Tag: Tush Push

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 8

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

After watching the NFL turn tricks all day Sunday, I want to know where my treat is. Where’s a good, competitive game? Is it really going to come from Commanders at Chiefs on Monday night with the 12-point spread? It might have to as this Week 8 has had just 3 games with a comeback opportunity.

That’d be the fewest in any week since I’ve started doing this weekly (2011). That’s 15 seasons.

Granted, there were six teams on a bye but 13 games should be enough to get better numbers than this as it’s been blowout city with 11-of-12 games decided by double digits, and many were by three scores or more.

You know things are fvcked when Justin Fields leads the biggest comeback of the day. At least it was finished by Breece Hall, so that checks out for the brand. But yeah, two fourth-quarter lead changes is it, and the Packers still won by 10, and their “comeback” was on the first play of the quarter in the red zone.

If Chiefs-Commanders does give us four games with a comeback opportunity for the week, that would tie Week 9 in 2014 and a couple of weeks in 2021 for the fewest since 2011.

I got a late start to writing this as I had some work to take care of, but I’m pretty sure I can run through this thing in record time. Many teams didn’t give much of a shit about their effort on Sunday, so why should I pour over what they did here? I’d like to sleep in today.

A lot of this can get more detail in my QB rankings later this week, and I’m also doing an awards update (MVP) for Thursday.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Packers at Steelers: Game of the Weak Week

After a day of blowouts, I was expecting a tight, 23-20 kind of game that the Steelers would pull out. Maybe even an overtime game. But what a stunning performance from Jordan Love to go out there on Aaron Rodgers’ big night and steal the headlines and the game back from Pittsburgh after trailing 16-7 at halftime.

You know, the kind of comeback the Packers almost never made during Rodgers’ time in Green Bay. But it should be pointed out that the Pittsburgh defense never really had any edge on the Green Bay defense in this game. Yes, the run was getting stopped early with Josh Jacobs, but that dam broke a little later with the backup in there running the ball at will in the second half. But Jordan Love had a receiver drop a late-down pass to kill one drive, and his kicker missed two kicks that Chris Boswell wouldn’t have missed for Pittsburgh.

So, that 16-7 was always a bit of a mirage at the half. But what a job by Love to complete 20 passes in a row at one point, something Rodgers never even did with the Packers. Love finished with 360 yards and 3 touchdowns. This is the scary version of Green Bay we watched in Weeks 1-2 and haven’t really seen since. They got good sacks on Rodgers, who had been getting the ball away better this year. But not so much tonight as Parsons and company ate well.

The Pittsburgh defense just continues to be horrible and one of the biggest disappointments in the league. Also, this game really exposed the lack of wideouts available to Rodgers in this offense. He’s trying to use backs and tight ends like WRs, and that’s usually not a good thing for most quarterbacks, let alone one of the most wide receiver-centric passers in NFL history.

I swear that’s how you end up with Kenneth Gainwell, a running back, fumbling in the open field the way he did late in the game. That’s just not a play he’s used to making. So, I think the Steelers will make some move for a wideout before the trade deadline, but that’s not going to stop you from playing in 34-31 games.

The seeds were there Week 1 that this defense was going to be a huge problem when they made Justin Fields look good. At some point, Tomlin has to be viewed as the main problem by the mainstream media, and I swear a losing record is the only thing that will get people to turn on him.

With the Steelers’ upcoming schedule, 8-9 isn’t out of the question again. That was my original pick all spring long until I started buying into the fool’s gold of surrounding Rodgers with all of these vets. Turns out you have to actually have good schemes and be able to coach them to execute.

Missing that badly in Pittsburgh these days.

Cowboys at Broncos: Two Altitudes

I did think about the 42-17 final in Mile High in the second game of Dak Prescott’s second season (2017) this week. Probably should have mirrored that for this pick, but I gave Dallas a shot to cover the spread as Denver’s been starting games really slow and coming  back late.

However, that Dallas defense is a gift to opponents this year. Bo Nix and the running game chewed them up, and Dak had a weird game where he never completed a pass to Jake Ferguson at tight end, and the numbers for CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens look better than you’d expect against that secondary, which lost Patrick Surtian II to an injury even.

But just too much poor execution from Dallas all day, and it didn’t look aggressive enough on the road against a team that was nearly on a 70-point pace in 60 minutes if you go back to last week’s 33-point explosion in the fourth quarter.

Yes, the Broncos (6-2) are scary when they look like this, but you have to put everything into perspective. It was just a few weeks ago when they had to sack Justin Fields 9 times to seal a 13-11 win over the Jets overseas.

But Denver did a great job on this Sunday.

Jets at Bengals: Mike White Redux

Even with leads of 15 and 14 in the fourth quarter, the Bengals couldn’t close it out. That gave me some PTSD from the 2021 game, the Mike White game where he threw for 400 yards in a comeback win that Joe Burrow couldn’t close out. I’ll never get over that one as I lost about $11,000 in winning bets from that moneyline.

The 2025 Bengals may not get past this one as losing at home to the 0-7 Jets in this fashion is absurd. Giving up a comeback like this to Justin Fields? Are you shitting me? The quarterback who was 0-26 when his team allowed more than 20 points? 2-21 at 4QC opportunities? Granted, Breece Hall was actually the one who threw the game-winning touchdown on a ballsy, double-clutched decision to throw there.

But then the Bengals could have handed Aaron Glenn and Fields another loss and blown lead in this situation had they not run the ball on a 2nd-and-obvious-pass situation. That put Flacco in 3rd-and-long and pressed for time, and let’s not forget his receiver not bringing in the ball on first down to start that little series. Flacco couldn’t find anyone on the last two throws, and that was enough. The Jets finally got a win at 39-38.

Now, the Bengals (3-5) might be cooked instead of .500 again. What a league.  You kinda had to see this coming after the Woody Johnson comments about Fields earlier in the week, then the tragic news about former Jets center Nick Mangold (RIP) passing from kidney disease this weekend. Everything was pointing to statement win for the Jets, and sure enough, the Bengals helped them to one.

But that 2nd-and-10 run for a yard when you’re trying to go set up a game-winning field goal is exactly why Taylor has to go. Never mind they made Lou Anarumo the scapegoat for why their defense is garbage.

Tear it all down in Cincinnati.

Titans at Colts: Indiana Jones and the Scoring Boom

Even with game tape from Week 3 (though probably not a competent Tennessee coaching staff that can interpret it), and even with back-to-back punts in the second quarter, the Colts still efficiently dropped 38 points on few drives before calling the dogs off in the latest sweep of Tennessee.

Daniel Jones played very well again as did Jonathan Taylor showing off his speed on another 3-touchdown day. Colts-Chiefs can’t come here soon enough.

49ers at Texans: Mentee Over Mentor

The mentee (DeMeco Ryans) took care of the mentor (Kyle Shanahan) in this one as C.J. Stroud shook off a horrible Monday night game and ripped the 49ers a new one by halftime here. Think I only saw one pick that was a glaring mistake for Stroud as he was sharp.

The 49ers just weren’t very effective and did little outside of a George Kittle touchdown as promised on National Tight End’s Day, which didn’t really explode that much around the league.

But good win for Houston without Nico Collins.

