Despite last week being the first full week of the 2017 NFL regular season, Week 2 still saw its fair share of debuts around the league.
Thanks to a hurricane postponing their Week 1 game, both the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally got their 2017 seasons underway on Sunday. Among the players making their regular season debuts with new teams during Week 2 were Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler and Buccaneers wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
The second week of the the NFL season normally reveals a little more about which teams are contenders and which are pretenders for the season. This was definitely the case on Sunday as a number of teams were handed their first loss of the season after getting a win in Week 1.
Of course, there are always going to be plenty of overreactions to the games on each NFL Sunday. So what could have caused people to get overly excited or concerned about what went down during Week 2?
The Buccaneers are the NFC’s surprise contender this year
As the team that was selected for this year’s season of HBO’s Hard Knocks, there has been a lot of hype surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading into the 2017 season.
In their first game of the year against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the hype seemed legit as they cruised to an easy 29-7 victory. However, their win did not say a whole lot about their chances for success this season.
Tampa Bay scored 29 points, but their two touchdowns on offense came on drives of 35 yards or less (thanks to Bears turnovers). On their other eight offensive drives of the game, the Bucs only managed to score nine points.
Compared to Chicago’s offense on Sunday, Tampa Bay averaged fewer yards per play and only outgained the Bears by a single yard. The Bucs’ defense did a great job in forcing turnovers this week, but their offense still needs some tweaking if they are going to make any sort of run this season.
New England is back to normal now and no one can stop them
After a surprising loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, the New England Patriots looked to get their first win of the season on Sunday in a matchup with the New Orleans Saints.
It didn’t take very long for the Patriots to take control of the game, as they jumped out to a 20-3 lead in the first quarter. But for the last three quarters, the Saints actually outscored New England 17-16.
The Patriots ended up with the win thanks to their offense, which looked outstanding (555 total yards), but they were also facing a horrible New Orleans defense on Sunday. In their first two weeks of the 2017 season, the Saints have allowed opposing offenses to average 513 total yards and 33 points per game.
New England’s next three opponents include the Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers, and the Buccaneers. Those three teams have much better defenses than what the Patriots have seen so far this year.
Start tooting New England’s horn if they come out of these next three weeks without a loss.
Looks like the Browns will never win again
The Cleveland Browns haven’t exactly been the definition of a winning franchise since their rebirth back in 1999. They do seem to be heading in a more positive direction recently, but their losing ways have already continued during the beginning of the 2017 season.
After their 24-10 loss on Sunday to the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns have now lost 20 of their past 21 games since 2015. A winless season for Cleveland in 2017 would not come as a surprise, but it does not seem very believable either at this point in time. Especially given the next three opponents on their schedule.
The Browns are facing the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, and New York Jets over the next three weeks. All three teams have yet to win a game in 2017.
Cleveland’s opportunity to avoid a winless season this year probably will not get much better than what it will be in their next three games.
Told you last year was a fluke for the Cowboys
Following a big opening night win over the New York Giants last week, the Dallas Cowboys appeared ready to finish a second straight season with a winning record for the first time since 2009.
But as quickly as people began to get excited about the Cowboys last week, their enthusiasm seemed to vanish after Dallas were demolished by the Denver Broncos on Sunday, 42-17. As bad as the score seems, the Cowboys were not exactly horrible. (Well, outside of Ezekiel Elliott.)
Their defense did hold the Broncos’ offense to just 202 passing yards. But rushing for 40 yards on offense, like the Cowboys did on Sunday, is going to make getting a win extremely hard.
Dallas also went up against a very good Denver defense. Dating back to last season, the Broncos have not allowed an opposing team to score more than 21 points in six of their last seven games.
The Cowboys should be able to get back on their feet very quickly, as their next two games are against the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams. The Dallas bandwagon should fill right back up.
