Week 2 is in the books. There were fantastic performances across the NFL … except by the Miami Dolphins.
Arizona Cardinals: Christian Kirk
It came down to either Christian Kirk or the venerable Larry Fitzgerald. Kirk gets a slim nod because he had one more catch (6-5) and more yardage (114-104) as the Cardinals had to go to the air frequently with David Johnson out with a wrist injury.
Atlanta Falcons: Julio Jones
Matt Ryan was going to his corps of receivers throughout the game. When it came to fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter with the Falcons needing a play against the Eagles he found Julio Jones for a short pass. The brilliant WR simply took it to the end for the score that enabled Atlanta to even its mark at 1-1.
Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson
The second-year QB was stellar, again. He threw for 272 yards and a pair of TDs. The former Louisville star also rushed for 120 yards on 16 carries. Lamar Jackson is looking superb in charge of the Baltimore offense.
Buffalo Bills: The defense
Buffalo’s defense is so underrated. Sure, Eli Manning wound up with 250 yards but they were mostly in garbage time. Meaningless. The Buffalo secondary is arguably the best in the game. Jordan Poyer (pictured) had a pick and the guys up front kept Saquon Barkley in check. He had 55 of his 107 yards on the ground early.
Carolina Panthers: Luke Kuechly
It was going to be one of two veterans on the Panthers: Either Greg Olsen or Luke Kuechly. Gonna go with the All-Pro LB, who had 17 tackles, 8 of which were solo and 2.5 were TFL. He’s an incredible force.
Chicago Bears: Eddy Pineiro
Eddy Pineiro is a kicking hero in Chicago. He booted a game-winning, 53-yard FG as time expired to give the Bears a 16-14 victory over former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and the Broncos. Pineiro was 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts.
Cincinnati Bengals: Tyler Boyd
Another tossup between WRs. Boyd had more catches and more yardage than John Ross III as both went over the century mark in a bad Bengals loss to the 49ers.
Cleveland Browns: Odell Beckham Jr.
Giving the nod to the wideout Odell Beckham Jr. over Myles Garrett, who spent his night in the Jets’ backfield Monday but lost style points for a pair of bad roughing the passer penalties. All Beckham did was make a fabulous one-handed catch in the first quarter and took a short Baker Mayfield pass 89 yards to the end zone in the third quarter.
Dallas Cowboys: Dak Prescott
Pay the man! Dak Prescott had another excellent game, slicing and dicing Washington to the tune of 26-of-30 for 269 yards and 3 TDs.
Detroit Lions: Kenny Golladay
One of the better WRs in the game had a huge day against the Los Angeles secondary. Kenny Golladay went for 8 grabs, 117 yards and a TD as Detroit doused the Chargers. His 31-yard reception from Matthew Stafford was the game-winning score.
Denver Broncos: Emmanuel Sanders
All he did was grab 11 passes, 1 for a TD, and the 2-point conversion that seemingly gave Denver a victory. And then, it fell apart as Eddy Pineiro connected on a 53-yard field goal.
Green Bay Packers: Davante Adams
Davante Adams and Xavier Rhodes had a battle and the elite Packers’ WR got the win, catching 7 balls for 106 yards as GB surged to a 21-0 lead and held off Minnesota.
Houston Texans: Defense
Four sacks, TFL and a game-saving stop of Leonard Fournette on a two-point conversion. Whitney Mercilius (pair of sacks, pair of TFLs) and Justin Reid tackle on the conversion attempt.
Indianapolis Colts: Jacoby Brissett
The QB who has stepped up after Andrew Luck retired threw 3 TD passes as the Colts posted a 19-17 victory over Tennessee on the road in an AFC South clash. It wasn’t pretty, but Brissett eventually found T.Y. Hilton for the game-winning TD in the final quarter.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Gardner Minshew
The backup QB with all sorts of style, Gardner Minshew, was 23-of-33 for 213 yards and a last-minute TD as Jacksonville put a major scare into Houston.
Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes was a tough choice. He only threw TD passes in one quarter of KC’s 28-10 win over Oakland. Oh, he threw a quartet of them on the way to a 30-of-44, 443-yard performance. Pure brilliance.
Los Angeles Chargers: Keenan Allen
Keenan Allen had a battle with Darius Slay in Detroit. The Charger WR wound up with 8 catches for 98 yards. However, Slay got the last laugh with a late pick of Philip Rivers.
Los Angeles Rams: Cooper Kupp
Cooper Kupp is on his game. He missed the last half of last season after injuring his ACL. Kupp is back and Jared Goff found him for 5 passes and 120 yards in the win over the New Orleans Saints.
Miami Dolphins: None
For the second week in a row, there can be nothing to celebrate about Miami, which has been outscored 102-10 while going 0-2.
Minnesota Vikings: Dalvin Cook
Dalvin Cook took one handoff 75 yards for a TD and wound up with 154 yards in Minnesota’s loss to Green Bay.
New England Patriots: The defense
New England pitches a shutout against miserable Miami and gets Pick-Sixes from Jamie Collins and Stephon Gilmore. You didn’t think we were going to make an offensive pick against the Dolphins’ defense, did you?
New Orleans Saints: Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas managed to get 10 receptions for the Saints in the loss to the Rams despite the loss of Drew Brees. The elite wideout had 89 yards receiving as he continues to show why he is one the best in the game.
New York Giants: Riley Dixon
Yes, the Giants scored 14 points. At no point were they in the game and menacing Buffalo, which is 2-0 at MetLife in 2019. Giants’ punter Riley Dixon deserves a nod as he averaged 48.4 yards on 5 punts, including a pair inside the 20. That’s how uninspiring Big Blue is.
New York Jets: Luke Falk
This has nothing to do with stats. The third-string QB came into the loss to the Browns Monday and showed heart and tried to inspire the Jets’ offense. Unfortunately, the Browns’ defense was having none of it. However, the former Washington State star did his best, which was not good enough.
Oakland Raiders: Josh Jacobs
The rookie from Alabama had a solid game for Oakland, which fell to KC. Jacobs had 12 carries for 99 yards, an 8.3 ypc clip.
Philadelphia Eagles: Zach Ertz
Zach Ertz didn’t find the end zone the way Nelson Agholor did in the loss to the Falcons but the tight end scored major points for his emotional reaction. He gave it his all and more in another strong performance for the Eagles.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Stephon Tuitt
Stephon Tuitt had 2.5 sacks and a pair of tackles for losses. Pittsburgh lost to Seattle despite having 4 sacks, 6 tackles as it fell to 0-2.
San Francisco 49ers: The offense
Could go with Jimmy Garoppolo (3 TD passes), Matt Brieda (121 yards on 12 carries), Raheem Mostert (81 yards rushing, 1 TD) or any number of 49ers as they walloped the Bengals.
Seattle Seahawks: Russell Wilson
An average day on the road as Seattle goes to 2-0 by slipping past Pittsburgh. Wilson went 29-of-35 for 300 yards and added another 22 on the ground as the Seahawks made Pete Carroll’s 68th birthday victorious.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Shaquil Barrett
Shaquil Barrett simply could not be blocked by Daryl Williams. He torched the Panthers’ lineman all night with speed rushes, winding up with 3 sacks of Cam Newton. Barrett was a machine.
Tennessee Titans: Derrick Henry
Not a ton of offense by Tennessee, but Derrick Henry did find the end zone and he had 15 carries for 81 yards in the loss to Indy.
Washington Redskins: Tress Way
The Washington offense didn’t do a ton. The defense was dissected by Dallas. The hero? Punter Tress Way, who averaged 49.5 yards per boot and put every one of them inside the 20.
