The eight 2-0 teams: We all could have seen Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami and Baltimore starting 2-0, but Tampa Bay, Washington and Atlanta as well? The Cowboys’ 40-0 and 30-10 victories give them the second-largest average victory margin through two weeks since 2000. Only the 2019 Patriots (36.5) and 2006 Chargers (30.0) have won by as much through two games. The 2022 Cowboys were outscored by 6.5 points per game over their first two, averaging just 11.5 points per game on offense. It’s a minor upset owner Jerry Jones hasn’t already guaranteed a Super Bowl victory. There’s always next week after the Cowboys play … Arizona.

New Orleans and Cleveland can make it 10 2-0 teams tonight.

Peter King gives us his way early 2023 Power Rankings:

It’s way too early for the proverbial power rankings. So let’s do them anyway! Let’s overreact after two weeks and look stupid a fortnight down the road!

The top 10 after the season’s first 30 games:

1. Dallas (2-0). The offense is mostly on fire, and the D has allowed 10 points in eight quarters. BTW: I covered the Giants for four prime Lawrence Taylor seasons. Micah Parsons is the closest thing I’ve seen to Taylor in terms of being able to collapse the pocket with a bull-rush and turnstile a tackle with unblockable speed.

2. San Francisco (2-0). Flip a coin for Niners or Eagles as number two. San Francisco’s got an efficient quarterback, a team of offensive weapons as good as any team has, and a brutish defense. What a difference Christian McCaffrey makes. Plus, two big road wins to start.

3. Philadelphia (2-0). I chortled at an Eagle-fan friend who was verbally wringing his hands to me Friday. Told him his team is running it great, has a top-five quarterback who will soon strafe foes, has young road-graders on the defensive front who are the envy of the league, and has the best 1-to-53 roster in football. What’s to worry about, other than holding off Dallas in the NFC East?

4. Miami (2-0). Survive and advance. That’s the moral of the story on a crazy Sunday night in Foxboro. Nothing’s changed since Labor Day: If Tua plays 16 or 17 games, this team’s going to be a very tough out in the postseason. He drops passes into tight windows as pretty as any quarterback today, like the throw just before halftime Sunday night to River Cracraft.

5. Kansas City (1-1). Things I do not expect to last in the 2023 NFL season: Arizona, Indianapolis, and Washington outscoring Kansas City. But it’s happening now. I grade on the reality that I’ve seen in two weeks, not what I project a month down the road. And Kansas City is struggling on offense.

6. Baltimore (2-0). Injuries are biting already—they always do for the Ravens—and Odell Beckham (ankle) may be the latest. But the Ravens had lost their last three in Cincinnati by an average of 13 points and made big plays when big plays were needed all afternoon Sunday.

7. Buffalo (1-1). I thought the Josh Allen turnover-fest last Monday was an outlier. For a week, it was. Sunday was the Buffalo I thought 2023 would produce.

8. Los Angeles Rams (1-1). In the first two weeks, the Rams have outgained the best two teams in the division (or so we thought), Niners and Seahawks, by 133 yards a game. I thought this was a rebuilding year for the McVays. But this is a tough, tough team.

9. Seattle (1-1). Heck of a rebound week. Lions unveil the Barry Sanders statue and get more fired up for a home game than for any game in years—and the ‘Hawks put up 37 on them.

10. (tie) Detroit (1-1). I’m seeing the Jared Goff endgame as a one-off. The Lions are good, but the first two weeks show us they’ve got to bring their best game weekly to be a double-digit-win team in 2023.

10. (tie) Tampa Bay (2-0). Biggest deal about the Bucs so far: They’ve held two teams to 17 points apiece, and they have zero turnovers. Keep that up, or close to it, and a Wild Card home playoff game awaits.

MIA from Peter’s rankings – the 2-0 Falcons, the 0-2 Bengals, the 1-0 Browns, the 1-1 Jaguars.

– – –

This late-breaking bulletin from Week 1:

@NFL_Scorigami

Sep 10

HOU 9 – 25 BAL

Final

That’s Scorigami!! It’s the 1076th unique final score in NFL history.

CHICAGO

A note, after QB JUSTIN FIELDS passed for 211 on Sunday:

@JayCuda

The last time the Bears had 400+ passing yards in a game was 11/14/1999 (Jim Miller).

Since then, the other 31 organizations in the NFL have done it 208 times.

DETROIT

John Breech of CBSSports.com wonders at some Dan Campbell coaching decisions:

It’s good to be aggressive, but Dan Campbell might have been too aggressive in this game. The Lions coach had his team go for it on three different fourth downs and they failed twice, including a fourth-and-2 from their own 45-yard line late in the third quarter at a point where Detroit had the lead in the game. The Lions were also hurt by turnovers, including two lost fumbles and a pick six thrown by Jared Goff, which was his first interception in 383 attempts. The Seahawks scored 14 points off those three turnovers and that ended up being the difference in the game. The Lions are good, but not good enough to overcome mistakes like that.

MINNESOTA

This kind of stuff didn’t happen when the Vikings won every close game last year.  Peter King:

Minnesota has lost six fumbles in the first two games of the season.

In 17 games in 2022, Pittsburgh and Dallas lost five fumbles. Las Vegas lost four.

DALLAS

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com is among those dazzled by EDGE MICAH PARSONS:

It’s early in the season. I know this. Through two weeks, however, one thing has become clear.

Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has positioned himself to become the NFL’s defensive player of the year. And he possibly will be the NFL’s first defensive MVP since 1986.

Yes, it’s early. But Parsons has been dominant. On Sunday against the Jets, he was unstoppable. He had two sacks. He had three tackles for loss. He had four quarterback hits. He forced a fumble. He recovered a fumble.

He moves with the suddenness of a striking cobra, forcing his way past blockers and into the face of the quarterback. He isn’t the only reason the Cowboys have been so dominant through two weeks, but he’s the biggest reason.

It’s a long season. Fifteen games remain for Dallas. But if he keeps doing what he’s been doing, and if the Cowboys keep doing what they’ve been doing, Parsons will get MVP votes. And he might even get enough to overcome the presumption that it goes to a quarterback who plays for one of the two No. 1 playoff seeds. If the Cowboys are the No. 1 seed in the NFC and if Parsons keeps doing Parsons things, he could join L.T. and Alan Page as the third NFL MVP from the defensive side of the ball.

It might sound crazy on the surface. It most definitely is not a crazy proposition.

PHILADELPHIA

The Eagles save $5 million to replace a good back in RB MILES SANDERS with another good back in RB D’ANDRE SWIFT.  Peter King:

D’Andre Swift was the biggest single offensive weapon for Philadelphia in the 34-27 win over Minnesota Thursday night. He rushed 28 times for 175 yards.

The Eagles traded a fourth-round pick in 2025 to acquire Swift last spring. It’s generally considered among NFL GMs that the value of draft picks is devalued by one round per season into the future. Considering the draft pick is more than a year down the road, and considering the Eagles are likely to pick low in the draft in the near future, let’s look at the value of the Eagles’ fifth-round pick in 2025.

The Eagles won a game Thursday night, and they won with their best player having the value, roughly, of the 165th pick in a draft.

This is what smart teams do—acquire stressed assets at a low value. Swift was the 35th pick in the 2020 draft, and he averaged 4.6 yards per rush for Detroit in parts of three seasons. Getting him for the equivalent of a low fifth-round pick 20 months from now is a great deal for Philadelphia.

Not to mention this factoid:

Cash owed to D’Andre Swift in 2023 by the Eagles: $1.77 million.

Cash owed to Miles Sanders (who Swift replaced after Sanders signed in free agency with Carolina) in 2023 by the Panthers: $6.98 million.

We would say that Swift has not been the most durable of backs.  Let’s see how this looks when the winds of November begin to blow.

– – –

The NFL took a bit of a risk with the Brady-free Buccaneers in Week 3 at home on Monday night against the mighty Eagles.  But it will be a battle of the unbeatens, although the Eagles will be coming off a mini-bye after playing last Thursday.

Some injury updates for Philly from Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Word last Friday was that the Eagles feared cornerback Avonte Maddox tore his pec during their win over the Vikings and further tests did not lead to a more favorable diagnosis.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Maddox is set to have surgery to repair the injury this week after an MRI and additional medical opinions showed that it was the best course of action. Maddox is out indefinitely and could miss the rest of the season as a result of the injury.

Maddox opened the year as the Eagles’ top slot corner and had eight tackles and a forced fumble before his injury. Mario Goodrich replaced him against the Vikings with Josh Jobe playing in place of James Bradberry, who missed Week Two with a concussion.

The Eagles were also without safety Reed Blankenship last week, so they may need to bring in some new bodies to ensure that they’re well-stocked for next Monday’s game against the Buccaneers.

ATLANTA

Peter King liked how the Falcons closed out the Packers:

So let’s hear what you’d have called in this situation:

Green Bay 24, Atlanta 22, 2:08 remaining, fourth quarter, in Atlanta … Falcons with a fourth-and-one at the Packers’ 23-yard line … Green Bay, two timeouts left … A nearly automatic field-goal kicker in Younghoe Koo, indoors, with a 41-yard try to take a one-point lead.

What do you do? Kick it, right? Getting stopped there means Green Bay wins the game with one first down—and may win it going three-and-out.

Interesting: NFL NextGen Stats had the Falcons’ probability of winning increase by 6.5 percent by going for it. Which Falcons coach Arthur Smith did.