Bears at Ravens: Season Saved

Only one team (1970 Bengals) has ever made the playoffs after starting 1-6, so the Ravens were in a real must-win situation without Lamar Jackson. Even though the Bears hogged the ball early, the Ravens held them to field goals. Then after an early punt, Tyler Huntley moved the offense efficiently and effectively. The Ravens scored on 6-of-7 drives at one point. A lot of field goals but the rookie kicker was good.

Then after Chicago cut the 10-point deficit into a 16-13 game in the fourth quarter, you could see the Ravens choking away another double-digit lead late. But that’s when Nate Wiggins intercepted Caleb Williams’ pass, setting up a 9-yard touchdown drive to blow the game back open and save the day.

Maybe save the season if Lamar can return this week. Guess we’ll have to see if he practices, and then see what they say about how he practiced exactly…

Bills at Panthers: Red Rifle Backfires

Oh, I’ll get to Josh Allen later this week after one of the most misleading stat lines of the season. But this was your typical get-right game for the Bills. That means multiple takeaways, forced or just backup quarterback screw-ups; it doesn’t matter. They used those plays and some great runs by James Cook to dominate this game in 40-9.

I’m glad I came to my senses late in the week and didn’t back Carolina ATS. Andy Dalton was a mess and the running game for Buffalo was much better than the Carolina backfield.

Browns at Patriots: Myles Garrett’s Historic Day Results in 32-13 Loss

Myles Garrett had 5 sacks and yet the Browns still lost 32-13. It wasn’t all offensive mistakes putting the defense in a bind again either. The Patriots had two long touchdown drives in the 3rd quarter after Garrett’s sacks kept holding Drake Maye to field goals early.

But in the end, New England blew past the Browns, and Stefon Diggs is finally on the board for a touchdown in 2025. This is probably going to be the best defense the Patriots face all year, and Maye has taken 9 sacks the last two weeks, so that is something to keep an eye on.

But this game is a great example of how defense is largely valued by unit play instead of any one individual. Garrett is officially the 20th player since 1982 to reach 5.0 sacks in a game. Those players now have a team record of 16-4, and the other three players lost by a combined 6 points in their games.

That means Garrett is the first player since 1982 to get 5.0 sacks and still lose the game by more than 3 points. Only the fourth to get 4.0 sacks and lose by more than 16 points. But when you agree to stay in Cleveland…

Buccaneers at Saints: Another Wasted Defensive Gem

Similar to how the Browns wasted Garrett’s effort vs. New England, the Saints’ offense wasted the performance of the whole defense in keeping Tampa in check.

I guess that Baker Mayfield MVP campaign went the way of Howard Dean, right? The Tampa defense won this game with a pick-six, 5 sacks, and 4 turnovers in total as the offense was pretty mid for the Bucs without Mike Evans, Bucky Irving, and Chris Godwin.

At one point, the Saints stopped the Bucs on 8 straight plays from the 1-yard line over two drives. Yes, I’m including the offsides penalty on first down that started things. Pretty crazy to watch that play out twice, though the Bucs did eventually score on the 9th play.

But just another bad day for the Saints, who benched Spencer Rattler for rookie Tyler Shough, who didn’t fare any better. Will that move be permanent next game? Probably with the way the NFL works. Guys like Rattler just don’t get a long leash.

Giants at Eagles: Skattebo Lived His Life Like a Candle in the Wind

I dunno, I guess I always thought Cam Skattebo’s first major NFL injury would be something… funny? He’d go to do a backflip celebration and land on a cameraman, or he’d headbutt a concrete wall. But a dislocated ankle was just sad to watch and you can see the impact it had on Jaxson Dart, who knows he has to get through the rest of his rookie year without a good defense, his best receiver, and now his best running back.

He also got hosed by the refs in this one as the Eagles got away with a very clear fumble on the Tush Push for a “forward progress stopped” bullshit call.

Given all the times we’ve seen the refs let them get forward progress for long after they deserved it, this call was just pure bullshit. Maybe the game plays a little differently if the Eagles don’t go up 14-7 two plays later.

But the Eagles did well without A.J. Brown. Running game was huge with 276 yards. Defense had 5 sacks. Most complete effort yet for the Eagles, and kinda what I had in mind when I picked them to cover the spread for the sake of they were “due” to win a game in blowout fashion this year.

It happened. And I’d rather not think about this game again. It signals the end of some fun times with New York’s rookie duo in the backfield. I know Thelma & Louise probably had a longer shelf life together than these two would with the way they play so recklessly, but it was really an innocent play that took Skattebo out. A shame.

Dolphins at Falcons: WTF?

Seriously, between losing 30-0 to the Panthers and now 34-10 at home to the Dolphins, I’m not sure Atlanta doesn’t have the two worst losses of 2025. The weekly variance for this team is disgusting and hard to explain.

Sure, the offense wasn’t great in this one when you replace Michael Penix Jr. with dusty-ass Kirk Cousins and no Drake London. Darnell Mooney was only coming back from injury and didn’t seem ready for the quarterback change either. That part makes some sense, though it does give you some proof that Cousins is so washed in 2025, because in any other year, he’d at least find a way to throw for 250 yards and a few touchdowns against a defense this bad. And how does Bijan Robinson not get fed the ball? It feels like they started Cousins last second and had no real plan.

But how does the defense have its worst game of the season against the trainwreck that is Tua Tagovailoa? That part I don’t get. The Dolphins’ first 3 touchdown drives were 79+ yards too, so it’s not like Tua threw 4 touchdowns on short fields. This was legit.

The Falcons are not legit, and I can’t help but look at the coach if you’re having such random results like this.

Next week: Welcome to November. While I doubt it was intentional, the Week 9 schedule does reek of “here’s some shit games to keep you busy before Chiefs-Bills takes over your life at 4:25.” And I’m okay with that. Colts-Steelers at least has some potential for good QB play. But TNF is Ravens-Dolphins, and it’s not like you ever get excited to watch Miami play. Seattle-Washington has lost some luster for SNF with the Jayden Daniels injury. Cardinals-Cowboys on MNF sounds like an opportunity to get an early start on writing.

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 3

~ Scott ~ Leave a comment

What are two things I don’t like to see have a big impact on NFL games? The randomness of fumble recoveries and special teams making an impact. I can already see this season is going to be tough as those things have been so much of the story already with Derrick Henry’s Week 1 fumble in Buffalo and the fates of some field goals on Sunday for the Eagles and Packers already dictating things in the NFC race.

Sunday was just a wild day in the NFL as we basically had seven games where a team won comfortably (usually scoring 30+ points). Then we had seven other games that were as close as could be at the end with a lot of low-scoring finals, and it tied the record for most games in a week (seven) with the winning points scored in the final 3:00. That’s despite there only being 8 games total this week (MNF pending) with a comeback opportunity.

But what a day if you like seeing balls knocked loose and field goal units getting destroyed for blocks. The latter is kind of cool and something we started seeing more last year with a few games like Broncos-Chiefs and Packers-Bears having some notable blocks at the end. I’m probably forgetting a big one too.

It’s at the point where a blocked field goal feels far more realistic than recovering an onside kick. Maybe that’s a good thing.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Rams at Eagles: Game of the Week

This was a game I circled after the way the Rams gave the Eagles all they could handle in the divisional round. That game, along with some roster improvements, is why I thought the Rams were the best Super Bowl pick in the NFC this summer. Then those stories about Matthew Stafford’s back started coming out, and I got scared off.

