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The first two Sundays of the NFL season were very entertaining. Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz, torn stars and future members of the Hall of Fame, Aaron Rodgers and JJ Watt missed most of the campaign with injuries on their own, 2018 delivered all sorts of tragedies for two weeks.
The numbers also reflect an entertaining product. In 2017, the league was criticized for its decline in scoring, supposed to reflect a shortage of young talent. It's hard to reconcile that with the creativity and the attacks you see in the Saturday game, and that has not been the case this season. The teams averaged 5.6 yards per game and 23.6 points per game, up considerably from 5.2 yards per game and 20.2 points per game they averaged a year earlier. . In 2013, the most successful season in the history of the league, fouls totaled 5.4 yards per game and 22.3 points per game in two weeks. The offenses are fine.
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While some are frustrated by two draws in two weeks, we have also seen some close games. Sixteen of the 31 games played so far have been decided by seven points or less, which is slightly higher than the average of 14.7 recorded since the league went to its current structure in 2002. In 2017, There were only 10 games of this type. , which was the lowest in the league during this period.
Nobody would say that the league is perfect, but we see an entertaining NFL. Let's take a look at some of the players and why Week 2 was a great one, starting with the most beautiful individual star in the league right now …
Go to a player / team: Mahomes | Rams & # 39; D | Fitzpatrick | Davis | Bortles | Browns | Barkley | Green | Sarkisian | Rodgers
I wrote a lot about the debut of Mahomes last week and after a day of six touchdowns against the Steelers, he must be the league's MVP in two weeks. Historical landmarks are stratospheric. Mahomes is the first player to make six touchdown passes in one of his first five games as a pro. He is the first quarterback in league history to make 10 touchdown passes in his first three games, even though Mahomes did not start a pass in his career debut last week.
The Chiefs went down a bit more in terms of concepts on Sunday, but honestly, the first week was more exotic than what we saw from Andy Reid & Co. at Week 2, at least before the release of the All-22s. The Steelers simply do not have the horses to follow the best arsenal of weapons in the league. Travis Kelce had a huge game, a sad sign that the Steelers still do not have a substitute for Ryan Shazier and that they will cover tight goals like Kelce and Rob Gronkowski. He absolutely burned linebackers Jon Bostic and Vince Williams and was a mismatch with Sean Davis. The offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy does an excellent job with the diversity of formations and possesses weapons capable of playing against stereotypes. The Chiefs are comfortable going out with several tight turns, keeping everyone in their arms, and using the threat of sweeping the jets to open the passing lanes. They are also quite capable of spreading teams and using the mobility of Mahomes to escape the pocket or run with Kareem Hunt against a reduced box with the help of a shotgun.
Competitors received wake-up calls on Sunday, while the Eagles, Pats and Steelers were all in the loss column. The NFL Nation breaks down on week 2.
The latest of all the great injuries of our NFL Nation reporters, including the prognosis on every player for week 3 and beyond.
Darnold was not great in a defeat on Sunday, but he remains the best bet as a successor to Tom Brady AFC East. No pressure, Sam.
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They had their most explosive success by diluting the Steelers. Reid laid the peloton horizontally to isolate Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins on the fades and backhands of the shoulder against Artie Burns, who probably had less help than Cameron Sutton, who started for Joe Haden , hurt. Burns was not able to face a one-on-one, but to be honest, few halfbacks in the league will be able to keep up with that kind of speed while trying to maintain the integrity of the race on the edge. There is also intense pressure to attack these guys in free field, which is going to be a monumental task as the team is speeding up this receiving corps. Watkins had his first 100-yard game and could have added a 39-yard touchdown, but Mahomes had his only bad defeat of the day before throwing a touchdown pass to Kelce three times later. The Steelers had the right to play on third and final pressure and passed a simple swing pass to Hunt, but the star simply crushed rookie Terrell Edmunds en route to the end zone.
If you are a defensive coordinator looking to stop Mahomes and this boss attack, I advise you to pressure the NFL to change your schedule in 2023 or more. At the very least, try to find a time slot in November or December so that you can at least see everything they do on tape. We still have not seen the Chiefs tackle big pieces of land with Hunt or Mahomes. When this happens, you may just want to quit and wait until your team hires Bieniemy to become a coach.
