NFL Week 2 Reactions: Injuries, Upsets and Absolute Chaos

Week 2 was chaos. Quarterbacks went down, favorites got stunned, the Raiders somehow moved to 2-0 and a few supposed contenders already have serious questions to answer.

Week 2 was weird.

Franchise quarterbacks went down. Favorites lost games they had no business losing. A few offenses looked completely broken. The Raiders are somehow 2-0. Tyler Shough walked into Baltimore and probably destroyed half the country’s survivor pools. And by the end of Sunday, it felt like the injury report was becoming just as important as the scoreboard.

Some teams made statements. Some raised serious questions. And a few games were just flat-out disgusting to watch.

After going through the entire Week 2 slate, here’s what stood out.

Buffalo Looks Terrifying

The final score makes Lions-Bills look more competitive than this game actually felt.

Buffalo jumped Detroit immediately, building a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and a 27-10 lead by halftime. Josh Allen looked basically unstoppable again. He finished with 248 passing yards, three touchdowns through the air and added another 69 yards and two scores on the ground.

Five total touchdowns.

James Cook was excellent too, running for 135 yards and a touchdown. When Buffalo can get that kind of production from the running game while Allen is doing Josh Allen things, good luck.

Detroit eventually got its offense going. Jared Goff finished with 327 yards and four touchdowns, while Amon-Ra St. Brown went for 142 yards and two scores. Those numbers look great until you remember how much of that production came with Detroit already trying to dig itself out of a massive hole.

The atmosphere for the first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium was insane, and Detroit looked overwhelmed early.

Buffalo looks like one of the best teams in football.

I Was There: Browns-Bucs Was Ugly

I was at this one in Tampa, and trust me: the box score doesn't properly explain how ugly this game was.

Baker Mayfield was bad. He was missing throws and overthrowing receivers throughout the afternoon. Tampa Bay's offense just could not consistently get anything going against Cleveland's defense.

The weird part is that Deshaun Watson looked terrible early too.

Then something changed.

Watson settled in and ended up completing 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Cleveland erased a 16-6 deficit and escaped Tampa with a 23-19 win.

Denzel Ward stood out defensively, and Cleveland's defense deserves a ton of credit for keeping them alive while the offense struggled.

The Browns couldn't run the ball either. Quinshon Judkins managed just 21 yards on 12 carries. But Watson made enough plays in the second half to get them out of there.

Throw in a 2 hour weather delay and it made this game that much more unbearable.

It wasn't pretty.

Nobody Deserved to Win Packers-Jets

This game was disgusting.

Green Bay won 20-17 in overtime despite producing 199 total yards, committing 14 penalties for 133 yards and generally looking like a team trying to lose.

Jordan Love couldn't get much going. The Packers couldn't establish the running game. The offensive line continued taking injury hits. And Green Bay is reaching the point where the amount of talent sitting on the sideline is becoming impossible to ignore.

MarShawn Lloyd hasn't convinced me he's the answer in the backfield either. Kaleb Johnson only got eight carries, but he ran for 32 yards and started showing something late. I think we need to see more of him going forward.

And somehow, the Jets managed to Jet.

I still don't understand Aaron Glenn's late-game management. He elected not to use a timeout late in regulation, then the Jets chose to take the ball first in overtime, went three-and-out and handed Green Bay the opportunity it needed.

The Packers deserve credit for finding a way to win when almost nothing was working.

But nobody should feel particularly good about this game.

Carolina Might Be Good. Atlanta Is Definitely Not.

I don't know how much I trust the Panthers yet.

I do know Atlanta looked horrible.

Carolina won 34-3 and forced five turnovers. Cooper Rush went 10-for-17 for 86 yards with two interceptions before Atlanta finally pulled him.

Then Jack Strand came in and threw a pick-six on his first NFL pass.

Welcome to the league.

Bryce Young deserves credit on the other side. He threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns without turning the ball over, and Carolina completely controlled the game.

After watching Chicago put 59 on this defense in Week 1, I'm not ready to suddenly declare the Panthers defense elite.

But Atlanta?

There are serious problems there. Through two weeks, they look like a team that could be hanging around the bottom of the league all season.

Brian Flores Put Chicago in Hell

One week after Chicago scored 59 points, the Bears scored three.

Three.

Minnesota didn't exactly light up the scoreboard either, winning 9-3, but Brian Flores and that Vikings defense completely dictated this game.