Then when you see the Rams take a 26-7 lead in Philly with Davante Adams catching a long touchdown (not OPI; they were arm wrestling before it), the pass rush owning Jalen Hurts, the run defense containing Barkley, and the Rams running wild on the Eagles’ defense, you think maybe Super Bowl was the right call all along.

But then the collapse started almost immediately in the third quarter after it was 26-7. You can kind of see it coming on offense as Stafford just didn’t bring his A game for this one and they got that short field touchdown. But the defense had a complete turnaround after crushing this matchup before the Eagles finally decided to play like a 21st-century offense and use those highly-talented wide receivers down the field.

Hurts hit back-to-back plays for over 30 yards, gaining more yards than the Eagles had to that point on each play. Stafford took a sack on a 3rd-and-2 at the Philly 49, and McVay decided to punt like a fraidy cat. The Eagles turned that into an 87-yard touchdown drive with A.J. Brown making his first of the year to make it 26-21 going to the fourth quarter.

The Rams went for it this time on 4th-and-1 at the Philly 46, but Kyren Williams was stuffed. Then the Eagles went 4-and-out, and that 4th-and-7 incompletion was ill-advised if you ask me. Pin them deep as that offense was struggling now.

But starting at the 50, the Rams couldn’t make the Eagles pay for it. I don’t disagree with going for a 36-yard field goal on 4th-and-2. There’s some value to going up 8 points, since you know they can only tie you at best. But the kick was blocked with 8:42 left by Jalen Carter.

That’s when the Eagles drove 91 yards with five conversions on third or fourth down, and none of them even involved the Tush Push that the Eagles again got away with a big false start on before their first touchdown drive of the game. But the Rams couldn’t get it done on 4th-and-goal defensively, and DeVonta Smith caught the go-ahead touchdown with 1:48 left.

The only good news is the Rams stopped the 2-point conversion pass, so it was only a 27-26 game. That means a field goal wins it for the Rams, and Stafford has done this many times over. He got into range with Puka Nacua, then the running game did well enough to set up a 44-yard field goal as the final snap. That’s plenty of confidence to make that kick.

Except Jordan Davis broke through for the block this time, and he even returned it for a game-closing touchdown to win 33-26, denying us Rams +3.5 bettors an easy win with a beat as bad as any I can think of.

That also has major implications on the NFC race, making it more likely the rematch is in Philly again if there is one. The Rams also may have woken up the Philly offense from its 10-quarter slumber of forgetting how to play modern offense. Just an all-around disastrous day for the Rams who did so many things right early, but too many things wrong after it was 26-7.

Yeah, circle this one too. It’s another major part of the butterfly effect in the NFC this year. But I do think it’s an annoying double standard that people are already trying to paint the Eagles as anything but the 2024 Chiefs, who people claimed were lucky and got bailed out by the refs.

Meanwhile, the 2025 Eagles are getting called out weekly for false starts on the Tush Push and they would have had a +8 scoring differential in starting 3-0 had they not padded the number with the last return touchdown on the block.

I’d say this team is running out of steam going into the game against the team that kicked their ass last year (Tampa Bay), but the Bucs are also barely winning games this year at 3-0.

That just seems to be a consistent theme about winning so much in the NFL. Maybe we shouldn’t knock it so much as it sure beats the alternative of losing games despite good stats.

Broncos at Chargers: Best in the West?

The AFC West battle lived up to the hype as this is the kind of game you’d usually see the Chargers lose in the past. Sure, there were some Chargering moments as Najee Harris tore his Achilles on a play-action pass run fake, which was unfortunate to see. Justin Herbert had a deflected pick in scoring territory. The Broncos got away with a lucky deflected completion from Bo Nix in a big spot. J.K. Dobbins broke a 41-yard run and scored a touchdown against his former team, then the Chargers fumbled the ensuing kickoff and fortunately held Denver to a field goal instead of falling behind 21-10.

But much like last week in Indy, the Broncos didn’t finish the job in the fourth quarter on defense, and the offense was just off on too many key plays. They also had very costly penalties again this week with offensive offsides negating a first down halfway through the final quarter, then a face mask killed the drive by putting them into 2nd-and-20. Just dumb things like that.

Herbert was only 28-of-47 passing and took 5 sacks, but he still threw for 300 yards and made a great touchdown pass to Keenan Allen from 20 yards out to tie the game at 20 with 2:37 left. Again, it’s crazy that the league just let Allen go back to the Chargers like he never left. He looks good.

Denver going three-and-out after the Allen touchdown was huge. Can’t do that on such an uninspired drive that didn’t even last 50 seconds. Herbert had no issues leading the offense down the field against what’s supposed to be this great Denver defense, and Dicker the Kicker was true from 43 yards out to win in 23-20.

It’s the second week in a row the Broncos lost on the final snap of the game with the offense never registering a possession in the fourth quarter while trailing. Bad way to start 1-2, and doubly bad when you consider the Chargers are 3-0 in the AFC West now.

Chiefs at Giants: People Are Saying It’s the Ugliest 13-Point Win of All Time

Leave it up to the Chiefs to get a 22-9 road win in wire-to-wire fashion and still come away feeling like there’s so many problems. But that’s what happens when you set a high standard for years.

Still, isn’t it a hell of a lot better to win ugly than to lose a game? The Chiefs finally ended their 3-game losing slide against an opponent that isn’t going anywhere, a break from what was likely the first case in NFL history of a team playing 8 straight games against playoff opponents going back to last year.

Alas, there are some legitimate problems that persist like Jawaan Taylor’s drive-killing penalties at right tackle, Isiah Pacheco’s horrible field vision, Travis Kelce’s growing temper with mistakes, and a lot of bad discipline with too many dumb penalties. Oh, and Harrison Butker cost them 4 points by missing short, easy kicks for a kicker making that much money.

The good news is the Chiefs got two takeaways as Russell Wilson may have just lost another starting job with a terrible performance one week after he had 450 yards in Dallas. I don’t see how you don’t just go to rookie Jaxson Dart as the starter next week, and I don’t understand what the plan was last night with Dart only coming into the game for a few snaps to hand off and not throw any passes. Kill that noise. Just start him.

The other good news is Patrick Mahomes only had to scramble a couple of times as the Chiefs finally gave him 103 yards of rushing support. Tyquan Thornton also looks like their best wide receiver (career-high 71 yards and another touchdown; inches away from two scores) even though he’s supposed to be WR5 on the depth chart at best. He should play a lot of snaps even when Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice are back as he’s basically able to do the MVS role and give them some size and speed down the field.

A much tougher test awaits next week with Baltimore. But even if this team falls to 1-3, I think the way the defense has picked things up after that terrible Brazil performance and the reinforcements on the way at receiver still make this team a formidable one that can contend with anyone. What other quarterback is ranking fifth in QBR with this cast as is?

Just have to cut down on these mistakes, and I really wish Andy Reid would bench Taylor to prove a point. Why pay Jaylon Moore that much money to ride the bench?

Steelers at Patriots: 2008 Vibes

I’m still not sure the Steelers are playing all that well as a team. But seasons where they can handle New England usually go well for them. It was the turnovers forced by the defense in this one that saved the day given the offense only had 203 yards as the running game still struggled and no receiver had 35 yards. The Steelers were also getting a lot of favorable calls from the refs early for some reason.

Would have liked this kind of officiating and turnover luck in Foxboro years ago when Roethlisberger was the quarterback.

