“Living in the Wild Wild West. The Wild Wild NFC West!” Ok, that may not be the exact lyrics to the 1988 Escape Club hit (Oh yeah, I went there) but it fits this season’s NFC West quite perfectly.
The NFC West has gotten rave reviews through the first two weeks of the season and I don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. MVP level play from Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Insane defense from Aaron Donald and the rest of the Los Angeles Rams. Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray making that huge 2nd-year leap. And San Francisco doing what they often do…defying the odds in spite of mounting injuries.
The Atlanta Falcons blew a 19 point lead in their loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The New Orleans Saints blew a 17 point lead in their loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. And the Carolina Panthers getting blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rounds out a pretty weak Week 2 as the NFC South goes 1-3.
The Panthers and Falcons head into Week 3 at 0-2. The Saints and Buccaneers are both 1-1. I know it’s early in the season, but hopefully, this week will mark some improvement for all of these teams.
Week 3 of the NFL season starts with a Florida showdown. The 0-2 Miami Dolphins will visit the surprising 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars, who many an NFL analyst believed would be vying for the number one pick in the upcoming 2021 NFL draft.
”I think every time we step out there, we’re always trying to prove what we are,” Quarterback Gardner Minshew said. ”But more than anything, we really don’t have to prove it to anybody else, we believe in our locker room. And as long as we have that and people in our locker room believe, then that’s our main concern.”
Minshew has gone for 49 of 65 passes with 512 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions through the teams first two games, and has a passer rating of 115.7.
With arms extended as far as he could reach, Chicago Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson snatches a bullet from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in a mid-air horizontal catch. It was a sight to see and a head-scratcher as to why the Bears organization continues to delay extending the contract of this prolific athlete.
Robinson’s ceiling for production is extremely high especially in the shape he is in now. His natural ability to stretch the field and grab the ball on the go is a testament to his dedication to the game and to this Chicago Bears team.
But in Bears have their sights set on $16M, while Robinson is seeking somewhere around $18 million. With players around the league getting their payday, Robinson patiently waits. But patience has a time limit and time is running out.
We all knew there was a chance we would lose players early in the season. Most of us just thought it would be due to COVID-19, but it looks like we picked the wrong culprit.
There is only one phrase that can describe Week 2 in the NFL. Season altering injuries. In all of my years covering the NFL, I’ve never seen a week like Week 2. Injury after injury, all day long. Injuries that will undoubtedly change the course of the season for many teams.
Questions have arisen about the shortened offseason training programs. Others about the lack of preseason games. Everyone is looking for a reason that in one week the NFL lost so many stars. Whatever that reason may be, it won’t help get the players back. Let’s take a look at the carnage that was Week 2.
Week 2 of the NFL season started with an offensive showdown in the AFC North last Thursday night, in an inner-state match-up between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. Yes, I said an offensive showdown!
In fact, the entire division looked good from an offensive perspective, putting up a combined 124 points. Now, they did allow 102 points so it looks like defense is going to be an issue for most of these teams…. but let’s take a closer look at what happened.
Back like we never left. It was great getting back to football, even if fans aren’t there in every stadium. It’s still football. Week 2 is in the rearview, and it looked better for some NFC North teams than it did for others.
Let’s take a look at Week 2 in the North. The winners, the losers, and the head-scratchers.
So, let’s take a second to think about this here. There was no preseason. 3 of the 4 teams in the NFC East have new head coaches. There have to be some growing pains, right? Let’s look back on the week that was!
It was a successful first week for the AFC West. Three of the four teams came out winners. The Denver Broncos lost to the Tennessee Titans in the last seconds of the game. The Kansas City Chiefs opened the season with a Thursday night win. The Los Angeles Chargers squeaking out a win in a low scoring affair against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Las Vegas Raiders get their first win for their new city.
While a couple of the games were close, they all showed new schemes. Looking at week 2, can we expect even more changes? Let’s take a look at each matchup, including a divisional game that could get interesting.
Quarterback Jared Goff is overrated. He gets paid too much. The Rams are a poorly managed team. LA will fall in 2020.
These are just a handful of comments that have surrounded the Los Angeles Rams since last season. Is it warranted? The last time LA faced Dallas, they allowed the Cowboys to run all over them. However, in the home opener this past Sunday, the Cowboys faced a much different Rams team.
Will this silence the haters? Winning a home opener in a brand-new stadium with no fans against the heavily favored team?
The key to opening with a win depended on whether or not the Rams would be able to hold running back EzekielElliott. Last season, he ran all over LA, but there’s a new sheriff commanding Dallas – the pass rush happy new head coach, Mike McCarthy. I smile as I write this – if you’ve read my Green Bay Packers articles over the years, I don’t hide the fact that I would’ve liked to see him move on eons ago.
LA’s rookies came to play Sunday. Getting the start at wide receiver, Van Jefferson set up a turning point play with just two minutes left in the first half, allowing kicker Samuel Sloman to make a 31-yard field goal extending the Rams’ lead 13-7. He also was in the top three targets favored by Goff.
The standout rookie, to me, was safety Jordan Fuller. Not only did he record five solo tackles and three assists, but he also made a game-changing play when he stopped Cowboys rookie wide receiver, CeeDee Lamb, just one yard short of the line to gain on 4th and 3 from the Rams’ own 11.
New kicker Sloman fared ok. While he missed the early 29-yard field goal, he ended the game making his other two field goal attempts and went 2 for 2 on his extra-point attempts. I imagine that donking your first shot in your first pro-start would be hard to overcome mentally, so I DO give him credit for the way he came back from that. I still would like a stronger kicker in place, though.
Los Angeles is favored for a Week 2 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
