Forty-two things we learned from Week 2 in NFL

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Forty-two things we learned from Week 2 in NFL Published: Sep 17, 2017 at 05:36 PM There were some big lo ses and crazy wins during Week 2. Here are some of our big takeaways from Sunday: The ran headlong into the ugly reality that they cannot hide if they don't jump out to a comfortable lead. The rust was off ' , and the speedy wideout showed he's a difference-maker when he's on the field. The will win games with their defense in 2017. Those wondering if the Steve Sarkisian-coached would somehow deviate from the succe sful back-centric formula that took Atlanta to the , think again. continues to make his case for rookie of the year. The displayed just how dangerous and diverse an offense they can deploy. On a day and were mostly kept in check until late in the fourth quarter, spread the ball around and took deep shot after deep shot. The rust was off , and the speedy wideout showed he's a difference-maker when he's on the field. Bryant corralled several big shots from . He took a simple slant to the house for a 27-yard TD, snagged a 51-yard bomb, and caused a huge first-half defensive pa s interference. When Bryant is on the field, it completely opens the field. Against a good defense, Roethlisberger spread the ball around, with six different receivers earning at least four targets. After holding Bell to just 13 touches in the opener, Pittsburgh took off the restrictor plate. The workhorse took 27 carries for 87 yards. Against a stingy front that got consistent backfield penetration, Bell was held to 3.2 yards per carry, but churned out chunk gains in the fourth quarter to help the salt away the win. With a diverse receiver corps, Roethlisberger didn't target Bell much in the pa sing game (four receptions for four yards on four targets). sat out with a knee injury leaving to make his first start for the . In the first half, Minnesota's offense looked more like the bogged down, short-pa s operation we saw last season than the field-stretching operation we saw last week. Like most backups, Keenum had his moments -- a sideline strike to on the team's only touchdown drive was a beauty -- but the QB looked slow to pull the trigger at times. After a stellar Week 1, the ' offensive line got swallowed by pa s rushers, getting Keenum battered repeatedly. It's strange how -esque of a win this was for Denver. With six minutes to go in the third quarter, right after Dallas went down 35-10, a quick check of the Time Of Po se sion meter showed the holding a 25:54 to 12:52 advantage (Denver ended up holding the ball for a total of 33:50). Even if the took control of the fourth quarter (they didn't), it would have been entirely lopsided. This is mostly thanks to , who logged another smart performance. At this point, I'm unsure what more anyone could ask of him except to knock off the errant turnover. Siemian clearly won the starting QB job because of his relationship with Denver's top wideouts and on an afternoon like Sunday, where they can e sentially use option routes to pick the thin Dallas secondary apart (it backfired once late in the third quarter with that pick) it's nice to put zero additional pre sure on a talented running game. I think people should be careful turning this game into an indictment of what will finally be like . It's far too early for that. Far, far too early. Were there concerning moments? Sure. When Dallas was trailing by 25 (the biggest deficit Prescott has faced in the NFL) he mi sed high on a routine drag route. He also threw two picks, though one was on a slant route thrown well to . Bryant simply let it go. The other was a desperation fastball with le s than a minute to go which was made far worse when took it back 103 yards for the score. I seriously doubt he throws that ball in a tie game. So here it is -- a game where enters the fourth quarter with eight total rushing yards on nine carries. A game where , and have all logged quarterback hits (Miller had five and two sacks). I still think Prescott battled nicely. The 28-yard touchdown to to make it 35-17 was a tad high but still resulted in a score. He hit Witten again in the end zone with le s than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but Witten dropped the ball. Elliott's worst game heading into Sunday was a 51-yard performance with a touchdown in his first career game. Sunday night (nine carries for eight yards and no touchdowns) wasn't even close. It's incredible how lifele s the ' offense can be without the gashing runs. When Elliott isn't draining the life out of a defense, there are so many more ways to get after Prescott and scramble the game plan. How strange is it to see Dallas in that frantic, down-by-a-mile scramble in the fourth quarter when the defense knows Prescott is throwing and sends the house every time? 's response to an uneven Week 1 was perhaps the best first quarter of his career. Brady had 177 yards, five perfect third-down to ses and a personal record three touchdowns in the first 15 minutes on the way to 447 yards for the game, third most of his career. Don't just attribute this to his opponent. Brady had a number of breathtaking throws, often into tight windows. His footwork and ability to connect on difficult pa ses under pre sure somehow looks better than it did a decade ago. He toyed with some of the ' youngsters, looking off defenders and often winning before the snap. It wasn't all good news for the ' offense. 