But the Patriots turned it over 5 times, their most since 5 turnovers in 2008 in a 33-10 loss to the Steelers during the Matt Cassel year. Weather at least played a factor that day. This time, the Patriots just made some poor decisions with the ball with Drake Maye’s pick before halftime in the end zone, then Rhamondre Stevenson put the ball on the ground twice as he so often does in big spots. Guy is seriously one of the worst-timed fumblers I’ve ever seen as he’s cost them several close games over the years with this shit.

But the Steelers stepped up big in the fourth quarter this week by getting a strip-sack of Maye in a tied game, then Rodgers threw probably his best pass for a 17-yard touchdown to Calvin Austin to take a 21-14 lead.

The Patriots could have answered, but Demario Douglas ended up giving up the first down with his RAC on 4th-and-1, getting tackled short of the line. The second time this year a good tackle by the Steelers on fourth down secured a win. They’re still giving up too many easy completions, but you’ll always take the turnover parade.

That’s 38 game-winning drives for Rodgers, who is in 13th place in that stat now. We’ll see if he can join the group of 40 before he finishes his career. Playing with this Pittsburgh team, it looks like the opportunities are going to be there.

Bengals at Vikings: Have a Day, Isaiah Rodgers

So much for that battle between Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson to see who is WR1 and can lift up their backup quarterback to the win. Well, the answer was clearly Justin Jefferson as he had 75 yards and didn’t lose a fumble like Chase did on an all-time bad ball security day for Cincinnati.

But it was an all-time great game by Minnesota corner Isaiah Rodgers. Seriously, if this happened in a playoff game, it’d be considered the greatest performance ever by a single defender. He had a pick-six, a forced fumble and fumble return touchdown, and he also had a second fumble forced and two passes defensed.

The craziest part? Rodgers did this all by halftime as the Bengals turned it over 5 times on the day in a real road mess. I hope people don’t just chalk this up to Joe Burrow being out. The Bengals ran the ball so poorly and five players fumbled once in what was a dreadful performance all around.

Carson Wentz had it on easy street and it didn’t matter that this was his first start with his sixth team in the last six seasons. His inexperience with Minnesota didn’t mean a lick when his defense came to play like this.

Colts at Titans: …Three Times Is a Pattern

Before Monday night, let’s just acknowledge and appreciate the craziness that is Daniel Jones leading the most effective offense in the league right now through three games. His QBR (85.7) would be the third highest in a season since 2006.

He’ll come back to Earth eventually, but three games is a pretty historic run for nearly scoring on all of your drives. Jones was making plays Sunday in Tennessee that I swear were always sacks with him in New York. It’s been crazy to watch.

As for the Titans, it’s not good Cam Ward started the game with a late throw that was returned for an easy pick-six. Just started the day on the wrong foot and it was an uphill battle from there as the Colts poured on 41 points.

Out of all the 3-0 teams, you could make the case that the Colts have played the best football quarter to quarter of them all so far. I don’t think even the most optimistic fan would have predicted that.

Texans at Jaguars: Down in a (0-3) Hole

I think one of my best NFL team previews this summer was the Houston Texans, a team I picked to finish under 9.5 wins and miss the playoffs. My worry was they had way too many new pieces on offense for a coordinator with no experience (Nick Caley), and the only thing they could hang their hat on was C.J. Stroud throwing to Nico Collins.

Well, they’re 0-3 and doing it in historic fashion:

On Sunday in Jacksonville, even the Stroud-to-Collins combo was feast or famine. Collins got behind the defense for a 50-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10. But after the Jaguars foolishly turned the ball over on downs at midfield, Collins fumbled the ball near the red zone on a catch on the ensuing drive.

Trevor Lawrence has really struggled to get his best receivers going this year. But Brian Thomas Jr. picked a good spot to make a big 46-yard catch and run. The Texans, perhaps learning from last week’s ending against Tampa, seemingly let Travis Etienne score a 10-yard touchdown run to take a 17-10 lead and ensure the Texans get the ball back with 1:42 and two timeouts left. Bold strategy.

Stroud drove the Texans to the Jacksonville 28, but with the clock a factor, he forced a deep one and it was intercepted to end the game and drop Houston to 0-3, which doesn’t look like a hole they can climb out of like they actually did back in 2018 to make the playoffs.

Packers at Browns: Not in Love

What a devastating loss for the Packers, and you have to put it on their offense as the defense only allowed 221 yards. But to blow a 10-0 lead this late is just inexcusable. Jordan Love made a terrible interception in a 10-3 game that Cleveland was able to turn into a 4-yard touchdown drive to tie the game.

Then in a true “ball don’t lie” moment, the Packers got away with a Josh Jacobs fumble because they said there wasn’t clear video of a recovery. The Packers kept it on the ground, but Brandon McManus was blocked on his 43-yard field goal with 21 seconds left. That was just enough time for Joe Flacco to set up his kicker, Szmyt, for a 55-yard walk-off field goal. This is the kicker who missed an extra-point sized kick to lose the Week 1 game to Cincinnati, but he was good here for probably the biggest upset of the season so far.

I liked the Browns holding Josh Jacobs under in yards, but I didn’t expect 16 carries for 30 yards. You can’t run on these Browns, and with the way Travis Hunter isn’t popping much for Jacksonville, maybe trading down and taking Mason Graham, who was a beast in this game, wasn’t such a bad move after all for Cleveland.

But what a brutal few minutes for Green Bay when 3-0 was in sight with a field goal, and it looked like the Rams were going to beat the Eagles. But those field goals went different ways and now the Packers look like a work in progress again as they try to get this offense going with rookie Matthew Golden and without Jayden Reed (collarbone).

More evidence it is hard to lose your de-facto WR1 and try to replace him with a rookie.

Cardinals at 49ers: You Lost to One-Legged Mac Jones?

Alright, I’m just going to say it. Kyler Murray’s laissez-faire brand of leadership combined with Marvin Harrison Jr’s. quiet, reserved attitude much like his father had is a terrible combination for NFL success. When you’re dropping passes like this (along with one in the end zone), you need someone to toughen you up. To demand more from you and your talent. And I just can’t imagine Kyler doing that with him.

The Cardinals nearly won this game in inexplicable fashion. Murray himself made a horrible play where he almost did intentional grounding in the end zone, which would have been a safety to give the 49ers the lead. Instead, the 49ers got called for a penalty in the end zone, giving Arizona a 15-13 lead on a safety. Crazy stuff.

But the Cardinals couldn’t run out the clock, which is so crucial in a 2-point game, and the 49ers got the ball back. Mac Jones is one of the worst QBs in the clutch in NFL history. Before Sunday, he was 3-17 at 4QC/GWD opportunities with plenty of turnovers in those spots.

Even in this game, he was picked in scoring territory when it was tied with 5:08 left. That was actually before the safety drive. But after getting yet another chance with 1:46 left, Jones delivered with Kendrick Bourne, a familiar face from their New England days together, making big catches on the drive. Chrisitan McCaffrey took a short pass 20 yards and that was enough to set up new kicker Eddy Pineiro for a 35-yard game-winning field goal with no time left.

You know, the kick Jake Moody probably misses. But Pineiro made it and the 49ers won 16-15 the exact kind of game they lost last year.

But I would have serious concerns about Harrison Jr. in this offense. For someone who went so high in the draft, he was easily outplayed by Ricky Pearsall (8 catches for 117 yards) on the other side, to say nothing of the other 2024 wideouts who keep producing more.

