Week 2 NFL Quick Hits

Oakland @ Buffalo - It's nice that the Bills are 2-0 at this point. Ryan Fitzpatrick looks like a legitimate NFL quarterback and Buffalo knows that they may have to pay up soon. Fred Jackson rushed for another 100 yards and the Bills offense looked as though they have made huge strides. Not everything was great, though, and cornerback Leodis McKelvin got absolutely abused by rookie Denarius Moore. In a game where the Raiders were missing Darius Heyward-Bey, Jacoby Ford, Louis Murphy, and Kevin Boss it is really a marvel that they held their own in this game. The Bills kept Darren McFadden in check (20 rushes, 72 yards, one fumble) and Marcell Dareus is looking like he will be a terror in the league (though he only had four uneventful tackles he did clog the middle all day).

Kansas City @ Detroit - This game gave us the biggest news of the young season: Jamaal Charles is done for the year with a torn ACL. Charles is one of the more underrated running backs in the NFL (unless you play fantasy football it's likely that you only recognize him from SportsCenter highlights) and it is an absolutely devastating loss for Kansas City. Without Charles and Eric Berry on the defensive side this team is absolutely in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. Keep an eye on their week 5 in Indianapolis, the loser of that game may be Andrew Luck's future home. What can I really say about Detroit? No other team, including my Patriots, has looked as complete and and intimidating as the Lions. Matt Stafford got through another game with his health and Calvin Johnson was just an unfair matchup for Brandon Flowers (6'5'', 236 lbs. vs 5'9'' 187 lbs.). All of the preseason hype that the Lions had generated seems to be justified and if they keep this up they may even keep pace with Green Bay for the NFC North.

Chicago @ New Orleans - I watched this game live and man, was it ugly. Jay Cutler was rushed, hit, and sacked on what seemed to be every play, especially in the fourth quarter. By the end it seemed like the Bears offense had just given up, Cutler couldn't even take a step back without having three or four Saints on or around him. Matt Forte looked great, again, and if the Bears are dumb enough to let him walk then they deserve the years of offensive ineptitude that will follow. The Saints rebounded this week and Drew Brees looked fantastic, ho-hum. Two things for New Orleans' offense caught my eye, though: the first was just how fast Devery Henderson still is. He torched the Bears secondary on his 79 yard touchdown reception and with Colston out he may be the best receiver the Saints have. Second, Jiimmy Graham is a monster and a tough matchup but I honestly don't know if I saw him break a single tackle. Sure, he ran over some guys, but the first contact always seemed to bring him down, which is strange for someone who is 6'6'' and 260 lbs.

Cleveland @ Indianapolis - I joked with Bryan earlier in the week that it would be an accomplishment if Kerry Collins broke 200 yards this week and then he went out and threw for 191. It's not funny when you actually go out and prove me right, Kerry. I touched on the "Suck for Luck" Bowl in week five but that seems to be all the Colts will have to play for. Dallas Clark is a fantastic pass catcher but now that he has been forced into a blocking role it highlights just how poor he is in protection. Indy is an absolute tire fire right now and I'll admit that it's going to be a struggle to talk about them over the next few weeks. On the flip side, Cleveland doesn't look too bad. Colt McCoy just seems to always do enough to win the game or Peyton Hillis looked a lot better this week. I do have to question some of the playcalling, though, particularly the fake to Hillis that ended up as a run with Owen Marecic. I get it, it's a trick play, but it's not cute when you actually give the ball to the inferior player. Then again, they could have run Marecic about 50 times and stayed in the game if they didn't win it outright.

Tampa Bay @ Minnesota - The Bucs were down late in this game and on the verge of going 0-2, thus making my preseason Super Bowl pick all but go down the crapper. Adrian Peterson ran all over the Tampa Bay defense to the tune of 120 yards and two touchdowns. Donovan McNabb played okay but the Bucs just kept chipping away and found themselves back into the game. LeGarrette Blount was completely ineffective in the first half and with all of the dumpoffs to Earnest Graham it seemed that he was going to finish the day with another ugly statline (five carries for four yards with a long of seven, it was as though he was running backwards). He finished the day with only 71 yards but the two touchdowns proved to be the difference and kudos to Raheem Morris for not yanking him after falling behind 17 - 0. Josh Freeman did all of the heavy lifting, though, by getting his team into scoring position and throwing a beautiful pass to Arrelious Benn. They still have a ways to go, though.

