Hot Takes: NFL Week Two

Another NFL week in the books, which means it’s time for some HOT TAKES! Fresh from the week two oven.

1. Cowboys Win, Romo Gets Hurt

The Dallas Cowboys are 2-0. Unfortunately for them, they’ll be without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant for at least two months. Bryant got hurt in the opening week against the Giants and Romo was hurt on Sunday against the Eagles. Do you know who the Cowboys back-up quarterback is? It’s Brandon Weeden. A 31-year-old in his fourth season who has the Browns stank on him. 

Here’s the good news for the Cowboys: they’re in the NFC East. I thought the NFC East was going to be pretty strong this year, and while it’s only week two, this division looks dreadful. The Giants are blowing games, the Redskins still lack talent despite a good win over St. Louis, and I don’t know what’s going on in Philadelphia. The Cowboys still have an elite offensive line that will give Weeden time and make way for Joseph Randle and their defense has played well in the first two weeks.

The Cowboys have upcoming games against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. The NFC South is supposedly the weakest conference in the league, so those should be easy wins, right? Then they have the Patriots before heading into a bye week. At worst they should be 3-2, but they could easily be 4-1 going into the bye. Not having their two best offensive players is going to hurt, but hey, they let their top running back walk after this past season and that’s worked out alright for them. 

And Cowboys fans, for years you’ve slagged Romo despite his impressive numbers. Well, now you’re stuck with Brandon Weeden. A ginger quarterback to go along with a ginger coach. Enjoy. 

2. Bill Belichick Outcoaches Rex Ryan

Belichick has been outcoaching Ryan for years now, but many thought things would be a little different on Sunday. After all, the Bills defense shutdown Andrew Luck, so of course they could shutdown Tom Brady. This ignores the fact that Brady is better than Luck, just like Belichick is better than Ryan. 

The problem for Buffalo isn’t their defense, even though they gave up 40 points to the Patriots, it’s still the fact that Tyrod Taylor is their starting quarterback. Taylor looked fine against a terrible Colts defense that generated no pressure, but against a strong Patriots pass rush, he made terrible decision after terrible decision, leading to three interceptions. Taylor will get better as the season goes along, but he wasn’t ready for the Patriots pressure. 

And I’m not sure what Rex was expecting Belichick to do on offense, but he seemed confused as to how to stop them. The Patriots offense has been pretty simple the past couple of seasons: throw the ball to Rob Gronkowski and use short passes to Julian Edelman. Ryan has coached against it twice a season for the past two seasons and yet he still can’t figure out how to stop it.

Rex Ryan is a very good coach. But there’s a difference between very good and great. Belichick proves that difference every time they’re head-to-head.

3. God Loves Football

The Packers beat the Seahawks on Sunday night to put the NFC favorites at 0-2. That should be the bigger story here, but all anyone wants to talk about is Aaron Rodgers taking a jab at Russell Wilson by saying, “God was a Packers fan tonight.” 

I don’t care about that nonsense.

The Packers beat the Seahawks. The back-to-back NFC Champions are now 0-2 and don’t look like the same team that they’ve been for the past couple of seasons. The defense is giving up three scores a game, Jimmy Graham has been invisible, and Marshawn Lynch isn’t beasting anyone. The good news for the Seahawks is that both of their losses were on the road and they get Chicago and Detroit in the next two weeks. So when I’m writing week four HOT TAKES, chances are the Seahawks will be 2-2. If they’re not, something went very wrong. That said, the Rams loss looks even worse considering that the Rams just lost to the Redskins and even though they might be 2-2 in two weeks, how they look in those games will be very telling. 

Chances are, if you didn’t pick the Seahawks to come out of the NFC, you picked the Packers. So far, so good. Rodgers is proving why he’s the best quarterback in the league and their defense is playing well. They just lost Eddie Lacy, but James Starks ran well against the Seahawks and seems more than capable of handling the load. If you’re looking for flaws, you can say that they played a weak Bears team and a traveling Seahawks team who aren’t as good on the road. All you can do is beat the teams in front you and thus far they’ve done just that. 