Cowboys at Bears: Oof, That D (That’s What She Said)

It says a lot about where the pass rush is for Dallas that Caleb Williams, in his 20th NFL game, did not get sacked for the first time. He also threw for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns as Ben Johnson had things cooking as the offense unleashed rookie Luther Burden, who came down with a 65-yard touchdown on a deep flea-flicker pass on his way to 101 yards.

I hate to agree with Tom Brady, but he was right on the broadcast that the Cowboys are better suited this year to deal with a CeeDee Lamb injury, which of course happened early in the game as I had him as a top touchdown scorer pick this week. Go figure, he just had to play the first snap of the second quarter before leaving for good as he couldn’t go to make sure I didn’t get any bet protection on FanDuel. Almost like it was done on purpose cause I’m not sure he played any of the final seven snaps of the first quarter when Dallas was driving. Ugh.

But this was Dak’s worst game of the season as the Cowboys were scoreless after their fourth drive and he had one pick that was pretty poor and on him.

This seems like the M.O. for Dallas this year. Dak throwing a ton to try to keep up with his defense getting shredded. This is what Jerry Jones voluntarily made possible with the Parsons trade.

But hey, good job on holding the Chicago running game to 3.0 yards per carry. That at least helped them stay under 35 points.

Saints at Seahawks: Over Right Away

Jesus Christ, I think it was over within 11 minutes. The Saints did a good job the first two weeks of challenging the Cardinals and 49ers, but they had no answers for the NFC West team from Seattle. Not when you give up a 95-yard punt return touchdown then a short field on a punt block, which snapped the second-longest streak in modern NFL history without a punt block as the Saints had gone 233 games.

Jets at Buccaneers: Baker’s Bunch Does It Again

Well, Tyrod Taylor completed 23 more passes than Justin Fields did last week, and the Jets actually erased a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a stunning 27-26 lead after blocking a field goal and returning it for a touchdown with 1:49 left.

But that’s too much time for Baker Mayfield this season. Not one known for comebacks, he’s 3-0 at pulling off these last-minute drives this season. In fact, the 2025 Bucs are the first team to score the game-winning points in the final 60 seconds of its first three games to start a season. Crazy stuff.

Emeka Egbuka had another brilliant catch on the game-winning drive and deserves to be the favorite for OROY. The Bucs may have made this one closer than it needed to be, but you have to give them props for winning with a lot of offensive line injuries.

Meanwhile, the Jets have now blown 8 fourth-quarter leads over the last 17 games. It’s like Robert Saleh never left.

Falcons at Panthers: Just Doom

Man, I guess I fvcked up with that NFC South pick, huh? Maybe it’s different if they won in Week 1 against Tampa, but I have no idea how you go from a 22-6 win in Minnesota – then look what that team did Sunday – to getting blanked 30-0 to lowly Carolina. Sure, the Falcons lost to Bryce Young in overtime to end 2024, but that was a 44-38 game.

But 30-0? Okay, your new kicker missed from 49 and 55, so he’s probably not the upgrade over Younghoe Koo you thought he was, and that explains the shutout. But still, 30-6? Okay, Penix made a brutal pass that was late and went for a pick-six in the third quarter. But 23-6 in Carolina?

That’s a hope-crushing loss for Atlanta that this is going to be another wasted season. It’s not like Young was making throws out of his ass. He threw for 121 yards. It’s not like the running defense got eviscerated either. Just a no-show for the offense and that’s really disappointing as that unit is supposed to do some leading in Atlanta.

But it doesn’t look like it’s working out well so far. Remember, the defense stole the show in Minnesota last week.

Raiders at Commanders: No Jayden, No Problem

I almost forgot this game happened. So, I thought Geno Smith would play much better than Monday night, which he obviously did, and the Raiders would win as the Commanders would miss Jayden Daniels. But Marcus Mariota scored the first touchdown, had an efficient day, they broke some big plays, and it was no issue in a 41-24 win.

If you’re the Raiders, you kinda knew your defense was going to be ass outside of Maxx Crosby. But I think there needs to be some real concern with this offensive line as the run blocking just doesn’t exist for Ashton Jeanty, and Geno took 5 sacks. He’s not going to make it the full season at this rate.

Next week: Seattle-Arizona on TNF sounds like another night of doing work on the computer while I watch on my phone. I thought for months I’d be watching T.J. Watt chase J.J. McCarthy around in Ireland, but they might actually be better off with Carson Wentz. Tough game. Looks like another week where the Eagles have the best 1:00 game in Tampa Bay, a place they’ve struggled. I think Colts-Rams is a really nice backseat to Ravens-Chiefs in the late window. Packers-Cowboys has potential on SNF if Dak plays well. Monday night overlapped doubleheader is weak with Jets-Dolphins 0-4 battle and Bengals (without Joe Burrow) in Denver (1-2). Ho-hum.

2025 NFL Stat Oddity: Week 2

~ Scott ~ 1 Comment

The NFL has become such a week-to-week league where you never know what’s going to happen anymore. Sometimes it can be explained, then other times it just can’t.

How does Justin Fields go from maybe his best game ever against the Steelers to maybe his worst game ever against a Buffalo team that was giving up over 10 yards per play to Baltimore last week? Then the Ravens were struggling to score anything on the Browns without short fields, and Derrick Henry was in fact shut down for the full game after nearly rushing for 200 last week.

You can say “division games are different” but how do the Giants go from 6 points in an NFC East game against Washington to 37 points in another NFC East game in Dallas? How do the Giants and Cowboys trade score after score in the fourth quarter after the Cowboys played a 3-0 second half against Philadelphia last week?

There aren’t many teams I’d be willing to write a glowing review about today as everything just seems so temporary and misleading. Played well today? Great, you’re probably just one week away from your next disappointment.

Green Bay, my Super Bowl pick in the NFC, does look pretty good though when you consider how Detroit scored at will Sunday and how they made Jayden Daniels look as ineffective as he’s ever been in a game. That’s a team to watch.

But with a good Monday night doubleheader to go, we had 10-of-14 games with a comeback opportunity this week, which is another high number as I could easily see both Monday night games adding to that.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

Eagles at Chiefs: Not Very Super

First, I predicted the Eagles would win 23-20, so close enough. But if this is what the Eagles vs. Chiefs matchup looks like in 2025, I’m oddly more confident in the Chiefs prevailing in a Super Bowl rematch if it came down to that. At least they’d have Rashee Rice for that one, and maybe Xavier Worthy if his season isn’t destroyed by injury.

How did he get injured? Travis Kelce accidentally blew him up. Who made the biggest mistake Sunday for the Chiefs’ latest one-score loss? Kelce when he dropped a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and turned it into an interception, killing a marathon drive when it looked like the Chiefs were ready to take the lead.

It’s just been that kind of start to the season for the Chiefs. Even in a game they lose 20-17, their quarterback played well enough to score 27 points on nine drives, which would again be elite production despite the flaws around him. But when your kicker shanks an early field goal into the parking lot, and your trustworthy tight end is catching harder passes and letting the layup go to the other team, it’s that kind of day again.

It’s not like the Eagles showed much. Jalen Hurts only threw for 101 yards on 22 passes. He only rushed for 15 yards this week too with the Tush Push looking as pathetic as ever with the blatant false starts they’re getting away with on those plays. Something has to be done there.

