There was a general consensus that thought week one of the NFL was a good one. Then week two said, "hold my beer." What a crazy slate of comebacks, underdog victories and elite performances.
As a gambling man, the Sunday witching hours were as gruesome as I've seen in my day. What a roller coaster. Let's get into it:
Chiefs 27- Chargers 24
The Thursday night showdown featured two AFC west rivals with Super Bowl aspirations going at it in a raucous Arrowhead. The Chargers seized control early, with Justin Herbert slicing up the KC defense despite his top target Keenan Allen not playing. Mike Williams exploded in his absence, racking up 113 yards and a TD on eight catches.
The Chiefs took their shots and hung though, ultimately tying the game at 17. Then a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown by rookie Jaylen Watson which put them ahead for good. Absolutely electric atmosphere in Kansas City.
Patrick Mahomes didn't put up the craziest numbers of his career, but he played mistake free football against a strong defensive group. At the end of 60 minutes, he had done more then enough to help his team secure their 2-0 start. It's been an impressive start for the 6th year quarterback as he's showing he can win using a patient approach and without former top receiver Tyreek Hill.
Dolphins 42- Ravens 38
One of the hardest losses I’ve ever had to stomach as a Ravens fan. Teams were 711-0 when leading by 21+ going into the fourth quarter since 2012. Throw a 1 in that loss column now…
The defense absolutely melted. Tua found Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill at will and deep as he piloted the historic comeback. The receiving duo was the first ever to record 10+ catches, 150+ yards and multiple touchdowns in a game. It was a truly special performance on the road versus a contender. Credit Tagavailoa as well, putting up an absurd 469 yards and six scores in a massive comeback victory.
Lamar Jackson did everything in his power to prevent this outcome, but came up short in the end. He threw for 318 and ran for 119 plus four total scores. The man was nothing less than spectacular. Rashod Bateman had a huge catch and run for a touchdown on his way to a 4/108/1 line. He really shined against All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard. Big day for Mark Andrews too going over the century mark and finding paydirt.
This Baltimore team will be battling every week, but this was an inexcusable loss. Onto New England.
Buccaneers 20- Saints 10
A hostile and low scoring affair in New Orleans resulted in Tom Brady’s first regular season win over their rival Saints as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was a defensive battle through the first three frames as we entered the fourth tied 3-3. A Breshad Perriman touchdown gave the Bucs some cushion, which was then boosted even more so by a Mike Edwards pick six. A gritty, divisional dub.
Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore continued to display their distaste for one another, escalating a brawl at midfield with 12:49 left on the clock. Both players were ejected in yet another ugly incident between them. Evans will be suspended for week three now as well. This’ll be a fun rematch to tune in for week 14.
Tom Brady didn’t do much again in this one but was simply more efficient then his counterpart Jameis, who threw three interceptions, including the pick six that the Saints could never overcome. That was the difference in this one as Tampa Bay escaped NOLA with a very unimpressive 2-0 record.
Jets 31- Browns 30
New year, same Browns. Nick Chubb ran it in for an unnecessary touchdown with 1:13 left on the clock to put the Browns up by 13. Then all hell broke loose.
Joe Flacco found Corey Davis completely uncovered down the right side of the field just two plays later, hitting the 6th year veteran in stride for a 66-yard touchdown. They proceeded to recover an onside kick, drive down and score again in one of the unlikeliest comebacks you’ll ever see. Props to Flacco and Robert Saleh for keeping the Jets steady.
First round draft pick Garrett Wilson was a huge part of this, recording 102 yards on eight catches and two touchdowns, including the decisive game winner. It was a monster of a performance for the Ohio State product. New York has some real weapons when they’re able to get them the ball.
The aforementioned Nick Chubb also had another massive day on the ground, rumbling for 87 yards and three scores. The Browns would've won without that third one however. Amari Cooper showed up as well after a dud of a Cleveland debut, posting a solid 9/101/1 line.
This team will be better when Deshaun Watson replaces Brissett under center, but they had this game locked up. We’ll see if it comes back to haunt them.
Lions 36- Commanders 27
This matchup projected a lot of scoring and neither team disappointed. Detroit came out with their foot on the gas, going up 22-0 in just 24 minutes. Carson Wentz and the offense seemed like they were sleep walking up until that point.
The Commanders were able to turn it around, cutting the lead to just 7 by the middle of the third quarter after touchdowns by Logan Thomas and Curtis Samuel. The former Panther's receiver is having a solid season so far in Washington.
D'Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown were just too much though, pulling away late with a 22 and 11 yard passes from Jared Goff. It was an impressive way to close out a game by Dan Campbell’s squad.
Shoutout to #2 overall pick Aiden Hutchinson, who was an absolute menace in Washington’s backfield. He sacked Wentz three times, tying a rookie record for a single game. Gotta feel good for the hometown kid after a day like that.
Giants 19- Panthers 16
A Matt Rhule termination is seemingly more and more imminent with each passing loss. The Panthers couldn’t consistently move the ball against a not-so-stellar Giants defensive unit, only racking up 275 total yards. For someone so highly touted for his offensive prowess, plus the weapons in Carolina, there’s no justifying this output.
