JIM LANG’S 10 NFL THINGS – WEEK 3
Hello there, welcome to another wild week in the NFL. There was a lot that went on this week, so let’s get right to it.
1 – Thursday – Week 2 in the NFL kicked off at FedEx Field as the Washington Football team beat the New York Giants 30-29. How the Giants lost this game should haunt their coach Joe Judge for the rest of the season. First off, Giants’ fans can not, and they had better not blame the loss on Daniel ‘Danny Dimes’ Jones. The Giants quarterback threw for 249 yards and one touchdown, and he also ran the ball 95 yards and another touchdown. Meanwhile Washington’s ‘back-up’ quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns and led the team on the drive that set up the game winning field goal. Giants coach Joe Judge is a former special teams wizard and what did the Giants do? They jumped offsides on a field goal attempt! Dustin Hopkins had shanked his first attempt at winning the game. But thanks to stupid mistake from the Giants, Hopkins nailed his second chance, and the Washington won the game. After the game, Heinicke said he has earned the right to keep the starting job. With Fitzpatrick out at least another five weeks, Heinicke will have a golden opportunity to prove that he’s right.
2 – Wow – There were a number of Wow moments in Week 2. Let’s start with Lamar Jackson of the Ravens and his performance Sunday night. Jackson threw for over 200 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson now has more games by a quarterback in the history of the NFL with at least 100 yards passing and 100 yards rushing in the same game. The Ravens have over a dozen players on injured reserves, and still managed to find a way to beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. This is one of those times where a quarterback is deserving of most of the praise in the ultimate team game. Honourable mention goes out to Bucs safety Mike Edwards he had two pick six interceptions this week and Julio Jones put on a show this week with six catches for 128 yards. And Derek Carr had his best game as a Raider in their win over the Steelers. The late-great Al Davis would love this; Carr has passed for 817 yards so far this season.
3 – Oh no! – As a football fan, there are times when you are watching the game and yell, ‘oh no!’ at what you are seeing. That is what Jets fans were saying as they watched rookie quarterback Zach Wilson throw interception after interception. At one time, Wilson had four interceptions and four completions. Every player, no matter how great, has a ‘welcome to the NFL’ moment. For Wilson, it was facing a Bill Belichick coached defence in the second start of his career. Joe Burrow and the Bengals certainly had their ‘oh no’ moment as Burrow threw a pick-six into the waiting arms of Bears linebacker Roquan Smith.
4 – 0-2 – History has shown that going 0-2 to start the NFL season is a hole that very few teams can dig themselves out of. The list of teams that are 0-2 isn’t too surprising, with one exception, the Minnesota Vikings. A team that was filled with unnecessary distractions in training camp because Kirk Cousins doesn’t want to get the Covid vaccine, now finds itself in the difficult task of making the playoffs after going oh-fer the first two weeks of the season. Up next, the Vikings have two very tough matchups as they take on the Seahawks and then the Browns.
5 – 2-0 – This will blow your mind: there are only two undefeated teams in the AFC; the Las Vegas Raiders and the Denver Broncos. The situation is much different in the NFC. Three teams in the NFC West are 2-0 and both the Bucs and the Panthers are 2-0 in the NFC South. The biggest surprises on that list are the Raiders and the Panthers. The Raiders beat Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in week 1, then they walked into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers this week. Derek Carr was awesome, and people better start giving some respect to the Raiders defence. An even bigger surprise is the Panthers. Sam Darnold was a bust in New York, but he’s fast becoming a folk hero in Carolina. After beating his old team in week 1, Darnold played great Sunday in the Panthers win over the Saints. Darnold must think he has died and gone to football heaven.