Hurts is 2-0 at Arrowhead now and they’re two of the worst games he’s ever played in his career. Steve Spagnulo blitzes the hell out of him in these games, and he basically hits one lucky deep ball in the fourth quarter of both while willing Kelce to turn the ball over in the red zone in both games. I’m talking about the 2023 Monday night game, of course, and that one had the MVS dropped touchdown to boot.

But no such luck for the Chiefs this week. In fact, the ending was much like Week 1 in Brazil where the Chiefs cut a two-score deficit into a one-score deficit in the last 3:00, then the defense couldn’t get the stop it needed to get the ball back. So you lose a one-score game, and this is happening because it’s the defense on the field late whereas last year it was usually Mahomes on the field late with the ball in his hands where you want it.

Offensively, they’re close to making it work even with the missing receivers, but it’s just not sustainable as Mahomes again outrushed the rest of his teammates combined as the best plays they have in the playbook are not in the playbook. They’re just scrambles by Mahomes. You can’t last a season doing that. By the way, those scrambles are why he still had the third-highest QBR (79.3) this week before MNF.

Defensively, they were much better this week outside of letting Hurts hit that 28-yard pass to DeVonta Smith on 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter. Actually more of a “dagger” than “The Dagger” in the Super Bowl that was already decided as this one helped make it a two-score game.

But if you look around the league, it’s defenses forcing takeaways that are the cornerstone of success in today’s NFL. You get takeaways, you get extra possessions, and you usually get great field position for easy scores.

The Chiefs need that field position right now with the lack of weapons and offensive cohesion. Yet they’re not getting it as the Chiefs have just one takeaway in their last six games. That’s horrible.

The 2024 Chiefs won at unprecedented rates in close games and games without getting takeaways. That’s great, but it’s very hard to sustain that year over year. We’ve seen that play out twice already this season, and while losing to two Super Bowl contenders by one score is hardly the worst thing in the world, it gets serious if they lose to the Giants this week too with Baltimore and Detroit soon to come.

I don’t think the Chiefs got the Eagles’ best shot on Sunday, but I also don’t think the Eagles have much in the way of reinforcements who could make a difference in February if they did meet again in a third Super Bowl. What, is Dallas Goedert going to suddenly make Jalen Hurts throw the ball an average amount of yards that don’t’ look like someone’s GPA?

But the Chiefs are banking a lot on the returns of Worthy and Rice (and maybe rookie Jalen Royals, another injured wideout they’ve been missing). That’s fine, but there are serious issues with this team’s inability to create takeaways on defense, and the offense has to answer the question of how do you deal with Kelce’s legacy in what should be his final season when he’s sabotaged the offense in both games already?

But if we’re comparing Sunday to last February, these Chiefs can hang with these Eagles. I’m not sure the Eagles know who they really are right now offensively either. Neither team looked very Super Bowl-worthy in this game.

Giants at Cowboys: Barnburner in Jerry World

You mean to tell me all those times we wasted 3 f’n hours watching Giants-Cowboys in prime time, and the one time they throw them on at 1 PM it turns out to be the craziest game in the history of this rivalry?

This game was nuts as both teams scored at least 20 points with five lead changes and a game-tying 64-yard field goal in the fourth quarter alone. Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards (career high was 452 against Houston in 2017), showing he’s still got something in the tank and shouldn’t be benched yet. It also speaks back to the 345 passing yards per game the Giants averaged in the preseason. Malik Nabers looks the part of an All-Pro with 167 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard bomb with 0:25 left that will be forgotten immediately because of all the other madness here.

George Pickens made his presence felt for Dallas with some key catches during the fireworks. Brandon Aubrey might be the new standard for kickers with his 64-yard kick to force overtime, and then his 46-yard winner in overtime also came with 0:00 left on the clock, and I read that’s the first time ever a kicker made a field goal with no time left in the fourth quarter and overtime of the same game. A little hard to believe.

But what a way for Dak Prescott to get his 14th-straight win against the Giants. We also saw the playoff overtime system used in the regular season for the first time. The Giants won the toss and elected to receive, putting the defense on the field first – something Kyle Shanahan didn’t do for the 49ers in Super bowl 58 against the Chiefs in the only other game we’ve seen this used for.

I think the Giants made the right decision there. Shockingly, it took five possessions in overtime before anyone scored, and the Dallas score came after Wilson’s big mistake of throwing up a pick on 2nd-and-14.

I’m still not sold Dallas is a contender this year, or that we won’t see Wilson get benched for the rookie. But sometimes you just have to enjoy two veteran quarterbacks, two of the oldest we have in this league, slinging it all over the field like that. Incredible stuff.

Broncos at Colts: Meaningful Football in Indy Again?

While the ratings for Eagles-Chiefs will likely be good and the NFL seemed to build the late-afternoon schedule in Week 2 to showcase that game, there was a good one going on in Indy between the Broncos and Colts, the Peyton Manning Bowl.

The lack of meaningful games played by the Colts since the 2014 AFC Championship Game has been a tough pill to swallow given how great the team was in the Manning early and those early Andrew Luck seasons. The Broncos probably feel the same way about their post-Manning era as they finally made the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50 last year.

So, this was a rare big game for both of these franchises to get to 2-0. Bo Nix wanted to make up for a bad season opener, and he mostly did. Daniel Jones wanted to prove Week 1 was no fluke, and he did that too. The Colts haven’t punted yet this season, the type of offensive efficiency that’s usually only reserved for QBs having God Mode runs as this is only the fifth time it’s happened since World War II ended.

Jones is playing legitimately good football with another 316 passing yards. Jonathan Taylor was incredible too with 215 yards from scrimmage in the game. The Denver defense was a paper tiger last year and it’s looking similar this year.

But I must say for as much as Colts coach Shane Steichen looks to be vindicated in benching Anthony Richardson for Jones, he’s very lucky the Colts stole this game as he didn’t do a good job closing it out. Denver got sloppy late with Nix throwing a pick in scoring range, then Wil Lutz missed a big 42-yard field goal with 3:15 left.

Down 28-26, the Colts only needed a field goal. But after Jones completed a pass to pick up a first down and burn Denver’s final timeout with 1:44 left, Steichen went with a super conservative strategy of three more runs before settling for a 60-yard field goal with a so-so kicker (Shrader) at best.

That’s crazy. I don’t care how good some kickers have gotten at long-range kicks, you have to keep throwing there and get closer. Sure enough, Shrader was short on the 60-yard field goal, but the Colts got bailed out with a leverage penalty on the Broncos. You be the judge:

I see why they called it by the letter of the law. You can’t touch an opponent or teammate to propel yourself to try blocking a kick. But I’d like to see a call when it’s something more egregious as he barely gained any advantage here. That’s a tough 15 yards.

Given a second chance, Shrader was good from 45 yards and the Colts won 29-28 to move to 2-0. I would dock an ending like this for Steichen in a Coach of the Year race, but this is becoming quite the story with Jones playing like this.

Maybe MetLife Stadium is the curse and that’s why Geno Smith and Sam Darnold couldn’t wait to get away from there and do better. The Butt Fumble of 2012 (shout out Mark Sanchez) cursed all quarterbacks who start there, which is why Eli never won another playoff game for the Giants after it, and all the failed careers for these other Jets and Giants quarterbacks.

