Week 2 of the 2016 NFL season gave us a whole heck of a lot of drama. The Minnesota Vikings won their first game in their new digs. The Los Angeles Rams returned to Southern California in victorious fashion.
Meanwhile, both the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders blew golden opportunities at home.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s action was also marred by injuries to some of the best players in the game.
These are among the top-10 takeaways from Sunday’s slate of Week 2 NFL action.
1. Injuries hamper Week 2 around the NFL
Whether it was the shoulder injury New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo suffered or yet another setback for former All Pro Arian Foster, Sunday’s slate of NFL action was marred by injuries. It also ended with what could be a devastating injury to Adrian Peterson (more on that below).
While Garoppolo didn’t suffer any broken bones in his shoulder, there is concern that he might have sprained an AC joint. That will keep the Patriots’ current starter out for Thursday’s outing against the Houston Texans, if not longer.
This likely means that the Patriots will be forced to look for a veteran backup here in the next couple days (more on that here).
On the other hand, Foster went down with a groin injury against the Patriots and did not return. This comes as he entered Sunday’s action dealing with a tweaked ankle.
In his first season with the Dolphins, the often-injured Foster may no longer be able to contribute on a consistent basis at this point in his career. Here’s a guy that missed nearly half of the Houston Texans’ games in his final three seasons with the team.
Speaking of horrible injuries, the San Diego Chargers may have lost Danny Woodhead for an extended period after he landed awkwardly on his knee.
It was an ugly-looking injury that could potentially have wide-ranging ramifications for the Chargers moving forward. Pure conjecture here, but it doesn’t look like Woodhead will be returning any time soon.
The veteran put up nearly 1,100 total yards and nine scores a season ago. He joins No. 1 Chargers receiver Keenan Allen on the sideline.
In Arizona, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin exited the game with a hamstring injury. He did not return to the field.
Staying in the NFC West, the Seattle Seahawks lost Thomas Rawls to another foot injury after he struggled to get it going against the Los Angeles Rams. The second-year back did not return to the game.
These are the types of injuries no one wants to see. While most of them might not be season-ending, having to go through these bumps and bruises early in the year can have long-term ramifications.
2. Washington Redskins blow it at home
Kirk Cousins’ ill-timed interception. A ridiculous pre-snap penalty late in the game. A defense that couldn’t do a darn thing to stop Dallas Cowboys rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. This all led to the Redskins losing at home to their division rivals.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden was quick to blame the entire team for its lack of execution on Sunday.
“Can’t put it all on Kirk…coaching, playing, offense, defense, we all had our hand in that one,” Gruden said after the game, via the Redskins’ official website.
That’s fine and dandy. It’s also not necessarily wrong. Though, Cousins’ late-game interception in the end zone played a huge role in the outcome of the game.
It put an end to a six-play, 73-yard drive and was immediately followed by the Cowboys going 80 yards on 11 plays to take a 27-23 lead.
Exacting a bit of revenge, former Redskins running back Alfred Morris scored the eventual game-winning touchdown to put an exclamation point on said drive.
Now at 0-2 on the season, questions will be raised about whether last year’s division title was a fluke. It might be an overreaction, but the Skins only have themselves to blame for this.
The potentially larger issue here could be a rift between Cousins and other members of the Redskins’ offer, some of whom are reportedly unhappy with his play thus far this season (more on that here).
We’ve seen the Redskins’ locker room divided in the past under Gruden. It didn’t end all too well on the field for the team. This is definitely a story to monitor moving forward.
3. The Seattle Seahawks are a mess
Sure, Russell Wilson was hobbled Sunday in Los Angeles. It was noticeable when he attempted to scramble for yards on the ground throughout the day.
Though, there are more-pressing concerns for Seattle after two weeks. The offense looks inept, pass protection has been missing in action and there’s no consistency in the run game.
This all came out in droves at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Sunday with Seattle falling to the division-rival Rams 9-3. It’s the very same Rams team that was embarrassed on the road by the San Francisco 49ers last week.
