We are only starting this fun ride through the NFL season, but my oh my did we get some special games this weekend (Thank you Dolphins, Cardinals, and….checks scores….Jets). Who knows what Weeks Three through the rest of the season will bring, but Holy Ray Finkle is that Miami Dolphins team fun thus far. Baltimore Ravens fans will have nightmares of Tyreek Hill running freely for the next week. It’s only two weeks in, but the NFL is already reminding us that no fourth quarter lead is safe unless you are the Tennessee Titans or Minnesota Vikings.
Chargers Give Chiefs Run For Their Money, but Fall Short
The Los Angeles Chargers played well enough to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football, but a pick six thrown by Justin Herbert was the deciding play to give the defending AFC North champions the win. A Chargers win would’ve been a great feather in their cap this early in the season, but Los Angeles has to feel good about the challenge they posed to the Chiefs. It’s early, but like many expected it seems like these two teams will be the House Targaryen and Lannister of the AFC North. Denver and Las Vegas a respectable teams that should be in the playoff hunt, but are more aligned to Houses Bolton and Frey right now. This division is going to be fun to watch every week.
Miami and Baltimore Offer Up Early Game of the Year
TUA. WADDLE. HILL. Two weeks in and there isn’t a more fun trio in the NFL. We were all Vince McMahon watching Stacy Keibler dance in front of him when viewing the Dolphins on Sunday. Big play after big play, but no sequence better than two fourth quarter passing touchdowns to Tyreek Hill that went for 48 and 60 yards. They needed all of the firepower they could get to overcome a 35-14 deficit entering the 4th quarter in Baltimore. The win was clinched with a seven yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle with 14 seconds remaining, his second touchdown of the game. The most fun watching a football game so far in this early part of the season.
Kyler Murray Dazzles to Complete Cardinals Comeback Over Raiders
If it wasn’t for the Dolphins’ comeback, the Arizona Cardinals comeback against the Las Vegas Raiders would’ve been the craziest game of the weekend. The Cardinals went into halftime down 20-0 and looked like they were staring deep into an 0-2 start on the season. The Arizona defense held the Raiders to only three more points the remainder of the game and Kyler Murray helped carry the offense to tie the game as time expired in the fourth quarter after his own touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion pass to A.J. Green. Murray’s highlight reel fourth quarter included his best Super Mario running impression when he ran his own two-point conversion into the end zone after 18 seconds of scrambling of over 80 yards in total. Arizona clinched their win on another highlight when Byron Murphy returned a fumble for a 59 yard game winning touchdown. It may end up being a long season in Arizona, but this ended the mid afternoon games in a fun fashion and Murray is still one of the most thrilling players to watch in the league.
A Weekend of Losers Winning
The Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Jets won games on the same weekend for the first time since 2011. I mean, that stat is fun in itself. It’s fun to watch perennial losers win games. Even crazier, it’s 2022 and Joe Flacco helped lead the Jets on a game winning drive. What the hell is happening?!
Returning to the Detroit Lions briefly, it was fun to see Aidan Hutchinson terrorize Carson Wentz for three sacks in only his second career game. The second overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, who many thought was the top prospect, broke the Lions rookie single game sack record.
Monday Night RAW: A Football Ass Kicking Double Header
The Monday Night Football double booking that featured the Tennessee Titans vs the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings vs the Philadelphia Eagles turned into a night of lopsided victories for the home teams.
There was no decline for the Buffalo Bills following their big opening night win over the Los Angeles Rams. They came away with a 41-7 win against the Titans, winning the turnover battle 4-0 and produced nearly 230 more yards of offense. Josh Allen connected with Stefon Diggs for three touchdowns and threw for 317 yards. As of right now there is no question that the Buffalo Bills are the best looking team in the NFL.
