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NFL Week 2 – So, Week 1 was crazy, right? Losses by both conference champions, missed kicks left and right, losses from five of last year’s divisional winners, a tie? Week 2 has some big shoes to fill if it wants to come even a hair’s breath towards matching the chaos we saw on opening weekend, and we’re here to watch every last second of it. And don’t think it’s too early to panic about your team, either. Since the NFL expanded to 12 playoff teams in 1990, teams that start 0-2 have only made the playoffs 11.3% of the time, while 2-0 teams punch their ticket 63.0% of the time. Games in September count just as much as games in December, so teams that got off to a slow start last week better get into gear, and fast.
And, because we’re live, you can participate in the discussion as well! Join in on the conversation — either in the comment section in this article, on Twitter by tagging @FBOutsiders or @BryKno, or on our brand new Discord server, where some of your favorite writers will be hanging out and reacting live. Questions, comments, and particularly clever quips will find their way into the liveblog proper as we have a running conversation throughout gameday.
The Monday night doubleheader drains us a bit, but we still have 12 games happening during the blog today:
Early Window
- Buccaneers (-2.5) @ Saints
- Panthers (+1.5) @ Giants
- Jets (+7) @ Browns
- Patriots (-2.5) @ Steelers
- Dolphins (+3.5) @ Ravens
- Colts (-3) @ Jaguars
- Commanders (+1) @ Lions
Late Window
- Seahawks (+9) @ 49ers
- Falcons (+10) @ Rams
- Cardinals (+5.5) @ Raiders
- Texans (+10) @ Broncos
- Bengals (-7.5) @ Cowboys
The night is capped off with the Bears at the Packers. We won’t be liveblogging that — I’ll shift over the the Discord server for the late night window — but this will serve as the open thread for discussion of that game, too.
Live updates will begin approximately one hour before game time. You have to refresh to see the latest posts and updates; each will be timestamped so you can quickly find where you left off.
Saturday Night: Early Window Storylines
The best game of the early window, and arguably the best game of the week, is the NFC South matchup between the Buccaneers and Saints. At 2-0, the winner of this game will have sole possession of the lead in the NFC South, as well as a key head-to-head win in a game between the two teams we expect to actually contend for the divisional crown. Despite the Tom Brady-era Buccaneers being one of the best teams in football, they have yet to beat the Saints in the regular season during Brady’s tenure (though they won the most important matchup in the 2020 Divisional round). In fact, the Buccaneers haven’t been regular-season winners over the Saints since Week 1 of 2018. Of course, for the Saints to once again pull off an upset, they’ll have to get started faster than they did against Atlanta last week; a fourth-quarter flop by Tampa Bay doesn’t seem likely. Jameis Winston was limited in practice, but he should play and look to pick up his first ever win against his old team.
While Tampa Bay and New Orleans dominated the FOX airwaves, the Steelers and Patriots will be CBS’ prime game in the early window — a game that seems far less clear than it did a couple week ago. The Patriots preseason offensive woes continued into the regular season, with nothing seeming to go right against the Dolphins. And now, Matt Patricia has to call a game against one of the most aggressive defensive fronts in the game, albeit one that will be missing T.J. Watt. The Steelers also looked terrible for much of Week 1, but they got a win thanks to a backup long snapper and more than their fair share of luck. Can Mitch Trubisky do enough to keep the Steelers offense ticking? Or will Bill Belichick reach deep into his bag of tricks to find some way to give his struggling squad a spark?
Lamar Jackson continues to audition for a new contract after a fairly successful first showing against the Jets — the Ravens rushed for fewer yards than in any previous Jackson start, and yet Jackson’s arm was more than enough to overcome the Jets. The Dolphins should provide somewhat of a stiffer test, bringing the pressure New York simply couldn’t provide. We’ll see if Mike McDaniel’s offense is a little more efficient in their second day out, or if “throw to Tyreek and let him run” remains the order of the day.
Speaking of the Jets, they let Joe Flacco throw the ball 59 times last week. That seems like a bad idea, just on principle. We’ll see if he can keep it under 40 this time around — which might be helped, as the immobile Flacco is likely to meet the ground on a regular basis with Myles Garrett coming off the edge. Garrett is just two sacks away from setting the franchise’s career sack record, beating Clay Matthews. Doing it at home would be a nice moment for Browns fans, and goodness knows they need some.
Even Jaguars-Colts looks interesting. The Colts haven’t own in Jacksonville since 2014, and are 0-6 in their last six trips down to Duval. With the Colts offense doing everything possible to trip over their shoes in the first half of last weeks game, and forced to settle for a tie, they’ll be looking to clean things up and try to get their first result, positive or negative, on the year. But things have already gone wrong for the Colts, with both Shaq Leonard and Michael Pittman both ruled out before the game began. If the passing game doesn’t click again, don’t be surprised if the underdog Jaguars pull off the upset; they were a few dropped passes and a fourth-quarter collapse away from beating the Commanders. OK, that’s not the most impressive accolade you could give a team, but Jacksonville has to start somewhere, right?
You could also watch Commanders-Lions if you want to see how the Carson Wentz Victimization Index responds to being the first underdogs to Detroit since 2019, or Giants-Panthers if you want insight into where the first pick in the draft is going to end up.
11:06 AM: Patriots at Steelers
Mehnsrea: Can we just say it? Steelers-Patriots is a matchup of two bad football teams in transition. Neither team can score on any defense, let alone a good one. Times are changing before our very eyes. Gone are the days of Big Ben, Belichick and Brady. Time to let it go.
One week might be a little too early to completely throw in the towel for a pair of playoff teams from 2021, both of whom are above 30% in our playoff odds for this year. But it is, at least, a changing of the guard — first time we’ve had this matchup since 2004 without either Ben Roethlisberger or Tom Brady, A very strange feeling!
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