Caleb Williams threw for only 138 yards before leaving with a hamstring injury. Chicago turned the ball over twice, committed eight penalties and repeatedly found ways to sabotage its own drives.

They fumbled near the goal line. They penalized themselves out of scoring opportunities. And after the emotional roller coaster of Week 1, this looked like a team experiencing a serious hangover.

Then Williams got hurt, which became the biggest meme of the year...

Minnesota's defense is legit.

Flores is cooking something up there, and through two weeks, nobody should be excited about seeing that defense on the schedule.

The Eagles Were in Trouble. Then Jalen Hurts Took Over.

Tennessee deserves some credit here.

The Titans punched Philadelphia in the mouth early, kept answering whenever the Eagles fought back and held a 20-17 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Then Jalen Hurts took over.

Hurts led Philadelphia down the field and hit Darius Cooper for the winning touchdown with nine seconds remaining, giving the Eagles a 24-20 win.

It wasn't Hurts' cleanest performance. He threw two interceptions. But when Philadelphia needed a drive to win the game, he delivered.

The bigger concern was Saquon Barkley briefly leaving with a stinger. He eventually returned in the third quarter, but Tennessee's Jeffery Simmons was an absolute problem throughout the afternoon.

The Titans are 0-2, but they gave the Eagles everything they could handle.

Philadelphia survived.

Pittsburgh's Offense Is Becoming a Problem

Three points.

That's what the Steelers managed against New England.

Aaron Rodgers finished with 187 passing yards, no touchdowns and an interception. He got hit, he got strip-sacked, and Pittsburgh's offense never looked comfortable.

The Rodgers-DK Metcalf connection hasn't clicked the way Pittsburgh hoped it would either. There have been missed opportunities, drops and stretches where this offense simply doesn't look dangerous.

Meanwhile, TreVeyon Henderson ripped off a 39-yard touchdown and New England handled Pittsburgh 20-3.

It's only Week 2.

But when you build an offense around Rodgers, Metcalf, Jaylen Warren, Pat Freiermuth and the rest of that group, three points isn't something you can just shrug off.

Pittsburgh needs answers.

Tyler Shough Just Nuked Every Survivor Pool in America

This might have been the biggest shocker of the weekend.

After Week 1, I was ready to talk about Baltimore like they might be the best team in football.

Then Tyler Shough walked into Baltimore and beat them.

Shough went 27-for-34 for 252 yards, threw a touchdown, didn't turn the ball over and added the go-ahead rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Baltimore led 14-3.

New Orleans kept hanging around.

Then the Saints tied it, took the lead and intercepted Lamar Jackson with 20 seconds left to finish the upset.

Saints 24. Ravens 17.

Survivor pools everywhere went up in flames.

And suddenly my Baltimore take from a week ago needs a little revisiting.

Cincinnati Got Ja'Marr Chase Involved Again

This looked much more like the Bengals offense we're used to seeing.

Joe Burrow threw for 207 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Both touchdowns went to Ja'Marr Chase, who bounced back after failing to score in Week 1.

One of them was vintage Chase.

Houston, meanwhile, somehow threw for 353 yards and scored six points.

That's almost impressive.

C.J. Stroud attempted 55 passes. The Texans moved the football. Dalton Schultz had 140 receiving yards.

None of it mattered.

353 passing yards. 55 attempts. Six points.

What are we doing, Houston?

Cincinnati is 2-0. Houston is 0-2. And right now those records feel pretty representative of which team knows how to finish drives.

Denver Finally Woke Up

Jacksonville had this game.

The Jaguars led Denver 13-6 entering the fourth quarter and then watched the Broncos score 14 unanswered points to win 20-13.

The biggest development for Denver was Jaylen Waddle.

After a quiet Week 1, Waddle exploded for eight catches and 138 yards. He didn't find the end zone, but this looked much more like the player Denver expected to have in its offense.

Jacksonville had an opportunity to start 2-0 and couldn't finish.

That's going to hurt.

Okay, Maybe We Need to Talk About the Raiders

The Raiders are 2-0.

I'm as surprised as you are.

Vegas didn't just beat the Chargers either. They beat them 26-14, forced three turnovers and shut Los Angeles out in the fourth quarter.

Kirk Cousins aired it out for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Tre Tucker was awesome, catching five passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.