“One, I liked the call that we had,” he told me from the Falcons’ locker room an hour after he made the call. “Two, I thought, okay, worst-case scenario we don’t get it. We’ll have the two-minute warning and I still have two timeouts. Three, I knew if we converted that it would be heavily in our favor to win because Green Bay would have to use their two timeouts. We could milk the clock down and I was hoping to milk it all the way down to two seconds to end it on a field goal.”

One other factor here: If the Packers did make the stop, they’d be asking Jordan Love to win the game with, say, two very clutch plays in a noisy road place. He’d been poised and much better than expected in his first two games post-Aaron Rodgers, but Smith probably liked his chances to stop Green Bay if his fourth-and-one call didn’t work.

Having Bijan Robinson helps a coach make a call like this. The play was disguised, with quarterback Desmond Ridder appearing to line up behind center to take the snap; and he did take the snap, but flipped it quickly to the multi-purpose weapon, Bijan Robinson, who immediately sprinted around the right end. He split two onrushing Packers—safety Darnell Savage, linebacker Kingsley Enagbare—and made seven yards fairly easily.

What I loved about the play-call: It looked like any other play. Looked like Ridder would take the snap or try to draw the Packers offside. But then it accelerated, and Ridder got rid of the ball like it was a hot potato. Robinson looked like he was running at a different speed than everyone else. That’s why the Falcons used the eighth overall pick on a player they truly did not need. He won the game for them Sunday.

“As the game wore down,” Smith said, “we felt that we weren’t out of anything in our playbook. When you have explosive players—whether it’s in the rushing attack or the passing attack, you try not to become obvious. It allowed us to stay in our normal offense and we felt good about it how we could attack the defense there.”

The play milked about a minute off the clock, used up Green Bay’s two remaining timeouts and got Koo a bit closer for the go-ahead 25-yard field goal.

But it should be noted, the Packers still had 57 seconds left to get into field goal range.  But with the game on the line, QB JORDAN LOVE went 0-for-4.

TAMPA BAY

QB BAKER MAYFIELD has settled in nicely with the Buccaneers.  Peter King:

In Baker Mayfield’s first five years in the NFL, his accuracy was mediocre (61.4 percent), and he’d taken 79 sacks in his last 26 games. Too many. Now he’s off to the best start in his career. He’s gotten rid of the ball on time (one sack in two games, despite a lot of pressure), and even when he’s had people in his face, he’s had the presence to throw accurately. Per NFL NextGen Stats, Mayfield was 14 of 17 for 223 yards and a TD when pressured by the Bears Sunday in the 27-17 Tampa Bay win. NextGen had this pro-Mayfield factoid: No NFL quarterback has thrown for more yards than Mayfield’s under-pressure 223 in the past four years. “Great decisions by Mayfield,” coach Todd Bowles said. “He has a good feel for the game and what’s around him.” When Tom Brady retired, the Bucs weren’t sure what they had with Mayfield, and thus signed him for a year and $4 million. But Tampa Bay doesn’t have a quarterback of the future, and this spot is shaping up nicely for a guy who’d gotten beat up a lot in his last two seasons. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

More Mayfield numbers from Greg Auman:

@gregauman

Baker Mayfield on third down today: 12-for-13 for 141 yards, TD and six conversions. Bucs went 0-for-41 on third-and-11+ last season and had two conversions today, both on throws to Mike Evans, including 32-yard TD.

LOS ANGELES RAMS

Dave Portnoy was among those celebrating the decision of Sean McVay to take a late field goal.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com explains why (although you can probably guess):

With the Rams trailing 30-20 and four seconds left in the game, coach Sean McVay knew his team had no chance of winning. But he decided to make the loss a little closer, and that had a big impact in the betting world.

McVay sent the field goal team onto the field for a meaningless final field goal that made the final score 49ers 30, Rams 23. It wasn’t meaningless, however, to gamblers and sports books, because the 49ers were favored by 7 points at some sports books and 7.5 points at others. That meant the meaningless field goal changed the result from 49ers bettors winning to either a push or Rams bettors winning.

Some casinos were thrilled and some were angry at McVay, depending on whether they took more bets on the Rams or 49ers.

“The game that kind of saved the day for us was the miracle cover by the Rams,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The fact that they kicked a field goal knowing time would run out when they did it was a huge swing for us.”

“The Rams’ field goal at the end killed us,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said. “I don’t know what they were thinking, but that hurt us.”

McVay wasn’t asked about the decision at his postgame press conference, so we’re not sure if he was aware of the point spread or not. But McVay’s call was, to a certain segment of the NFL audience, the most monumental coaching decision of Week Two.

Even in defeat, Will Brinson sees the Rams as a “strong playoff contender” – as does Peter King above:

Return of the Rams?

Sean McVay’s squad lost on Sunday so suggesting the Rams are “back” after a one-year hiatus from being good is a little weird, but hear me out. For starters, they lost to the 49ers. With Brock Purdy playing at a high level, the Niners might be the best team in all of football right now. We knew their roster was fantastic, it was just a matter of whether or not the quarterback position would be a question mark during the season or not. Purdy has put that issue to bed pretty emphatically. Kyle Shanahan also owns McVay, having won nine consecutive regular-season games against the Rams.

The Rams are really interesting, though, because everyone buried them before the season. Vegas gave them a 6.5 win total, people talked about this being McVay’s last year, Matthew Stafford’s name was floated in future hypothetical trade rumors. The Rams were discussed as being one of the worst teams in the NFL and a threat for the No. 1 overall pick.

Two weeks in, that notion seems pretty ridiculous, because the Rams look like a strong playoff contender right now. Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell have emerged as legit receiving threats in Cooper Kupp’s absence. Kyren Williams has been a revelation in the rush game, with Cam Akers dealing with some … stuff lately. Stafford threw a pair of picks on Sunday but he’s looked completely healthy for the first time since the Super Bowl season and is making elite level throws that most human beings can’t pretend to consider throwing. Aaron Donald is a PROBLEM and will emerge as a contender for DPOY by midseason in my opinion. The Rams need to stay healthy and find a way to go 2-2 or better against the Bengals, Steelers, Eagles and Cowboys (they get the Colts and Cardinals as well, both need to be wins obviously) between now and Halloween and they’ll be right there in the mix.

SEATTLE

“A thermometer in the huddle” – cool phrase from QB GENO SMITH.  Peter King:

Lower in this column, you’ll read about what Pete Carroll learned from Geno Smith. It’s insightful and shows an unselfish person who knows how to lead a team. That’s all well and good—but can the guy play? Sunday’s 37-31 victory in Detroit was Smith’s 20th start in Seattle since taking over for Russell Wilson, and I find it fairly amazing that Smith is every bit the player in his first 20 games that Wilson was in his last 20 in Seattle.

Wilson’s last 20: 11-9, 99.8 rating, .649 completion rate, 4,339 yards, 35 TD, 9 Int.

Smith’s first 20: 10-10, 101.1 rating, .700 completion rate, 4,722 yards, 33 TD, 11 Int.

After a poor season-opening loss to the Rams, Smith said he and Bobby Wagner spoke to the team. Have fun and play with swagger, Wagner said. Stay connected and play for each other, Smith said. Team things. “This is only our second game together, because teams change every year,” Smith said after the game Sunday. “We’re finding out about each other and we’re learning about each other. One of my messages is to keep our composure all the way through the game. Like, my message in the huddle when we get across the 50 and the drive is getting toward the goal line, I tell the guys, ‘Take a deep breath. Calm down. Relax. Just execute.’ I try to be the thermometer in the huddle. Make sure everyone’s cool, so we can get our jobs done. On the [game-winning] drive in overtime, I could feel it—everyone knew we’d score. It’s the confidence you gotta have. That’s super fun, right? You get the ball in your hands at the end of a game. That’s what you live for and you dream about as a kid, the opportunity to go win the game. It’s so much fun.” And that’s the guy you want in your huddle, piloting your team.

This from Pete Carroll on a QB1 hiding in plain sight:

It’s not always the players who learn from coaches. Sometimes it’s vice versa, as with the NFL’s oldest coach, Seattle’s Pete Carroll, who turned 72 last week. Carroll on what he’s learned from his quarterback Geno Smith, who spent most of seven seasons as a backup before ascending to the starting job last season:

“I didn’t realize it was happening in Geno’s first couple years here, how well he was commanding the backup situation. He was really improving. Really working. He thought of himself as a starter. When he wound up going in, there was not a transition. Geno’s the example I preach about to our players. He maintained a starter’s mentality throughout four years of sitting … But he never didn’t believe. It was a teachable moment for the rest of the team. I wound up telling the whole team about it because it’s the perfect illustration of how every backup should prepare—when you get in there, it’s not a shock to you. It’s not unexpected. We call it G prep.”

(‘G prep,’ as in Geno Smith prep.)

“That’s what we all hope for when we’re coaching but I’d never seen it so clearly illustrated. It’s a fascinating realization. I’ve been coaching for a million years. Never figured it out, never saw it like I saw with Geno. Having the discipline as a player when there’s a guy ahead of you, that’s the hard part. Where do you find a guy disciplined enough that he can make himself ignore the reality? So he became a clear example to every player in our locker room. He’s not just playing—he’s teaching as he’s doing this.

“You know, Kobe Bryant talked about the curiosity that he had to maintain as his career went on. Always being curious. That’s what Geno has.”

DENVER

This from The Guardian:

When Sean Payton called Nathaniel Hackett’s 15-game stint with the Broncos “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” it sounded cruel and unnecessary. Now it sounds foolish. Hackett was 1-1 at this point last season in Denver. Payton’s Broncos are 0-2 after giving up an 18-point lead to the Washington Commanders in a thriller that ended 35-33 after a failed Denver two-point conversion following a miraculous Hail Mary.

