Okay, we all know we shouldn’t overreact to the first week of the NFL season. But what about week two?
Is this data enough? Are we ready to crown the Bills the best team to beat? Are the Panthers really a good offensive team? Is the team crazy not to hire Brian Flores as head coach? Is the Bengals defense suddenly really good?
Yes, of course it’s early days. Of course, we still know nothing. But we have twice as much information as we did a week ago, so why not dig deeper? This is our second week of overreaction columns, and we’ll explore five potential points and judge them as reasonable positions or irrational overreactions. Plus, we’ve had some fantasy football overreactions at the bottom.
Jump to:
Rogers on thin ice?
Same Eagles offense?
Atlanta quarterback facing huge problem?
Should Flores be the head coach?
Lions miss the playoffs?
fantasy overreaction
Aaron Rodgers will be on the bench at some point this season
Rodgers returned for another season with the Steelers and reunited with his former Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Neat story…not a neat offense so far.
The Steelers were slow in their Week 1 win over the Falcons before falling to the Patriots 20-3 on Sunday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Patriots sacked Rodgers four times. One of those turnovers resulted in a New England running back touchdown early in the fourth quarter, effectively freezing the game.
Whether the Patriots blitzed or not, Rodgers couldn’t handle New England’s pressure. Under pressure on Sunday, he was 5-of-12 for 34 yards and four sacks. The Patriots blitzed him 19 of 44 times, and Rodgers went 8-of-17 for 42 yards, two sacks and an interception. In two games this season, Rodgers has completed 33 percent of his passes under pressure, averaging 3.5 yards per attempt. That’s unsustainable, and the fact that Rodgers is 42 years old makes the level of pressure and knocks he’s taking even more concerning.
Conclusion: Overreaction
I simply don’t believe McCarthy will bench Mason Rudolph, Will Howard or Drew Allar in Rodgers’ final season — at least not until the Steelers are eliminated from the playoffs. These two reunited in Pittsburgh this year to pursue a championship together, and no matter what the rest of us thought, they believed it was possible and wouldn’t give up until they had to.
Plus, you really can’t blame Rodgers entirely for Sunday’s performance. If the Steelers want to keep Rodgers upright and have a chance this season, they need to develop the running game and some better protection schemes. It’s too early to sit here and predict that they won’t.
The Eagles’ offense isn’t much better than it was last season
Yes, they won. They almost always do. The Eagles defeated the Titans 24-20 on Sunday in the sweltering September heat of Nashville. But still… they were 2.8 yards per carry, 4.7 yards per carry, and had two turnovers. Everything feels hard, which is a characteristic of the Eagles’ 2025 offense — one they hope to improve with another coordinator change.
Quarterback Jalen Jalen was pressured on 24 of 42 dropbacks, the highest percentage (57%) the Eagles have allowed since ESPN began tracking the pressure metric in 2009 and raising concerns about the offensive line’s effectiveness without star linebacker Landon Dickerson. Two years ago, when the Eagles won their second Super Bowl, their offensive line was straight dominant. That hasn’t been the case since the 2024 season.
Conclusion: Overreaction
Of course, there’s a lot of pressure with the injury, but he performed well under pressure on Sunday. He was 11-of-20 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds. Saquon Barkley left the game early due to injury, and although he briefly returned in the second half, he was unable to finish the game. This definitely adds to the Titans’ pressure scheme.
I know it doesn’t look good or going well. But this is Week 2, and the Eagles are 2-0 as they return to form. The two big questions facing this season are whether Hurts can thrive with the changes happening around him and whether DeVonta Smith can fill the No. 1 receiver spot after A.J. Brown was traded to New England. Hurts heroically led the team’s comeback, with Smith catching 10 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
There’s a lot of offense that has far less promise than the Eagles should have right now.
0:33
Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith for Eagles TD
Matt Ryan needs to find his shoulder pads and helmet as Falcons may need him at quarterback
This is Ryan’s first season as Falcons president of football. The greatest quarterback in franchise history doesn’t like what he’s seeing with the franchise’s quarterbacks right now.
Michael Penix Jr. missed the first two games while still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season. Tua Tagovailoa missed two games with a back injury. Cooper Rush has performed poorly in two games as the backup starter, and rookie Jack Strand clearly isn’t ready yet. The Falcons’ quarterback situation is a mess. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has to wonder how he could possibly leave Cleveland’s quarterback for someone who isn’t in a significantly better situation.
Conclusion: Overreaction
It sounds like Penix has a chance to at least start Thursday’s game in Green Bay. While Penix’s past performance doesn’t guarantee that he will play well, he will certainly be a better option than Rush.