I guess I need some kind of supernatural explanation for how Indiana Jones is leading one of the most efficient offenses we’ve seen these last two weeks. Doesn’t feel real yet.

Seahawks at Steelers: Bonehead Play of the Year

It’s kind of incredible (and sad) how Aaron Rodgers joins a team and suddenly the defense is terrible, and the running game barely exists. But the Steelers had some issues on defense to end 2024. They weren’t supposed to carry over after they added some real veteran talent, but this thing is not working out for Mike Tomlin after 8 quarters.

But this was a very winnable game for the Steelers that broke Seattle’s way thanks to three huge plays:

  • In the third quarter, Rodgers’ 3rd-and-goal pass was deflected by a diving Calvin Austin into an interception in the end zone when the Steelers had a chance to take a 21-14 lead.
  • Rookie running back Kaleb Johnson made one of the dumbest plays in NFL history when he let the kickoff alone in the landing zone and the Seahawks were able to recover it for a touchdown to make it 24-14.
  • Even with the Seahawks running a give-up draw on 3rd-and-19, Kenneth Walker still hit them for a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 31-17 with 3:41 left.

Rodgers struggled in this game with some passes it’s hard to believe he threw because of how risk averse he usually is. But between that red-zone pick off the bad deflection and Johnson’s moronic move, the Steelers looked like toast here. It didn’t help that they made Cooper Kupp look like the 2021 version of Kupp, giving Sam Darnold another viable weapon outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is proving me wrong by looking like a legit WR1 with 8/103 this week.

The Seahawks are a little better than I was giving them credit for. Given the way Justin Fields couldn’t complete passes against a Buffalo defense that was bleeding yards last week, I only think the worst about where the Pittsburgh defense is headed this year. Rodgers with one good wideout is just not going to be able to lead many multi-score comebacks.

The Steelers are in the danger zone right now as I’m not really sure what they can hang their hat on. Rodgers can still make some gifted throws, but the consistency isn’t going to be there like the old days.

Jaguars at Bengals: Jake Browning to the Rescue Again

The early reports on Joe Burrow’s injury is turf toe and it could be serious, meaning three months out or even the rest of the season. Either way, we should expect to see more of backup Jake Browning, who again got the job done similar to a 2023 game in Jacksonville, which was the kind of high-scoring win in crunch time the Bengals almost never win with Burrow at quarterback.

Even with throwing 3 interceptions, Browning has shown he can bounce back and give his talented receivers chances to make plays. Even Tinsley caught a one-handed touchdown from Browning, so it’s not just Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, who also scored Sunday in the Bengals’ 31-27 comeback win.

But I also think it’s funny that a year ago, Bengals fans complained about a 4th-and-16 defensive pass interference penalty in Kansas City that cost them a game in Week 2. It was the right call, mind you, but they weren’t letting that one go all season.

This time, the Bengals got a very questionable DPI flag go their way on a 4th-and-5 with 1:54 left, basically the ballgame again, when Travis Hunter was flagged for what looked like pretty good defense. He was engaged with the receiver who also made contact to Hunter’s face, and Hunter did get his head turned around and swatted at the ball. I wouldn’t want a flag here on either side.

Hunter played 43 snaps on defense (42 on offense), so he had a much bigger role this week as a dual threat. However, it sucks that his first high-profile defensive snap is a shady penalty that arguably decided the game.

But you have to stop the backup quarterback, and the Jaguars couldn’t do it just as they couldn’t stop Browning in 2023 either. He scored on a sneak touchdown with 18 seconds left, not really leaving the offense enough time to answer it.

Trevor Lawrence had an uneven game and missed several opportunities to put more points on the board and to convert late on a 4th-and-5 at the Cincinnati 7 with 3:42 left. That decision shows how the NFL has made progress with aggressive coaching as Liam Coen wasn’t going to settle for a 6-point lead and be in the same position of giving up the go-ahead touchdown (that the Bengals absolutely knew they needed) in the final 20 seconds.

In fact, it’s better to be up 3 there late as opposed to 6 as the offense will hopefully stay conservative on fourth down and go for the tying field goal. But the Bengals ended up getting the winning touchdown anyway.

Tough loss for the Jaguars, and we’ll just have to see what the news is on Burrow. But I think people shouldn’t sell the drop-off to Browing short. If he can win the clutch games Burrow couldn’t, what’s the real issue? The defense remained opportunistic this week with the timely stops of Lawrence too, so they’ll need to keep that up.

This injury all but tanks any Burrow for MVP talk, but hopefully he gets better news and can return eventually this season. But I’d be lying if I wasn’t looking forward to getting more data points on how Browning does in this offense and in moments like this.

Falcons at Vikings: Not the Baby LOAT

When people say it’s so easy to play quarterback now, show them this game. That didn’t look like much fun for J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix, two young quarterbacks the NFL apparently wanted to showcase in this prime-time slot instead of the Super Bowl rematch in Week 2.

These defenses had these quarterbacks in hell, especially the revamped pass rush for the Falcons that already had a solid debut in Week 1. Every chance I had to write about the Falcons this offseason, I kept mentioning those two first-round rushers and veteran Leonard Floyd, and all three of them were in on the 6 sacks McCarthy took in this 22-6 grind.

Similar to Monday night for McCarthy without the short fields helping him score late, I’m just not that impressed with his arm. The passes look weak to me as if he was coming off a shoulder or elbow injury instead of a meniscus. It’s weird.

But while it felt like another game he could steal in the fourth quarter thanks to his defense keeping him in it at 12-6, think again. Even after McCarthy got some great field position (own 48) to start his rally attempt, the Falcons closed that down immediately with a strip-sack that led to a 54-yard field goal for new kicker Parker Romo, who delivered big all night.

Down 15-6, McCarthy threw incomplete on a 3rd-and-1 to a wide-open receiver deep. Shockingly, Kevin O’Connell had his team punt with 9:52 left and the team still down two scores on a night it struggled to slow down the running game as Bijan Robinson had a huge game.

I think it’s the worst punt of this young season by any coach. Don’t call the deep shot on 3rd-and-1 if you’re just going to punt there. Then why wouldn’t you just go for it? If you can’t get a yard, how do you expect to score twice the rest of the game? If you don’t get it, you at least give up a short field that shouldn’t take much time off the clock.

But the worst-case scenario happened. The Vikings did their sissy punt, and the Falcons used up 6:17 of game clock to add a touchdown to make it 22-6 with 3:22 left. Game over, basically.

McCarthy’s rotten night ended so poorly that he threw up a pick expecting to get an offsides penalty but instead it was for an illegal shift on the Vikings, so the interception stood. Rough.

I’m feeling pretty good about Robinson and the Atlanta pass rush going forward. With the Vikings, I liked the under 8.5 wins all offseason for this team as I was not buying McCarthy until he proved he could play. His defense is going to keep him in games and he could end up playing well by season’s end, but for right now, he doesn’t know what he’s doing and the Vikings are going to continue to struggle.

He doesn’t look like he’s going to be the Baby LOAT from Michigan (new Tom Brady) after all.

Bears at Lions: They Just Needed Ben Johnson Back in the Building

Maybe not 52-21, but this more or less was the outcome I expected in this one. The Lions show all is well with the offense without Ben Johnson, they take advantage of the Bears coming off a Monday night stinker, and Caleb Williams throws too many inaccurate passes.

