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NFL Week Two Winners and Losers

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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 storylines to keep in mind that will play out and progress the following months. Here’s who and what stood out most after the second week of the season.

Winners: Baker Mayfield

Many viewers wondered if Buccaneers starting quarterback Baker Mayfield would follow up last year’s division winning success with progress and a new offensive coordinator. Mayfield and the offense looked great in a dominant week one win against Washington, but there was a challenge to perform just as well on the road in Detroit.

Baker Mayfield looked good in a rematch of their divisional round playoff loss against the Lions. The former 2018 number one overall pick completed 12 passes on 19 attempts for a touchdown and a 90.9 quarterback rating. Mayfield also ran five times for 34 yards and an additional score. His two, eleven yard scrambles late in the third quarter gave the Buccaneers their second lead, and his touchdown was the final score of the game.

Many believe Tampa Bay will win the NFC south due to how well they’re coached and the amount of talent on every side of the ball. Quarterback won’t be a question mark that will plague head coach Todd Bowles’ offense throughout the season. That should worry the other three teams competing in the division.

New Orleans Saints offense

One of the other three NFC south teams challenging the Buccaneers is New Orleans. Two weeks into the regular season, the Saints undoubtedly have the best offense in the NFL.

Week three hasn’t started and New Orleans scored 91 points in two games. They crushed a solid Dallas defense that played well against Cleveland week one. The Cowboys got their first stop Sunday when they intercepted quarterback Derek Carr to start the fourth quarter. The Saints scored six straight touchdowns before that giveaway and weren’t in danger of giving up the lead after three quarters. Their first punt of the season was late in the fourth quarter.

While many will point out Alvin Kamara as the star of the game with four touchdowns on 180 all-purpose (rushing and receiving) yards, New Orleans looks different on offense due to new coordinator Klint Kubiak implementing a rapid pace scheme. Former offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael was stuck in slow paced styles that were easy to defend against. A much faster version with the talented starting eleven players featuring a deep receiving core has caught opponents off-guard. It’ll take a while for opponents to figure out how to slow down Kubiak’s success.

General manager John Schneider

Many analysts had Seattle winning their first two games of the season against Denver and New England. More viewers believed the Seahawks wouldn’t be on top of the NFC west after two weeks. Seattle is the only undefeated team in their division and have fixed a lot of last year’s defensive mistakes.

Many would say the current head coach is the main reason for the early season success. Part of that is true, but the early season optimism wouldn’t happen if general manager John Schneider didn’t move on from winningest head coach in franchise history, Pete Carroll.

Carroll will always have the franchise’s respect and appreciation for many reasons, but it was clear a change needed to be made and Schneider was willing to make the hard decisions. His hiring of former Raven defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald after interviewing a lot of potential head coaching candidates has led to a team revamp and further development of a talented roster.

The Seahawks made the necessary adjustments in both games to pull out (albeit close) wins. Macdonald’s got the players buying in to his philosophy while making necessary changes. The hiring also hurt the Baltimore Ravens (more on them later) coaching staff and personnel decisions in close games. Don’t be surprised if Seattle stays in the division race most of the season because of Schneider’s offseason moves.

Justin Fields

Readers might be perplexed a quarterback making his second start on a new team and completed 13 of 20 passes for 117 yards and one touchdown would be in the winners column. The readers would have a good point, except it’s former Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields. Fields didn’t have the stable coaching and development in Chicago that he does in Pittsburgh. It’s shown after two weeks.

While the Steelers defense hasn’t given up a touchdown to start the season, Justin Fields has faced two good defenses after winning the contested starting job. He isn’t running half the time because the offensive line is much better and he’s gaining more trust with a talented receiving core. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is more content with a more balanced running and passing game plan than favoring a lopsided passing attack. This ensures Pittsburgh will have a more interesting season and stay relevant in the AFC north race.

Losers: Doug Pederson

Jacksonville’s suffered two agonizing losses to start the season and while one might believe quarterback and face of the franchise Trevor Lawrence is a main reason why the Jaguars are winless, the biggest culprits are the coaching staff.

In week one, Jacksonville got too conservative and let a stagnant Miami offense pull out a win at the end. In week two, Pederson’s inept decisions led the Jaguars to rely on the passing game often and it was a main reason Cleveland hung on for a win. Lawrence entered the second half with 16 yards on 12 passing attempts while runningback Travis Etienne was forgotten about despite running for 29 yards on six carries.

Despite many offensive mistakes, Jacksonville trailed by six late in the fourth. The Jaguars drew up a brilliant play to start a potential game-winning drive: let your franchise quarterback get sacked in his own endzone, giving the Browns two points and increasing the deficit.

General manager Trent Baalke made sure to pay a lot of key players like Lawrence and receiver Christian Kirk good money and these are the results. It starts with coaching, game preparation and continued development blunders that were evident in the second half of last season with Pederson on the sideline. Either Doug Pederson finds solutions or it’s another early lost season for the franchise.