The Philadelphia Eagles could soon be making a similar claim for the NFC after winning 24-7 over the Minnesota Vikings. Quite frankly, this game wasn’t even that close. The Eagles dominated in all facets, but most importantly turnovers (3 to 1) and total yards (486 to 264). As great and unstoppable as the Eagles’ passing offense seemed, their defense did an unbelievable job of shutting down the Vikings stars in Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook while forcing Kirk Cousins to turn into his version of Mr. Hyde, “Primetime Kirk”. This one was a bloodbath and has me already questioning if what I saw in Week One from the Vikings was real. It was real to me dammit! I’m going to go puke now.
Questions After Week Two
Will this Miami Dolphins offense continue to be this good?
It’s too early to commit to an astounding “yes”, but it does seem like the ceiling for the Dolphins is even higher than most people expected. The big question entering the season was whether Tua Tagovailoa would prove he deserves to be a starting quarterback. With Tyreek Hill and a second year Jaylen Waddle giving him high end talent in the receiving game, he sure looks the part after only two games. Tua has seven touchdowns and two picks, but is top five in the league in passing yards, passer rating, and adjusted QBR. Now obviously a large portion of that is due to the explosion of offense Miami produced in Week Two, but they still posted 20 points against a New England defense that was one of the best in the league last year and last I checked was still coached by Bill Belichick. Maybe the Dolphins won’t be this good on offense the entire year, but I do expect them to be one of the most explosive teams in the NFL. With guys like Waddle and Hill, they can pick up yards and points in a hurry. If someone like Chase Edmonds takes the running back position by the horns or they become a very good running game by committee, this Miami Dolphins team could be be a legitimate AFC playoff team.
What does the Trey Lance loss mean for the 49ers?
The easy non-answer is we don’t really know. We’ve all heard about the potential he could bring, but still haven’t really had a chance to see it. Last week in Chicago with terrible weather, Lance wasn’t very impressive. That game obviously can’t be viewed as a strong measuring stick. Prior to his injury on Sunday, he was 2-3 passing for 30 yards and rushed for 13 yards on three carries. The only things we know about Lance is that he was drafted to be “the guy”, poses more running ability than Jimmy Garoppolo, and that the Niners clearly believed he raised the potential ceiling of what the team could be. That ceiling is all hypothetical though. Maybe we would’ve found out Lance experiment wouldn’t work out this year. We do have a good idea what this team will be with Garoppolo though. A steady presence who usually won’t lose the team games, but will also be limited in his ability to help them play from behind. All things considered, Jimmy G has played in two NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl. With a good enough roster, you can win with a Jimmy Garoppolo. Suddenly the highly questionable resigning of Garoppolo looks like it is paying off for San Francisco.
What is wrong with the Colts?
Starting the season winless against Houston and Jacksonville, last season’s two AFC South bottom feeders is definitely not what Colts fans expected to see this season. The week one tie with Houston might be a hard pill to swallow, but frankly Indianapolis played a pretty decent game. They held the Texans to under 300 yards of offense, produced over 500 yards of their own, and won the possession battle. The problems were red zone failures, turnovers, and some inconsistency from Matt Ryan at quarterback. The 24-0 loss to Jacksonville this week is indefensible. All of those problems that led to a tie with the Texans were only amplified against the Jaguars. They went 0-2 in the redzone (2-7 on the season), turned the ball over three times (losing turnover battle on the season 5-1), and an offense that couldn’t get Jonathan Taylor going (although they could’ve tried harder) only produced 218 yards of offense. Not having Michael Pittman at receiver this week obviously hurts, but the lack of depth at wide receiver was apparent. Jonathan Taylor only getting nine carries the entire game is enough of a reason to start questioning the future of Frank Reich. Taylor is one of the best talents in the NFL and someone a team should continue to run plays for even if he has a hard time getting going early. It only takes one big run to open up the playbook a little bit more. The worst news for Colts fans is that their schedule is only getting much more difficult. The next three weeks they will play Kansas City, Tennessee, and at Denver. Reich could be on the hot seat and removed completely before the Colts see Week Six if things don’t turn around soon.
