Alright, the New Orleans Saints might be legit.
The Saints thrashed the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, but many credited that more to the Panthers being a bottom-feeder than the Saints being a real threat. Well, the Saints made it known on Sunday they should be taken seriously when they went into Jerry World and thumped the Dallas Cowboys 44-19.
Led by quarterback Derrick Carr and new offensive co-ordinator Clint Kubiak, the Saints now have 91 points through the first two weeks of the season — tied for fourth-most in NFL history.
The starting offence also managed to score on their first 16 possessions of the season. Now, it’s one thing to constantly score against the listless Carolina Panthers, but to keep things rolling against a Cowboys defence that made Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson look like he forgot how to play the position in Week 1, that’s impressive.
New Orleans used a good combination of deep shots to receivers Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave while using versatile RB Alvin Kamara — who finished with four total touchdowns — to keep the Cowboys D off balance.
“I never felt like he was an aging running back,” Saints head coach Dennis Allen said of Kamara after the game. “I felt like he was still an explosive player. And I think we’re utilizing him in a way that allows him to be effective.”
It’s just two weeks in, but the Saints are one of the early surprises of the young season.
Kevin O’Connell coach of the year?
Speaking of surprises, how about those Minnesota Vikings.
In a similar fashion to the Saints, the Vikings came into Week 2 1-0 with the caveat that their opening victory came against a sub-par opponent — Minnesota soundly beat the Daniel Jones-led Giants in Week 1.
But the Vikings went out in Week 2 and beat the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers in a result almost no one saw coming.
While it’s far too early for awards talk, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has to be considered the early front-runner for the NFL’s Coach of the Year award.
Think about early narratives surrounding Minnesota coming into the season. They lost their rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy to a season-ending knee injury, they were without star tight end T.J. Hockenson for at least the first six weeks of the season, No. 2 WR Jordan Addison has been banged up and missed Sunday’s game and journeyman QB Sam Darnold was leading their offence.
Despite it all, O’Connell has the Vikings 2-0 and atop the NFC North. And they will also get Addison and Hockenson back in due time.
The Vikings did get a bit of a scare in the game when star wide receiver Justin Jefferson left the game with a right quad injury. But according to Jefferson, who had a 97-yard TD reception in the game, it’s not something to be worried about.
“Not overly concerned,” Jefferson told reporters after the game. “Just a lil thigh bruise, contusion, whatever you want to call it. Something that happens.”
What’s going on in the AFC North?
The AFC North division was supposed to run through the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
But if you take a glance at the standings, you’ll find both teams at the bottom with a big goose egg in the win column.
Sure, each team has one loss against the Kansas City Chiefs (Ravens in Week 1, Bengals in Week 2), there’s no shame in that. But the Ravens lost to Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday and the Bengals had the most shocking loss of the opening week when they fell to the New England Patriots.
“We’ve been here before, unfortunately. We know what this feels like, and we know it’s a long season,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said after their loss to the Chiefs.
Taylor isn’t wrong, there is a lot of football left. But if we look at last season, only one (Houston Texans) of the nine teams to start the season 0-2 ended up making the post-season.
Both the Bengals and Ravens have the talent and the quarterbacks to dig themselves out of an early hole. But it certainly wasn’t the start to the season two teams that many considered to be Super Bowl contenders envisioned.
Marvin Harrison Jr. quiets the doubters
Remember when everyone was worried about Marvin Harrison Jr.?
The Cardinals selected the wide receiver No. 4 overall in this year’s NFL Draft, but in Week 1 he was held to one catch for four yards in Arizona’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
One game into his NFL career, and some were worried: “He looked slow.” “He looked shell-shocked.”
Harrison squashed all those worries in Week 2 when he had his coming-out party to the tune of four catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals crushed the Los Angeles Rams 41-10. He showed why he was labelled a generational WR prospect coming out of Ohio State.
He also now has family bragging rights, as his 130 yards were more than anything his Hall of Fame dad, Marvin Harrison Sr., had in any game in his rookie season.
“I never lacked confidence in myself or the rest of the team,” Harrison said after the game. “I’ll continue to get better each week and continue to grow.”
Look out if he does, because if you combine an improving Harrison with QB Kyler Murray, who is playing at an MVP level, the Cardinals will have an offence that can win them any game.
Caleb Williams’ struggles continue
Like Harrison, Chicago Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams was also looking for a bounce-back performance in Week 2.
Unfortunately for Williams, his second start went much like his first.
The No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft failed to throw a touchdown pass for the second straight week against the Houston Texans on Sunday. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked seven times.
Over his first two games, Williams has flashed the otherworldly arm talent that had scouts drooling over him coming out of USC. But his decision-making and rate of processing clearly are not at an NFL level yet.
He’s going to learn a lot of valuable lessons this season, and will surely be a better NFL QB come the end of the season. But right now, in his early fight against the pro learning curve, the talented rookie is taking some haymakers.
Trouble brewing for Rams
Tough to say if anyone has had a worse start to the season than the Los Angeles Rams. To quote the great Yogi Berra: “It’s getting late early.”
Not only are they 0-2, but they have caught the injury bug in the worst of ways. They came into the matchup with the Cardinals on Sunday without a number of offensive linemen and star second-year receiver Puka Nacua, who could miss up to seven weeks with a knee injury.
But hey, at least they still had QB Matthew Stafford and his partner in crime Cooper Kupp.
Well, now it could just be Stafford as Kupp left Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and didn’t return.
If Kupp is out long-term as well, Stafford is going to have his work cut out for him to keep the Rams’ heads above water before reinforcements arrive. If he doesn’t, the Rams could see their season get washed away much earlier than anticipated.
“Disappointing day,” Stafford said after the loss to the Cardinals. “Not the way we wanted to come out here and play. No question about that. But it’s not going to define us as a team or our season. We’ll go back to work.”
That’s a new one!
Every year in the NFL brings at least one thing that we’ve never seen before.
In Week 2, it was a vomit mishap in the game Packers-Colts game.
Packers QB Malik Willis was supposed to throw on a particular play, but didn’t and his head coach Matt LaFleur asked him why he chose to run instead. Willis explained that it was because centre Josh Myers had just vomited on the football.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,” LaFleur said when asked about the incident.
Same here, Matt, same here.
Credit to Myers for handling it like a pro.
“I’ve got to do my job,” Myers said after the game. “Unfortunately, no one cares if I’m throwing up, if I give up a sack, you know? So I’ve got to block them. … It’s pretty much the only thing going through my mind.”