Brian Daboll and the bad luck New York Giants

If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Giants would have no luck at all. Despite a solid offensive performance led by quarterback Daniel Jones, kicker Graham Gano injuring his right hamstring the opening play of the game meant special teams would play a factor in which team won.

Only New York could score three touchdowns, not get an extra point or two due to Gano’s injury, and still lose by three. Per ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, it’s the second time an NFL team has scored three or more touchdowns and lost to a team that scored zero (teams with three or more touchdowns scored and zero touchdowns allowed are 1,294-2. The last team to lose this way was in 1989). Washington couldn’t get the ball into the Giants endzone and somehow won in overtime. Seven field goals cancelled any good feelings head coach Brian Daboll had with his offense.

It’ll be hard for New York to put a winning streak together this season with their unusually harder schedule. To lose against a division rival only because a kicker got injured to start the game and not score a few more points is bitter to sit on for a week.

Baltimore Ravens

Seattle and Baltimore are on two different paths to start the season. As mentioned above, general manager John Schneider’s made the right moves top to bottom. The Ravens have not and the result are two close losses.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re aware there’s little sympathy for head coach John Harbaugh. He’s put Baltimore in many uphill positions with his terrible decision making and unnecessary approaches to overuse reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson in order to hide serious issues plaguing the team. While Harbaugh’s failures show against champion caliber teams like Kansas City, errors showing in home games against the Raiders is a surprise.

After Derrick Henry’s three yard touchdown run gave the Ravens a ten point lead early in the fourth quarter, things went downhill. Baltimore’s conservative offensive play-calling led Las Vegas to three scoring drives that averaged two minutes (each). Harbaugh knows his defense hasn’t and won’t lock down opposing receivers the same ways they did last season with former coordinator Mike Macdonald coaching a team in another conference. General manager Eric DeCosta knew this before Macdonald left for Seattle but decided he’d keep the gaffe prone Harbaugh around (despite how unprepared the team’s offensive game plan was in last year’s AFC championship game), and wanted to invest more at runningback and receiver.

The neglected offensive line is a weak link in the Ravens offense. The interior was beaten against two vicious defensive fronts in two weeks. The defense can’t stop second half offensive drives and already looks tired. Per Bill Barnwell to Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, Baltimore’s allowed eight plays of at least 25 yards after two weeks. That’s the most in the NFL. Five of those were against the Raiders yesterday.

DeCosta had a golden opportunity to keep a well coveted coach on staff and elevate him to the head position, but decided it was best to stay comfortable and play it safe. That decision could cost the Ravens a deep postseason run and grant another team a championship window.

Los Angeles Rams

It’s one thing to lose against a division rival early in the season. It’s another to get blown out by more than 30 points, especially when you’ve dominated said rival for years.

Los Angeles looked awful before receiver Cooper Kupp left due to an ankle injury in Sunday’s loss at Arizona. Defensive coordinator Chris Shula had no answer for Detroit in week one when it mattered most, but many expected that due to how the Lions have a lot of veteran offensive talent. The Cardinals have a lot of younger, inexperienced offensive talent that veteran defensive coaches like Shula can exploit and take advantage of each possession.

None of that happened. Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray finished with a perfect passer rating and runningback James Conner shredded the Rams defense while Los Angeles’ offense did almost nothing outside of a late third quarter touchdown.

It’s possible head coach Sean McVay didn’t take the Cardinals seriously due to how well the Rams played against Detroit the previous Sunday and how he’s won all but (now) three games against Arizona since becoming head coach in 2017 (including nine straight games in Glendale, where Los Angeles lost yesterday). There’s no reason to panic but the increasing number of injuries aren’t a good sign.

NFL Week 13 Winners and Losers

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The first weekend of December eliminated teams from playoff contention and solidified division leaders. The postseason is near and most teams are getting ready for either the offseason or for home-field advantage. Time to break down who’s closer to wildcard weekend and who’s ready for a top five position in the draft.

Winners: De’Von Achane’s return for Miami

While the Dolphins cruised to an easy win in Washington D.C. with historical performances by receiver Tyreek Hill and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, viewers should pay attention to rookie runningback De’Von Achane’s solid performance.

Achane picked up where he left off almost two months ago, running 17 times for 73 yards and two touchdowns. He had the highest yards per rush for any Miami runner. While his two scores came in the second half of a blowout win, Achane looked comfortable easing back into a key role.

The main criticism towards the Dolphins before week one was who the main runningback threat would be when Tagovailoa wasn’t throwing deep passes to receivers. De’Von Achane appeared to be the answer before his knee injury, and most believe this will continue with five games remaining in the regular season. His health could determine how far Miami advances in the playoffs.

Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis was one of three NFL teams to win every game played in November. Sunday was a litmus test for rookie coach Shane Stechen against a division rival the Colts hadn’t swept since 2018.