To Carolina’s credit, they bottled up Saquon Barkley for majority of the day, forcing Daniel Jones to beat them in the air. To Jones’ credit, he was able to this, albeit barely, passing for a modest 176 yards on 64.7% completion percentage. Brian Daboll keeps his team steady and plugging away, never seemingly getting too high or low. They've managed to earn this 2-0 start.
The loss sinks Rhule’s head coaching record to 10-25 overall, including 1-25 in games the defense gives up 17+ points. They’ve also led in 17 of their last 19 games, going 5-12 in them (Shoutout Julian Council for that fact stat). Remarkably ugly piece of information there. Christian McCaffery deserves better.
Patriots 17- Steelers 14
To Acrisure Stadium we go for a snoozer between the Patriots and Steelers. It was the first meeting between the two franchises since 1998 with neither Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger under center. And that was about the only exciting or cool thing about this one.
Mister Biscuit Mitch Trubisky was less than spectacular again for Pittsburgh, only throwing for 5.1 YPA and really failing to sustain drives. One has to wonder how long his leash will be before we see Mason Rudolph or Kenny Pickett. Najee Harris and Diontae Johnson had okay games, but certainly haven't lived up to their fantasy ADP. This is a bad offense.
The Patriots are only slightly better however, benefiting from a short field goal on a muffed punt what eventually was the game-winning score. Mac Jones had a better day, completing 15 passes to wideouts Nelson Agholor and Jakobi Meyers. They gutted out a conference road win though, which is hard to do in the NFL. We apologize to anyone who had to sit through this one.
Jaguars 24- Colts 0
This was as thorough an ass kicking as you'll see in the NFL. Top to bottom, the Jags absolutely smoked the Colts down in Duval. With top receiver Michael Pittman Jr. out, Indy was completely anemic through the air (except for Ashton Dulin). Matt Ryan threw for just 195 yards and three interceptions on the way to an embarrassing shutout on the road. It's hard to imagine a game plan that only had JT getting ten touches, bad job by the coaching staff. Maybe time to sound the alarms in Indianapolis.
Props to Doug Pederson and the Jaguars for this one. After a tough loss late in week one, they bounced back furiously to get into the win column. Trevor Lawrence had two touchdowns and five incompletions, finding his targets with ease against what was supposed to be a stout Colts defense. Christian Kirk was awesome too, catching all six targets for 78 yards and two scores. He's living up to the hefty contract Jacksonville gave him.
Rams 31- Falcons 27
Last week, Atlanta added another atrocious blown lead to their franchise's rich recent history of them. They almost pulled off an even more impressive comeback of their own this past Sunday.
Seemingly down and out 28-3 with 9:22 left in the third quarter, Marcus Mariota began to right the ship when he found Drake London in the end zone to capitalize on a Stafford pick. He'd find Olamides Zaccheaus a few minutes later, cutting further into the deficit. Then Atlanta blocked a punt for a touchdown and forced a fumble on star receiver Cooper Kupp. They had a chance to tie the game when Jalen Ramsey jumped in front of London for a pick, essentially ending the game.
It wasn't the ending Rams fans expected, but they did manage to stave off the scrappy Falcons. Matthew Stafford looked a little better in this one, finding Kupp, Tyler Higbee and Allen Robinson for most of his yards. But the turnovers as a whole are concerning from this group, as is the inability for either Cam Akers or Darrell Henderson to step up in the backfield. These Rams still have plenty of work to do.
49ers 27- Seattle 7
Back to reality for the Seahawks after a dramatic week one victory. Geno Smith wasn't awful in this one, finding Tyler Lockett nine times for 116, but he was far from great. The offense only had three drives go over 22 yards, with their only score coming on a blocked field goal return. 10 penalties and three turnovers will doom just about any team.
The biggest story from this game was Trey Lance breaking his ankle on a run. He's already successfully undergone surgery, but will be missing the rest of the season as a result. Good thing they still have Jimmy G in town.
Garrappolo came in and efficiently operated the offense, hitting Deebo and Brandon Aiyuk five times each. The Niners leaned heavily on Jeff Wilson and Tyrion Davis-Price in the backfield, handing the ball off to them 18 and 14 times, respectively. It was the winning formula in an uncompetitive week two matchup.
Cardinals 29- Raiders 23
Simply put, this game was fucking crazy. The Raiders absolutely dominated for the opening two and a half quarters, jumping out to a 20-0 lead. Then the wheels fell off.
Kyler Murray rewarded back to back stops by the defense with touchdowns, converting on two-point conversions in each of them. One of these conversions occurred on a Murray scramble after keeping the play alive for over 20 seconds scrambling all over the field. It was one of the wildest plays you'll see in a game. The second score/2 pointer came with no time on the clock, forcing an overtime period.
The Cardinals defense took it into their hands at that point, forcing a fumble on receiver Hunter Renfrow that was scooped and returned for the game winning score by Byron Murphy. An appropriately insane finish to an improbable comeback. It tarnished an otherwise solid day by Renfrow, who is now dealing with a concussion as a result of the fumble-causing tackle. Really bad loss for Las Vegas, dropping to 0-2.