But Jared Goff must have been really pissed about that fake “0-19 without McVay/Johnson” stat as he went off for 334 yards and 5 touchdown passes in this one. As many touchdown passes as incompletions.

If you took a poll of how Bears fans felt around the third quarter of Monday night’s game and today, that would probably be a very dramatic swing. They are down bad in many areas.

But the Lions will need to show something in Baltimore next week after a no-show in Green Bay for Week 1 against elite competition.

Bills at Jets: The Real Justin Fields Returns

See, that’s why I didn’t want to overreact to Justin Fields in Week 1, because I know what he’s been in the NFL and that’s not good enough to be a franchise quarterback. In this game, he played into the fourth quarter before a concussion knocked him out, and he still finished 3-of-11 for 27 yards passing.

What the hell is that? Tyrod Taylor came in and immediately completed 3 passes. Mitch Trubisky had to come into the game after Josh Allen injured his nose, and he completed a 32-yard pass to finish with more passing yards than Fields. Just ridiculous stuff.

But it was a weird Josh Allen game as he had no touchdowns of any sort and had a few bail-out penalties on third downs to extend early drives for points. The Jets never stood much of a chance, and James Cook was the star with 132 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in an easy 30-10 win.

And yes, the Bills won the turnover battle again, had no turnovers again, and Cook’s fumble was recovered by the Bills again. They seemingly can’t be stopped with these turnover numbers.

Browns at Ravens: Not the Happiest Return for Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco made his return to Baltimore for the first time since losing his job to Lamar Jackson in 2018. The Browns were a 12.5-point underdog by kickoff, which is a pretty huge line for a Week 2 division game.

But it was only a 10-3 lead at halftime for Baltimore after the Browns shut down Derrick Henry (11 carries for 23 yards in the entire game) and limited the big plays with nothing over 15 yards in the first two quarters. Myles Garrett (1.5 sacks) is having a huge start to his 2025 season, and his third-down sack of Lamar Jackson forced the Ravens to settle for a field goal and 13-3 lead early in the third quarter.

However, that’s when the game took a turn in Baltimore’s blowout favor as a Flacco pass was picked off by Nate Wiggins, who returned it to the Cleveland 5, setting up another short field for a Baltimore offense that already had a 24-yard touchdown drive thanks to a blocked punt in the first half. The Ravens finished that for a touchdown and 20-3 lead, then later added a Flacco fumble return for a touchdown and another short-field touchdown to blow things open at 41-10.

Rookie Dillon Gabriel relieved Flacco instead of Shedeur Sanders, so let the talk there begin. The Browns scored a garbage time touchdown and lost 41-17.

Cleveland just gave up way too many short fields to make things easier on the Ravens on a day they didn’t bring their A game one week after the Buffalo choke. Should be a much  better test next Monday night against a Detroit team that just scored 52 points.

Patriots at Dolphins: Jock (Mike Vrabel) Stuffs Nerdboy (Mike McDaniel) in Locker

What a week for Miami coach Mike McDaniel. Rex Ryan calls you “nerdboy” on TV, then you are left rambling in your post-game speech after the latest 33-27 loss to the Patriots at home to fall to 0-2.

Basically, this Miami defense is trash, and Tua Tagovailoa’s decision making just seems impaired. Maybe it’s too many concussions but he’s just not seeing things well like on his big interception in a 30-27 game with 2:12 left.

There was a surreal moment where the Dolphins returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown to take a 27-23 lead, then the Patriots immediately answered with Antonio Gibson returning the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for what is technically a game-winning non-offensive touchdown. Drake Maye, who played well, has his first win in a game he finished where the opponent scored more than 3 points, though it did happen on that Gibson return.

But would you have trusted Miami to stop them anyway? Just a bad football team right now and it’s a joke we have to watch them Thursday night against the team they almost never beat (Buffalo).

49ers at Saints: Return of the Mac

For a game with Mac Jones and Spencer Rattler at quarterback, they actually put on one of the best passing shows of the day with both throwing for over 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. That’s something we almost never see in the NFL anymore. Jones didn’t even have George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk available to him.

But the good news is Jones didn’t have to win the game in the fourth quarter, something he’s horrific at. However, my prediction of a classic Kyle Shanahan blown lead and failed game-winning drive without his QB1 was so close to coming true. The 49ers were up 26-14, but there was Rattler with the ball in a 26-21 game with 2:40 and 94 yards to go for the lead.

The long field was unfortunate as the Saints must not have believed they could mix a run in there on 3rd or 4th-and-1 with the clock racing to the final minute. On 4th-and-1 at his own 42, Rattler was sacked by Bryce Huff and coughed up the ball, ending the threat.

It was another very respectable effort from Rattler against a superior opponent, but he’s gotta finish one of these drives eventually. Now 0-5 at game-winning drives.

Rams at Titans: Patience with Cam Ward

Well, two games in, and it doesn’t really look like Cam Ward is going to have that C.J. Stroud/Jayden Daniels type of rookie season. There were some flashes of brilliance on Sunday as he had another one-score game in the fourth quarter with an opponent favored to be a playoff team, but he’s going to have to work on his pocket presence and sacks after 5 more takedowns this week.

It was the two long sacks last week that knocked them out of field goal range against Denver that were killer. This week, he’s in a 20-16 game and gets a strip-sack by that talented front seven of the Rams, who turned that turnover into a 21-yard touchdown drive with Davante Adams scoring for his new team. Just like that it’s 27-16, and the Titans don’t have the firepower to handle that.

Panthers at Cardinals: The NFC West Stays Perfect (Barely)

The Cardinals, Rams, and 49ers are all 2-0. The Seahawks are 1-0 when they’re not playing one of their division rivals. The whole NFC West is still undefeated outside of the division going into Week 3, but the Cardinals have been playing it rather loosely, letting some bad teams hang around at the end.

I thought Bryce Young was on his way to getting benched again after giving up a fumble touchdown three snaps into the game and the Panthers were still trailing 27-9 with 10:32 left in the game.

But to his credit, Young mounted a comeback and got some big breaks along the way. After scoring a second touchdown in the quarter, the Panthers tried the onside kick with 1:58 left and actually recovered it – a play that’s dipped to a 5% success rate since last year with the new rules You lucky if you get one recovery in your career, so Young couldn’t waste it in a 27-22 game that was suddenly very winnable.

Then he even got another brutal sack that lost 29 yards on fourth down overturned by a defensive holding penalty, so there’s a second huge break after the 2:00 warning. A third break was the roughing the passer to negate a 2nd-and-17 incompletion. Was Arizona really going to blow an 18-point lead in basically half a quarter of work?

But then it all went south with a grounding penalty on Young, and suddenly it’s 2nd-and-20. Then it’s 4th-and-15, and there’s Calais Campbell for the game-clinching sack with 0:26 left. Crisis averted for Arizona after a close call with the Saints last week.

I’m not a believer yet in this team, but if they get to play Mac Jones next week instead of Brock Purdy, and with the Rams in Philly, the Cardinals could be 3-0 an in first place this time next week.

Next week: Just a horrible choice to put the Dolphins in prime time, and it will come with the fawning over Buffalo to boot. Good game to get some work done early that night.  Sunday has Rams-Eagles playoff rematch early on, then I think Broncos-Chargers is where my interest lies at 4:00. Chiefs-Giants on SNF is suddenly much more interesting with the teams trying to avoid 0-3 starts. Saved the best for last with Lions at Ravens on MNF.