NFL Week 2 Recap: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Catastrophic

There's always something about that second week of the NFL season. Week 1 is supposed to establish what all 32 teams are all about, and Week 2 either cements the narratives or flips the scripts. Basically, to put it in the immortal words of the late, great "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, just when we think we have all of the answers in Week 1, Week 2 changes the questions.

Week 2 started with the Buffalo Bills playing at their new stadium on Thursday Night Football, doing so against the Detroit Lions. The Bills were coming off defeating the Houston Texans in a back-and-forth, high-scoring battle, and in their home opener, well, the Bills did the same to Detroit. This game went just as I expected; tit for tat, a lot of points, and the Bills winning 41-31. Josh Allen led the way, and here are the numbers: 248 yards (9.92 points), three touchdowns (12 points), ran for 69 yards (6.9 points), and two touchdowns (12 points). A grand total of 40.82 fantasy points!

Josh's performance made me happy as a fantasy owner and as a fan of a rival of the Lions. What is not making me happy is the perennial over-glazing of Josh Allen after just two weeks into the season. Bills fans and talking heads are so desperate to claim that Josh is the NFL's best QB and that he'll go far this season. They have learned nothing. They want us to forget that he's a perennial choke artist, and that he singlehandedly blew his best chance last year. Josh Allen is great between September and January. Beyond that? He's a liability. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Josh needs to do it in January. Plain and simple.

This is a sight no one wanted to see. The Bears were coming off putting up 60 points on the Panthers, and this week was the Bears' home opener, and it was a disaster. Granted, the Bears were not going to duplicate Week 1, but you would think they'd find the end zone. This game solidified what I've been saying: Ben Johnson is an idiot. This so-called "great offensive mind" can't manufacture a TD in the first home game of the season? Like I said: the Lions don't miss him. The fact that Detroit's 2-0 against Johnson proves it.

But Ben Johnson having creamed corn where his brains should be is not the big issue here. We all know the story. Caleb Williams went down late, and was carted off. Hamstring injury, though some actually believed it was a torn Achillies, but thankfully, that's not the case. We heard many sounds from Chicago. Prayers for Caleb to be OK, though that came from every fan. We also heard Ben Johnson panicking, because let's face it--Caleb is Ben's meal ticket. Lost in this is the fact that the Vikings won 9-3 and are now 2-0, with both wins being divisional. They'll blow it. They always do.

We are all familiar with the phrase, "ugly win." An ugly win is when a team doesn't play up to par, yet wins anyway. There are ugly wins, and then there's whatever the hell the Packers were doing. We were a mess. Yes, we scored first. What followed was a cacophony of bad coaching, missteps, and penalties. The zebras were hella busy in this one--on both sides. We were down 17-7 against the New York Jets, but a Christian Watson TD and a Trey Smack FG later, it was tied. What should have been a Jets game winning drive stalled at midfield, with their 4th and 1 actually being worse than their 3rd and 2. Packers' drive went nowhere, and the game went to OT.

Jets won the toss and kept the ball. Sack, sack, and false start made it 3rd and 30. Jets got a few yards to make sure they don't punt from their own end zone, but with that, it became sudden death. Packers moved down the field, and the Jets were nice enough to help out with a late hit that added 15 yards. Love's pass to Watson pretty much sealed it, it made Smack's FG a chip shot, and he nailed it. The Packers had 199 total yards of offense, lost over 100 yards in penalties, and lost the turnover ratio, but we won 20-17 in OT because we're playing the Jets. The losing streak is over, and all I have to say is take this and run with it!

The Eagles also had an ugly wins, needing to scratch and claw their way back against the Titans in the final seconds. So we had two "almost-upsets," but we would get some actual upsets. For one, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that was delayed for two hours because there was lightning in Tampa Bay, and I'm not talking about Nikita Kucherov. The big one came courtesy of the New Orleans Saints, who went into Baltimore, fell behind 14-3, but came back to win it 24-17, sealing the win by intercepting Lamar Jackson late in the fourth quarter. So the NFC South did win games this week, with the Panthers also blasting the Falcons 34-3. The early window also saw the New England Patriots dismantle the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-3, bouncing back from losing the Super Bowl rematch, and the Cincinnati Bengals tore up the Houston Texans, 20-6.