In fact, there are ways in which teams attack leaders, although it will be difficult. The right-wing defense will be able to give up seven goals and pressure with its top four, as the pressure has dramatically reduced Mahomes' effectiveness through two games. When the teams did not bother the second-year quarter, he scored 151.9 for the league's best passer, completing 78.9% of his passes, averaging 11 yards per attempt and nine touchdowns. . When the teams are under pressure, Mahomes' passersby drops to 101.6%, mainly because he only makes 47.1% of his shots. Mahomes is incredibly smooth in the pocket, which is a testament to the work he has done in practice, but when teams are bothering him, we see the mercury of Mahomes, of Texas Tech, reappear.
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Patrick Mahomes occupies Pittsburgh with six touchdown passes and now has a record 10 NFL wins in his first two weeks of the season.
The teams must also try to go to third place, where they can be sure to see a pass and rush to the quarter. The problem is to get there. Mahomes has an average of 11.3 yards per lap on the first lap and 10.5 yards on the second lap time, so most of the time he'll throw the ball. In third place, while Mahomes scored 120.8 for smugglers, he has only five passes out of 52 for 52 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per loss and a QBR of 40.3.
The teams will eventually create takeaway items. He can reveal which side of the field he is going to go with his eyes immediately after the slam, and although there may be two or three terrifying options on this side of the field, great security measures will be able to read the opportunities and make games. He has not yet intercepted, although Chris Conley fumbled for the first Kansas City business figure.
Do not get me wrong, though: it's not a fluke of two weeks. Unless there is a collapse of the offensive line or serious injury to attacking talent, Mahomes and the Chiefs offense are real. He does not go on average five touchdowns per game, of course, but Mahomes is at the helm of the NFL's best offense. It's a pleasure to watch.
The defensive dominance of the Rams
In the first half of their Monday Night Football match against Rams' new defense, Jon Gruden's Raiders seemed to have come up with a strategy that could work against a unit built around inner disrupters and tight turns . Oakland went with bigger packs, ran the football, and threw tight wing Jared Cook, who racked up 113 yards en route to a 180-yard day. The Raiders escaped their game plan in the second half, leading the Rams into a dominant race that did not let go Sunday in the win over the Cardinals.
In the last six quarters, the Rams have been absolutely incredible in defense. They allowed zero points, but that does not tell you everything. More than 16 possessions, the Rams allowed the Raiders and Cardinals to reap only 11 first tries. These two offenses generated more than a first time only twice, in both cases, during the last race of each game. These 16 properties generated only 244 yards, an average of just over 15 yards per trip.
To put it in context, the Cardinals did not overtake the midfield and took an offensive decision on the Los Angeles side until the final game of the game on Sunday. No team played an entire match with only one slam on the offensive side of the field as the Giants failed to beat the 50s, even once against the Saints on Christmas Eve in 2006. The attack on Arizona could be really awful. started the year by qualifying 4-for-20 in third place and scoring the fewest points (six) in his first two games of a team over the past decade – but Sam Bradford & Co. never seemed to threaten Los Angeles.
What is scary for the opponents is that the Rams do not even win what we could have imagined defensively before the season. They have just two bags on 69 dropbacks through two games. Neither has come from Aaron Donald, who does not have a single quarterback or tackle for the loss through two games. Los Angeles has four interceptions in two games, but it has not yet forced the score. What happens when Donald starts to join the quarterback?
The schedule becomes harder for the Rams over the next two weeks, with home games against powerful Chargers and Vikings attacks, though Philip Rivers and Kirk Cousins could be intercepted. They have games on the road against the Seahawks and the Broncos afterwards, faults whose lines will struggle to keep up with LA While the Rams have added big names to this season, they took the sixth defense of the DVOA on the fly. Until now, it has been fun to see Wade Phillips' units smother the opposing offenses.
Ryan Fitzpatrick airs (and keeps his job?)