The Chargers got a good game out of Omarion Hampton, who ran for 94 yards and a touchdown, but Justin Herbert threw two interceptions and Los Angeles couldn't finish drives when it mattered.

I wasn't expecting to say this two weeks into the season.

But maybe the Raiders deserve our attention.

The Jayden Daniels Injury Is Bigger Than Cowboys-Commanders

Dallas looked good.

Dak Prescott looked really good.

He completed 26 of 31 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. CeeDee Lamb was ridiculous, finishing with 153 yards and two scores.

George Pickens was relatively quiet, but Dallas didn't need him to do much.

The Cowboys won 37-20.

And somehow none of that feels like the biggest story.

That belongs to Jayden Daniels.

Washington looked like it had a chance to make this competitive before Daniels went down, and once he left, the entire feeling of the game changed.

Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow. Initial X-rays showed no fracture, but Washington is still working through what his recovery timeline will look like.

Until we know more, there's no reason to speculate about how long he'll be out.

But for Washington, the final score might end up being the least important thing that happened Sunday.

Seattle's Game Plan: Throw It to JSN

Sometimes football doesn't need to be complicated.

Drew Lock's game plan against Arizona appeared to be:

Find Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Throw him the football.

Repeat.

Seattle rolled Arizona 31-7, and honestly, that's about all we need to say about this one.

If it works, keep pressing the button.

San Francisco Handled Business

Not every game needs some grand takeaway.

The 49ers beat Miami 35-13.

San Francisco took care of a team it was supposed to beat, pulled away and never gave Miami much of a chance to make things interesting.

Good teams are supposed to do that.

Next.

The Chiefs Offense Looks Scary Again

This was one of the best games of the weekend.

Indianapolis went into Arrowhead and legitimately gave Kansas City everything it had.

The Colts led 20-17 at halftime. Kansas City battled back. Indianapolis answered. The game went to overtime.

Then we got an overtime shootout that basically lasted until there was no time left.

Indianapolis kicked a field goal. Kansas City answered. Patrick Mahomes got another opportunity, and Harrison Butker eventually hit the winner as time expired.

Chiefs 33. Colts 30.

And the biggest takeaway might be that Kansas City's offense looks dangerous again.

Mahomes threw for 382 yards and three touchdowns. Kenneth Walker III ran for 117 yards. Travis Kelce went over 100 receiving. Kansas City finished with 523 total yards.

That's a problem for everybody else.

Indianapolis deserves credit too. They're 0-2, but going into Arrowhead and taking Kansas City to the final second of overtime isn't something I'm going to crush them for.

The Chiefs just had the ball last.

And giving Mahomes one more possession usually ends exactly how you think it will.

The Giants Lost Jaxson Dart — Then Everything Fell Apart

The Giants' entire night changed four minutes into the game.

Jaxson Dart went down with a knee injury on New York's opening possession and never returned.

Jameis Winston was suddenly thrown into a game he wasn't expecting to play, and the Giants offense never recovered.

He was inaccurate. The offense had no rhythm. Whatever momentum New York had disappeared almost immediately.

I'm not ready to bury Winston over that performance. There's a massive difference between preparing all week as the starter and suddenly being told you're going into the game four minutes after kickoff.

But while New York fell apart, the Rams finally looked like the Rams.

Matthew Stafford threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns.

And with Puka Nacua unavailable, Davante Adams decided he'd just become the entire receiving corps.

Eight catches.

195 yards.

Two touchdowns.

That's the Davante Adams we've been waiting to see.

The Rams won 28-6, Stafford looked like Stafford again, and Adams reminded everyone what he's capable of when he's the focal point of an offense.

But for New York, none of that matters nearly as much as what happens next with Dart.

Week 2 Changed the Conversation

Two weeks isn't enough to decide what every NFL team is.

But it's enough to start asking different questions.

Buffalo looks terrifying.

Kansas City's offense looks dangerous again.

The Raiders might actually be interesting.

Brian Flores has Minnesota's defense playing at a ridiculous level.

Pittsburgh's offense looks broken.

Houston can move the football everywhere except into the end zone.

Baltimore suddenly looks mortal.

Green Bay is surviving more than thriving.

And injuries are already threatening to completely reshape the season for multiple teams.

That's the NFL.

Everything you think you know can change in one Sunday.

And after Week 2, there are a whole lot more questions than answers.