It’s hard to have a spectacular follow-up week of games after the NFL’s regular season premiere, but week two didn’t disappoint. There were comebacks and interesting stories that will dominate headlines and progress the following months. Here is who and what stood out most after this season’s week two.
Winners: Green Bay Packers
Green Bay had not won a game in 286 days before Sunday. They had given up consecutive double digit leads to division rivals in back-to-back games. Head coach Matt LaFleur and starting quarterback Jordan Love faced constant criticism throughout all of 2026. The Packers needed a win to get back to .500.
Not only did Green Bay get a win Sunday, they won after trailing by ten points midway through the fourth quarter. Love found Christian Watson for a three yard touchdown the possession after the Jets extended their 17-7 lead. The Packers got the ball back after forcing another punt from New York and tied the game their following possession.
LaFleur and the offense could have mentally checked out after the Jets took a ten point lead. Instead, Green Bay rallied to win an overtime, road thriller. New York will be a better team this season, but they went through some growing pains against a veteran Packers team that is now tied for second in the NFC North.
Kyle Shanahan
Matt LaFleur wasn’t the only head coach who impressed in a win against an AFC East opponent Sunday. San Francisco dominated Miami in their first game back in the United States this season.
Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers left no doubt which team was superior start to finish. San Francisco jumped out to an early 14-6 lead to end the first half. The 49ers dominated the first two quarters so they could take as much time off the clock as possible. However, the undermanned Dolphins played hard and tried to keep the game close.
Shanahan made the necessary changes and San Francisco made it a rout in the second half. The 49ers scored three third quarter touchdowns and sealed an easy win before the fourth. Brock Purdy threw two touchdowns that quarter; one to tight-end George Kittle and the other to fullback Kyle Juszczyk. The second scoring pass capped off a five minute drive that exhausted all of Miami’s defensive players.
Many viewers did not think San Francisco would be undefeated after two games because of the mounting injury concerns. Free agent wide receiver addition Mike Evans left because of a hip injury in the dominant win yesterday. It is increasingly difficult to ignore the mounting injury concerns with the 49ers wide receiving room. They are even more thin after another game. Despite this serious analysis, head coach Kyle Shanahan guided San Francisco to another winning record that again seems next to impossible because of how competitive the NFC West is. It will be hard to beat the 49ers each week because of how the roster, no matter the replacements, is well-coached.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Few wide receivers can claim to be the NFL’s best. Fewer can dominate every facet on offense. When all is said and done, Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba could easily be the best wide receiver and offensive player the NFL sees every week.
After a week and a half off, the Seahawks played their first road and division game late Sunday afternoon. Arizona impressed many with a dominant road win in Los Angeles last week. Anyone who has paid attention to the NFL for a few years knows the Cardinals last beat Seattle almost five years ago. Jaxon Smith-Njigba made sure Arizona came up empty-handed again and even surpassed the Cardinals offense in total yards by himself.
Smith-Njigba dominated from the second snap of the Seahawks first offensive possession. He started the game with an 82 yard catch and run for a touchdown. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 100+ yards before halftime despite a tie. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year came out the second half and gave Seattle their second lead of the afternoon the first possession. Smith-Njigba then added to the Seahawks lead to begin the fourth quarter and seal up another road win. Yesterday’s win was also Seattle’s 12th straight, their longest in franchise history.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is one of the hardest players to cover and get a read on. As FOX’s Tom Brady analyzed in last year’s playoffs, Smith-Njigba always hides what routes he’s running by keeping his body parallel, head and shoulders stiff, and not giving away any movements pre-snap. Arizona’s secondary struggled to cover him all afternoon and even franchise great safety Budda Baker had no solutions on how to eliminate Smith-Njigba one-on-one. The nine catch, 155 yard, three touchdown performance is an impressive stat-line, but the Seahawks’ best receiver plays a complete game whenever one watches him. It’s not a surprise he has all of Seattle’s receiving touchdowns two weeks into the season (He is the first receiver to have scored his team’s first four receiving touchdowns in a season since Minnesota’s Ahmad Rashad did in 1979).
