Before turning the page to the start of Week 3 on Thursday night, let’s dive into the true winners and losers from the second week of the NFL season.
Last week in this space, the feel-good vibes of the first weeks of the NFL season were still in full effect.
The “winners” column dwarfed the “losers” list. After all, how bad could anything really be after one game?
But two weeks in? Different story entirely!
Will the Chargers even win a game before Thanksgiving? Is there any coming back for the Todd Bowles Buccaneers Era after losing at home to Deshaun Watson and the Browns? What happened to Drake Maye? Are Cam Ward and the Titans salvageable? All the while, the Aaron Rodgers Retirement Tour is looking to be about as good of an idea as planning a music festival built around Kid Rock these days.
Yes, there’s a lot to cover — including still plenty of positives as well, of course — before turning the focus to the start of Week 3 on Thursday night.
NFL Week 2 Winners
The Bills Made The Right Move
Many Buffalo Bills fans were divided over the team’s decision to fire longtime head coach Sean McDermott after eight playoff appearances and a 98-50 record in nine seasons. Especially when they replaced him without a splashy high-profile hire but by simply promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
On paper, sure, that looked like a bold and brazen move.
Except, it wasn’t.
It was an inspired one — moreover, a necessary one — as we asserted here from the start. And then also here, especially here, again here and a few other places.
Clinging to the McDermott Era had become the football fan equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome for those against the change.
The Bills have a generational quarterback in Josh Allen, who is now 30 years old and has yet to reach a Super Bowl in his first eight seasons.
Some of Buffalo’s perennial postseason heartbreaks were a matter of running into the buzzsaw that was (and is again?) the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty and Patrick Mahomes. But there were also the diminishing returns of McDermott’s defense in the biggest games, like the 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos last postseason. In fact, the last six postseasons, McDermott’s defenses allowed an average of 33.2 points in the team’s playoff losses.
More to the point, though, the Bills had simply reached their ceiling with “McD-” — a stodgy, football-conservative coach with all the “aura” and inspirational charm of a county morgue medical examiner.
Go through the trove of lifeless or downright awkward McDermott locker room speeches on YouTube or Twitter if you need a refresher. It shouldn’t be surprising how often his teams came out flat in games and played down to lesser opponents.
Too many Bills games were like watching a two-hour power point presentation before a captivating magician (Allen) took over for the final hour to wake everyone up and salvage the day.
It’s not that McDermott doesn’t deserve credit. He absolutely does — to a degree. He stabilized a franchise that had gone 18 years between playoff appearances before he led Buffalo back to the postseason.
But at a certain point, simply riding a future Hall of Fame quarterback to perennial postseason disappointments isn’t an accomplishment.
Wade Phillips, Dick Jauron, Rex Ryan, Chan Gailey, Mike Mularkey (OK, maybe not Mularkey) and other past Bills coaches could have done that much. McDermott was no longer adding anything elevating to the franchise is the point.
Now, Buffalo has youthful, exuberant, football-aggressive, gold-chain wearing Brady, who has all the “swag” and “aura” of a Jersey Shore night club promoter.
Not to say that’s what every NFL team needs, but coming off the “McD-” Era it might be exactly what this team needed. But don’t take it from us …
Enjoy this quote from Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins from the spring to Andrew Siciliano: “It’s just the vibe that our locker room has and needs. … Being on a mission for so long and not getting over that hump, it can weigh on you. … Joe Brady is the guy the culture needs. … Like their swag is just different. Like we’re not in military uniforms, like McD, which is also a great way of coaching. It’s just a different course [for] your team.”
Or this one from offensive guard Alec Anderson (via the Bills’ official team site): “We feed off him because you feel the enthusiasm oozing out of him. You feel it when he’s talking, and you see it with how he moves his body. You’re like, ‘Man, our coach is jazzed up about this game plan and he really cares.’ If he’s that bought into us, we need to match that.”
That was one of Anderson’s more reserved takes on the coaching change. Most read more like this …
“Joe comes with high energy and tell[s] you how he feels. He has his own personality. Not so much business attire. He’s not ‘one of us,’ but we don’t have to have our [BLEEP]holes so tight all the time.”
OK, point made …
And guess what? The Bills are a lot of fun to watch!
They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions last week and built a 20-point second quarter lead on the way to a 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions. They put up 36 points on the Houston Texans’ vaunted defense in a Week 1 win.