4. Johnny Football Has Arrived

The Browns insisted that, despite his injury, Josh McCown will remain the starting quarterback when he returns. 

This is dumb thinking. 

Not only did Johnny Manziel lead the Browns to victory on Sunday, but he gives them an excitement level that they haven’t had in forever. As I said last week, the Browns need to see what they have in Manziel. McCown isn’t a long term solution. Manziel might be, but you’re never going to know if you don’t play him. He’s going to struggle, but at least he gives you a chance. And with the emergence of Travis Benjamin, he’s the perfect quarterback to sling it to an undersized receiver who will fight for the ball in double coverage. 

If the Browns go back to Josh McCown when he’s healthy, they’ll continue to prove why they’ve sucked for so many years now. 

5. Andrew Luck Struggling

Before the season started everyone agreed that Aaron Rodgers was the best quarterback, but if there was someone who would challenge him for that crown this year it would be Andrew Luck. So far, Luck has been terrible. He’s been held under 300 yards passing in both games, but more worrisome are his five interceptions and one lost fumble. Luck has always been a tad overrated as people blindly ignored how many turnovers he commits, but right now he looks like a less than average quarterback and the Colts offense is sputtering. Frank Gore is giving him no help in the run game and Andre Johnson is starting to look every bit of 34.  

The Colts are in a weak AFC South, so they should be fine, but those hoping Luck would take the next step have to be disappointed so far. It certainly doesn’t help that Chuck Pagano is in the last year of his contract and might be a lame duck coach. If the organization won’t commit to him, why should the players?

Then again, maybe every AFC East team uses deflated balls and that’s why the Colts can’t beat anyone from that division. 

Quick Takes

*PANTHERS 2-0!!!!!! I don’t care if those victories are over Blake Bortles and Ryan Mallet. For the most part, the defense has looked outstanding despite missing Luke Keuchly for six out of eight quarters and Cam Newton has been getting it done. The receivers still suck and Jonathan Stewart has been disappointing, but we got the Saints this week and they are falling apart. 

*Hotter seat: Chip Kelly or Tom Coughlin? Coughlin has two Super Bowl rings, which should be a saving grace, but he hasn’t made the playoffs since his second ring in 2011. The Giants should be 2-0. Instead they’re 0-2 and can’t protect a lead. Kelly has back-to-back 10-6 seasons, but he blew up the roster in the offseason to insert his guys and thus far they haven’t produced. All that money on DeMarco Murray and he has 21 carries for 11 yards. TWENTY ONE CARRIES. ELEVEN YARDS. I didn’t even know that was possible. 

*I guess Marcus Mariota won’t go undefeated in his career. 

*Aren’t you glad you jumped off that Lions bandwagon after week one?

*Turns out Peyton Manning isn’t dead yet. 

*Andy Reid should’ve surprised everyone and had Alex Smith throw the ball to a receiver for a touchdown instead of handing it off to Jamal Charles, who fumbled the game away. 

*Antonio Brown is the best receiver in the league. And it might not be close right now. 

*Adrian Peterson is still good at running the football when he gets a chance to run the football.

*Beating up the terrible Bears isn’t proof that Larry Fitzgerald is still alive.

*I’ll go ahead and say it: The Bengals are legit. I don’t know if it’ll translate to postseason success, but I’d be worried about this team in the regular season.

*The Ravens are in serious trouble. Losing Terrell Suggs seemed to kill their defense and Joe Flacco isn’t getting much help on offense outside of Steve Smith.

*The NFC South has two undefeated teams. Maybe they aren’t so weak afterall. 

*I don't care if Ndamukong Suh wasn't following the play calling, the Dolphins should've beaten the Jaguars. And how can a guy who has one job (push forward and tackle the runner or quarterback) fail to follow the play calling? 

*The Saints should shut down Drew Brees. I’m not just saying that because the Panthers are playing the Saints this weekend, I’m saying that because, what’s the point? The Saints are going nowhere with or without Brees. There’s no point in risking his health just so you can keep losing football games.