I was much more skeptical about Fitzpatrick after a glorious performance against the Saints in the first game and, well, "FitzMagic" basically produced a carbon copy of that game against the Eagles during the second week. He will be away for most of the week, but after breaking through the concussion protocol, he made his return to the lineup and scored on a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first scrimmage game. Just as was the case against the Saints, a successful veteran defense blew up his cover on the long score, with Malcolm Jenkins taking responsibility for "an inexcusable error" leaving the post.
Later in the first half, the Eagles did another one. Nigel Bradham failed in a dive attempt to break a pass to O.J. Howard, and after Ronald Darby blew on a virtually non-existent tackle attempt, Howard went up for another 75-yard touchdown. As noted by Bo Wulf, the Eagles allowed more games over 70 yards in the first half of this game than during the entire 2017 season.
The credit should also go to the infrastructure around Fitzpatrick. Dirk Koetter entrusted Todd Monken with his barrel-room duties, which has been an excellent offensive spirit for more than a decade in university programs, before turning south to the Mississippi and joining the Bucs. Monken takes shots at the right time, and even if the Bucs are not going to accumulate several long touchdowns per week, he takes full advantage of the talents of his guys and creates good individual lags.
The Tampa offensive line has also improved a lot, and it shows. Fitzpatrick is making relatively deep passes, but he has only been under pressure on just 17.4% of his spinoffs this season, the league's second-lowest rate. While Mahomes was strong enough under pressure, Fitzpatrick collapsed when the teams joined him. The Harvard graduate earned a mark of 150.2 while he was not disturbed for two weeks, but his pass mark dropped to 64.2 in case of pressure.
What is even more remarkable is that Fitzpatrick really did this without benefit of any sort of racing game. Peyton Barber could collect just 22 passing yards in 16 races on Sunday and has only accumulated 2.6 yards per race so far, with two first tries on 35 races. As huge games regress to the average, the Bucs can continue their attack by finding a faster attack.
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Ryan Fitzpatrick maintains his good start by throwing four touchdowns for four receivers.
The fascinating question now, of course, is what the Buccaneers are doing after their match of week 3 at home with the Steelers without a win. Jameis Winston will be eligible to return from his suspension, but how on earth can you get Fitzpatrick out of the lineup when he plays well? I do not doubt that the Buccaneers will eventually return to Winston during the season, but is there a race to replace Fitzpatrick? If they bring Winston now and that he's struggling, can they resist the calls from the Bucs fan base – and the locker room – to return to Fitzpatrick? Would they be wrong? Fitzpatrick, 35, is not the quarterback of Tampa, but given Winston's repulsive behavior off the field, should he participate in this conversation?
These are two huge victories in the bank for the Buccaneers, who seemed to start the year 0-3 given their schedule. Instead, after entering the season with a 6.8 percent chance of making the playoffs, the Bucs are at 53.9 percent. Even if Fitzpatrick becomes a well-educated pumpkin, he could have done enough to inspire Tampa in his first playoff series since 2007.
There is no joy in putting an end to a player's career, although Davis may have created a new definition to retire after what happened on Sunday. The former Colts star was inactive during the first week after signing a $ 5 million contract with the Bills for a year. Pushed into the lineup in the second week against the Chargers, he battled 29 clicks in the first period before making the unthinkable. Davis apparently made the decision to retire from football, leaving the stadium at half-time before post a curiously long farewell on Twitter hours later.
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You can not blame Davis for having progressed if the 30-year-old felt like he could not physically follow younger players, and the Bills had been beaten 75-9 over six quarters, there was not much entertainment. value to stick around. I have so many questions about it. Did he leave his game notebook and equipment, or did he just drive out of his car passing confused stadium employees? Did Davis take Powerades for the road? Did the Bills make a call at halftime and realized that Vontae was not there? Did he dishonor everyone on the list of social media bills while he was walking towards his car? Nothing seemed simultaneously more spontaneous and more calculated than retiring at the half-time of a football game in which you play. It even brought joy to Philip Rivers.
The bills are a disaster, even beyond Davis's retirement. Coach Sean McDermott denied defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier the half-time hitter, which seems harsh as Frazier's defense faced five possessions on his side of the pitch in the first six quarters of the season. the season. The defense almost shut down the Chargers after half-time, with Rivers & Co. scoring only 61 yards on six runs, but the Chargers were already at 28-6 at half-time. 178 yards with three touchdowns.
