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After two weeks, we get a fairly good picture of which teams are bad and which teams are decent in the NFL. Here are a few thoughts from the latest week of action:
The passing game is king
Three quarterbacks (Aaron Rodgers, Michael Vick and Philip Rivers) each passed for at least 400 yards without an interception (they combined for 1,327 yards and 10 touchdowns).
Coupled with two similar performances last week (Peyton Manning and Colin Kaepernick) that makes five 400+ yards and no pick games for quarterbacks through two weeks. The record in NFL history for an entire season is six.
The NFL is as close-fought as ever
Through two weeks, there have been 14 (almost half the games) fourth-quarter comebacks.
Of the six comebacks in week two, perhaps none were more exciting than Martellus Bennett’s touchdown catch with just seconds on the clock to win it for the Chicago Bears.
Houston Texans rookie WR DeAndre Hopkins also had a game-winning catch in overtime to defeat division rivals Tennessee Titans.
That’s back-to-back close finishes for the Texans, who become the first team since 1970 to win each of its first two games on the game’s final play.
Patrick Peterson has the widest range of skills in the NFL
In the off-season, Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians mentioned that cornerback Patrick Peterson could be a top-five receiver.
We didn’t see anything in week one, but this week against the Detroit Lions, Peterson caught one pass for 17 yards and a first down in third quarter.
More interestingly, he also passed once for 17 yards late in the third quarter to Kerry Taylor; a great pass with a perfect spiral. Arizona ended up kicking a field goal on the drive.
Coupled with his defensive performance (four tackles and a pass deflection), Peterson is one of the more intriguing and multi-talented players in the NFL.
Seattle Seahawks’ defence contain Colin Kaepernick
Pete Carroll’s men held the San Francisco 49ers offense (who put up points the week before) to a solitary 21-yard field goal on Sunday night.
Kaepernick finished with three interceptions, a fumble, a completion rate of 46%, and was sacked three times.
The only offensive success the 49ers could find was through Kaepernick’s scrambles, of which there were nine for a total of 87 yards. Without those runs, the 49ers (a rushing team) would’ve totalled 13 yards on the ground.
All in all, it was a dominant performance from Richard Sherman and the Seattle defence that catapulted them to the top of the NFC power rankings.
Pittsburgh Steelers in trouble
The Steelers lost their week one game 16-9 to the Titans, and added to their misery with a 20-10 loss to division rivals the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. Empirically, only 11% of teams that start 0-2 end up in the playoffs.
Pittsburgh, a traditional running team, only made two first downs rushing against the Bengals, and their rushing yards total through two weeks is 75 yards (Adrian Peterson got more than that on his first season carry).
They’ve got the Bears and Minnesota Vikings up next and they could well be 0-4 heading into the bye week.
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