Additionally, the Falcons need to take a long look at Penix at some point this season before deciding whether to use the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft as part of their long-term QB solution, or if they need to look for one in next year’s draft. This is a whole new coaching staff and a whole new front office that has no inherent loyalty to Penix and is being asked to fix the quarterback situation once and for all. Ryan can keep his shoulder pads in the closet for now, as there are likely to be plenty more twists and turns in this saga as the season progresses.
Brian Flores deserves to be head coach again
The Vikings defensive coordinator is as locked in as any playmaker on both sides of the ball right now. A week after the Bears scored an astonishing 59 points against Carolina, the Vikings held Chicago to just three points in a 9-3 victory that will never be replayed on any television or internet-connected device.
Flores’ defense shut down Packers quarterback Jordan Love on 72 percent of his kickbacks in Week 1, then stepped up even more on Sunday, shutting down Bears quarterback Caleb Williams on 78 percent of his kickbacks. That’s the highest blitz percentage any NFL quarterback has faced since Detroit’s Jared Goff was blitzed by the Vikings on 79 percent of his dropbacks in Week 18 of the 2023 season. What’s remarkable about what Flores is doing now is not just that he’s blitzing at such an extreme rate, but that his players are so invested in what he’s saying and so practiced at executing that it feels like Flores can now call up anything he wants and count on it to work.
In his fourth season as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, the former Dolphins head coach has established himself as the most fearsome playmaker in the league.
Conclusion: Not an overreaction
I know this issue is complicated by what we know about Flores’ time as Miami’s head coach and that he still has a pending lawsuit against the league alleging racial discrimination in NFL hiring practices. It’s no exaggeration to say that team owners may be reluctant to hire Flores as head coach while Flores sues the league, and he may not be offered that important job again until the suit is dropped or settled. And there’s no indication he’s interested in giving it up.
But in a league where the head coaching recruiting pool is largely made up of the most successful coordinators, there’s no denying he doesn’t deserve another chance.
Lions defense will keep them out of playoff spot again
Things were tough for the Lions in Week 2. Four days after putting 86 plays on the field in an overtime win over the Saints, a short-handed Detroit defense had to travel to Buffalo for a Thursday night game where the Bills opened their new stadium. They were smoked. The Lions gave up 446 yards in a 41-31 loss to Josh Allen. That’s after giving up 469 yards to Tyler Shaw and the Saints in Week 1.
The Lions’ defense is short-handed, with two starting safeties missing due to injuries. Terion Arnold was the team’s starting cornerback last season but was released this summer after being charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. They really have no help in the pass rush in superstar edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who is clearly being asked to do too much. The offense can still put up points – 31 points per game so far! — but the Lions have Find ways to stop someone from getting to where they want to be.
Conclusion: Not an overreaction
They will become healthier. Safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph will return at some point. But it doesn’t sound like that’s coming anytime soon, and it doesn’t answer Detroit’s pass rush questions up front. Second-year coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who replaced Aaron Glenn when Glenn took over as head coach of the Jets, had to find a way to create some scheme that the players he had available could execute.
Getting some extra rest before Week 3’s game should help the Lions, but in a division where every team had a winning record last season and at least two other teams showed a consistent ability to put up big numbers on the scoreboard, they’ll have a hard time making the playoffs if they can’t figure things out defensively.
1:59
Harry Douglas: Lions ‘missed Super Bowl window’
Fast hitting fantasy overreaction
You should never trade Josh Allen for anything. Overreaction. You should always be open to trading. There should never be untouchables. Allen is great and I can understand feeling great because you drafted him. But you also might have just watched two of his best fantasy games of the season. Say you’re offered Brock Purdy and a first-round RB or WR? You have to look at that. Finding value is the whole game!
You should have traded David Montgomery last week. Not an overreaction. I tried to warn you in last week’s dynamic on Wednesday morning. The Texans’ running game is inconsistent, and three touchdowns in Week 1 greatly inflated Montgomery’s value. He was simply ineffective.
If you draft Colston Loveland, look for other TE options. Overreaction. This is still the guy who looked to be the top receiving option in the Bears offense last season. That’s how you chose him. They got Flores’ win in Week 2. Assuming Caleb Williams’ injury isn’t long-term, better days are ahead. Trade Loveland to me!
Denzel Boston should be on every league’s roster. Not an overreaction. No, he’s not going to score a long touchdown every game, but (a) you know him able, (b) He has real talent and someone has to catch the ball. This guy makes Deshaun Watson look good! No one has been able to do that in six years. Go find him!
The Saints’ backfield is a fantasy wasteland. Not an overreaction. They clearly don’t plan on letting Travis Etienne Jr. handle the bulk of the workload. Maybe the change in pronunciation turns them off. They thought they signed Etienne, then found out it was Archaon, then found out it wasn’t Devon Akane. Who knows? Alvin Kamara’s return is a factor. Kendre Miller may have been a strong waiver wire pick last week, but he didn’t even look active in Week 2. If you have these guys, bench them, if not, stay away from them.