6 – Tom Brady – Tom Brady is 44 years-old. Think about that for a second. Brady thew five touchdowns as the Bucs beat the Falcons and the GOAT, even at his advanced age, has now thrown nine in the first two weeks of the season. The man has nine freaking touchdowns in two weeks! Here is an even more mind-blowing state for you, led by Brady, the Bucs have scored at least 30 points in nine straight games. As long as Brady has time in the pocket to work with the weapons at his disposal in Tampa, he might throw 40 touchdowns again this year.
7 – Injuries – This was a bad week for injuries in the NFL. Andy Dalton injured his knee. Tua Tagovailoa injured his ribs. TJ Watt injured his groin and Texans quarterback Tyrod Taylor got hurt. Browns receiver Jarvis Landry is out at least the next three weeks with a knee injury. Last, but certainly not least, Carson Wentz of the Colts suffered an ankle injury after being hit by the Rams Aaron Donald. In fact, the Colts admit that Wentz is now dealing with injuries to both of his ankles, and he is still not fully recovered from his earlier foot injury! Wentz will go down as one of the most injury prone quarterbacks in recent memory. Jacob Eason is the next man up as the Colts start preparing to face the Titans. This is exactly the kind of scenario the player’s association talked about when they raised concerns over a 17-game regular season. Team’s that make the playoffs won’t necessarily be the most talented, they will be the one’s with the least number of injuries to key players.
8 – Zona (Part 2) – The Arizona Cardinals might be the most exciting team in the NFL. Cardinals starting quarterback Kyler Murray has thrown seven touchdowns, second only to Tom Brady. Matt Prater nailed a 62 (62!!) yard field-goal Sunday in the Cards win over the Vikings. Plus, they play in my favourite NFL stadium. (Sorry about that Jerry Jones!) Up next, Murray and the Cards take their offensive circus to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. After that, the Cards will face the Rams, the 49ers and the Browns. That is when we will see what the Cards are really made of. Whatever happens, Kyler Murray is the kind of franchise quarterback every team is searching for.
9 – Derrick Henry – Once upon a time, long before HD TV and the internet, NFL teams would lean on their power-running back in the fourth quarter to wear down an opponent. Trailing 30-16 in the 4thquarter, Mike Vrabel and the Titans started to feed the ball the best running back in the NFL, Derrick Henry. Facing a Seahawks team that was practically unbeatable, and with a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, Henry ended up with 182 yards and he scored two touchdowns in the final quarter of the game. Henry’s 60-yard touchdown was a perfect example of why he is the best in the business right now. Thanks to some excellent blocking up front, Henry picked his way through the hole and then shifted gears as he got past the line of scrimmage. Out in the open field, the 240-pound Henry left safety Quandre Diggs grasping at air as he galloped into the end zone. If you don’t stop Henry at the line of scrimmage, he will make you pay.
10 – Monday Mayhem – Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers were coming off a brutal effort in Week 1 versus the Saints. As Rodgers likes to say whenever the media or the fans get too uptight after a loss, ‘relax’. If there is one thing Rodgers is skilled at it, it is bouncing back from a poor effort. Monday night at Lambeau Field Rodgers passed for 255 yards, 4 touchdowns and had a passer rating of 145.6 in the Packers trouncing of the Lions. This is classic Aaron Rodgers, he might have an off game now and then, but he almost never has two in-a-row. Mister relaxation now has passed for over 51 thousand yards, moving him past John Elway and into 10th place on the all-time list. By the way, the Packers defence isn’t great, and they now have to stop Deebo Samuel and the 49ers in Week 3.
That is all for now. Week 3 will kick off Thursday night when Sam Darnold and the (2-0) Carolina Panthers travel to Houston to take on the beat-up (1-1) Texans. With Tyrod Taylor’s injury, rookie David Mills is expected to get the start at quarterback. Next Sunday I am really looking forward to watching the Bucs take on the Rams.
I am also going to keep an eye on all of these taunting penalties and have more to say on this in the near future.
I will talk to you next week.
(Jim Lang is Canada’s foremost expert on the NFL. Follow him on Twitter at @JimLangSports)