Josh Allen looked much more like an NFL quarterback than Nathan Peterman and had a long (ironically) finish on Zay Jones, but the Bills first-round pick picked up five sacks and was knocked down eight times in his first career. beginning. His next two games will be played against Vikings and Packers. Bills are posted as neglected 16.5 points in Minnesota. No season should be over after two weeks, but it is already felt that Buffalo is playing the rope before the 2019 offseason.
The Jaguars had their revenge. After spending the entire off season missing their missed opportunity to beat the Patriots and advance to the Super Bowl LII, the Jaguars defeated the defending AFC champions for 60 minutes in Jacksonville on Sunday and claimed what turned out to be a pretty complete victory. And they did it in a match in which Bortles far exceeded Tom Brady.
Bortles had great games before, of course, but they were mostly against the mediocre competition. Even in the playoff win against the Steelers, his performance was more about picking up the first few games and big games than the attack. He had only 214 yards in the game and, while he was 293 yards against the Patriots the following week, the Jaguars did not have enough confidence in Bortles to put him in the fourth quarter.
It changed Sunday. As Warren Sharp noted on Twitter during the off seasonThe Jaguars were remarkably conservative and predictable in the fourth quarter of the Patriots' loss, allowing the Patriots to return to the game. I mentioned on SportsCenter this week that the Jaguars have ranked seventh in the league in yards per attempt since the start of 2017 when they left Bortles in first place, and if they wanted to keep the Patriots' defense on the ground , their best tactic was to throw the ball
In a certain way, the absence of Leonard Fournette as a crutch would have forced the Jaguars to throw the ball more frequently. No matter why they did it, however, Jacksonville was one step ahead of the Patriots all day first. New England has been much talked about and forced Bortles to pass to a group of unnamed receivers, but Keelan Cole has become a known player by making one of the catch of the season. a runway in a 61-yard touchdown pass to give the Jags a critical margin of maneuver in the fourth quarter.
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Blake Bortles reacts to the Jaguars' victory over the Patriots and says that if they do not make mistakes, they have a chance to win every game.
In total, Bortles made 13 of her first 19 tries for 204 yards with three touchdowns, 10 first tries and a score of 143.4. The former first round pick had never played more than 175 yards in first place in a Jaguars victory before. Cole, Westbrook and Corey Grant – both of them being unrealized free agents – played a key role in moving the chains.
And although Bortles had the well-deserved history of producing more impressive numbers than his current level of play, UCF's product was as good if not better than its Sunday numbers. His only interception was a pass in the tight cover that has always hit Austin Seferian-Jenkins in the hands. Despite defeat by left striker Cam Robinson early in the game, Bortles was self-conscious to avoid being fired.
Bortles also converted three-thirds midfielder with his feet as a jammer, reaching a quarter-ahead before the Jags decided to qualify for a false start in the third quarter on the New England side. That was the only misstep for Jacksonville decision-making and calls to broadcast Sunday. (The Jags may have decided to go later in the game clock, but their pre-snap movements suggested that their alignment was probably a posture.)
Bortles lost Robinson and did not have Fournette, but he was also helped by two Patriots injuries. Trey Flowers and Patrick Chung both left the match with concussions, and neither one nor the other was particularly well replaced. The Patriots did not make a collar without Flowers, while the Jaguars took Duron Harmon in the absence of Chung.
The natural follow-up to the Jaguars after their biggest win in the regular season since the Steelers win last year will be to avoid emotional disappointment after defeating the Patriots. I am not sure that emotional disappointment is a real thing. In the last five years, leaving aside Week 17, the teams that beat the Patriots in the regular season went from 9 to 6 the following week. The Jaguars will face the Titans next week in a showdown in which they could launch one of the best defensive lines in the league against an offensive front of the defeated Titans and former quarterback Jaguars Blaine Gabbert. Afterwards, they get the Jets at home. There is a reasonable chance that the Jaguars will take a 4-0 start before leaving to face the Chiefs in a fascinating match of the 5th week. Jalen Ramsey would have a hard time finding a flaw in the Mahomes game these days. It would also be hard to find a loophole in what Bortles did on Sunday.