More than anything, the issues were vast on offense. Seattle put up just 17 first downs, converted 4-of-13 third-down opportunities and racked up 192 more total yards than penalty yards.
And while Russell Wilson was sacked just twice, he found himself thrown to the ground a grand total of nine times and pressured on over 30 percent of his drop backs.
Without a consistent running game and behind a lackluster offensive line, Wilson will be lucky to play every game this season. That, in and of itself, could doom the team’s playoff hopes.
4. Von Miller dominates, Andrew Luck lays an eggs
Miller’s performance on Sunday reminded us of what he did to Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.
The EDGE rusher absolutely dominated and toyed with the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive line. In the process, he pretty much ruined any hopes that the Colts could find a way to get back to .500 on the season.
All said, Miller recorded seven tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble.
With Denver up just six points and under two minutes left, Miller came off the edge to pressure Luck. The Colts’ quarterback did not see the reigning Super Bowl MVP hit the backfield. The end result was a strip sack that culminated in a Shane Ray 15-yard scoop and score to put the game away (watch here).
It’s this type of absolute domination that has some thinking Miller is now up there with J.J. Watt as the best defensive player in the NFL.
On the other side of the ledger, Luck absolutely stunk it up in the Colts’ second consecutive loss to open the season. In addition to losing that fumble, Luck threw a pick-six earlier in the game (watch here).
That’s 14 points right there that the former Pro Bowl signal caller gifted the best defense in the NFL. In absolutely no world is that winning football.
Let’s be clear here. This wasn’t all Luck’s fault. His offensive line was a complete dumpster fire and found itself over-matched throughout the game. Luck was sacked five times and hit a total of 11 times by a swarming Broncos defense. This surely didn’t help.
With that said, elite-level quarterbacks tend to find a way to up the performance of their teams on Sundays. Luck did not do that against Denver.
Instead, he acted as one of the primary reasons the Colts dropped to o-2 and enter Week 3 in last place in the AFC South.
5. Horrible early-season loss for the Oakland Raiders
The Raiders were riding high following a late-game comeback against the Saints in New Orleans to open the season. The stirring victory might have masked some major issues Oakland has on the defensive side of the ball.
There was no masking these issues against the Atlanta Falcons in Oakland on Sunday. Simply put, the Raiders’ defense was an absolute joke in a 35-28 home loss to Matt Ryan and Co.
Ryan completed 26-of-34 passes for 396 yards with three touchdowns. Meanwhile, the duo of Tevin Coleman and DeVonta Freeman added 139 yards and a score on the ground.
When all was said and done, Atlanta tallied 528 yards, 27 first downs and averaged over eight yards per play. No matter how good Oakland’s offense is (454 yards and 28 first downs), that’s not going to win you many games.
This comes on the heels of Oakland allowing Drew Brees to throw four touchdowns in the team’s season-opening win.
What makes this so disappointing is that Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie did everything possible to upgrade the secondary during the spring. He selected safety Karl Joseph in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft while adding both Reggie Nelson and Sean Smith in free agency.
Despite all this, it appears the Raiders’ defense is no better than it was last season. That was represented to a T on Sunday.
In the process, the Raiders lost a game in typical Raiders fashion. They did so at home against an inferior opponent.
6. Houston Texans prove their worth among AFC’s elite
Houston’s defense came to play big time Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Led by J.J. Watt and John Simon, it recorded four sacks of Alex Smith, hitting the Chiefs’ quarterback nine times in the process.
All said, Kansas City put up less than 300 total yards and 14 first downs in the 19-12 Texans win. Smith himself completed 20-of-37 passes for 186 yards without a touchdown. This came a week after he tallied a career-best statistical performance against the San Diego Chargers.
On the offensive side of the ball, it wasn’t necessarily pretty for Houston. Even then, both DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller were able to each put up 100-plus receiving yards. New running back Lamar Miller added 97 total yards on 27 touches.