Sunday Night Football
Indianapolis usually plays Kansas City well. The Colts are one of the few teams that give Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes II, Steve Spagnuolo and Travis Kelce heart palpitations no matter who is on their roster. Despite a devastating loss last season, Indianapolis came out swinging early Sunday night and didn’t let up.
Although the Chiefs have played two games this season, Sunday night’s home win could go down as their most impressive so far. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo threw everything he could at Mahomes who still found a way to throw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. Kenneth Walker III had another 100 yard night and the offense was elite in the redzone.
Despite Kansas City’s big stars playing well, the Colts either tied or took the lead several times. In overtime, Indianapolis nearly won the game on their only possession. Their decision to kick a field goal on fourth and eight after Spagnuolo’s defense smothered the previous three plays was smart. However, Mahomes is just different. He and Walker III led the offense the final possession in overtime and got enough yards for kicker Harrison Butker to attempt and make a 40 yard field goal.
Patrick Mahomes is undefeated in his eight, regular season overtime games. Sunday Night Football on NBC gave viewers one of, if not the best game in September. There have been valid criticisms of what games the NFL gives for the U.S.’ top country program early in the season, but there are none after week two. If anything, we should watch these two teams on primetime more often.
Losers: Jason Licht
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended their 50th season in franchise history on a dismal note. They bottomed out of the NFC South division race and gave up countless leads. The worst may have been the week 15 Thursday night loss to Atlanta when Kirk Cousins led a double digit comeback. Anyone with working eyes knew a head coaching change and a roster overhaul was inevitable. Yet, Tampa Bay’s front office and upper management decided to delay the inevitable and keep head coach Todd Bowles and most of the roster intact. Two weeks into the regular season, those delays have cost the team in many ways.
Cleveland came into Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium Sunday off a humiliating 34-10 loss to Jacksonville. Everything that could have gone wrong for the Browns off and on the field, did. The Buccaneers had nothing to worry about after losing a tight game to Cincinnati. All they had to do was handle business and make Cleveland’s offense uncomfortable. That worked for one half.
The second half was almost all about the Browns. Tampa Bay went up by ten after quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a five yard touchdown to sophomore star receiver Emeka Egbuka. The Buccaneers then lost control and made Deshaun Watson look like his old Houston self the rest of the game. Even with a two hour lightning storm delay, Tampa Bay could not complete a two-minute drive. They bumbled around on offense and gave up big chunk plays to less experienced playmakers on defense.
One could say this is all on head coach Todd Bowles for not having the Buccaneers ready to play better. This is on management, especially the Glazer family and general manager Jason Licht for delaying more serious moves in the offseason and not understanding this would carry over to begin the regular season. When Tampa’s all-time best receiver decided to move on and play for another NFC team, Licht should have recognized it was time for necessary, massive changes. Instead the Buccaneers top brass decided to sit on their hands, cross their fingers and hope last season was a mirage. Last season was a warning. Now it’s a nightmare.
The 2024 quarterback draft class
We are in the third season of the 2024 draft class leaving their mark on the NFL and while there have been highlights, it has mostly been a mess for the quarterback position. Usually there aren’t too many memorable weeks where a specific quarterback class makes headlines, but this one did Sunday. Almost none were for good reasons.
The 2024 quarterback class includes number one overall pick Caleb Williams, second overall pick Jayden Daniels, third overall pick Drake Maye, eighth overall pick Michael Penix Jr., tenth overall pick J.J. McCarthy, twelfth overall pick Bo Nix, and late rounders Spencer Rattler, Jordan Travis, Joe Milton, Devin Leary, and Michael Pratt. Clearly the late rounders are not starting on any of the 32 teams. Fine. Rattler did start for New Orleans last year, but couldn’t prove he was the guy who could keep the Saints competitive. The first round quarterbacks though were all supposed to be both good and starting worthy. Well, most are starting worthy, but all have faced unfortunate fates.