Buffalo leads the NFL in scoring at 38.5 points per game and ranks second in yards (427.5 per game). That’s what it should look like for a team that has the best quarterback in football and the league’s returning rushing leader.
Speaking of Allen …
While Brady has been his offensive coordinator since the second half of the 2023 season and remains the play-caller now, the OC still has to operate under the direction of the head coach. So one of the intriguing parts of the coaching change in Buffalo was to see how much more aggressive the offense looked without “McD-” ultimately in charge.
To be fair, the Bills were nonetheless a top 4 offense in the NFL last season, averaging 28.3 PPG and 376.3 YPG.
But they weren’t maximizing Allen, who has one of the best passing arms of his era, and that was unfortunate.
How about this for a stat …
Last season, 11 NFL quarterbacks started all 17 games. Of those, only the Titans’ Ward had fewer passing yards than Allen’s 3,668 and none had fewer passing attempts than Allen’s 460.
In terms of passing yards per game, Allen ranked 21st at 215.8! Lower than Daniel Jones, Michael Penix Jr. and Carson Wentz.
How does that ever happen?!
Why is arguably the best quarterback with perhaps the most dazzling arm talent of any passer in the league throwing it less than all the others? Make sense of that.
From 2020-23, Allen threw for between 4,283 and 4,544 yards each season. The last two years, he’s finished with 3,731 and the 3,668 last year despite playing every game both seasons.
Sure, there are other factors involved. The Bills’ WR corps has been lacking in recent years. They leaned heavy into having the identity of a wear-defenses-down rushing attack between James Cook and Allen’s own prodigious rushing ability. That’s an ideal quality for any offense to possess, absolutely, but at the same time Allen’s cannon arm has been muted too much and unnecessarily.
So far through two games at least, it looks like Brady is intent on changing that — while still maintaining Allen’s dual-threat impact (92 rushing yards and 4 TDs in two weeks) because it never had to be one or the other. While still doing that part of his Houdini routine, Allen has also passed for 582 yards and 5 touchdowns with a 66.7% completion rate.
The advanced metrics are even more telling …
What a novel concept — letting a QB with historically elite arm talent throw the ball downfield more often. Who woulda thought?
It makes one wonder how many fun play calls Brady signaled to over the last few years only to have “McD-” overrule him over the headsets and say, “Nah, how about we run it up the middle again.”
The McDermott-led Bills absolutely would have come out totally flat against the reeling 0-2 Chargers this week, so this is a prime opportunity for “Swag” Brady to show things have truly changed in Buffalo.
And if so, albeit with a small sample size, hopefully Bills fans will no longer be asking why McDermott was fired despite all the wins and playoff appearances — but rather why this move wasn’t made sooner.
Klint Kubiak, Kirk Cousins, Kevin O’Connell, Kelce Turns Back The Clock and Keeping It Real
We spent too much time on the Bills, so let’s cruise through the rest of the Winners list with even more alliterative speed rounds than usual!
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Of all the new head coaches around the NFL, none is enjoying a better start than the Raiders’ Klint Kubiak. The 2-0 Raiders, coming off a 26-14 road win over the Chargers, are the biggest surprise in the NFL.
They look competent and well-coached in a way they haven’t in years, and Kubiak is even making Kirk Cousins — the same QB the Falcons paid a bank vault to go away (so they could bring in Tua Tagovailoa instead) — look like a functional NFL starting quarterback at 38 years old and well past his prime.
Cousins threw for 253 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT in the win over the Chargers while giving the Raiders all the extra runway they wanted in bringing No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza along slowly in his transition to the NFL.
Kubiak won a Super Bowl in his lone season as Seahawks offensive coordinator last year and looks to be the real deal.
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What more needs to be seen to appreciate Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell as one of the best in the league?
O’Connell rejuvenated Sam Darnold’s career in 2024, going 14-3 with the journeyman who was then-labeled a first-round bust, setting Darnold up to sign with the Seahawks and win the Super Bowl last year.
He somehow got Minnesota to a 9-8 finish last year despite being saddled with J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer as starting QBs, including improbably beating the Lions, 23-10, in a game that the undrafted rookie Brosmer started and mustered all of 51 passing yards. Talk about magic acts …
And he has the Vikings 2-0 this season with wins over AFC North foes the Packers and Bears, despite having to turn back to Wentz the first two weeks after free agent QB addition Kyler Murray’s early Week 1 concussion.