If the Texans can get slightly above-average production on offense, they are going to be a force to reckon with in the AFC. Through two games, that’s exactly what we’ve seen.
Thursday night’s game against the New England Patriots will be Houston’s biggest test of the early season. It could tell us a lot about where this team is in the AFC. But through two games, it’s looking darn good.
7. Gus Bradley’s seat now increasingly hot in Jacksonville
Now 1-12 in the month of September as Jacksonville’s head coach, Bradley finds himself in an uncertain situation. The team was absolutely blown out by the San Diego Chargers by the score of 38-14 on Sunday. It was the second consecutive loss to open the year.
Unlike previous seasons, expectations are high in Jacksonville. It’s Bradley’s fourth year at the helm, and patience is not something the organization can afford right now. That’s only magnified by the tremendous amount of young talent Jacksonville boasts on both sides of the ball.
With home games coming up against the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts over the next two weeks, the time is now for Bradley and Co. to get back on track. If that doesn’t happen, and should the Jaguars find themselves at 1-3 or 0-4 after the stretch, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bradley get his walking papers.
8. It might be all about Sam Bradford in Minnesota
WOW WOW WOW Sam Bradford & @stefon_diggs! 🙌#GBvsMIN #SKOL https://t.co/Wex0YfXSPc
— NFL (@NFL) September 19, 2016
Making his Minnesota Vikings debut on the same night that the team christened U.S. Bank Stadium, Bradford put up one heck of a performance against the division rival Green Bay Packers. He completed 22-of-31 passes for 286 yards with two touchdowns and zero picks. It was one of the best statistical games of Bradford’s career.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, it appears that they might need similar performances moving forward on the season. Future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson exited the game with what appears to be a serious knee injury.
He had to be helped off the field, and stability tests were being conducted on the running back’s ACL. That’s never a good sign (more on that here).
While we wait for updates on Peterson’s condition, the narrative in Minnesota is quickly turning to what Bradford might be able to provide this squad.
Here’s a team that doesn’t need a whole heck of a lot from its offense with what might be one of the best defenses in the NFL.
If Bradford can continue to provide Minnesota with what he gave the team on Sunday night, there’s no real reason to believe last year’s division title was a fluke. This, regardless of Peterson’s status moving forward in 2016.
9. Great having football back in Los Angeles
The Rams went with their throwback uniforms in their first regular season game back in Los Angeles since 1994. It was a beautiful day in Southern California. No cloud in sight. A divisional matchup between two west coast teams.
Adding to the intrigue, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was making his return to the iconic Los Angeles Coliseum after leading the USC Trojans to national prominence there years back.
The game itself wasn’t too exciting. The two team’s combined for four field goals and zero touchdowns. In fact, Carroll’s antics on the sideline might represented the most exciting moments of the game (watch here).
Still, it was NFL football back in Los Angeles for the first time in over 20 years. It also concluded with the Rams pulling off a pretty major upset against their division rivals. That’s not too shabby at all for Southern Californians.
10. Quarterback change in San Francisco?
The San Francisco 49ers remained somewhat competitive against the Carolina Panthers Sunday afternoon.
It was a surprise considering the team had to travel to Charlotte to play the defending NFC champions on a short week. Add in the fact that Carolina had an extra three days of preparation, and this game had blowout written all over it.
While the final score was indicative of a blowout, San Francisco had the game actually within one score in the final stanza.
That’s until Blaine Gabbert imploded, throwing two interceptions and once again proving himself not cut out to be a starter in the NFL.
Is it now time for first-year head coach Chip Kelly to pull the plug on the Gabbert project and move forward with the embattled Colin Kaepernick under center? It doesn’t seem possible for anyone to play down to the level of what we have seen from Gabbert over the first two weeks.
Either way, we promise to hear rumors and reports coming out of the Bay Area in the lead up to San Francisco’s road game against Seattle next week. Whether that indicates a quarterback change is in the cards remains to be seen.