It was an ugly start as the Titans led by ten at one point in the first half. Then Tennessee botched back-to-back punts leading to Indianapolis grabbing a lead. Yet the Colts allowed their rivals to stick around long enough to force overtime. Kicker Nick Folk got the lead back for the Titans but Gardner Minshew II had the last laugh, throwing a four yard touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr.

Indianapolis is tied for second in the AFC South and is one of a half dozen teams fighting for a wild-card spot. The defense is top ten in both sacks and interceptions while the offense is eighth in points per game. Refreshing ideas and schemes from a new head coach working on player development is paying off for a franchise many believed was one of the worst when the season began.

Mike Evans

There are only two receivers in NFL history who have recorded ten straight seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. They are Jerry Rice and Mike Evans. The latter is the only one to accomplish this in his first ten seasons.

Tampa’s franchise leader in career catches, receiving yards, touchdown receptions, overall touchdowns and 100-yard receiving games had another breakout game against the division rival Panthers on Sunday. His seven catches for 162 yards and a touchdown gave the Buccaneers their second lead of the day late in the third quarter. The 75 yard score dented Carolina’s hope of winning their second game of the year.

Evans’ career has been quiet despite the decade long production and how the league has eased defensive rules, giving receivers more attention and media spotlight. It’s unlikely Tampa’s all-time best receiver retires anytime soon. Mike Evans has a great chance to threaten some records of all-time great Jerry Rice and is likely to be viewed as a top three wide receiver whenever he retires.

Losers: Whoever thought the Denver Broncos were back in the playoff discussion

The Broncos had won their last five games after an awful loss in Kansas City. Many believed there was a return to relevance for Denver after their Monday night win in Buffalo a few weeks ago. Sunday was a test for head coach Sean Payton’s team to see how they’d fare against a playoff-caliber team featuring a solid defense and a great quarterback. It didn’t go well.

Quarterback Russell Wilson came up short on several possessions despite a close score. His 186 yards, three interceptions and three sacks held Denver back from closing the first place gap with Kansas City. While the Broncos defense forced Houston to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns, the offense didn’t score their first points until the last minute of the first half. The one time Denver came close to threatening a lead change was the last possession of the game. Wilson then threw his third interception to seal Houston’s seventh win.

A good number of viewers will say it’s an off-week especially when Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud IV has been one of the most exciting players this season. The rookie played hurt a good part of the game and still outplayed Wilson when it mattered most. The Broncos offense is still bottom five in the league in passing yards. The defense is last against the rush and third to last in total yards given up. It’s not like their last five wins came against healthy teams with no issues. Denver has improved but they won’t go on a postseason run.

Anyone who thought the AFC east would have more than one team in the postseason

A fun yet frustrating part of covering the NFL is how objective, pre-season predictions can be derailed around Thanksgiving. The AFC east divisional race is a perfect example of how bold or conservative predictions can get shredded by the start of December.

The Dolphins are a lock to make the playoffs unless there are season ending injuries to star players. Outside of Miami, there won’t be another team sniffing the playoffs. New England has given up an average of eight points their last three games while scoring an average of four. Predictably, those resulted in losses and the Patriots are the worst team in the conference.

New York isn’t much better. They had to make another change at quarterback after Tim Boyle floundered in a home loss to Atlanta. Like New England, the defense keeps the Jets in close games, but inept quarterback play (with Aaron Rodgers officially ruled out for the season) dooms any chance of a playoff spot.

Then there’s the .500 Bills, who have four of their remaining five games against heavy playoff favorites with better defenses. Quarterback Josh Allen is regressing and the running game is non-existent. The injuries to star defensive players like Mike Milano show Buffalo will fizzle out by Christmas.

Many fans and analysts had at least two teams from the AFC east making the postseason. It’s bizarre the division isn’t close to competitive as Miami inches closer to clinching the division. At least it makes the sport more fun and unpredictable.

Jalen Hurts

For most of the season, Eagles starting quarterback Jalen Hurts has played well. Hurts hasn’t replicated his 2022 numbers but he’s led Philadelphia to the league’s best record. Sunday’s nationally televised home thumping by San Francisco was a reality check.

Statistically, Jalen Hurts had a solid game completing 26 of 45 passes, 298 yards and one touchdown. He also ran seven times for 20 yards and an additional score. The problem was Hurts couldn’t lead the Eagles downfield consistently against a defense he had an easier time with in last year’s NFC championship game. While he was concussed late in the third quarter, Hurts looked overwhelmed and had no answers before that hit.

The performance puts a dent in his MVP chances but more importantly questions what’s been different in his style of play since the Super Bowl loss. It appears opposing defenses have caught onto his reads faster and interrupt certain routes when he least expects it. We’ll find out more next Sunday night if this remains a problem against a similar defense.