The Browns are this near to be 2-0
The Browns were very sad for the vast majority of their 0-16 campaign last season. They started two quarter-only races with a winning expectation of 51% or more all season. The results are not yet at the rendezvous, but the Browns have accumulated memorable moments in the fourth quarter of their first two games in 2018 compared to 2017. In fact, the Browns are a good player in its own right. the biggest surprises of the league at 2-0.
Kicker Zane Gonzalez may soon be the ex-kicker of Cleveland, the harsh reality of a two-game brutal period. One of the few Sashi Brown plan holders to have been spared by new general manager John Dorsey, the Arizona State product was below average for goals and extra points as a rookie, but the Browns were Have only been competing with Gonzalez this summer.
In the first game of the season, Gonzalez made his goal attempt on a 43-yard field, blocked in overtime by the Steelers. He hit three extra points in the midst of bad weather in Cleveland. In the friendly boundaries of the Superdome against the Saints on Sunday, Gonzalez was unlucky. He scored two goals for 39 yards but missed two goals and two more points, including what would have been an extra point with 1:24 left and a goal of 52 yards to force the extra time with eight seconds of play. go.
By added win probability, the Browns kicker actually did not realize the worst performance of the day. This particular ignominy belonged to the Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson, who missed three field goals – including two overtime winners – at the 29-29 Packers-Vikings game. Since Dorsey has not invested anything in Gonzalez and Dan Bailey continues to pretend to be a free agent, it would be a shock to see the Browns resist the urge to upgrade an easy scapegoat to Gonzalez.
To be fair, Gonzalez takes more reproach for what he deserves. Whether at 18-18 or missing, the Saints marched on the Browns field for 50 yards in the last two games to be within reach. In any case, they should have scored a touchdown, but Drew Brees missed two shots on second and second.
What is exciting and fun for the Browns is the way they compete with each other. Tyrod Taylor struggled enough during the first two weeks to get some reasonable calls for Baker Mayfield, but the former Bills quarterback responded with a superb 47-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Callaway in fourth and fifth place to push the Browns to what appeared to be a magnificent lead. After the Saints kicked off the field, Taylor continued with 41 yards on two games to score a 52-yard goal.
We also see an impressive defensive line forming from Brown's latest draft with the team in 2017. Myles Garrett has already been touted as a burgeoning star and has had two bags with two forced fumbles in the first match, but one of the defensive line players In 2018, Larry Ogunjobi, who performed two weeks, inflicted constant damage to one of the league's best offensive lines on Sunday. After grabbing a sack in the first match, Ogunjobi made two sacks for 21 yards, a third of which was penalized with an illegal contact penalty. He also threw a third and something from Mike Gillislee to force a kick. It is much easier to find a kicker than to find an inner disruptor. The Browns may be ruining their kicker game, but it was the kind of performance that actually bodes their future.
Saquon Barkley is awesome (but the Giants' offense is not it)
In two weeks, Barkley has succeeded in satisfying believers who believe the Penn State player's talent should allow him to transcend modern beliefs about runners and skeptics who think the Giants do not have the infrastructure to Barkley succeed. His 68-yard touchdown in the first game was a matter of magic, the kind of race the Giants could never have imagined with a blue uniform since Tiki Barber. Barkley also missed the first tackle as much as any other football player; Il y a eu une prise dimanche contre les Cowboys, où le deuxième choix a réussi à transformer ce qui aurait dû être une perte significative en gain de 9 verges en cassant un plaquage et en tombant au-dessus de son éventuel plaqueur.
