Making (some) sense of Week 2

The NFL is a wonderful thing. Just when you think you understand it the game flips things on its head. The Eagles and Seahawks were expected to challenge for a place in the postseason but so far this season they are winless. Both teams stand 0-2 and have been unable to run the ball. The

Indianapolis Colts retooled their team with several veteran players and so far their investment hasn't been returned. Fresh off the back of a four turnover week from Andrew Luck the Colts are also 0-2.

 

Some things stay the same though. The Patriots still appear to be the team to beat and can now add an efficient running back, in the shape of former Eagle Dion Lewis, to their passing attack. Lewis was out of the league last year and has given Bill Belichick his workhorse back. The Packers continue to get the job done too despite injuries to Jordy Nelson and Eddie Lacey. Aaron Rogers seems to be able to plug anyone in at receiver and make them productive.

 

Speaking of unforeseen events, the Jets are now 2-0, face the Eagles and look favourites to move to 3-0. Tyrod Taylor spent his first 4 years in the NFL as a quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens but, having signed with the Bills in the offseason Taylor proceeded to beat out last year's starter EJ Manuel and their other offseason acquisition, Matt Cassel. Taylor's playing some pretty good football and has been part of the reason why the Bills came to within 8 points of being 2-0 as they lost by two points to the Patriots. Taylor has been making points both with his arm and his legs but took far too many sacks (an amazing 8) on Sunday.

 

In last week's battle of the rookie quarterbacks Marcus Mariota looked like a sure fire Hall of Fame candidate whilst Jameis Winston reminded many of Raiders bust JaMarcus Russell! Mariota returned to earth with a bump this week as he was constantly harried by the Browns. Former first round pick Johnny Manziel showed promise as he hooked up with Travis Benjamin on two long touchdown passes but will return to the bench this week as Josh McCown returns from a concussion. Meanwhile the Buccaneers got into a shootout with the Saints that allowed Winston to exhibit the arm that made him a first round pick, lofting two fantastic touch passes into the endzone early on. 

 

Raiders fans could be forgiven for thinking 'here we go again' after last week's terrible performance but the Raiders woke up in spectacular fashion today as Derek Carr and Amari Cooper took over the game. The pair combined for 109 yards, as Carr rocketed his way to 351 yards passing. He gives the Raiders a legitimate weapon that they've been lacking since Tim Brown.

 

Jacksonville, London's team, had a much better second game of the season. Blake Bortles looks to be making the jump that many second year quarterbacks make. He finished the game with 273 yards and two scores on 33 attempts. Another second year player was the beneficiary of Bortles play; Allen Robinson caught passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Perhaps the biggest improvement from last year was in the offensive line as they were able to keep the Dolphin's aggressive defence away from Bortles.

 

Is it me or do there seem to be a lot more injuries already this year than there have been in the past?

 

Week 3

 

The Giants finally won a match after two fourth quarter losses. They destroyed the Redskins, but it wasn't so much that the Giants played well, rather that Eli Manning was more careful with the ball. It was somewhat unexpected and although the Redskins came back at the end their much talked about running game seemed to dry up as Eli, Odel Beckham and Reuben Randall took control.

Cumbleton's Conclusions - from Week One action

Life as a Houston Texans fan isn't getting any better in 2015. Alex Smith and the Chiefs destroyed the vaunted Texans defence. Brian Hoyer started this season continuing the poor play that saw him deemed replaceable in Cleveland. Hoyer was sacked four times and failed to show any signs of life, eventually being replaced by Ryan Mallet who finally sparked some offence. It could be a very long year in Houston! The Chiefs didn't have things all their own way as Travis Kelce underlined his amazing promise, grabbing two TDs, before getting knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury.

 

Speaking of Cleveland Johnny Manziel was beaten out by Josh McCown but didn't have to wait long to get under centre. After McCown was knocked out of the game with a concussion Manziel took the field on Cleveland's subsequent possession and looked a different player as he completed two passes for 67 yards, the second of which was a 54-yard completion to Travis Benjamin. His play after that promising start was questionable as he scrambled around and turned the ball over three times. With McCown facing a delayed return Manziel could finally get a prolonged look.

 

That St Louis Rams defence appeared the real deal, stifling Russell Wilson and the Seahawks offence in the first half. Once Seattle found their feet on defence newly acquired Nick Foles had very little time to get the ball away and another former Eagle Cary Williams got a strip sack and fumble recovery that he returned for a touchdown.  In the end some questionable calls from Pete Carroll saw Seattle suffer a shock defeat to St Louis.

 

Tyrod Taylor rewarded Buffalo coach Rex Ryan's faith by sparking the Bills offence, both with his legs and from the pocket. Bills rookie Karlos Williams  showed why the Bills were so comfortable parting company with Fred Jackson in the offence as he had an impressive first game. But the real story of the game was the Bills defence that gave the Colts nothing as they had  no answer for the Bills running game and stingy defence - in fact Buffalo took a 24-0 lead and eventually ran out 27 - 14 winners. Taylor provides hope for the Wembley bound Bills.

 

After last year's wholly anaemic performance on offence, Brandon Marshall showed why the Jets chased him after he caught 6 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Chris Ivory rumbled away for 91 yards and two touchdowns. It was no doubt a relief for the Jets as they demolished the Browns. If Geno Smith continues to improve like he did at the tail end of last year they could make the AFC East very competitive down the stretch.

 

Lions running back Ameer Abdulah started his career with a TD on his first carry. One of the undoubted stars of the pre-season, Abdulah, continued his impressive form and looks to make the Detroit offence truly two dimensional as he combines with all pro receiver Calvin Johnson. The paring could be bad news for opposing defences.

 

In a battle of the top two picks in the NFL draft, Marcus Mariota saw his first pass go for a touchdown whilst Jameis Winston's first regular season pass was picked off and returned for a touchdown. It's far too early to predict careers as divergent as Manning and Leaf but it wasn't the best start for Winston.

 

Time and time again we see teams letting their opponents hang around until late in the game and then trying to hold on rather than putting the final nail in the coffin. It happened to the Giants against the Cowboys. They played poorly, Romo made mistakes and the Giants defence made plays to keep the Giants ahead until the dying minutes when the Cowboys drove down the field. Both teams may struggle down the stretch, especially the Cowboys, who lost Dez Bryant for a significant period.

 

The Raiders certainly appear to have regressed this season as they couldn't produce an offence. Starting quarterback Derek Carr, left with a hand injury in the second quarter and things were no better when backup Matt McGloin took over, in fact they were scoreless at the half.  The complete lack of impact from Kahlil Mack and Aldon Smith must be a concern.

 

The Falcons defence, one of the worst in the NFL last season, was the surprise of Monday Night football as they kept the high powered Eagles offence off the field for the majority of the first half. Falcons rookie Vic Beasley lived up to his first round billing both against the pass and run. For new Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford it looked like the first half was a warm up as he looked out of sync with his receivers. The second half was a different story as Bradford and the Eagles offence found its stride and came to within a botched field goal of winning, losing 24-26. The worrying side of the Eagles play was the HUGE number of penalty yards.

 

In the 49ers match against the Vikings two things stood out - Kaepernick playing from the pocket and Adrian Peterson barely making an impact after his suspension. The 49ers defence, and indeed the team as a whole, looked better than I expected given the amount of turmoil they faced.