The game ended in controversy as Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste was draped all over Courtland Sutton during that final two-point conversion. But none of that should take away from the fact that Denver should have been riding into Week 3 with a 1-1 record, thrilled with the direction of the Russell Wilson-Payton marriage.

The pairing was nearly perfect for most of the first half. Wilson slaughtered the Commanders’ defense, and finally looked like the Wilson of old. He moved well, executed passes of various depths (including a beautiful bomb to Marvin Mims), and commanded a Payton playbook that kept Washington’s defense in a state of confusion. Wilson ended the first half 6-8 with 154 yards and two touchdowns.

Then, in a repeat of Week 1’s loss to the Raiders, the Broncos became dazed, confused, and just plain bad. Denver led 21-3 in the third quarter, but the Commanders then scored 32 of the next 35 points. Most of the second half was filled with miscues from Denver on both sides of the ball before their late rally almost sent the game into overtime. The defense operated with no urgency, the offense with no rhythm or mojo.

After the game, Payton addressed the team’s lackluster second half.

“There was a number of drives where we’re late with personnel, getting out of the huddle we took a while. That’s got to change. We burned timeouts in the first half, and I’m not used to doing [that]. We’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better, Russ has got to be sharper getting the play out,” Payton said.

Payton also suggested that Wilson may need to wear a wristband, something the quarterback resisted under Pete Carroll at the Seattle Seahawks. Last November, Carroll lauded Geno Smith for wearing a wristband as Smith and the Seahawks were outperforming expectations. It was a bit of a dig at his former quarterback to which Wilson responded, “I didn’t know winning or losing mattered if you wore a wristband or not.”

It’s undeniable that Wilson looks better under Payton than he did under Hackett. Not a hard feat. But games are four quarters, and falling apart in the second-half two weeks in a row is not acceptable. The Broncos second-half offense in Week 1 was too conservative; this week both sides of the ball were unable to adjust to the Commanders superior playcalling.

To be fair to Payton, the 2-0 Commanders are improved and have a lot of playmakers, particularly on defense. Eric Bieniemy, in his first season as Commanders’ OC, seems to be doing wonders for his young quarterback, Sam Howell. But after the promises that Payton was going to change the Broncos, the Commanders are a team they should beat, as were the Raiders in Week 1. Good teams close out games. That’s not happening in Denver.

It silly to make grand pronouncements about a team’s season after only two weeks. It’s possible the Payton-Wilson marriage ultimately works out. They’ll certainly be tested facing the Dolphins and Jets’ defenses soon.

But between the 0-2 start in games they should have won and the head coach calling out the quarterback, Denver may be heading for trouble.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

QB JUSTIN HERBERT deserves a better fate, says NFL Jules looking at the stats:

@nfljules

In Justin Herbert’s last 4 games he has:

1,130 passing yards

282.5 ypg

7 total TDs

0 INT (5 game streak)

65.9 completion %

His team is 0-4 in these games. Someone free this man.

And this – with a photo of Brandon Staley:

@EatYourReedies

The Chargers defense allowed the Titans to score 27 points. It’s the first time since Week 11 of 2022 that Tennessee scored more than 22. In that time, the Titans averaged 15 points per game.

Defensive mastermind.

Will Brinson of CBSSports.com:

The Chargers are either cursed or just poorly coached. How else can you possibly explain what happens on a week-in and week-out basis with Brandon Staley’s football team? Every freaking week the Chargers find a new, innovative way to lose football games. Whether it’s San Diego or Los Angeles is irrelevant — the Chargers have been disappointing us for a while now. The latest was an overtime road loss to the Titans which featured the Bolts as three-point favorites. As a result, Staley’s seat is now scorching.

Sunday’s Week 2 loss was a classic case of Chargering, with the Titans taking a three-point lead on a field goal with 3:38 remaining in the game. Austin Ekeler was out of the game, but Staley’s squad still had plenty of weapons for Justin Herbert, starting with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and moving on down to rookie Quentin Johnston, backup running back Joshua Kelly and tight ends Donald Parham and Gerald Everett. That much time against a questionable defense should have absolutely resulted in a couple of looks to score a touchdown.

Instead, the Chargers moseyed on down the field, entering the red zone with less than a minute remaining. Staley didn’t use his first timeout until it was third-and-3 from the Titans seven-yard line with 21 seconds remaining. I understand you want to make sure you don’t leave the Titans time to go win the game, but the Chargers should have been attacking more aggressively instead of dinking and dunking and playing for overtime. Herbert promptly got sacked on third down, the Chargers kicked and we got free football.

Just like against the Dolphins, the Chargers promptly flipped their plan, dropping Herbert back on three straight snaps to start overtime, all three ending as incomplete passes, giving the ball back to the Titans with Tennessee needing just a field goal to steal a win. Yada yada yada, the ball went through the uprights seven plays later and the Chargers fell to 0-2 to start the season.

The Titans scored 27 points in this game, the first time Tennessee’s gone over 20 points since Week 14 last year and the first time they’ve scored 27 points or more since Week 11, the only time the Titans did so all 2022 season. Against the Saints last week, the Titans barely mustered 15 points and looked horrendous on offense.

Why does this matter? Because Brandon Staley is a defensive coach and the Chargers consistently fail to play good defense. The Dolphins’ passing success from last week is well documented and today’s performance might be worse given how bad the Titans looked in Week 1.

Staley is an analytics coach who has changed his mind about using analytics. Staley punted on a fourth-and-4 on the Titans 44-yard line. In overtime, he called timeout on a third-and-2 with Derrick Henry on the sideline trying to get rest because his defense wasn’t set, only to see Henry come back on the field and, with the benefit of the timeout, pick up a first down.

The Bolts just signed Herbert to a massive contract extension and it sure looks like they’re going to set another one of his prime seasons completely on fire. Los Angeles, by all accounts, could have landed Sean Payton this offseason, but for various reasons (money, power struggles, etc) decided to stay the course with Staley. Now they’re 0-2 and with their backs up against the wall just two weeks into the season.

Last year’s Bengals team is the only 0-2 team (out of 23) to make the the postseason since the NFL expanded to the seven-team bracket. There aren’t many things worse than blowing a massive playoff lead, but missing the playoffs with a healthy Herbert absolutely qualifies. Since the Super Bowl era began, 34 teams have scored 50+ points with zero turnovers through their first two weeks. The Chargers are the only one of those teams to start the season 0-2.

Staley is the leader in the clubhouse for first coach fired right now. That Week 5 bye is looming large.

INDIANAPOLIS

John Breech of CBSSports.com notes a fine performance, against a suspect opponent, for the Colts:

Due to an injury to Anthony Richardson, the Colts were forced to use two quarterbacks, but that didn’t seem to have any impact on their offense. The Colts were able to move the ball at will, scoring on five of their first seven possessions. Their first two scores came on rushing touchdowns from Richardson, who showed off his athleticism with two impressive runs. After Richardson went out, Minshew came in and was nearly perfect, going 19 of 23. The defense also had a strong showing with six sacks. It’s hard to tell, because the Colts were playing the Texans, but this team might be better than advertised.

JACKSONVILLE

QB TREVOR LAWRENCE was frank after Sunday’s loss.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Jaguars forced three Chiefs turnovers while allowing 17 points at home on Sunday, but they weren’t able to celebrate a win when the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Jacksonville didn’t get into the end zone at all on Sunday and they slumped to a 17-9 loss while playing what quarterback Trevor Lawrence called “really sloppy” football over the course of the game. Lawrence was 22-of-41 for 216 yards, which illustrated how little he was able to get going after a strong opening week for the team’s offense.

“Yeah, it’s just we’re better than that,” Lawrence said, via Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union. “We’re a better offense than that. And I think that’s what’s disappointing, is when you know what you’re capable of. And the guys that we have, whether it’s upfront or myself, the running backs, receivers, like, we got so many weapons. We got to be able to put points on the board and score. And that’s just kind of embarrassing.”

The Jaguars and Chiefs wound up playing twice last season and the Jags would be happy to see them again this season because it will mean they are in the playoffs. Getting there will take a better job of maximizing opportunities than they managed this Sunday.

We saw this in The Guardian:

Stat of the week

0-7. That was Trevor Lawrence’s completion rate in the red zone in his team’s 17-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. In contrast, his Jacksonville Jaguars were 3-for-3 last week in the red zone, scoring with ease. This week they faceplanted, failing to reach the end zone on all three red zone trips in a game they could and should have won. Jags offensive coordinator Press Taylor’s playcalling was questionable at best. They were first-and-one on the Kansas City one-yard line and yet Taylor chose not to give goalline back Tank Bigsby the ball. Lawrence, meanwhile, was off target only hitting his receivers when they were out of bounds. It was an embarrassing performance considering that the Chiefs racked up almost 100 yards in penalties, turned the ball over three times and were held to 17 points.

MIAMI

That’s five straight wins for QB TUA TAGOVAILOA over the once-mighty Patriots. Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has won all five of his starts against Bill Belichick and the Patriots, but after Sunday night’s win, Tagovailoa downplayed how much of it is himself vs. the Hall of Fame coach.

“I think our team is 5-0 against Bill Belichick,” Tagovailoa said, via Boston.com. “It’s never a me thing. It’s never a me thing. And I don’t think we ever look at it as, ‘oh, we beat them once, we beat them twice, we beat them five times in a row.’ Every time we face coach Belichick’s team, it’s always a challenge. And we know we’re going to get their best.”