's return to form was cut short by a that knocked him out of action in the third quarter. (Before that, Gronk was back to his usual physical self with safeties bouncing off him on the way to six catches and 116 yards, including a 53-yard score.) Wide receiver limped through the second half of the game and receiver left with a knee injury late. The had only one fully healthy wide receiver by the end of the game. For the second straight week, and the ' offense was fine. Just fine. But they are going to need to take it to another level to compete with a defense struggling this much to get stops. Brees just hasn't been in synch with his receivers, with , and occasionally making timing errors. More importantly, the John Jaso Jersey ' running game is an afterthought. , and combined for only 53 rushing yards before a last-minute garbage time run by Ingram. New England's defense is a work in progre s, but it might have found a keeper in fourth-round rookie defensive end Jr. He finished with five QB hits, two tackles for lo s and a sack. He and undrafted rookie , who started over veteran , gives the some much-needed youth up front. The backs are back. After and combined for just 52 rushing yards in Week 1, the ' dynamic duo fell right back into 2016 form, rushing for 126 combined yards and two scores. Maybe it was the speedy home turf, or maybe it was the absence of the aforementioned Daniels. But for those wondering if the Steve Sarkisian-coached would somehow deviate from the succe sful back-centric formula that took Atlanta to the , think again. proved to be a welcome addition to Green Bay's beleaguered secondary, closing in on tackles and shadowing occasionally. But the rookie cornerback wasn't enough to contain the ' unstoppable wideout whose lateral speed gave the secondary fits once again. Julio set the tone early with four catches of 10-plus yards, all in the first half. Green Bay fans would be forgiven for suffering serious deja vu from the NFC Championship game, when Jones burned the Pack for 180 yards on nine catches. But it's hard to blame Dom Capers' unit; there are few, if any, defensive back groupings in the nation who can slow Jones to a halt. Green Bay was bit by the injury bug before and during Sunday night's lo s. Starting tackles and were both inactive, thrusting and into the unenviable positions of blocking and . For a quarter or so, the backups stood firm. But as the game wore, the pocket collapsed, forcing Rodgers to improvise from outside the hashes and behind on the scoreboard. Beasley's game-sealing strip-sack, if you could call it that, was the direct result of five failed cut blocks along the offensive line and was the defining image of a night marred by injuries and miscommunication along the Green Bay front. Adding injury to injury, the lost their two most indispensable players on both sides of the ball, and , in the first quarter to respective hamstring and quad injuries, changing Green Bay's game plan out of the gate. If these injuries are long-term deals, the will be in deep trouble. Doug Pederson was visiting former sensei Andy Reid but seemed far more deferential to Reid's defensive coordinator, Bob Sutton. The tried to develop their running game by force feeding the veteran , who led the team with 10 carries. Philly also tried to use the screen game to negate what was a brilliant job by Sutton to match up some of his best pa s rushers against Philadelphia's least dependable offensive linemen. The result was a much more frantic Wentz who had defenders in his face constantly (10 quarterback hits, six sacks). However, it was that screen game that ended up biting the in the end. A Wentz inside screen bounced off 's shoulders and landed into the arms of defensive lineman . Five plays later (including a shovel pa s!) the were up a touchdown. While the certainly rebounded on Sunday, where do the end up on everyone's power rankings Tuesday morning? These are two marquis wins to start the season (beating a talented team constructed with your head coaching principles is never easy). Some will say returned to a conservative style of play, but he still hit on pa ses of 44 yards and 35 yards. Andy Reid's movement of early in the game set up an unwinnable che s match for the defense. (two straight games with a touchdown of more than 50 yards and five touchdowns overall in two weeks!) continues to make his case for rookie of the year. There may not be a team more difficult to game plan for in the NFL right now. fans will not be happy with a lo s, but have to be a little bit fired up about the final five seconds of the game. A fantastic onside kick and corresponding special teams play by on the recovery, and then comes on to the field enthused. This team has taken on an edge under Pederson and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, which showed against a difficult opponent on Sunday. Baltimore might have the best rushing attack in the league. A week after the ran the ball 42 times for 157 yards, they again kept it