Sunday was bad luck for most of the starters. Both Williams and Daniels left their divisional bouts after suffering serious injuries. While Caleb Williams injured his hamstring running on a play deep in Minnesota territory, Jayden Daniels dislocated the same left elbow he injured last season. This time it was in Dallas before the first half ended. The injury was so outlandishly bad, it made FOX’s Tom Brady swear live on-air during the call re-play. While Williams and Daniels won’t be out the rest of the season, they will miss time and their teams will play more low-scoring games.
The other two quarterbacks who played Sunday also struggled. Defenses are adapting to Drake Maye and Pittsburgh became the newest team to halt the potent Josh McDaniels offense, limiting it to 13 points. Maye threw an interception and was sacked three times. Bo Nix again played a great half of a game, but he still struggles to play a full four quarters and dazzle both his coaches and audiences. One never knows when or which Nix will show up each game.
At least the previous four got to play. Michael Penix Jr. remains out with multiple leg injuries and his team plays like they miss him…or any good quarterback with a pulse. Finally, there’s J.J. McCarthy. By all appearance, he is an all-time bust up there with JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Brodie Croyle, Johnny Manziel and Nathan Peterman in the Super Bowl-era.
All the quarterbacks (minus McCarthy) are all talented and can in theory lead their teams far into the playoffs if given the chance. The problem is none of them can stay healthy long enough for that to happen. This could become the most cursed quarterback class in a long time.
Baltimore Ravens defense
Baltimore has one of the most talented defenses in the NFL. They have a deep linebacker core, a fantastic secondary, and generate a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks and offenses. When head coach Jesse Minter was hired this offseason, the hope was he’d turn it back into a fearsome unit similar to the Ray Lewis-led days or what previous coordinator Mike Macdonald had three years ago. That could still happen, but the defensive issues stand out after an unexpected week two loss.
The Ravens led by eight points twice in their home game against New Orleans. Although the Saints kicked field goals to trim Baltimore’s lead multiple times, there was no threat of a lead change…until the fourth quarter. The Ravens defense forgot how to cover New Orleans’ receivers, gave up big plays, and played sloppy in their own redzone.
Baltimore’s defense gave up both a touchdown and a tying two-point conversion after a five and a half minute drive in the fourth quarter. What was worse was how the Saints didn’t get the conversion the first time. The Ravens committed a holding penalty that gave New Orleans a second attempt and the successful conversion after.
The most controversial play in the game was Tyler Shough’s one yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal. There is an angle where Shough broke past the goal-line for the score, but many believed the touchdown didn’t count. The problem is if the play was reversed, defensive captain and middle linebacker Roquan Smith would have been flagged for a blatant face-mask penalty that would have been an automatic first and goal and a fresh new set of downs inside the one yard line. That would have been a probable touchdown for New Orleans anyway.
It was a sloppy sequence at the end and a mess of a second half for the Ravens defense. Baltimore’s defense should improve during the season, but that was a game that could keep the Ravens lower in the playoff seeding later in the year.
Second half Jacksonville Jaguars
Denver had a great, comeback home win against Jacksonville after Kansas City thumped them last Monday Night in Kansas City. Since the Broncos needed everything to go right in order to win, that meant everything that could go wrong for the Jaguars, did.
Both teams had four possessions each in the second half. Both got field goals their first possession. Denver still needed to get at least a touchdown against the hottest team in their conference. They got two.
The two touchdowns were only possible because Jacksonville’s offense gave the Broncos hope. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was intercepted by cornerback Riley Moss. Denver tied the game after a five minute drive the following possession.
Yet, the Jaguars still had a chance to take a lead and shut down the Broncos offense after. However, kicker Cam Little missed a 54 yard field goal attempt and gave Denver the ball back at mid-field. The Broncos predictably went downfield and scored another touchdown to take a seven point lead. Jacksonville’s last gasp was a five play final drive that resulted in a punt.
The Jaguars could still be one of the AFC’s best teams this season, but by not closing out a winnable game on either side of the ball, Jacksonville showed why many viewers still don’t believe they are a serious championship contending team. Denver was humiliated by a division rival not even a full week ago and somehow the Jaguars could not capitalize off that. It will eat at them most of the season.
JD's Sportscorner 