The Dolphins are actually 5-2 against the Patriots since drafting Tagovailoa, but the two losses were the two games in the series Tagovailoa didn’t start, as a rookie before taking over the starting job from Ryan Fitzpatrick, and last year when Teddy Bridgewater started because Tagovailoa was out with a concussion.

Tagovailoa and Belichick are scheduled to meet again in Week Eight in Miami, and Tagovailoa will hope to improve his record to 6-0, even if it’s not a record he takes personal credit for.

NEW ENGLAND

Chad Graff of The Athletic on New England’s drab offense:

The Patriots are 0-2 for the first time since 2001. But this team, unlike that one, doesn’t have Tom Brady about to come off the bench. Instead, New England is left with a dull offense that lacks playmakers and an offensive line that continues to look inept.

That’s because of Belichick. He’s nearly omnipotent within the organization, and he’s earned that. All decisions are made — or signed off on — by him. That includes the ones this front office made that have left the offense without the drastic help it needed. Despite major needs at wide receiver and on the offensive line, the Pats used their first three draft picks on defense. And though all three players have impressed, the offense largely has been left to die on the vine.

This unit, the decision-makers thought, wasn’t just going to take small steps toward competence after last season’s disaster under Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. It was going to hit the high bar that former coordinator Josh McDaniels set in Jones’ rookie season of 2021.

Instead, the Patriots look nothing like that offense. They didn’t have a single play of 20 yards or more Sunday night. They had one play longer than 14 yards, a scramble by Jones in the fourth quarter.

“Look, we had a lot of production on offense,” Belichick said defiantly afterward.

Huh? What’s just as concerning as Belichick’s offseason personnel choices is that he doesn’t seem to see a problem with how the offense fared. It averaged only 4.1 yards per play Sunday. (For reference, the worst offense in the league last season, the Houston Texans, averaged 4.7 yards per play.) It didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter. It couldn’t run the ball. The line struggled to block long enough to allow Jones to do anything.

“(DeVante) Parker had a good day,” Belichick said. “(Mike) Gesicki had a good day. Hunter (Henry) had a good day, JuJu (Smith-Schuster), KB (Kendrick Bourne). So, you know, a lot of good players.”

Yet none of those players reached 60 receiving yards. Only two, Parker (57 yards) and Hunter (52 yards), topped 35. This is the group that has Belichick insisting there are too many good players to get them all into the game?

Belichick benched the one player who did seem to have some explosiveness on offense. Demario Douglas, the star of the team’s preseason practices, might be the team’s best receiver at creating space underneath and making tacklers miss. He showed that on a would-be third-and-8 conversion. But Douglas fumbled on that first-quarter play as he fought for more yards, and after that, he didn’t see the field again on offense.

“We played all of our skill players,” Belichick countered. “They all played.”

So far, the coach’s offseason moves to revamp this unit and bring the best out in Jones haven’t worked. Smith-Schuster hasn’t looked like the No. 1 receiver the Pats hoped he could be. Gesicki has been fine but far from a game-changer. Douglas was benched. Fellow rookie Kayshon Boutte was a healthy scratch in favor of Jalen Reagor, a practice-squad player who is on his third team in three years.

That has left the passing game in a funk. In Week 1, Jones and company averaged 5.8 yards per pass attempt. On Sunday night, with the nation watching in a prime-time game, they averaged 5.5 yards per pass. (Kyler Murray, who ranked last in the stat last season, averaged 6.1 yards per attempt. The league average was 7.1 yards.)

“We’ve got to be better on offense,” Jones said. “And we will this week.”

That would require the offensive line to be better, too. The Dolphins were without one of their best pass rushers, Jaelan Phillips, and still had four sacks and seven quarterback hits against Jones.

For the second straight week, they were left inserting new options on the offensive line amid injuries and uncertainty. Guards Cole Strange (knee) and Mike Onwenu (ankle) made their season debuts after missing Week 1 with injuries, but starting tackles Trent Brown and Sidy Sow did not play. That forced Belichick to continue his Band-Aid solution to the team’s front five from the offseason, where he added several middling players — like Riley Reiff, Calvin Anderson, Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Vederian Lowe — in the hope that depth there would yield success. Instead, the musical chairs on the offensive line have led to a dysfunctional running game and a quarterback constantly under pressure.

This Dolphins team is still learning and getting used to a new defensive scheme run by coordinator Vic Fangio. The unit tries to take away deep shots and invites teams to run against it. In last week’s season opener, the Chargers torched that defense for 233 rushing yards and 34 points. The Patriots managed only 17 points and 88 rushing yards, largely because of their poor offensive line.

“We’re close,” Jones insisted.

The Patriots better hope so, or this could be a long season.

NEW YORK JETS

QB AARON RODGERS doesn’t want to concede that he is done for the season.  Peter King:

Did you hear Rodgers the other day post-Achilles surgery, with Pat McAfee, when the Jets’ QB said: “There’s a lot of different ideas about the overall length of the rehab. Just because nobody’s ever done it in a certain way doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

That’s a significant statement. It also led me to think Rodgers might consider a rehab method used by wounded veterans called Blood Flow Resistance Rehabilitation. More about that in a moment.

Even in a news cycle that changes headlines more often than we change underwear, the Rodgers story is still a mega-thing a week after he tore his Achilles on national TV in his first game with the Jets. One other thing from the Rodgers quotebook, from my chat with him in training camp, on the skepticism over his darkness retreat: “I think there’s too many people who are judgmental without being curious. For me, I feel at my best when I’m open and being vulnerable.”

It may be physically impossible for Rodgers to return from the injury this season. But he’s going to drive himself to try. And he might be the best patient noted Achilles surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache has had because he’s so open-minded and willing to try new rehab stratagems. Rodgers had his surgery Wednesday, and the NFL playoffs begin exactly four months from that day. (Wild Card Weekend is Jan. 13 through 15.) Two notable Achilles cases with the same surgeon: Rams running back Cam Akers was cleared to play four months and three weeks after his 2021 surgery. Kobe Bryant played seven months and 26 days after surgery in 2013. Would the Jets even consider playing franchise-guy Rodgers, with less rehab time than Akers or Bryant, if they make the playoffs? Seems hugely risky.

But, I’m told, Rodgers and the medical professionals will not be ruled by emotion. If he’s cleared, it’ll be because the Achilles is fully healed and prepared for the stress of a football game. ElAttrache’s reputation is if the patient is not fully ready, the doctor won’t succumb to pressure to clear him.

As Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Saturday, ElAttrache used a surgical procedure called “SpeedBridge” in the operation Wednesday. Instead of re-attaching the Achilles with two fasteners, the SpeedBridge procedure uses an hourglass method, with four fasteners in an X formation. Theoretically, that promotes quicker healing by accelerating the range-of-motion in the area without stretching the repaired tendon.

But it’s only quicker, I’m told, if the patient is diligent and dedicated to the daily grind of the rehab process. You think Rodgers won’t be an active participant in his own rehab program?

That’s why I think one method of rehab used to speed healing after some devastating injuries to both soldiers and athletes—Blood Flow Resistance Rehabilitation—could well be in the Rodgers playbook now. The Blood Flow Resistance method applies a tourniquet to the injured area to partially restrict the flow of blood during strength training. Per Johnny Owens, a therapist and CEO of Houston-based Owens Recovery Science, the brain then triggers a rush of hormones and other strengthening modes to the affected area, promoting accelerated metabolism and healing. Owens has used this with wounded soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center near San Antonio.

One other envelope-pushing modality could be in play too. Traditionally, Achilles patients don’t do any range-of-motion in the ankle/Achilles area for three weeks after surgery. But now some physicians, while closely monitoring the wound for healing and infection, think light range-of-motion can start after 10 days if all signs are positive. That, in turn, hastens recovery in most cases.

Will those be used? I don’t know. But I suspect Rodgers will be listening to smart people about all rehab modes, and he won’t be afraid to try some that aren’t common. BFR seems the most likely.

As one NFL doctor told me Friday: “Therapy is as important as the surgery in Achilles cases. And the willingness of the patient to be all-in with the process is really important if you want to try to get back sooner.” The fact is, it’s unlikely anyone can come back from an Achilles tear in four months, and no one knows today if Rodgers will be the first. Who knows if the Jets will even be playing in four months? But I can tell you Rodgers is thinking like that old philosopher Jim Carrey this morning: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”

THIS AND THAT

PETER KING ON HALL OF FAME COACHES

The recent coach elections make it likely that Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll, Mike McCarthy, Sean Payton and John Harbaugh—in addition to slam-dunkers Bill Belichick and Andy Reid—will be enshrined one day. Do you think 13 coaches in roughly a 30-year span should all be in? To me it’s a bit much.

WORRISOME

From Mike Sando of The Athletic:

Worries for 11 NFL teams linger most prominently through Week 2. We begin with teams coached by Bill Belichick and Sean Payton, and close with the team coached by Andy Reid.

New England Patriots worry: This is who they are, just another team.

Worry level: 9/10

Oddsmakers had the Patriots fourth in the AFC East entering the season. That remained the case even after the New York Jets lost Aaron Rodgers to a torn Achilles tendon. What does that say about the Patriots’ prospects? This team is 0-2 on the season, 25-27 since Tom Brady’s departure and lacking in offensive firepower. It’s difficult to see great upside.