Green Bay @ Carolina - This one was a lot of fun. For the first half it seemed as though Cam Newton was going to light up the scoreboard and the Panthers defense had the Packers confused. Even though the Pack came back and won it seemed like Aaron Rodgers and his receivers were a bit off on timing. However, Rodgers brought his team back and didn't make any mistakes. Newton threw three interceptions, including two to Charles Woodson, but once again he had over 400 yards and the Panthers seem to have morphed into a high octane passing offense (DeAngelo Williams only had five carries and Jonathan Stewart had six, while Newton ran 10 times). The Packers proved why they are the reigning champs but I have to say that the Panthers were the far more exciting team on Sunday and should continue to be a fun watch throughout the year.

Seattle @ Pittsburgh - Yuck. Everyone saw this one coming, considering that the Steelers were in a bad mood after getting blown out by the Ravens last week. I'll keep the Seahawks side brief because there isn't a whole lot to say. Tarvaris Jackson completed 69% of his passes (20/29) for 159 yards. T-Jax is a running joke between Bryan and I and once again it was just another Sunday for the Seattle starter. Marshawn Lynch averaged 1.8 yards per carry but that is about what you can expect with the Seahawks' O-Line against the Steelers. So now let's talk about the team from this game that actually belongs in the NFL. Ben Roethlisberger was much better and his injury doesn't seem to be serious. Big Ben is great, but I think Mike Wallace made him look a bit better in this game. Wallace hauled in eight passes for 126 yards and a touchdown and did his best Denarius Moore impersonation. As for the Steelers defense, well, did you expect anything less?

Baltimore @ Tennessee - If I had told you that Chris Johnson would run the ball 24 times for 53 yards and get booed by his hometown crowd and the Titans would win, you probably would have laughed at me. That's exactly what happened, though, and the main reason for that was Kenny Britt. He had nine catches for 135 yards and a very physical touchdown catch. Javon Ringer had a score but don't expect him to take Johnson's job, Ray Lewis said in an interview after the game that Baltimore's gameplay was to stop #28. If Matt Hasselbeck can have some more games like this one throughout the year then the Titans may be able to stay close to the Houston Texans. As for the Ravens, this seems like a typical Baltimore game. After getting revved up and dismantling Pittsburgh last week they came out flat and struggled just to move the ball on offense. Joe Flacco only completed 47% of his passes and the running game never got going.

Arizona @ Washington - This is a game that the Redskins dominated. Time of possession wasn't close (38:30 to 21:30), total yardage was a blowout (455 to 324), but somehow the Cardinals only lost by one. Larry Fitzgerald exploded in the game, having seven catches for 133 yards including a 73-yard touchdown. Basically all that Kevin Kolb has to do is get the ball to Fitz and good things will happen, including almost winning a game that they had no business being in. Beanie Wells rushed 14 times for 93 yards and Tim Hightower rushed 20 times for 96 yards in a showdown of last year's Arizona backfield. Keep an eye on Roy Helu for Washington, he rushed 10 times for 74 yards.

Jacksonville @ NY Jets - This one was up there with the Pittsburgh/Seattle game in terms of ugliness. Luke McCown had a 1.8 QB rating and looked downright awful. The Jags got a glimpse into the future with Blaine Gabbert coming in relief (well, the future is this weekend) and completing five of his six passes in garbage time. Even with Maurice Jones-Drew I doubt the Jags will be anything more than cellar dwellers in the AFC South (someone has to keep Indy company). The big news on the Jets' side was the injury to Nick Mangold, who is out 2-3 weeks "at a minimum" with a high right ankle sprain. It may even be longer than that and it's a major hit for a team that is struggling to establish its running game. Then again, how much of that is the line and how much of it is Shonn Greene? Greene ran the ball 16 times for 49 yards and so far this year he has looked more "cow" than "bell cow."


Dallas @ San Francisco - The Cowboys are dropping like flies. Dez Bryant did not play, Miles Austin may be out until the team's bye week in week five, Felix Jones has a separated shoulder, and you all know by now that Tony Romo didn't just have a fractured rib, but also a punctured lung. That's just the offensive side of the ball, too, because on defense Terence Newman (groin), Mike Jenkins (shoulder), and Orlando Scandrick (ankle) are dealing with injuries, leaving the defensive backfield of Dallas a mess. At any rate, though, the Cowboys came back and won with Romo being a major part of that. Jon Kitna came in relief and threw two interceptions so it was obvious that Dallas wasn't going to win the game unless something drastic happened (that "something drastic" being reality TV star Jesse Holley). Dallas did out-gain San Fran 472-206 in total yardage and Alex Smith looked like, well, Alex Smith (16-24, 179 yards, two touchdowns and an interception). The 49ers have to find someone in the universe who is a better quarterback or they're going to be spinning their tires in the 7-9/8-8 range in terms of record for the foreseeable future.