Cowboys 20- Bengals 17
The ole parlay card killer here... Cincinnati was a 7.5 point favorite travelling down to Dallas for a showdown versus Cooper Rush. They completely laid an egg, trailing for majority of the game. They had no way to slow Micah Parsons, who recorded two sacks and five QB pressures. He was a terror for the Bengals' offensive line in this one and their vertical passing game sputtered as a result.
Burrow and his boys were able to get rolling somewhat later in the game, drawing even at 17 apiece. Tee Higgins was his main target with Ja'Marr Chase struggling against Trevon Diggs for much of the day. They failed to really get any balance going again on offense too with Joe Mixon only averaging three yards a tote. As talented as this offense is, they're going to have serious issues with offensive line play like this.
Credit to Rush and the Cowboys in this one. They more or less dominated as huge underdogs and were able to hold the Bengals off late for the win. Noah Brown and Ceedee Lamb were each involved regularly in a substantially more impressive showing then they had against Tampa Bay. Tony Pollard looked like the much fresher running back too. Really solid team win for Mike McCarthy and "America's Team".
Broncos 16- Texans 9
Just like in Indianapolis, the Denver Broncos are realizing you can't just plug a QB onto every team and have them jump into serious contention. The Broncos have looked bad through two games, trailing for majority of the season to the likes of Houston and Seattle. It's not quite sound the alarms bad, but not the start they were looking for.
Russell Wilson just can't get into any rhythm, completing 45% of his passes for 219 yards and one TD/INT. He and Courtland Sutton were clicking, and Javonte Williams was more effective on the ground, but that was it. This Texans defense shouldn't be shutting down an offense with this caliber of talent.
Davis Mills was incredibly lackluster in his own right, completing half of his passes for 177 yards at a laughable 4.7 YPA. Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins were credited with 63% of his passing yards, at least throwing a small bone to fantasy owners stuck with them. Dameon Pierce also had an encouraging second game, averaging just under five yards per carry on 15 touches. Davis Mills' NFL starting opportunity is drawing closer and closer to an end with a performance like this.
Packers 27- Bears 10
This Green Bay defense is legit and they're young. They've had some hiccups versus elite talents like Justin Jefferson, but they manhandled the Bears Sunday night. I'm not 100% ready to anoint Justin Fields as a bust, especially against a defense of this caliber, but I wouldn't be thrilled with him as my starting quarterback.
Fields went 7-11 for just 70 yards and a pick in the passing game. It looked more like a Navy QB line then one for the Chicago Bears. Despite rushing for the team's only touchdown, he wasn't much more effective on the ground, averaging just 2.5 YPC. David Montgomery was solid, rushing for 122 yards on 15 totes. I've officially started the "Rescue Darnell Mooney" mission, as the Bears' #1 receiver has 4 (four) yards on two catches this season. He actually finished this game with negative yards. Wow.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers had a much better game against a tough Chicago defense. He worked the ball around to eight different receivers, none of whom caught more then three passes. This made it difficult for the secondary to key in on who to cover. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon also paced the Pack on the ground, combining for 193 yards on 33 carries. It's was a solid game plan that Green Bay would be wise to stick with moving forward.
Bills 41- Titans 7
The early Monday night game featured a massacre by the Buffalo Bills, steamrolling the Titans in Buffalo 41-7. Josh Allen threw for four more touchdowns this week, and is two tipped pass INT's from a damn near perfect start to 2022. Stefon Diggs was his primary target, racking up 148 yards on 12 catches and three of Allen's four scores. It's hard to argue against them being the best QB-WR tandem in the league right now.
Tennessee falls to 0-2 and look to be in trouble. The only thing that helps them is being in the worst division in football, but they've been bad on all fronts. Derrick Henry is just rushing for 3.1 yards per carry and Tannehill is averaging less then 200 yards per game. Treylon Burks has looked the part so far, but he can only do so much with that type of quarterback play trying to get him the ball. Mike Vrabel has a tall task on hand down in Nashville.
Eagles 24- Vikings 7
Much to the NFL's disappointment, our late Monday night game was another uncompetitive game. Primetime Kirk Cousins showed up, completely failing his team with three interceptions on the night. Darius Slay neutralizing Justin Jefferson surely didn't help, but there's no way he should've been this bad. Dalvin Cook only got ten touches for 36 total yards, allowing Philadelphia to really key in on the intermediate passing game. A big time collapse compared to what they showed in Green Bay.
Jalen Hurts played possibly the game of his career, throwing for 333 yards and only five incompletions. Add in 57 yards rushing and he was the total package Monday night. Four different wideouts had at least 69 receiving yards and Devonta Smith had a bounce back performance after last week's 0'fer. Nice.
The crazy thing is, as good as their offense was, Philly's defense was probably even better. Forcing three turnovers and two sacks was impressive, but it cannot be overlooked how Jefferson was held below 50 yards for just the third time in his last 23 games. The Eagles are 2-0 and looking primed to take the NFC East.
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@Choppinglines
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