Another wild day, with some monster performances, frustrating in-game injuries, and questionable coaching moves. Some guys we liked did great, some we've ripped said "Hey, I'm an NFL player!" Lots of drama and second-guessing; that's today's NFL. Hope more of the big games went for you than against you.
Falcons at Jaguars: Did anyone check out the Toy Story thing? I did, and after some early technical difficulties (did they experiment with the idea before yesterday?) I guess it was fun for someone. If I had little kids I'm pretty sure they'd have left the room before anything interesting occurred. As for the game, Desmond Ridder was pretty brutal so be glad you got the points you did out of Drake London and Bijan Robinson (who looked awesome in defeat). Calvin Ridley scored against his former team and Christian Kirk (who some people were dropping after Week 1) led the receiving group again. Jaguars kind of coasted after an early 17-0 lead, a negative for the offense.
Dolphins at Bills: Higher-scoring as expected, but not everyone delivered. Most notably, Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle all disappointed, with DeVon Achane and Braxton Berrios the lone standouts for Miami (at least most started Achane). For Buffalo, if you were facing Josh Allen and/or Stefon Diggs, you probably lost. James Cook (left in for a goal-line sequence, interesting) and Gabe Davis also worked out. The Super Bowl talk for Miami can take a brief hiatus, they've still got to get by Buffalo.
Vikings at Panthers: Nothing like a matchup with the Bryce Young Panthers to cure what ails a defense. Game started with Kirk Cousins throwing a Pick Six in the red zone, but it was all Vikings after that. Another huge game for Justin Jefferson. Story this past week that the Panthers are supposedly in the market for a wide receiver. They have a lot of needs, really. Good rushing week for Alexander Mattison, lots of teams are running on Carolina.
Broncos at Bears: I've said some unkind things about Justin Fields (as recently as yesterday morning), dismissing DJ Moore, too. Not gonna say I was wrong (the Denver defense is really bad right now, and missing a few key starters too), but Fields at least proved that in a good matchup with a bad defense, he can put together a really nice day. Of course, he also did little besides turn the ball over after leading Chicago to a 28-7 lead, helping Denver get off the carpet and come away with the win. Wil Lutz makes up for his Week 1 misses with a clutch field goal to win it. Jaleel McLaughlin the waiver pickup of the week, it seems, with Javonte Williams leaving with a hip injury. Couple of defenses to put players up against this season, in case anyone wasn't sure. (Just don't count on it from either team every week.) Questionable coaching, Chicago passes up a go-ahead field goal with 2 minutes left to go for it and get stuffed. Take the lead and make the winless team drive the field, guys.
Ravens at Browns: Sometimes when you put a fifth-round rookie quarterback into the lineup last minute, it doesn't work out so well. The Browns offense crashed with Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the lineup against the Ravens defense. Baltimore's offense wound up with very good numbers, but I'm still in on Cleveland's defense; the game just got out of hand for them as Baltimore kept getting the ball back. Huge game for Mark Andrews.
Steelers at Texans: Seems we overestimated the Steelers offense. I was giving them a pass for struggling against the 49ers and Browns, but Houston is definitely nothing special, and they also frustrated this passing game. Najee Harris looked pretty good but didn't score, and Kenny Pickett left with a knee injury after a sack that looked really bad at the time and probably will be. Mitchell Trubisky can't be a good thing for the key skill guys. Another big game for C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins. You don't have to hit me over the head with it. Houston looks better off with their QB pick than Carolina thus far.
Rams at Colts: Wild game. All Rams and Kyren Williams early, all Anthony Richardson and company late. But Rams got the ball first in overtime, and the guy who's been there throughout, Puka Nacua, stepped up with a game-winning touchdown catch, capping another monster day. (Some big throws by Matthew Stafford too.) Yes Cooper Kupp will come back eventually, no I'm not "selling high" on Nacua. I'm just enjoying him where I have him. Not a great day for Zack Moss, though he made some plays during the comeback and provided some serviceable numbers (more than you might expect from the running back facing a 23-0 deficit).