Cincinatti @ Denver - Andy Dalton threw for 332 yards. Let that sink in for a moment because it blew Bryan's mind. Jerome Simpson had four catches for 136 yards but Dalton has discovered that throwing the ball to A.J. Green is a great way to boost one's stats (10 catches, 124 yards and a touchdown). I was kind of shocked to see Dalton lighting things up but he is the first quarterback since Dan Marino to have a QB rating of more than 100 in his first two starts as a rookie. Denver let Tim Tebow in the game as a wide receiver and there was much fanfare. That pretty much sums of the Broncos' side of the game. No, but really, Eric Decker looked great and Kyle Orton may have found the guy to throw the ball to if he wants to endear himself to the Denver fans.

San Diego @ New England - Tom Brady, seeing that Cam Newton had once again thrown for 400 yards, decided he wanted to keep pace. So he did. Brady looked great once again and he will have to keep it up because it looks like the Patriots defense is going to have a lot of trouble slowing anyone down. Aaron Hernandez suffered a MCL sprain that may keep him out more than a month so it's a good thing that Patriots have Rob Gronkowski (and I guess this means we'll see Gronk^2 with his brother Dan  getting more playing time). Zoltan Mesko, the Patriots' punter, was also injured and with him out the Patriots decided go for it on fourth down near midfield. The Chargers were their own worst enemy on this day, though, with four turnovers, including three from Philip Rivers (two interceptions and a fumble) that ended up being the likely difference. Vincent Jackson showed just why he is a near impossible matchup for any defensive back with 10 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautiful one arm catch that he just snatched out of the air.

Houston @ Miami - Chad Henne threw for 416 yards against the Patriots and then went out and threw for 170. That's pretty much the Chad Henne experience and it's likely that he's going to be this maddening for Dolphins fans as long as he is the starter. The good news is that Brandon Marshall was great once again and the bad news is that there is now a running back controversy. Daniel Thomas is obviously the better option but Reggie Bush has a big name and was brought in under the assumption that he would be the starter and get a starter's share of carries. However, if the Dolphins are in the business of winning football games it's obvious that Bush will have to be a gimmick player like he was in New Orleans as a hybrid WR/RB and third down player. Ben Tate is a monster for the Texans and while Arian Foster is great this may become another controversy. Tate deserves to at least split carries with Foster at this point and he may even be the superior option going forward. Other than that, the passing game for the Texans continued chugging along (every time that Matt Schaub goes back you know he's probably going to throw in Andre Johnson's direction and teams still can't stop it). Their upcoming game in New Orleans should be fun to watch.

Philadelphia @ Atlanta - This was probably the game of the week. Matt Ryan had to slay the ghost of Michael Vick and for a while it looked like he was going to fail in that quest. Even though Vick was struggling and out of sync, the Eagles defense had Roddy White and Julio Jones blanketed. Good thing the Falcons have Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner and exploited the obvious hole in the "Dream Team." Turner ran for 114 yards and Gonzalez turned back the clock with seven catches, 83 yards, and two touchdowns. DeSean Jackson was ineffective after getting injuries to his wrist and buttocks (seriously) but the Eagles just kept feeding the ball to Jeremy Maclin. Vick was knocked out of the game with a concussion but Mike Kafka came in and was not a walking, talking joke and inspired a controversy over whether he or Vince Young should be the backup when Young is healthy. I'll never understand why the Eagles use LeSean McCoy as little as they do, as he was gashing the Falcons defense all night and then inexplicably went into bubble screen mode to Maclin. For Matt Ryan's credit he hung in there and though he was beaten to a pulp by Trent Cole he did just enough when he needed to and won the game for the Falcons.

St. Louis @ NY Giants - I'm surprised both teams found the stadium. First there was this (click the link for some amusement) and then Michael Boley tried to kill an intern. Cadillac Williams couldn't bend over to pick up a fumble and the Rams defense somehow let Eli Manning end up with a halfway decent line after he was having a historically bad first half. Really, all we learned from this game is that the Rams are definitely in a lot of trouble and Steven Jackson has to get back soon for them to have any sort of shot, even in the NFC West where everyone is a loser by default. The Giants probably aren't going anywhere, either, and it doesn't matter how many defenders flop on command. Oh, and let's not forget that Mario Manningham managed to slip and bang his head off of the turf and give himself a concussion, leaving the Giants receiving core to be Hakeem Nicks (who is dinged up), Victor Cruz, and Brandon Stokley who just signed on this week (Domenik Hixon made a fantastic catch but was then forced out of the game). The Giants and Cowboys seem to be having a race to see which one of them can field a team of unsigned free agents first and if Vick keeps getting beat up then we're looking at the Redskins as a playoff team. Unbelievable.