently, the passing game is running in circles, and the offensive line just simply has no talent. The fact that they even took the lead with close to two minutes left is bizarre, but it was all thanks to a dazzling 53 yard punt return from Jaylin Noel that got all the way to the opposing twenty-five yard line. Two plays later, Nick Chubb all of a sudden shot through the hole and walked in for an easy touchdown to put Houston ahead 19-14, but the problem was that Baker Mayfield had plenty of time on the clock.

Just like last week, the Buccaneers offense showed up in the clutch, but there was a point in time where it looked like the Texans would force one last stop. After a huge drop by Emeka Egbuka, Tampa faced fourth and ten at their own thirty-two yard line. With no other chance but to go for it, Mayfield took the snap and could not find anybody open, but used the presence of mind to take off up the middle and pick up the first down. After that, the two unsung heroes of the game finished the job: Bucky Irving and Rachaad White. The both of them combined for 136 yards on the ground, and on this last possession, that one two punch delivered in the clutch. Irving brought the Buccaneers all the way inside the twenty yard line, and after Houston burned all of their timeouts, Tampa controlled the clock and gave the ball to White for the go-ahead touchdown with seven seconds left! For the second week in a row, Tampa escaped an ugly game by showing up in the final minutes, while Houston lost because their offense failed to do the same. One team finds themselves atop their division while the other is at the bottom of the sea. Honestly, both teams deserve to be in the situations they are in right now, for better and for worse.

The Buccaneers win in the clutch once again to stay undefeated at 2-0 and will finally head back home for their opener against the New York Jets. Meanwhile, the Texans fall apart for a second week in a row as they fall to 0-2 and will also head to Florida to play the Jacksonville Jaguars.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (20) vs. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (9)

All it took was an interception thrown by Geno Smith on the first play for us to figure out what type of game this was going to be in Las Vegas. While ESPN was trying to glorify the fact that Tom Brady was in the coach’s suite wearing a headset, Jim Harbaugh got the better of his rival Pete Carroll to close out the second week of the season. Even though the Chargers only scored three points in the second half because they failed to punch the ball in the end zone at the one yard line, the bottom line is that Justin Herbert outplayed Geno Smith. As much as LA struggled to run the football for a second week in a row, their quarterback threw for over 240 yards with a couple touchdowns and did not turn the ball over, while Smith totaled just 180 yards on forty-three pass attempts and threw three picks! The Raiders failed to score a touchdown the entire night, relying on three made field goals by Daniel Carlson to score all nine of their points. Even with a couple of forced fumbles from their defense, this offense failed to capitalize on any of the opportunities they were given. The final score was certainly underwhelming, but one team made the least amount of mistakes and that was good enough to get a win.

The Chargers are still atop the AFC West and stay undefeated at 2-0, heading back home to see if they can keep that streak alive as they welcome the Denver Broncos. Meanwhile, the Raiders get neutralized in their home opener to drop to 1-1, taking the road for a potential bounce back performance against the Washington Commanders.