NFL Week 2 Five Takeaways

Surprising wins, shocking losses, and teams are learning to fight through adversity as Week 2 comes to a close.

1. Let’s get the negative out of the way. The Rams looked just awful in the first half against the Redskins. It looked as if the Redskins knew what plays the Rams were going to run and had a play to stop any progression. It doesn’t help that the receiving core was particularly hard to watch. I am not sure I have seen so many dropped balls by one team. On top of that, the Rams front four were getting man handled to allow the Redskins rookie Matt Jones to make a real name for himself against a defense many were calling one of the best of the season. Last week made a lot of St. Louis fans perk up after the way the Rams played against the Seahawks. It wasn’t won with trickery, that won’t work every week but instead it was won with pure, hard hitting, well executed football. This week just left the fans confused and frustrated muttering to themselves “Same old Rams”
2. While we are on the subject of “Same old x” let us revisit Sam Bradford and the Eagles. Even when it looked like they caught a break in the worst way when Tony Romo went down, the Eagles still had trouble stopping the Cowboys offense and back up quarterback Brandon Weeden who went 7/7 and a touchdown to boot. Anytime the Eagles looked like they might be able to put together a relevant drive, stupid mistakes and poor passes let the Cowboys keep the lead in a game that should have shown the Eagles can capitalize on mistakes. Instead all it did was show how stacked the Cowboys are and even a Romo injury won’t set them back.
3. When can we start taking the Arizona Cardinals seriously? This week they put up a strong showing in Soldier Field against a Bears team that also lost their starting quarterback to a pulled hamstring. Carson Palmer threw the ball well while Chris Johnson is finding a renaissance in his career giving the Cardinals the best balance on offense in the NFL. However, we have to keep in mind it was only a few years ago the Cardinals started 4-0 before losing the next nine. I personally hope they can keep to their winning ways.
4. Matt Ryan seems to be playing with more purpose before playing a field general we have not seen before. While the rest of the team was falling apart, Ryan continued to play great ball by leading the Falcons down the field for a 70-yard drive ending with the go ahead touchdown with 1:18 left on the clock. This should have given Eli Manning enough time for some last second heroics, but instead we got Manning completely missing open receivers and caving under the pressure. The Falcons have showed twice now that there is no quit with them and will fight for every yard until time is up.
5. This may be one of the oddest first couple weeks in the NFL in recent memory. Teams like the Colts, Ravens, Seahawks and Saints are all winless and have losses against teams that a majority of NFL fans have written off by now. Meanwhile, there are other squads flourishing like the Cardinals, Jets, Panthers and Falcons. Yes it is early, but momentum is everything in this league. It’s not much of stretch to argue the parity of the NFL is much different this year than previous years. Predicting winners is harder than it has ever been.