Of course, a large share of that credit absolutely needs to go to Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores too — we’re getting to that, fear not — as the Vikings beat the Bears 9-3 a week after Chicago put up 59 points and 552 yards on the Panthers.
But O’Connell, with a 45-25 record now in his fifth season in Minnesota, deserves more recognition than he gets as one of the NFL’s best head coaches.
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Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is heading to his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as soon as he’s eligible. He’s one of the best to ever do it, but he’s also well past his prime now in what could be his final season.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t still capable every once in a while of turning back the clock, like he did Sunday night with 9 catches for 101 yards and a TD in the Chiefs’ 33-30 overtime win over the Colts. (For that matter, he had 3 catches for 71 yards vs. the Broncos in Week 1.)
It was Kelce’s first 100-yard game since the 2024 postseason (he did have 99 yards and a TD vs. the Commanders last season) and his most regular-season receiving yards since October of 2023.
As the famous Toby Keith lyrics go and aptly apply to Kelce, “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”
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Credit to Rams coach Sean McVay for this postgame soundbite Monday night, after a resurgent 28-6 win over the Giants to bounce back from his team’s jet-lagged 27-7 opening loss to the 49ers in Australia.
It was nice for McVay to fully own the much-criticized decision to have the Rams fly halfway across the globe and get into Melbourne barely a day before kickoff.
Saints/Shough Sure Show Us, Smith-Njigba Shines, Still Got It
We’re not fully relenting yet, but quarterback Tyler Shough sure is sticking it to our preseason take that the Saints are overrated and our evaluation that Shough is at best Derek Carr-Lite.
The second-year QB leads the NFL in passing yards through two weeks with 662 after leading New Orleans to 15 fourth quarter points in a 24-17 upset of the Ravens.
Shough was 27-of-34 passing for 252 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs plus a rushing TD.
This after Shough shook off a brutal first half in Week 1 to overcome a 21-0 deficit and force overtime with the Lions before an ultimate 31-30 loss, as he passed for 410 yard, 3 TDs and 2 INTs.
We’re still not convinced it’s time to amend our overall evaluation of Shough’s big-picture upside, but he sure does have the clutch component to his game.
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Aside from what Allen is doing weekly for the Bills, the single most impressive player so far this season has been Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
JSN’s numbers would be incredible in any context — 17 catches for 244 yards and 4 TDs in two games — but they’re even that much more impressive considering he’s done almost all of it with backup QB Drew Lock filling in for Darnold.
Smith-Njigba accounted for 10 of Lock’s 19 completions and 66% of his passing yards (155 of 235) with 3 TDs in Seattle’s 31-7 win over Arizona in Week 2. The reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year might somehow top his 2025 breakout (119-1,793-10) at this point.
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Rams wide receiver Davante Adams showed everyone he’s still got it at 33 years old, making up for the absence of Puka Nacua from the Los Angeles passing attack by tallying 8 catches for 195 yards and 2 TDs.
That was his most yards in a game since 2024 with the Jets, as he had just one 100-yard game all of last season.
Adams may not put up peak yards weekly anymore, but he remains an elite red zone target, leading the NFL with 14 receiving TDs last season (3 more than anyone else) while continuing to move up the all-time chart. He’s currently 7th in league history (and the active leader) with 119 receiving TDs.
Brian Flores’ Stock, Bryce Young Breakthrough, Bengals And Boye Mafe, Broncos Activate Waddle, Back Up the Brinks Truck
As noted, Flores, the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, deserves a ton of credit for the defensive masterpiece he orchestrated in that 9-3 road win over the Bears and offensive guru Ben Johnson.
Even before QB Caleb Williams went down with a hamstring injury for Chicago, the Bears couldn’t get much of anything going while squandering their three red zone opportunities and going just 5 of 15 on third down (but 2 of 3 on fourth downs).
The Vikings allowed the third-fewest yards in the league last season (282.6/game) and seventh-fewest points (19.6/game), and Flores is well proven as one of the best defensive coaches in the game now in his fourth season in Minnesota (after coming up under Bill Belichick with the Patriots).
Flores went 24-25 in three seasons as head coach of the Dolphins and was fired seemingly for his strained relationships within the team and building as much for his on-field coaching. He should be due for a second chance this next coaching carousel cycle.
Maybe the Green Bay job comes open and the Packers’ brass values having a proven foil to the Bears’ Johnson and Williams.
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Is Panthers quarterback and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young making the leap in his fourth season?