“They try to be better fundamentally, better in the kicking game and run the ball,” an exec from another team said. “It’s fourth quarter against Miami, they need a good punt, but they give up an 18-yard return (to Braxton Berrios). OK, run the ball and stop the run, right? Next play, Miami runs 43 yards for the touchdown. Then when New England needs a fourth-down conversion late, they throw to a long-striding tight end (Mike Gesicki) several yards short of the first-down marker, and he laterals to an offensive lineman, and the game ends.”

The Patriots lost on fundamentals and in situational play, areas where they must win against the better teams.

Denver Broncos worry: Sean Payton can’t fix Russell Wilson.

Worry level: 8.5/10

Payton entered Week 2 with a 72-0 career record when leading by least 18 points, including 20-0 when leading by that much before halftime. Those records are now blemished after a 21-3 Broncos home lead over the Washington Commanders turned into a 35-33 defeat. Afterward, Payton said the game turned on a Wilson fumble. He also said he was “frustrated” by slow communication on offense.

Yes, there was blame to go around, including lots on the Denver defense. But anyone listening to Payton after the game knows the coach’s frustration with Wilson is mounting.

“We had to burn timeouts in the first half, and I’m not used to doing that,” Payton said. “We have to be better. I have to be better, Russ has to be sharper with getting the play out, and then we have to look at how much we have in. If we need to wristband it, we will.”

There is zero chance Sean Payton thinks Sean Payton is the problem. He is validating what we heard about Wilson last season when Nathanial Hackett was the coach.

The 2022 Broncos that Payton has mocked started 2-1 before slipping to 3-5 entering their bye. The current team, 0-2 after home losses to the Raiders and Commanders, will have a hard time matching that 3-5 record entering its bye, which falls at the same point in the schedule. Miami, Chicago, the Jets, Kansas City, Green Bay and Kansas City (again) are up next.

Chicago Bears worry: Justin Fields and the offense won’t be much better this season.

Worry level: 7.5/10

The Bears have been 2.5 times less productive on offense through two games this season (minus-19.2 EPA) as they were through two games last year (minus-7.2 EPA). Fields has two touchdown passes, three interceptions, one lost fumble and 62 yards rushing.

This is a dicey situation with a newly hired team president hovering and so much hinging on Fields’ development. Chicago has to hope it’s just two bad games, but getting outgained 437-236 by Baker Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers was not a good sign.

New York Giants worry: Their comeback victory at Arizona stops their fall only temporarily.

Worry level: 7/10

Losing 40-0 against the Cowboys in the opener was bad. Falling behind the rebuilding Cardinals 20-0 felt worse. The Giants’ comeback for a 31-28 victory spared them from a disastrous start to the season. But with San Francisco, Seattle, Miami and Buffalo next on the schedule, are we to believe all is well, especially with Saquon Barkley suffering an ankle injury?

New York Jets worry: The Jets are doomed without Rodgers.

Worry level: 7

Doomed to what? The defense should be good enough for the Jets to stay in the mix, but the likelihood of finishing in the 7-10 range is high when checking out the remaining schedule. The Jets still have both defending conference champions on their schedule, plus the Dolphins twice, Buffalo once and games against other teams that could be tough to beat, including the Chargers and Falcons.

Minnesota Vikings worry: Finally escaping Kirk Cousins’ contract beyond this season, only to realize Cousins is the best option beyond this season.

Worry level: 7/10

The Vikings did extricate themselves from the fully guaranteed structure that has bound them to Cousins in recent years, creating flexibility beyond this season. That was supposed to set them up for a longer-term build. But if the first two games are any indication, Cousins ranks among the best things this Minnesota team has going for itself, beyond all-world receiver Justin Jefferson. Is Cousins suddenly going to come cheaply?

The quarterback has completed 73 percent of his passes for 708 yards and six touchdowns with one interception. What are the Vikings without him?

That is an interesting question to ponder for a general manager and head coach who will be entering Year 3 of their tenures in 2024. Getting cheaper at quarterback would likely mean getting worse before getting better, and the third year isn’t time to take a step back. Washington found this out when letting Cousins leave entering Jay Gruden’s third season as head coach. The Commanders are still looking for a long-term replacement.

Los Angeles Chargers worry: The negative narratives could be here to stay.

Worry level: 6.5/10

Gone are the days when reporters fawned over coach Brandon Staley’s fourth-down aggressiveness, which could have been a storyline Sunday if the Chargers had not suffered a 27-24 overtime defeat at Tennessee in falling to 0-2.

Two tough losses to open the season have put the Chargers’ coach on the defensive. Staley faced tough lines of questioning at Tennessee and shot back, particularly when it was suggested the 0-2 start was a continuation of a crushing defeat to Jacksonville in the playoffs last season. It’s a sensitive subject. Staley interrupted his questioner, calling the suggestion a “convenient storyline for you and everybody else, but not the truth.”

On the positive side, Staley’s defense allowed only three explosive pass plays (longer than 15 yards) against the Titans, after allowing 14 against the Dolphins last week. Unfortunately, two of those three plays were killers covering 70 and 49 yards. All the narratives Staley is fighting — that the Jacksonville hangover is real, that his defense remains a work in progress at best — are hard to shake in the absence of better results.

It’ll be tough for the Chargers to keep losing with Justin Herbert at quarterback. They rallied last season from 6-6 to 10-6 and a playoff berth. That doesn’t guarantee anything now.

Expectations were high for the Chargers, and if they enter their bye week 1-3 or worse following games against Minnesota and Las Vegas, what then? Dallas and Kansas City await on the other side.

Indianapolis Colts worry: Anthony Richardson’s health will remain an issue.

Worry level: 6/10

Richardson has played two games and failed to finish either one. The rookie incurred a knee injury while straining toward the goal line late in the Colts’ Week 1 defeat to Jacksonville. He suffered a concussion while scoring his second rushing touchdown of the day Sunday in a victory against Houston.

The Colts have done a good job tailoring their offense for Richardson’s skill set. Richardson is such a talented runner. But the Colts’ need to feature Richardson as a rusher, along with Richardson’s limited experience against top competition (13 college games, plus two in the NFL), is looking like a dangerous combination for the quarterback’s health early in his career.

It’s early to panic, but concern is warranted. Is there another way Indianapolis can play while Richardson is in the lineup?

Buffalo Bills worry: Josh Allen’s turnovers will doom Buffalo when it matters.

Worry level: 4.5/10

Allen appeared determined in the Bills’ 38-10 victory against Las Vegas to protect the football after suffering four turnovers against the Jets in Week 1. This was his fourth turnover-free performance in 20 total starts since the start of last season.

The game against the Jets got me thinking about how helpless teams in the Bills’ situation can be when trying to control superstar quarterbacks. The entire operation is set up to make the QB comfortable, not accountable.

Allen’s contract assures he will be the starter no matter what. Allen’s backup, Kyle Allen, is his friend and supporter, not a viable alternative. His coordinator, Ken Dorsey, is his former position coach, and his head coach, Sean McDermott, is the defensive play caller.

The Bills need Allen to play the way he played Sunday more consistently, and if he doesn’t, that’s the way it’s going to be.

Cincinnati Bengals worry: Joe Burrow and the offense won’t hit stride.

Worry level: 4/10

Burrow was nearly a unanimous Tier 1 selection in 2023 Quarterback Tiers, but coaches and executives expressed worry over his long-term durability. That was before Burrow suffered a calf injury that sidelined him for most of training camp. That was also before Burrow aggravated that injury during the Bengals’ 27-24 home loss to Baltimore.

“When you are that young in terms of snaps played, you need camp to get timing, you need camp to get execution of situational football, the snap count, all that,” a veteran coach said.

The worry level is not higher because Burrow is such a good player, and he still has strong weaponry around him. Cincinnati struggled on offense in starting 0-2 last season before taking Kansas City to the brink in the playoffs. The team has scored only 20 points on offense this season, but Burrow was not terrible Sunday.

The potential for the calf injury lingering separates this 0-2 start from the last one. There is greater uncertainty.

Kansas City Chiefs worry: Early struggles on offense will be harder to overcome this time.

Worry level: 3.5/10

The Chiefs are averaging 18.5 offensive points per game, their lowest figure through two games since 2014. The high-priced right tackle they signed in free agency, Jawaan Taylor, leads the league in penalties with six and was briefly benched during a 17-9 victory against Jacksonville in Week 2. The situation at receiver was already concerning before Kadarius Toney and Justin Watson suffered injuries Sunday. So, yeah, there could be some inconsistency.

“Here is the time to start writing about the Chiefs: When they are in danger of missing the playoffs,” an exec from a rival team said. “Otherwise, they are fine and still building.”

The defense ranks second in EPA per game through Week 2 after ranking between 16th and 32nd through two games previously during the Patrick Mahomes era (since 2018). The receiver situation is concerning enough to create more worry than the exec expressed.

Bill Barnwell of The Athletic with a similar theme:

No NFL team wants to be in my annual column on squads that have started 0-2. The Giants launched a furious comeback from 21 points down to beat the Cardinals. The Broncos hit a Hail Mary with all zeroes on the clock to set up a game-tying 2-point conversion against the Commanders, only to come up short. The Seahawks drove downfield on the opening drive of overtime against the Lions and scored a walk-off touchdown, even if it required a little hold of Aidan Hutchinson on the way. Teams don’t want this sort of attention.

Starting 0-2, of course, means a team already is in a desperate situation before the weather has even begun to chill. Since 2002, roughly one in 10 teams has started 0-2 and advanced to the postseason. When the Bengals pulled off the feat last season, they became the first franchise to start 0-2 and make it to the postseason since 2018.