L'attaque des Giants a également réussi à réduire Barkley à Theo Riddick, et même si Riddick est un joueur utile, il ne vaut pas le coup. Barkley a cette course de 68 verges, mais autrement, ses 28 courses ont produit seulement 66 verges et six premiers essais. Lorsque les Giants ont été confrontés à une situation de quatrième et de pouce au début du match, ils ont choisi de sauter au lieu de remettre le ballon au joueur que leur directeur général a dit "… a été béni par Dieu" en avril. Sur deux essais ultérieurs, Pat Shurmur a curieusement choisi d’utiliser Eli Manning lors de ses premières conversions depuis 2010. Je pense que même Eli dirait que si sa vitesse avait été bénie par une divinité, elle serait qualifié de cruel. Même si vous voulez faire confiance à Barkley pour avoir distrait les joueurs de ligne des Manning, il est remarquable que les Giants ne lui aient pas donné le ballon au quatrième et au plus bas du match.
Au cours de l'attaque, Barkley a joué un rôle décisif pour Manning lorsque le passeur de 37 ans a inévitablement été touché. Barkley a 16 attrapés au cours de deux semaines, y compris un 14 Perte de 20-13 dimanche contre les Cowboys. Ces 14 réceptions n’ont duré que 80 verges, ce qui est plus efficace qu’une course, mais moins efficace qu’à peu près tous les types de passe. Ces 14 cibles n'ont produit que deux premiers essais, et ces 80 verges sont les moins nombreuses pour un match de 14 réceptions dans l'histoire de la ligue.
Ce n'est pas la faute de Barkley. Il est assez clair que les Giants opèrent avec une main attachée dans le dos à cause de leur ligne offensive, et sans surprise, attaquer Ereck Flowers apparaît comme le plus gros problème. Il a été un fouillis contre Calais Campbell et les Jaguars au cours de la première semaine, se faisant battre pour un sac dès le premier match et prendre deux pénalités avant d’autoriser une pression qui a créé le pick-six de Myles Jack.
Pour être juste, Flowers a eu un meilleur match contre la star des Cowboys DeMarcus Lawrence dimanche. Flowers restait en dehors de la feuille de statistiques et le sac de Lawrence n'était pas directement contre Flowers. Par contre, les Giants ont aidé les Fleurs tout au long de la nuit, ce qui a ouvert des possibilités ailleurs sur la ligne. Les Giants ont lutté vigoureusement contre les rebondissements et les cascades, ne parvenant pas à diagnostiquer les matchs de Dallas et à laisser Manning ouvert aux rushes libres et aux gros succès. Dallas a limogé Manning six fois, marquant la première fois depuis 2014 que le démarreur de longue date des Giants a été limogé six fois ou plus.
Les choses ne vont pas aller mieux bientôt. Le centre de départ Jon Halapio a été expulsé dans une distribution aérienne, alors qu'aucun des partants 2017 au pivot ne reste sur l'alignement. Weston Richburg a signé un contrat avec les 49ers et Brett Jones a été envoyé aux Vikings pour un choix de septième ronde en 2019. Fleurs obtient J.J. Watt la semaine prochaine et Cameron Jordan la semaine suivante. Barkley va devoir faire ses propres trous dans un avenir prévisible.
Alors que les Bengals ont pris une surprise 2-0 avec des victoires consécutives de 34-23 sur les Colts et les Ravens, Green a connu un début d'année étrangement divertissant. Si vous jouez au football de fantaisie, vous savez quel impact a eu le star-out. Il a remporté quelques affrontements avant la fin de la soirée de jeudi en récoltant trois touchés lors de la première mi-temps, un exploit qui n’avait pas été accompli depuis que Dwayne Allen l’a fait pour les Colts en décembre 2016. jeux après en avoir accumulé huit il y a un an. Il compte 161 verges de réception pour un appel d’interférence de 36 verges. Green a également échappé deux fois au match des Colts, égalant son total de 2017.
Quietly, the Bengals are suddenly favorites to make it to the postseason, having upped their playoff odds per the ESPN Football Power Index from 19.7 percent before the season to 57.1 percent now. Their offense is full of weapons even after losing Joe Mixon to arthroscopic knee surgery, and while they'll need to find a power back to rotate alongside Gio Bernard, the North Carolina product should be playing behind a much-improved offensive line. While the Giants are stuck starting Flowers at right tackle, the Bengals have enjoyed the luxury of benching first-round bust Cedric Ogbuehi, in part because their starter at right tackle is Bobby Hart, whom the Giants released for disciplinary reasons in December.