Too soon to tell, but he deserves some spotlight for his strong start.
After three up-and-down and largely disappointing seasons, Young has thrown for 648 yards (second in the NFL), 6 TDs (tied for first) and 1 INT through two games.
Considering Young has never averaged better than 188.2 passing yards per game in any season yet, his performance so far has been notable to say the least.
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Speaking of failing preseason hot takes, we may have suggested the Bengals were the most overhyped and overrated team of 2026 here and here while not believing at all in their supposed defensive makeover and being specifically critical that their plan to restock at edge rusher was to give former Seahawks rotational role player Boye Mafe a three-year, $60-million contract.
Well … the Bengals are 2-0 after a mighty impressive 20-6 road win in Houston, and the defense does indeed look better with Mafe playing a notable role.
Can’t win ’em all … or maybe the Bengals will and truly throw that preseason hot take back in our face here.
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The Broncos badly needed a spark after scoring just 10 points in their season-opening loss to the Chiefs and then mustering just two first downs with three quick punts on their first three possessions in Week 2 vs. the Jaguars.
Well, that’s exactly why Denver traded a first- and third-round draft pick to the Dolphins for Jaylen Waddle this year — to be a spark for the offense.
And after having just 1 catch for 2 yards in the opener, Waddle provided that boost Sunday, starting with a 49-yard reception down to the goal line on the Broncos’ fourth possession.
They had to settle for a disappointing field goal despite the prime setup, but Waddle went on to catch 8 passes for 138 yards while helping awaken the Broncos offense on the way to a 20-13 win over the Jags.
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Speaking of Lock, the Seahawks’ backup quarterback, he’s now put himself on the “Chase Daniel Path To Generational Riches” by showing he’s one of the NFL’s rarest assets — a legitimately competent backup quarterback who can step in and win games.
Daniel earned $41.8 million (per Spotrac.com) in his career despite making just five starts in 13 seasons for six franchises, all because he maximized his limited opportunities and ensured a long and financially fruitful run as a career backup.
Lock, a second-round pick in 2019 (No. 42 overall) by the Broncos, starred at Missouri like Daniel and is following in his path in more ways than one.
While he was just 8-13 in 21 starts over three seasons in Denver with 25 TDs and 20 INTs and not so great as a backup for the Giants in 2024 either, he’s rejuvenated his career now these last two weeks filling in for Darnold in Seattle.
Lock has completed 35 of 48 passes for 422 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs in helping the Seahawks to a 2-0 start.
With Darnold trending toward a likely return this week from his glute injury, that should be all Lock needs to show to set himself up for years of future contracts as one of the more well-paid backup QBs in the league.
He should, of course, pay Smith-Njigba a share of all those future earnings for helping make it happen.
NFL Week 2 Losers
Did We Jinx Caleb Williams And The Bears?!
Speaking of headlines that had a mighty short shelf life, we teased our Week 2 NFL preview column with the tagline “Who’s stopping the Bears?”
Whoops!
Worse, we went in-depth on the Bears being the only team in the NFL to never have a 4,000-yard passer and how that was sure to change this year with Caleb Williams primed for a monstrous season.
And then this happened …
While the injury in real-time looked far more serious than what it is now being termed — a grade 1 hamstring strain — and Williams is considered “week to week,” it still makes it look like we delivered a column jinx to Chicago and its QB.
We’ll be sure to monitor this in the coming weeks to make sure it’s not a trend.
(It’s been a rough week for Williams in more ways than one as he’s been the subject of mocking memes ever since looking like he was done for the season Sunday and pumping his fist to the fans like players do after devastating injuries, only to have a mild hamstring strain. Especially as Giants QB Jaxson Dart walked off the field on his own power despite sustaining a season-ending knee injury. But, hey, pulling a hamstring while running full speed hurts like hell and Williams had the same injury late in his Heisman season at USC, so cut him some slack.)
What’s Wrong With Drake Maye?
There were concerns after it was revealed Patriots quarterback Drake Maye played through an injured throwing shoulder in the Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks, but the assumption was he’d be full strength for the 2026 season.
Well, he’s passed for just 386 yards, 1 TD and 4 INTs through two games and simply hasn’t looked like the same player who came one first-place vote away from winning the MVP last season.
Judging by Patriots coach Mike Vrabel’s reaction to questions about Maye after the game Sunday, the situation may be a bigger concern than just being a slow start for the star QB.
Let’s blitz through the rest of the list with two more alliterative speed rounds, shall we?