If a team loses again and drops to 0-3, though, desperate becomes hopeless. Since 2002, 99 teams have started 0-3. Just one of those teams (the 2018 Texans) has made it to the playoffs. The NFL now has a 14-team bracket, which would have added a second team (the 2013 Steelers) to the mix, but you get the idea. Starting 0-2 is bad. Starting 0-3 is all but unsurvivable.

As a result, the eight teams that started 0-2 these past two weeks are suddenly about to suit up for a playoff game in Week 3. Win and they can keep their season afloat. Lose and they’re essentially out of the playoffs. In lieu of a warm vacation, they still have to keep suiting up for 14 more weeks of football.

Let’s run through that list of eight 0-2 teams, discuss what has gone wrong and break down each team’s chances of turning around its season. I’ll start with the team that has the worst chance of becoming a contender and work my way down to the team that has the best chance of overcoming its slow start. That team was the Bengals in 2022. Are they back in that top spot again this season?

8. Houston Texans

The losses: at Ravens, vs. Colts

The Texans have not needed an excuse to be bad in recent years, but they have one amid their 0-2 start: injuries. During Sunday’s loss to the Colts, they were without their starting safeties (Jalen Pitre and Jimmie Ward), both starting offensive tackles (Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard), their starting center (Juice Scruggs), and one of their two starting guards (Kenyon Green). During the game, they lost another safety (Eric Murray), while rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud played the entire game with a painful right shoulder injury. You can decide whether playing behind four backup linemen helped his shoulder improve.

Stroud already has taken 11 sacks in two weeks, which is an inauspicious start for a rookie quarterback in an organization that famously failed to protect its first franchise passer. Eleven sacks across a rookie’s first two starts are the third most suffered by a quarterback since the turn of the century. No. 1 is former Houston passer David Carr, who took his 15 sacks on just 64 dropbacks in 2002. Stroud has dropped back 104 times for his sacks, but he plays in an era in which quarterbacks get taken down less often on the whole.

It’s difficult to evaluate Stroud in a situation where most of his best offensive linemen have spent the season on the sideline. One positive has been his work out of quick game on throws under 2.5 seconds. There, his 71.6 QBR ranks 13th in the league and his 7.2 yards per attempt ranks sixth. One way to mitigate when the offensive linemen are all hanging out without you is to get the ball out before the defense can take you down.

New coach DeMeco Ryans doesn’t have the superstars from his defense in San Francisco, but the former Texans linebacker has Will Anderson Jr. and an ability to create pressure. Houston’s 32.3% pressure rate ranks seventh in the NFL. Anderson has a sack and three quarterback knockdowns in two games. Most of that pressure came against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 1 in a game in which Baltimore had its first-string offensive line on the field for most of the game before late injuries to Ronnie Stanley and Tyler Linderbaum.

Those are the positives. The negatives? The running game is averaging 2.5 yards per carry, the offense has scored one touchdown on seven trips inside the red zone, and the secondary can’t stop anyone. Opposing quarterbacks are posting an adjusted completion percentage of 85.8% against Houston, a figure that removes throwaways and drops and adjusts for the depth of target. Only the Raiders have been less effective, and those two teams have posted the worst adjusted completion percentage marks allowed over the first two weeks of any season in the past decade.

The Texans weren’t expecting to compete this season — and they’ll be better as they get healthier — but if there was one game we were going to circle as a likely win on their calendar, it would have been at home against the Colts in Week 2. Despite Indianapolis quarterback Anthony Richardson leaving the game in the first half with a concussion, the Texans lost by 11 points and needed 10 points in the fourth quarter to get even that close. With their 2024 first-round pick on the way to the Cardinals at the end of the season, the Texans have nothing to tank for if they continue to lose. Until they get their offensive line back, it’s tough to imagine them standing up to the likes of T.J. Watt in the weeks to come.

7. Arizona Cardinals

The losses: at Commanders, vs. Giants

If any team could be vaguely proud of getting off to an 0-2 start, it would be the Cardinals. Left for dead as a tanking team that might be paying more attention to USC’s Caleb Williams than its own quarterbacks, Arizona has been feisty. The Cardinals gave the Commanders trouble in Week 1 before eventually falling short, then went up by three scores on the Giants on Sunday before coach Brian Daboll’s team turned things around after halftime and pulled off a comeback victory.

Given that he was acquired just before the season and told the commentators he didn’t know some of his receivers’ and linemen’s names in Week 1, quarterback Joshua Dobbs has done an admirable job under center. This hasn’t been an explosive passing attack, but he is completing nearly 69% of his throws and hasn’t yet thrown an interception. He did lose a fumble on a strip sack against the Commanders, but he has been an accurate passer and has run for three first downs, including a 23-yard scamper for a score against the Giants. He looked as if he was doing a better Daniel Jones impression than the $40 million man himself during the first half.

The short throws have led to an almost comical level of volume for tight end Zach Ertz, who has 18 targets through two games. Ertz has more targets than A.J. Brown, Ja’Marr Chase or Amon-Ra St. Brown through two weeks, which is a lot for a 32-year-old tight end coming off a serious left knee injury. He might end up as a candidate to be moved before the Halloween trade deadline, along with a potential power back in James Conner, who ran for 106 yards and a touchdown Sunday.

Coach Jonathan Gannon’s defense has generally kept things unsurprisingly conservative. After a decade of blitzing at some of the highest rates in football, the Cardinals have sent extra pressure on just 7.2% of opposing dropbacks through two weeks, the league’s lowest rate. They were able to generate free pressures against Jones in the second half, only for the Giants quarterback to elude them before making big plays.

Those big plays that Gannon’s Vic Fangio-style defense is supposed to inhibit unfortunately popped up time and again for the Giants during that comeback. The Cardinals are allowing 11.6 yards per completion, which is the sixth-worst mark in football. Opposing quarterbacks have attempted five deep shots against them through two games, but three of those have been completed for 121 yards. You’ll hear about this being an issue for another Fangio acolyte later in the column.

Would it have been nice to pick up a victory over a 2022 playoff team? Of course. In reality, though, the 2023 season for the Cardinals is more about sorting through the players on the roster and finding those who might end up playing valuable roles for 2024 and beyond. In that vein, the organization has to be happy with what it has seen from edge rusher Dennis Gardeck, who has three sacks in two games, and Kei’Trel Clark, who has been an every-down starter at cornerback as a rookie sixth-round pick. And hey: Williams has looked pretty good on Saturdays so far, too.

6. Chicago Bears

The losses: vs. Packers, at Buccaneers

You shouldn’t be able to suck an entire offseason’s worth of excitement out of a fan base in two games. The Bears didn’t, but that’s only because they were able to pull it off before Week 1 was even finished. A Chicago fan base expecting the Bears to take a big leap forward in 2023 saw the team lay an egg at home against the Packers in the season opener. Things were slightly better in Week 2, but they allowed Baker Mayfield to post one of the best games of his career in a 27-17 defeat.

The offense has been the bigger story. What was supposed to be an explosive, dynamic group built around the unique talents of Justin Fields has looked shoddy and undercooked. Fields is averaging a league-low 5.0 air yards per pass, seemingly in the hopes the Bears can get the ball out of his hands quickly and create easy completions. By NFL NextGen Stats data, there’s some logic there; the Bears have a 71.7% expected completion percentage on their throws, which is the highest in the league.

The problem is they’ve actually completed only 60.6% of their passes; the resulting minus-11.1% completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) is the worst in the league among teams that have played two games. NextGen Stats credits Fields’ receivers with just one drop through Week 2, so much of that CPOE issue seems to fall on the quarterback’s shoulders. I would put a lot of the blame on the offensive architecture and consistency; there are just too many moments when one or two players on this offense blow or poorly execute an assignment and it blows up the entire play.

Fields has to do more as a passer. He doesn’t look confident, which is understandable given what is going on around him but is extremely disappointing for a player in his third season. He has been late to make throws, has been slow to anticipate receivers coming open and has missed would-be completions too often in each of his first two games.

On the other hand, when he has been given permission to throw downfield, he’s 5-of-6. The best offense for Fields would be one where he can try to hit big plays and use his legs as a runner, and that’s curiously not what the Bears are doing. He has four designed runs in two games, one of which was a failed sneak attempt. The creativity of the quarterback run game that has helped Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia and Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis hasn’t been present in the Chicago playbook.

It might not be an issue if the Bears were overwhelming teams on the ground, but with Luke Getsy’s offense averaging 3.5 yards per designed rush this season, this has hardly been a dominant rushing attack. The playcalling has been confusing and invited criticism; Sunday’s example was a screen thrown from inside the 5-yard line that produced a pick-six.

Matt Eberflus’ defense, too, has yet to make major strides. Injuries cost it cornerback Kyler Gordon in Week 1 and safety Eddie Jackson in Sunday’s loss, but Chicago has shown little ability to stop opposing offenses. Jordan Love carved the Bears up in Week 1, and Mayfield went 26-of-34 for 317 yards Sunday. The only reason this wasn’t a bigger blowout was an excellent performance inside the red zone, where the Bears limited the Bucs to one touchdown on four trips and blocked a field goal attempt.

The Bears can’t get off the field on third down, where they’re allowing opposing teams to convert on 54.8% of their attempts. In part, that’s because they can’t get after the quarterback. While their pressure rate is average, they have just one sack in two weeks. Even that one was a coverage sack after Love held the ball for more than four seconds. They don’t have the secondary to hold up without any pressure, especially as they deal with injuries.