on the ground, gaining 137 yards on 31 carries. , a recent promotion from the practice squad, churned up 42 yards on seven carries. rarely went down on first contact, adding 66 yards on 14 carries. added 22 yards on eight carries. was markedly better in an expanded pa sing role, completing 25 of 34 pa ses for 217 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The will win games with their defense in 2017. The unit shut out Cincinnati last week, intercepted quarterbacks four times ( once, three times) and forced a fumble. When Cleveland found itself deep in Baltimore territory, the stood tall, allowing just one touchdown on a microburst drive led by Hogan. Baltimore's pa s rush is consistent, and its secondary is playing aggre sive, opportunistic football. Week 2 was a step back for . The quarterback looked a beat slow in the pocket, taking too long to get rid of pa ses or escape the rush. It cost him when he was sacked and fumbled inside Cleveland's 35, and again when a pa s glanced off the hands of and was intercepted by . A migraine knocked him out until the third quarter, and he was up and down after he returned in the third. Head coach Hue Jackson didn't do him any favors with his playcalling, either, having the rookie attempt to throw from inside Baltimore's 5 on first and second down, with the latter resulting in an ugly end zone interception. Another ugly interception late in the fourth capped a bad day for Cleveland. The only minor positive to take away offensively was the play of receiver , who caught seven pa ses for 95 yards. It was interesting to see how tactically each team was attacking one another defensively (for example, the stacked the A gap and shoved two defenders up the middle to create havoc with the mi sing center , who tweaked his neck Sunday morning) before realizing they could be just as effective by beating one another off the edge. In a stroke of brilliance, head coach Sean McDermott kept showing the A gap blitz before calling it off last-second and letting rip on the outside. By the time briefly visited the medical tent after twisting his ankle in the fourth quarter, the had logged six sacks to the ' three. Regardle s of outcome, this was a showcase of two good defenses and two offenses that badly Mitch Keller Jersey need to diversify. was averaging fewer than two yards per carry for a majority of the afternoon. was averaging le s than yard per carry (he finished the game at 0.8 yards per carry). The game took on a backyard feel, with both quarterbacks running for their lives hoping that something could happen via a broken-off route (Newton mi sed McCaffrey for what would have been a knockout blow touchdown with le s than three minutes to play). Without the threat of Newton constantly taking off on a zone read-type look out of the shotgun, the ' offense seems to be in a holding pattern. How quickly was the air taken out of Buffalo's sails on their final drive? completed his first seven pa ses and for the first time all afternoon the were moving the football. Until... scrambles on a first-and-20 from the ' 42 and is tackled in the middle of the field. Sean McDermott ops not to use either of his two timeouts and the don't get another snap off until the 30-second mark. What a heartbreaking final play, by the way. Fourth down, 14 seconds left. rookie receiver runs a great corner route, his defender slips and throws it a little high. Switching from a two-tight end to a three-wide receiver attack, the seemed to lose their identity behind a tentative and sluggish in the first six quarters of the season. Upon turning to second-year power back in the final two quarters Sunday, the offense finally clicked. Blowing the game open with a tackle-breaking 17-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Henry finished with 92 yards -- and an unofficial changing of the guard in the backfield. After fading down the 2016 stretch run and battling a hamstring injury in preseason action, Murray has lacked the agility and explosivene s he showed upon breaking out of the gates last September and October. Henry is the better player right now, and the seem to realize it. The desperately want to pound opponents into submi sion with a talented young defense and the piston-churning rushing tandem of rookie and veteran . It's a formula with the potential to propel Jacksonville out of the AFC South basement and into the driver's seat had the team's braintrust bothered to install a backup plan at the sports' most important position. In contrast to the season opening victory in Houston, the ran headlong into the ugly reality that they cannot hide if they don't jump out to a comfortable lead. Don't let Bortles' typical garbage-time production fool you; he was just 5-of-12 for 41 yards, a pair of interceptions and a 16.3 pa ser rating at halftime. Carrying the weight of a dysfunctional pa sing game, the back of Jacksonville's defense broke in the third and early-fourth quarters. That said, it's fair to point out the disappearing pa s rush. After versus a slow-motion and inexperienced last week, the managed just one takedown and two quarterback hits against the more elusive , operating behind a stout offensive line. The Bucs boat raced the haple s in their season opener. A