The Colts, Bengals, and Raiders are winless. Which team’s start is most devastating?
As bad as the Colts and Bengals have looked, this one has to be the Raiders. The Chargers lost in week one is tough because it is a divisional opponent, but they are also a good team and viewed as a Super Bowl favorite by many. This Cardinals loss though…woof. Teams can’t afford to have their largest blown lead in team history (20 points), lose to a team like Arizona, and expect to hang around in the loaded AFC. Goodness, the Raiders still have five games to play between division rivals Chargers (1), Chiefs (2), and Broncos (2). The 0-2 start is especially underwhelming considering the Raiders acquired Davante Adams and Chandler Jones, two elite players who should change both sides of the ball. There’s no doubt that Indianapolis and Cincinnati are off to a horrid start. Both are probably looking even worse than Las Vegas, but they have the benefit of playing in divisions that are much more winnable. The team from Sin City better start adding to the win column next week when they travel to Tennessee.
“Everybody Loves to Hate-read Power Rankings so Go Ahead and Hate-read” Power Rankings
- Buffalo Bills (2-0)
- Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0)
- Los Angeles Rams (1-1)
- Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1-1)
- Miami Dolphins (2-0)
- Baltimore Ravens (1-1)
- Minnesota Vikings (1-1)
- Green Bay Packers (1-1)
- New Orleans Saints (1-1)
- Denver Broncos (1-1)
- San Francisco 49ers (1-1)
- New York Giants (2-0)
- New England Patriots (1-1)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)
- Cleveland Browns (1-1)
- Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
- Detroit Lions (1-1)
- Arizona Cardinals (1-1)
- Las Vegas Raiders (0-2)
- Cincinnati Bengals (0-2)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1)
- Indianapolis Colts (0-1-1)
- Tennessee Titans (0-2)
- Seattle Seahawks (1-1)
- Carolina Panthers (0-2)
- Washington Commanders (1-1)
- New York Jets (1-1)
- Chicago Bears (1-1)
- Houston Texans (0-1-1)
- Atlanta Falcons (0-2)
Looking Ahead to Week Three
Buffalo travels to Miami and suddenly this game is must see television. Buffalo has just trucked the Rams and Titans in their first two games. As previously mentioned, Miami has been one of the most suprising and enjoyable teams in the first couple weekends. I love this game even more since it is taking place in Miami. Buffalo will get a good test against their strongest division opponent and Miami will get to measure themselves up against the current premier team in the entire NFL.
Cincinnati and the New York Jets is not necessarily a game I’ll be watching from opening kickoff to final whistle, but I’ll be following closely. It’s not farfetched to say this is already “do or die” time for the Bengals. You open the season losing to Pittsburgh, a Dak Prescott-less Cowboys, and the New York Jets…you can start putting a bow on this season. Their toughest games haven’t even started yet.
We get Aaron Rodgers versus Tom Brady this week. The matchup may not have the same shine to it that it would have five years ago, but it is still a game that will feature the NFL’s two biggest currently playing legends. In an NFC that feels a class or two below the AFC, both the Packers and Buccaneers could be two of the best teams in the conference when all is said is done. This game could eventually have big time playoff home field stakes.
The Jimmy Garoppolo-led 49ers will take on Russell Wilson and the Broncos. The Niners won’t have any quarterback controversy without Trey Lance and for better or worse, know exactly what they are working with from here on out. Denver has been anything but impressive and San Francisco won’t be a slouch. The new look Broncos haven’t proven they will be as good as expected, but a win over the 49ers would help them take a big step in that direction.
Philadelphia looks like the clear best team in the NFC East after the first two weeks, but the Monday Night Football game between Dallas and the New York Giants should help us identify who looks like second best. The Cowboys pulled off an impressive win over Cincinnati and the Giants are 2-0 with a healthy Saquon Barkley. With the game taking place in The Big Apple and no Dak Prescott for the Cowboys, this feels like a game the Giants should win if they expect to be a postseason participant.