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Matt Ryan connects with Calvin Ridley and Austin Cooper on two passing touchdowns and adds a pair of rushing scores to his day.
Steve Sarkisian's bounce-back game
One week after the Falcons stunk up the joint in the red zone and exasperated Falcons fans took to social media to call for Sarkisian's ouster, Atlanta won its game against Carolina by doing work inside the 20. The Falcons made four trips inside the 20 and scored touchdowns each time during Sunday's 31-24 victory over Carolina. Atlanta only accomplished that once during two seasons under Kyle Shanahan as its offensive coordinator. Shanahan's 49ers, it might be noted, have scored 36 points on nine red zone trips so far this season. The Falcons and Sarkisian have scored … 35 points on their nine red zone trips through two weeks.
Quarterbacks have stayed healthy
There has certainly been controversy surrounding the league's overzealous enforcement of roughing the passer penalties, but one of the early results has been a healthy set of quarterbacks. While several quarterbacks have either taken big hits (like Cam Newton Sunday) or missed snaps due to injury (like Aaron Rodgers), the only quarterback to miss a start with a new injury through two weeks is Marcus Mariota in Tennessee, who sat out on Sunday after struggling to grip the football during warm-ups.
The Titans lined up Blaine Gabbert behind a pair of backup offensive tackles and still won against Houston, a testament to some truly inspired weird football. Tennessee's opening touchdown came on a 66-yard touchdown pass from safety Kevin Byard to gunner Dane Cruikshank on a fake punt in which the Texans inexplicably left Cruikshank uncovered and wide-open on the line of scrimmage. Their second touchdown came with a heavy dosage of Derrick Henry as a Wildcat quarterback, including a completed pass from the Heisman Trophy winner, who hadn't thrown a pass since going 2-for-9 during his time at Yulee High School in Florida. The Titans would eventually win with two field goals, the second of which came at the end of a drive in which Gabbert deliberately threw two forward passes on the same play to save five yards and a down.
There's clearly some sort of balance to be found on the roughing the passer calls, with questionable decisions levied against Carlos Dunlap in Week 1 and Clay Matthews on Sunday, among others. The league also deserves credit for getting aggressive in ejecting players such as Shawn Williams and Damontae Kazee for brutal hits on sliding quarterbacks. After a year in which too many star quarterbacks went down injured, though, the league rightfully is taking efforts to keep as many of its franchise passers on the field.
While Rodgers clearly isn't 100 percent as he makes his way through games in a massive knee brace, we're seeing just how incredible the future Hall of Famer is at using pure arm strength and a modicum of scrambling to try to simulate the full Rodgers experience. Rodgers on Sunday showed off both what he's capable of doing and where he needs help to keep the Packers up to their usual standards on offense.
After Rodgers ripped apart the Bears in the second half with quick throws and big plays with yards after catch last Sunday night, Mike Zimmer and the Vikings responded by focusing on limiting what the Packers could do after the catch. Green Bay averaged 4.3 YAC on Sunday, down significantly from the Randall Cobb-aided 8.4 YAC from Monday night. With Rodgers throwing 41 of his 42 passes from the pistol or shotgun, the Packers were able to get Rodgers a quick survey of the field before popping his hips to fit the ball into a tight window.
Once the field began to compress and the threat of YAC wasn't quite as concerning, though, the Vikings stiffened up. Rodgers was 3-of-6 for just 19 yards in the red zone, although a 19-yard touchdown pass he threw to Jimmy Graham was called back for a holding penalty on Lane Taylor. The Packers ran the ball two times inside the 20 for just minus-1 yard, which simply has to change. Green Bay can take pressure off its star quarterback by running effectively inside the red zone, and it might need to look toward the returning Aaron Jones to make an impact on the ground here.
As a result of the red zone struggles, Mason Crosby was called upon to kick seven field goals. He hit six of them, but one of them was iced away before Crosby's only miss, which pushed the game into overtime. There, on the edge of field goal range after a Carlson miss with a second-and-1, Rodgers fell on a bad snap for a loss of one. On the next play, he was sacked on a five-man pressure that pushed the Packers out of field goal range. Rodgers never touched the ball again in the 29-29 tie.
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