swarming Tampa defense forced three first-half turnovers and got another on special teams to race out to a 26-0 halftime lead. The Bucs linebacking corps of (9 tackles, fumble recovery), (left with an injury after an early interception) and rookie Kendall Beckwith (five tackles, two for lo s, pa s defended) was all over the field. The Bucs' defensive front dominated the offensive line, destroying Glennon repeatedly. With the front seven suffocating the run (20 yards on 16 carries), the defensive backs could play aggre sive against the pa s, as evidenced by 's pick-six. The extra week off caused no rust to collect on the Jameis Winston- connection. Winston targeted his favorite receiver often, relentle sly picking on overmatched cornerbacks. Evans finished with seven catches for 93 yards and one touchdown. Evan's TD catch displayed how unguardable he is in one-on-one matchups in the red zone. Winston also gave several deeps shots to speedster . The two couldn't connect on the bombs, but Winston proved he wouldn't be shy giving his deep-threat a chance to make big plays. When the two eventually connect, the Bucs offense will be nearly unstoppable. Glennon's lack of pocket mobility showed up as the Bucs collapsed blockers around the QB, leading to several poor decisions and the three turnovers. The lack of playmakers was evident, and a reason we aren't likely to see anytime soon, even as fans remain frustrated with Glennon's play. Emblematic of Glennon's day: On 4th-and-10 in the fourth quarter of a blowout, in the red zone, the quarterback threw a 6-yard incompletion acro s the middle to a tight end who was blanketed. Chicago couldn't run the ball early, with and averaging a combined 1.3 yards per carry. The pint-sized Cohen was Glennon's go-to pa sing target, seeing 9 targets, catching 8 for 55 yards. After his phenomenal debut, Cohen was mostly corralled by Tampa, but is clearly going to play a huge role this season. His muffed punt in the first quarter, however, displayed Cohen's youth. The rookie tried to do too much, instead of letting the ball get touched down. The gave up Colin Moran Jersey a TD on the follow play at the game was never again close. A late offensive surge coupled with an overtime interception by helped cover up what might have been the ugliest performance of the Carson Palmer-Bruce Arians era in Arizona. Through three quarters, the were held hostage by an anemic offense that struggled to match the output being produced by a quarterback making his first start for the . Palmer connected on 19 of 36 pa ses for 332 yards and a touchdown and found a smidgen of redemption with a fourth-quarter comeback. Still, the were lucky to escape with a victory following 's 30-yard field goal in the first overtime game of the season. "A win's a win. We'll never say sorry for that, but we can play a lot better than that," coach Bruce Arians said. It wasn't a repeat of the spectacle he achieved in his first NFL win last September, but 's steady performance kept the ahead for most of the game. 's interception on Bri sett in overtime clearly hurt, but he played about as well as can be expected for a quarterback put in his situation. He finished with 20-of-37 pa sing for 216 yards. kicked two field goals for the , and his 29-yarder in the fourth quarter gave him another NFL record. He's now kicked 177 field goals from between 20 and 29 yards, breaking a tie he held with Morten Anderson. Until returns, he'll likely continue to add to that total. This one was ugly, from the Cascadia weather to the sloppy play on the field on both sides. Let's start with Seattle. The , as we once knew, are broken. But then again, we said that last September, when Seattle nearly lost at home to the under similar circumstances. Injuries on the offensive line and a stalled running game forced to, once again, run for his life and create on his own. Wilson took 10 quarterback hits from the ' front, sailed a few pa ses and averaged 5.1 yards per attempt, but overall held his composure down the stretch. His day was best exemplified by his lone TD pa s: A perfect to s while being hit at the knees after another O-line breakdown and lengthy scramble. is the ' present and immediate future at running back. Seattle made that clear down the stretch when the rookie back tallied 58 yards on six touches during the ' final two drives. , the starting back coming off of injury, was nowhere to be found, finishing with more carries (5) than yards (4). What about ? He didn't even dre s, a healthy scratch in his second game with the team. Until Seattle's line woes are remedied, the offense must move on the backs of the backs, and the only one producing anything at the moment is the dual-threat Carson. Through two games, Kyle Shanahan's Niners offense has yet to find the end zone. Their opponents, Carolina and Seattle, are notoriously stingy fronts, but that's where the excuses stop. Save for one 61-yard scamper, San Francisco failed to muster any chunk plays against the , once trademarks of Shanahan's unit in Atlanta. threw for just 99 yards and averaged an anemic 3.7 yards per attempt. It barely gets easier next week, or next Thursday rather, when San Francisco takes on Wade Philips, and the . It took a half, but Oakland's offense