Bucs at Saints: Derek Carr threw for 127 yards on 37 attempts. Mebbe the injured throwing shoulder affected him, I don't know. Looked OK on about a 50-yard bomb toward Chris Olave that almost went for a touchdown but was broken up, but possibly the ball hung up some which helped the defenders out. I guess only Carr knows for sure. Regardless, the offense was lousy and the defense turned in one of its worst performances, making Baker Mayfield look good. Alvin Kamara caught 13 passes for just 33 yards, which is probably some kind of record, but did make for a great PPR day (one of the negatives of PPR scoring, unless it was for your team). Mike Evans limped off with a hamstring injury and will probably miss time.
Commanders at Eagles: Pretty good day for quarterbacks I've spoken ill of this young season. Not that Sam Howell was great, but he made some big plays in nearly pulling off the big upset. Too bad Ron Rivera took the ball out of his hands by kicking an extra point when Washington scored a last-play touchdown to pull within a point, rather than going for 2 and the win. Eagles win in OT. Huge game for A.J. Brown, good for both Swift and Smith, and Brian Robinson with a touchdown and nearly more (goal-line fumble that Terry McLaurin fell on, plus a little run for Curtis Samuel too). Eagles a little fortunate to come away with this one.
Bengals at Titans: Guess I went to the Titans can't stop anyone through the air well one time too often. They were all over Joe Burrow in this one, knocking him around and holding the Bengals to a really lousy day. Tee Higgins left early with a rib injury after a big hit, year not going so hot for Tee (one good week). Derrick Henry looked pretty good on a touchdown run and a TD pass on that cool little play with him at quarterback that no one seems able to stop. Almost a long touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins, pass either dropped or broken up, hard to tell which.
Raiders at Chargers: Another game where one offense (the Chargers) didn't quite do as much as it maybe could have because of what the defense was able to do. Aidan O'Connell seems to have a comparably slow internal clock to Sam Howell, regularly taking sacks and losing fumbles while those of us watching were saying, Hey, uh, you've got to get rid of that thing. O'Connell did some good stuff too in making the game more interesting than it looked for a half, but Justin Herbert's 3 total touchdowns were too much. Really nice game for Josh Jacobs in defeat, alas losing a touchdown on one of those slow-motion freeze-frame reviews where I guess he was deemed to be down a fraction of a second before the ball went over the goal line. Davante Adams suffered a shoulder injury early on that looked bad but was able to return, hopefully OK.
Patriots at Cowboys: Mac Jones seemed to be moving in slow motion in this game. Both defensive touchdowns and another interception he threw could be seen coming from a mile away. New England didn't have a chance, while Dallas made it all look easy -- it was marginally more competitive than the opener against the Giants. I can't rip Rap Sheet too much for his empty pregame report about Ezekiel Elliott getting "starters reps" (he didn't, and did anyone really think the Patriots share game plans with NFL writers?), since I also thought Elliott would do very well. Didn't happen, nothing did for the Patriots. Jones ultimately benched for Bailey Zappe, but Belichick downplayed it (the game was over) and I believe him.
Cardinals at 49ers: The easiest survivor picked worked out fine, with Christian McCaffrey continuing yet another fantastic season and Brock Purdy racking up yet another win. No stopping the Niners these days, it seems. Arizona played hard, kudos to them for that, and a breakout game for Michael Wilson (nice for him, not so much for Arizona's other receivers; this offense can't support that many players). Regrettably, McCaffrey was so awesome that there wasn't anything for the rest of the Niners offense to do. So except for Brandon Aiyuk, they didn't, thanks for nothing Kittle and Deebo. Oh well.
Kansas City at Jets: For a quarter, it looked like this would be an ugly beating, with Kansas City taking a 17-0 lead and the Jets on pace for about a dozen three and outs. But then Patrick Mahomes threw up a couple of head-scratching interceptions -- just underthrown floaters that you don't expect to see from any decent quarterback, let alone him -- and suddenly it was a game. But a couple of late calls went Kansas City's way, Zach Wilson lost a fumble, KC escape. Big game for Isiah Pacheco, unfortunate he was probably on a lot of benches.
Monday, Monday: Has to be a lot of work for the cleaning crews to get the stadium ready from hosting Jets-KC last night to Giants-Seahawks tonight. They will labor in relative obscurity, but I'll recognize them here. As for the game, neither defense is good or has played well, accounting for a high over-under and probably guys like Metcalf, Walker, Waller and maybe the quarterbacks in lineups tonight. Could go either way, but I'm calling it Giants 26, Seahawks 23.