Harbaugh Bros. In Hard Times, ‘Houston, We’ve Got A Problem’, Hopeless in Nashville?
The Harbaugh brothers couldn’t have had a worse week from a football standpoint …
Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers are 0-2 after losing the only favorable matchups on the first half of their schedule — to the Cardinals and Raiders — while staring down this gauntlet ahead …
Seriously, are they going to be 0-9 after winning 11 games and making the playoffs each of the last two years?
Meanwhile, all the momentum for John Harbaugh’s Giants after beating the Cowboys in his debut came to an abrupt end when second-year QB Dart sustained a season-ending knee injury Monday night that will require surgery.
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The Texans were a trendy Super Bowl pick after winning 10 straight games through the wildcard round of the playoffs last year and returning every key piece of one of the NFL’s best defenses.
So what has happened in Houston?
The Texans are 0-2 are losing that 36-31 shootout to Allen and the Bills and then the humbling 20-6 home loss to the Bengals in Week 2.
In that second game, Houston fumbled the snap/hold on a short field goal after driving to the Bengals’ 16, then had big running back addition David Montgomery get stuffed for a loss on fourth-and-1 from the Bengals’ 18 on its next possession, settle for a field goal after again driving inside the 20-yard line before stalling, later try for a failed 58-yard field goal and ultimately turn it over on downs two more times on its final possessions.
It’s early, but the Texans rank 21st in total defense (338.0 YPG) after finishing first last season (277.2).
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Is Titans quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, already a bust?
It’s surely too soon to say that, but the question will start getting asked.
Ward got a pass for his lackluster rookie campaign (3,169 passing yards, 15 TDs, 7 INTs, league-worst 55 sacks) because his coach was fired mid-season and the situation was less than ideal for a first-year QB all-around.
But what’s the excuse this year, with former Giants head coach and longtime NFL OC Brian Daboll hired to run the offense under new head coach Robert Saleh and a ton of assets spent to upgrade Ward’s offensive weapons?
In two games, Ward has passed for 140 yards and a TD in a 23-10 loss to the Jets and 183 yards and 0 passing TDs (but 2 rushing TDs) in a 24-20 loss to the Eagles.
Speaking off those offseason offensive upgrades, we said it in the moment that the four-year, $70-million contract for former Giants slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson looked like one of the worst free agent contracts of the year.
Welp, Robinson has 6 catches for 47 yards and 0 TDs through two games while No. 4 overall draft pick Carnell Tate has 7 catches for 65 yards and 0 TDs.
Rodgers Retirement Tour, Rough Results For Rush, Running Out Of Runway
Maybe Aaron Rodgers should have stayed in the ayahuasca cave after all rather than returning for a 22nd NFL season at 43 years old.
Through two games, Rodgers ranks 30th out of 32 NFL QBs in QBR (31.2), 29th in passer rating (72.1), 21st in passing yards (408) and 31st in yards per attempt (5.2) while throwing for 1 TD and 1 INT.
The 1-1 Steelers rank 30th in total offense (249.5 YPG) and 31st in scoring (11.5 PPG).
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Whatever Lock has done for his future earnings as a long-tenured NFL backup QB, Cooper Rush has done the opposite with his work in Atlanta this season.
Rush was on that track after going 9-5 in 14 starts over seven seasons with the Cowboys, with a fine 20-10 TD-INT tally, but whatever he had then he’s clearly lost.
After throwing 0 TDs and 4 INTs in losing two relief starts for the Ravens last season, Rush was unsigned until late in the summer when the QB-depleted Falcons picked him up. With Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. both sidelined to open the season, Rush started the first two games for Atlanta.
And he may well never start again in the NFL after throwing for a combined 229 yards, 1 TD and 4 INTs with a lost fumble.
Entering their Week 3 game Thursday at Green Bay, Atlanta remains the only team in the NFL that has yet to run a single play inside the red zone this season — just an incredible stat considering the Falcons have Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts.
Rush ranks dead-last in both QBR (5.2 … with the next-worst being Justin Herbert at 28.7) and passer rating (42.5).
Penix officially takes over as the Falcons’ starting QB Thursday night against the Packers, and Rush may want to learn the finer points of selling insurance.
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Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles topped our preseason NFL Head Coach Hot Seat Rankings and he remains in the pole position through two weeks, as the Buccaneers are 0-2 after losing to Deshaun Watson and the Browns in Week 2.