Things feel significantly worse around this team than they did before the season. Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Wiederer described the building as “shaken and/or short on answers” after the blowout in Week 1. Defensive coordinator Alan Williams left the team after the opener for personal reasons and has no timetable for his return, putting more on Eberflus’ plate. The strides this team was supposed to take after the offseason simply haven’t been made.

Oh, and now they go play the Chiefs on the road next week. Expecting a postseason trip from these Bears was probably too much too soon, but the hope was they could double their win total from their 3-14 season and look like a team about to break through in 2024. Right now, they look closer to their next rebuild.

5. New England Patriots

The losses: vs. Eagles, vs. Dolphins

Despite their start, there are positives for the Patriots through two games. They’ve done a much better job against two elite offenses than the other teams that have faced those offenses this season. Mac Jones has begun to look more like the quarterback we saw as a rookie than the one who cut an aggravated, overwhelmed pose for most of 2022. And like the Texans, the Patriots have managed to be competitive despite spending the season without multiple starting linemen in Mike Onwenu, Cole Strange, Riley Reiff and Trent Brown, each of whom have missed at least one of the first two contests.

All of that has added up to a team that has been close enough to stay competitive, but not ever threatening enough to put a scare into opposing fans. Against the Eagles, the defense handed the offense two chances to try to win the game down five points in the fourth quarter. The offense lost 2 yards on the first drive, and while the second drive dutifully marched down the field, it stalled out around the 20-yard line and never got any closer.

On Sunday night, after the Patriots came up with a third-and-1 stop on a bobbled snap and Jason Sanders missed a 55-yard field goal, Jones and the offense got another chance to play the hero. Down seven with 2:14 to go, they picked up 25 yards before coming up short on fourth down, where a throw to Mike Gesicki short of the sticks produced an unlikely lateral to Strange, only for the offensive lineman to be tackled just ahead of the line to gain.

In those situations where the offense needs someone to get open and make a play, Jones simply doesn’t have the players to do it. In Week 1, Jones was without nominal top wideout DeVante Parker. In Week 2, Parker returned, booting Kayshon Boutte out of the lineup after the rookie sixth-rounder played two-thirds of the snaps during the opener. JuJu Smith-Schuster, who wasn’t on the field late against the Eagles, only saw his role expand in Week 2 because Demario Douglas fumbled in the first quarter and Belichick took the rookie sixth-round pick out of the lineup for the remainder of the game. (The Patriots failed to recover any of the three fumbles.)

Jones is never going to be a great deep thrower, but the Patriots don’t have anybody who is going to scare opposing offenses downfield. He is 1-for-10 on passes traveling 20 yards or more in the air this season; the only passers with a worse QBR on deep throws are Joe Burrow and Zach Wilson. Coordinator Bill O’Brien has installed more empty looks for Jones, who has a league-high 23 dropbacks out of empty backfields this season. They’re not working as of yet, as Jones has averaged 5.2 yards per dropback on those snaps.

The team’s best offensive playmaker is lead back Rhamondre Stevenson, but the two-minute drill removes the threat of running the football, and the passing game isn’t good enough to survive as a one-dimensional option. Stevenson has been slowed behind that injury-hit offensive line to begin the season, as his 27 carries have generated just 75 yards. Ezekiel Elliott, signed late to serve as Stevenson’s backup, has 42 yards on 12 carries.

The Patriots are not built to play from behind, and they haven’t led for a single second this season. It might just be that simple. After losing two home games, though, they now have a must-win game on the road against the Jets, who gave them trouble even when Wilson was their starter a year ago. There are some winnable games left for them in the first half, with home matchups against the Saints, Commanders and Colts to go with road trips at the Jets and Raiders. Without pulling a home upset in one of its first two games, New England probably needs to win four of those five games to hold onto its postseason hopes.

4. Minnesota Vikings

The losses: vs. Buccaneers, at Eagles

Close games giveth, close games taketh away. The team that went 9-0 last season in games decided by seven points or fewer has started this campaign, naturally, by losing two close ones to the Bucs and Eagles. The 34-28 final score in Philadelphia wasn’t as narrow as it seemed. The Vikings were the team that made the task so hard because they fumbled four times and lost all four while failing to recover a fifth fumble by the Eagles. No team has won a game in which it lost four fumbles without getting one back from its opponents since 2003 (Rams).

In all, the Vikings have failed to recover any of the seven fumbles in their two games this season, six of which have been from their own offense. Say it with me: That’s bad luck. If anything, they have been lucky the Bucs and Eagles turned those six giveaways into only one touchdown, thanks to some fortuitously timed defense by Brian Flores’ Minnesota unit.

After a season in which Ed Donatell’s defense often was criticized for playing passive and conservative football, Flores has come in and immediately raised the volume. The Vikings have blitzed on more than 49% of opposing dropbacks, more than double their 22.1% blitz rate from 2022. Last season, the Giants were the only team to blitz on more than 37% of dropbacks, which should indicate how aggressive Flores has been with sending extra men.

The problem is that it hasn’t worked. Just 5.6% of Minnesota’s blitzes have produced a sack; the league average is usually around 8.5% over a full season. Baker Mayfield and Jalen Hurts have gone 19-of-28 for 235 yards against those blitzes this season; the Vikings’ 90.3 QBR against when blitzing ranks 27th in the NFL.

Perhaps the blitzes would be more effective if the Vikings had their ideal personnel on that side of the football. Edge rusher Marcus Davenport, signed to a one-year deal for $13 million in free agency, has played four defensive snaps over the first two weeks and left the loss to the Eagles after aggravating an ankle injury. The team’s top two picks from the 2022 draft were defensive backs Andrew Booth Jr. and Lewis Cine; both have been active this season after battling injuries a year ago, but neither has played a defensive snap.

Linebacker Brian Asamoah, a third-rounder last year, has played 11 defensive snaps, while 2022 second-round pick Ed Ingram was a disaster at guard last season and hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season. There are real concerns that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first draft might be a total wash given how players have either performed poorly, suffered serious injuries or been unable to force their way onto the field.

Ingram was the weak link on a good offensive line a year ago, but injuries already are compromising Kirk Cousins’ protection at the line of scrimmage. Center Garrett Bradbury missed the Eagles game with a back injury. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw suffered an ankle injury in Week 1 and wasn’t able to suit up after aggravating the issue in warmups, even after backup Oli Udoh suffered a season-ending left quadriceps tear. The left tackle for Minnesota in the fourth quarter against the Eagles was David Quessenberry, who joined the team Aug. 30.

About the only thing this team has done at a high level so far is throw the football. If you can pick only one thing to be good at in the NFL, you should probably pick the passing game, but you typically want to bring something else along for the ride. Cousins is averaging 8.0 yards per attempt while posting a plus-5.5% completion percentage over expectation (CPOE), but he has fumbled three times and thrown an interception in the red zone.

We’ve seen teams remain competitive while relying almost exclusively on their passing attack in years past — some of the Drew Brees Saints teams come to mind — but they were usually able to field a competent rushing attack. Minnesota’s 30.8% success rate on the ground ranks 28th in the league. Running back Alexander Mattison has struggled in the primary role after taking over for the released Dalvin Cook, and there’s no other back with significant experience on the roster.

The Vikings should improve. Their schedule alternates brutal matchups (the Chargers, Chiefs and 49ers) with easier ones (the Panthers and Bears) over the next month of the season. They’ll stop fumbling as often and won’t lose every one of the fumbles they drop over the rest of the season. In the NFC, nine wins might be enough to earn a playoff berth, and that’s not an impossible ask of Kevin O’Connell’s team.

At the same time, we have a lot of evidence that the Vikings weren’t truly a 13-win team last season. They finished 28th in DVOA, shed veteran players this offseason, aren’t getting much from their 2022 draft class and haven’t been particularly lucky to start this season. Under that logic, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise they are 0-2, and the odds might be against them turning things around and getting back in the playoff picture. Now, with both teams 0-2, they get the Chargers in a de facto playoff game.

3. Denver Broncos

The losses: vs. Raiders, vs. Commanders

None of the other 0-2 teams have packed more highs and lows into their first two games than the Broncos, who finished Sunday’s loss to the Commanders by completing a Hail Mary to extend the game before meekly coming up short on the 2-pointer they needed to force overtime. They have looked dominant for stretches and incompetent during others, a problem that seems difficult to resolve when it has come up in each of their first two games.

That starts under center. Sean Payton was brought in to fix Russell Wilson. Has he succeeded? Well, depends on when you watch. Wilson has had stretches in which he has looked sharp and decisive with the football. He looked like the Wilson of old when he fired off two moonshots to Marvin Mims for huge gains in the first half.

He also let the Commanders back into the game with a first-half fumble and second-half interception. Halftime has been the turning point for Wilson through the first two weeks. During the first half, he has averaged a league-high 10.3 yards per attempt, posted a plus-18.6 completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) and produced a league-best QBR of 97.1.

In the second half? Not so much. Wilson’s QBR has dropped to 16.9, which ranks 29th in the league, and that’s even after the Hail Mary. He’s averaging just 5.3 yards per attempt after the break and has taken six sacks on 47 dropbacks. Second-half Wilson has looked puzzled and has struggled to find open receivers. While he still has functional mobility to boot and scramble, his ability to make multiple defenders miss and scramble all around the field to extend plays does not seem to be on the table at this point of his career.

When a quarterback gets worse as the game goes along and struggles in the way Wilson has over the past two weeks, it’s tempting to draw the conclusion he has been successful during Payton’s scripted plays and struggled when the script is over. I’m not sure that follows. For one, Payton could choose to script plays to begin the first and second halves, and there’s been no bump after the break for Russ. The post-halftime drop-off is a trend worth monitoring here.