In the late window, the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos both rebounded from their Week 1 losses with big home wins; the Broncos came back to defeat the Jaguars, 20-13, while Dallas dominated a Washington Commanders team that saw their QB, Jayden Daniels, out of the game via injury, and it could be another year where Daniels misses a lot of time. The Seattle Seahawks curbstomped the Arizona Cardinals, and the San Francisco 49ers did the same to the Miami Dolphins, but the story coming out of the late window is the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders and Chargers went at it, and the Chargers looked to rebound as well. Unfortunately, the Bolts woes continued, three turnovers (two of them being Justin Herbert INTs), and as a result, the Raiders won, 26-14.

The Las Vegas Raiders are 2-0. Already, they are one win away matching their win total from last season, and dating back to last year, the Raiders have won three straight. I don't know what's more surprising: the Raiders being 2-0, or the Raiders doing this with Kirk Cousins starting. Last time I checked, Cousins is supposed to be cooked. As for the Chargers, they are on the bad end of history again. They are the first team in NFL history to start 0-2 after losing both games to teams who lost 14+ games the previous season. The Cards and Raiders each went 3-14 last year. Even worse, the Bolts lost both games at home. However, history says that the Chargers are just fine. Remember: this team once reached the playoffs after starting 0-4.

Sunday Night Football saw the Colts and Chiefs go at it, and I was dreading this, because a) it's the Chiefs, b) it looked like KC would go to town on Indy, and c) literally the only exciting thing about the Colts is seeing Carlie Irsay-Gordon on the sidelines being a take-charge owner, and looking fabulous doing so. Yet a funny thing happened; this game was close. In fact, Indy was ahead at halftime. Chiefs did take the lead in the third and were up by a TD in the fourth, but Indy did manage to tie it, and we had overtime on Sunday Night Football for the first time since, well, you know.

KC struck first with a field goal, and the Colts managed to get a long conversion that appeared to end with a game-ending lost fumble, but a review showed that the receiver was down by contact... barely. Colts were in FG range to tie it, and ended up settling for three after failing to get into the end zone. So KC had the ball again, and OT was now sudden death. Chiefs did get to field goal range, and on the 4200th and final second, KC converted. A 33-30 victory for the Chiefs, who are now 2-0. As for the Colts, they've now lost nine straight games dating back to last season.

Monday Night Football was an NFC clash between the undefeated New York Giants and the winless Los Angeles Rams. Yes, you read that right, and I'm making that statement because I will never have the chance to say it again. Rams needed to bounce back badly, and they would have to do so without Puka Nacua. Nacua was a game-time decision due to a hip problem, and he was ruled out hours before kickoff. So it was up to Davante Adams to save the day, and of course he did, because that's what ex-Packers do. 8 receptions, 195 yards, 2 touchdowns, totalling 39.5 fantasy points! The Rams won 28-6, defeating a Giants team that saw QB Jaxson Dart injured and replaced by Jameis Winston.

So after two weeks, eight teams are 2-0, but none of them are in either of the South Divisions. In fact, as bad as the NFC South is, the AFC South looks worse. The Jags are 1-1 ahead of three 0-2 teams. Five of the eight 0-2 teams are in the South Divisions. The other three teams: Dolphins, Chargers, and Commanders. A few of those eight winless teams were expected, but for the ones who aren't, they better win on Week 3, because an 0-3 start, historically, means certain death.

Speaking of Week 3, it will start with the Green Bay Packers' home opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football. On Sunday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams and the Denver Broncos will face off in a battle between last year's conference runners-up, and on Monday Night Football, the Chicago Bears will host the Philadelphia Eagles.

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