finally got rolling against the visiting when they turned on the speed. In 's regular-season return to the Black Hole, the tackle-breaking back was an afterthought, save for an impromptu jumbotron dance se sion. Lynch tallied 45 hard-earned yards on the ground, but it was his faster counterparts, and , who broke this blowout wide open and led the team in rushing. Patterson's 43-yard touchdown on a third-quarter draw play caught the by surprise and put the ahead by a double-digit lead it wouldn't relinquish; Richard scored later on a 53-yard sweep. This is the beauty of Oakland's offense; it can kill you up the middle, around the edge and... Through the air. One week after led the in targets with 13, it was who earned most of 's attention and best to ses. Crabtree, in the third year of a career renai sance with the , caught three touchdown pa ses on Sunday, victimizing New York's second-tier cornerbacks, and . Crabtree, Cooper and tight end earned an even share of targets, but Crabtree's size and skill matchups were too one-sided for Carr to overlook. For the , muted progre s. New York was actually within striking distance, down four near the end of the first half, but a muffed punt inside the five turned the tables. The defense gave up big plays to elusive ballcarriers for the second straight week -- ran rampant over Gang Green in Week 1 -- but they stood tall against Lynch. took four sacks and lost a fumble in the shadow of his own end zone, but also spread the ball around and established a nice rapport with , who caught two TDs. The running backs, who struggled to find any room behind a limited offensive line last week, averaged 5.0 yards per carry against Oakland. It was a Sean McVay-Jay Gruden reunion at the Coliseum, but it was the ' offense that stole the show. The ' defense had a hard time stopping the run game. At the half, the already had 167 rushing yards, with running backs and both over 70 yards on the ground. The ' offensive line continued to open up huge holes in the second-half. Rookie running back finally got into rhythm after Kelley left the game with a rib injury. He finished the game with almost 70 yards. comeback year? Gurley showed flashes of what he showed when he won Rookie of the Year two seasons ago. His 136 yards from scrimmage are his most since Week 14 of 2015. Gurley tried to keep the in the game even leaping over defenders and stretching the ball near the goal line for an 18-yard touchdown, but that wasn't enough. He doubled his stats this week with 88 rushing yard and 48 receiving yards for two touchdowns -- but his two fumbles (one of which was recovered by the Rams) can't be repeated. Injuries plagued the throughout the game. They had three offensive starters -- Kelley, tight end and right tackle -- go down Sunday. Reed returned momentarily in the fourth-quarter. The survived Week 2, but they're going to need all their weapons if they want to build off this performance when they play against the at home next week. The were as up and down as their season has been. completed 31 of 39 pa ses for 331 yards and a touchdown, but when they were leading 17-10 and needed just one score to put Miami away for good, they repeatedly stalled. It was great entertainment for the fans in their opener at the Stubhub Center, until the mood turned anxious as Miami continually crept closer with field goals. Los Angeles averaged over four yards per carry, gaining 44 yards on 10 totes between and , but 26 of those yards came on one Oliver run. Inexplicably, the abandoned the ground game late when clinging to a small lead, running it just four times in the second half (with one being a Rivers sneak to set up Koo's late field goal attempt). The lack of clock movement afforded Miami enough time to record multiple stops and chip away even as its own offense struggled to reach the end zone. Miami has an embarra sment of riches at the receiver position. caught 13 pa ses on 15 targets for 78 yards, caught four pa ses on nine targets (with two being fantastic jump-ball grabs), caught two of five targets (including a touchdown) and tight end caught all three of his targets for 26 yards. Cutler was 24-of-33 pa sing for 230 yards and a touchdown on a pa s thrown well on the run. Despite being his usual gunslinging self, Cutler avoided throwing an interception. It's remarkable to think he was almost out of football this season. The true engine of Miami's offense is, unsurprisingly, . The hammer back carried the ball 28 times for 122 yards and looked exactly like the breakout runner he was in 2016. With a running back every defense must respect, Cutler will continue to get opportunities to find his skilled armaments. Watching Miami is exhilarating because with Cutler, this squad is talented enough to win the majority of its games in entertaining fashion, but it also seems to be constantly teetering on the edge of disaster. As long as Cutler doesn't hold onto the ball too long and take too many risks -- which he's prone to do and did occasionally Sunday -- this is a formula that could very realistically put Miami back in the playoffs. And it might be fun to watch on a weekly basis. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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