With better discipline and special teams, the Broncos might be 1-1 or even 2-0. Wil Lutz, one of the many former Saints whom Payton acquired over the spring and summer, missed a field goal and an extra point in the narrow loss to the Raiders. As for the penalties, I feel the need to make a list:

A slightly mistimed and premature touch of the opening kickoff of the season cost the Broncos a free shot at recovering an onside kick.

An unnecessary roughness penalty on Justin Simmons set up the Raiders with first-and-goal on a drive that ended with a touchdown.

Another unnecessary roughness penalty on Kareem Jackson handed the Raiders a new set of downs late in the fourth quarter. The Broncos never touched the ball again.

Against Washington, a holding call on offseason addition Ben Powers in the second quarter took a first down off of the table and got the Broncos off-schedule; Wilson was strip-sacked by Jamin Davis on the next play.

A face mask penalty on Nik Bonitto turned what would have been a third-and-18 into a first down for the Commanders.

A brutal dirty hit by Jackson on a defenseless Logan Thomas in the end zone didn’t prevent the Commanders tight end from scoring a touchdown, but it did get Jackson ejected.

An offside on third-and-13 gave the Commanders a free play, which Sam Howell converted for a 35-yard pass to John Bates.

A pass interference penalty on Pat Surtain, his second in two weeks, turned a second-and-15 into a new set of downs for the Commanders.

A holding call on Fabian Moreau took a sack off the table and extended a Commanders drive that was about to result in a punt.

The Broncos don’t have the talent to overcome those mistakes. They’ve been undisciplined and sloppy on defense as well. Coordinator Vance Joseph unsurprisingly has his unit blitzing at the sixth-highest rate in football, but its 88.5 QBR allowed while blitzing is 26th in the NFL. Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy & Co. tortured Denver with screens, hitting five for a total of 88 yards.

Denver is better than its record, but that might not matter. When it opened up the schedule and saw that it faced the Raiders and Commanders at home to begin the season, anybody penciling in a potential rebirth and playoff appearance in 2023 put a circle around both those games as W’s. Instead, the Broncos lost both. They do get the Bears and Jets after a road trip to Miami this week, but they follow the Jets game with two tilts against the Chiefs across the ensuing three weeks. Losing after going up 21-3 on the Commanders might haunt them if they start holding onto leads and are competing for a playoff berth in December.

2. Los Angeles Chargers

The losses: vs. Dolphins, at Titans

Of the eight teams on this list, you could probably make a strong case that the Chargers have actually played the best of the bunch. Their two losses have been by a combined five points. They’ve actually led in their games for a total of just over 66 minutes. If you were judging them based on their snap-to-snap performance, they would be something close to a .500 team.

NFL games aren’t judged that way, of course, and the Chargers are 0-2 because they haven’t been able to hold on to those leads. In Week 1, the Dolphins converted a third-and-10 to Tyreek Hill for 47 yards before another third-down conversion to Hill gave Miami a 36-34 lead with 1:45 left.

Sunday in Tennessee was more of the same. The Titans converted a third-and-4 to DeAndre Hopkins, adding in a roughing the passer penalty on oft-frustrating linebacker Kenneth Murray for good measure. A third-and-goal touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine gave the Titans the lead with 2:25 to go. Justin Herbert drove the Chargers back with a game-tying field goal — and they won the coin toss to start overtime — but the offense went three-and-out before an eight-play drive set up the game-winning kick by Tennessee.

As good as the Chargers’ offense has been, they haven’t been able to close out games in the fourth quarter. Their final drives of each loss have gone nowhere. They were 3-of-3 on fourth down on Sunday, but they were just 2-of-14 on third down against a middling Titans secondary.

For a coach whose defensive style is built around encouraging quarterbacks to take checkdowns and preventing big plays, Brandon Staley’s defense simply hasn’t been able to keep things in front of them this season. It was one thing to have trouble against the Dolphins, but Staley’s defense arguably did a better job against a healthy Tua Tagovailoa than anybody else a year ago. Tagovailoa looked like an MVP candidate against them in the opener.

When you allow Ryan Tannehill and the Titans to hit big plays, it’s more noticeable. Tannehill made a 70-yard completion to Treylon Burks in the second quarter and a 49-yarder to Chris Moore in the fourth. He had two incompletions on deep throws, but one produced a roughing the passer penalty. Last week, the Dolphins isolated J.C. Jackson in coverage and got Hill more than 200 yards. This week, the Titans beat Asante Samuel Jr. for the big completion to Burks and Michael Davis, who rotates on and off the field with Jackson, on the pass to Moore.

The Chargers are allowing a league-high 10.3 yards per pass attempt. Of the 320 pass defenses that have lined up over the first two weeks of each of the past 10 seasons, L.A. ranks 309th by this metric. With the Vikings and their explosive passing attack on the way this week, this team can’t survive if its cornerbacks can’t hold up on the back end.

The next two weeks before an early bye in Week 5 are critical for Staley’s team, which faces the second-toughest slate of opponents in football over the remainder of the season. Games against the Vikings and Raiders should be winnable matchups. Winning them both and making to the bye at .500 would salvage a frustrating start. With the Cowboys and Chiefs looming afterward, anything less might see the Chargers at 1-5 through six games.

1. Cincinnati Bengals

The losses: at Browns, vs. Ravens

The good news for the Bengals is that Week 2 wasn’t quite as bad as Week 1. The offense came out slow again, but Joe Burrow & Co. eventually showed signs of their usual selves. They produced three long possessions on four tries in the second half against Baltimore, including touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters on throws to Tee Higgins.

The problem has been, well, everything else. Cincinnati went three-and-out on each of its two drives in the first quarter and netted only a field goal on its lone drive in the second quarter. After the 27-24 loss, Burrow told reporters he aggravated his right calf injury, an issue that originally began in training camp.

Has the calf injury impacted the star quarterback? It’s tough to say. Burrow was the league’s No. 1 passer on the run (traveling 8 or more mph while throwing) last season, posting a 131.5 passer rating. This season, while his numbers on the run are down, he’s still posting a 112.1 rating on the run while actually trying those throws more often.

As a scrambler, Burrow either hasn’t had opportunities or hasn’t trusted his ability to take them. Last season, he averaged just under 13 yards on the ground per game as a scrambler. This season, he has one scramble for 5 yards in two games. He also has been sacked less often when pressured this season, with his sack rate under duress dropping from 25% to 15%. With his off-target rate staying mostly static, I don’t think it’s the calf that has been a burden.

What has happened, though, is teams blitzing Burrow without any answers. He has been blitzed on nearly 53% of his dropbacks over the first two weeks and averaged a league-worst 2.1 yards per dropback against extra pressure. A year ago, his 7.8 yards per dropback against blitzes ranked second. Teams were loath to blitz him and get carved up in man coverage against Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, but it has worked in 2023.

Perhaps out of a desire to protect Burrow, his favorite alignment from his time at LSU has gone missing. The Bengals have barely worked out of empty this season. In 2022, he threw a league-high 107 passes out of empty, averaging 7.6 yards per attempt and throwing five touchdown passes without a pick. The only quarterbacks who were better throwing out of empty backfields were Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa.

This season, Burrow has seven pass attempts out of empty for a total of 7 yards. Going back to college, spreading the field and letting him pick his favorite matchup has been his preferred way to play. Now, even after adding left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. this offseason, the Bengals have not been able to thrive out of empty while running it half as often as they did in 2022. It’s unclear whether Burrow’s calf injury will keep coach Zac Taylor from getting back to empty looks, but that’s what’s missing from Cincinnati’s passing game right now.

The other big concern for the Bengals heading into 2023 was the play of their secondary, which was in transition after an offseason of change. Starting safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell left in free agency, as did starting cornerback Eli Apple. Fellow starter Chidobe Awuzie was recovering from a torn ACL in his right knee.

While that secondary held up for most of the game against the Browns, the numbers haven’t been great. When the Bengals have dropped seven and tried to win with coverage, it hasn’t worked. Lou Anarumo’s unit has allowed a 91.9 QBR in coverage without blitzing this season, the worst mark in football. A year ago, with Bates and Bell in the mix, the Bengals ranked eighth in the same category. Their pass rush has struggled to create sacks with four-man rushes in both 2022 and 2023.

The secondary still looks like a work in progress. Nick Scott, one of the safeties acquired to replace the incumbent duo, left Sunday’s game with a concussion and didn’t return. Awuzie, the team’s top cornerback when healthy a year ago, hasn’t been a full-time player this season. He was in coverage out of the slot for the game-winning touchdown on Sunday on a Lamar Jackson fade to Nelson Agholor.

Last season, the Bengals were able to turn things around quickly, in part because their schedule wasn’t tough. They got the Jets in Week 3, a Dolphins team that lost Tagovailoa to an early injury in Week 4 and three games against the NFC South before their Week 10 bye. They won all five of those games and then got white-hot after the break.

This season, the bye comes earlier, and the schedule again isn’t harrowing. The Bengals get the Rams, Titans, Cardinals and Seahawks over the next four weeks. Sweeping the NFC West teams would be the easiest way for them to right the ship. Three wins from those next four games might be essential given what comes after the bye, in games against the 49ers and Bills. If Burrow gets hot, the Bengals will be fine, but they don’t yet have the cohesion and smooth efficiency we’ve seen from them at their best.

Pittsburgh and Carolina can be on this list come dawn.