Each week Eric Jensen will crack open his game notes from his NFL notebook and share some of his biggest takeaways from the week that was in the National Football League. Here is the week 2 NFL Notebook.
Broncos Texans
One thing I never refuse to do for the NFL is take my Broncos fan hat off, I care a lot about the team and I have very emotional takes about them. I am passionate about them and the sport of football, and frankly, I hope that shines through in my writing.
The Broncos should have lost this game, to any team but the Texans they would have lost this game. Do we think the Texan’s defense is good? Because they looked pretty good against the Broncos who really had the most success running the football, this should be a run first team. Now they’re dealing with very serious injury issues with Patrick Surtain and Jerry Jeudy, things are not trending positively.
Russell Wilson to Eric Saubert for the @Broncos TD!
📺: #HOUvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/lKB3gLnjdG pic.twitter.com/8fuoSx12Vn— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022
Some positive notes though, the defensive front four for the Broncos has played six really stellar quarters of football. They have looked like a unit to be reckoned with upfront. That’s sort of it though, that is the one positive trend the Broncos have. I really don’t have anything constructive or nice to say about Nathaniel Hackett right now so I’ll kind of keep my feelings and thoughts on him to myself, or just share them in podcast form (you can check that out here). Russell Wilson, I am sick of you as a human being, please be a human being and not the weird corny Christian science robot that you are. Please just be a top ten QB, which you haven’t been in like two years now. Don’t you want an MVP vote? Please, please, please play better and stop embarrassing yourself online.
Dolphins Ravens
Obviously, the big story here is Tua but I want to start with the Ravens. Lost in the DBs getting burnt by two extremely fast guys multiple times late in the game is the fact that the Raven’s passing offense looks like one of the most explosive units in the league. Mark Andrews per usual has looked great and second-year player Rashod Bateman looks to have made the leap. Bateman had just four touches but on those four touches put up 108 yards and a touchdown. The Ravens have the fifth highest passing grade in the league via PFF.
He could go all the way…
The five longest touchdowns of Week 2! (by @DKSportsbook) pic.twitter.com/lPoJ0qjWOj
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2022
This is the best stretch of passing performances I have ever seen from Lamar Jackson. I have always been someone who hypes Jackson’s throwing but the past two games have just been on an absolutely different level.
Now for Tua. Listen, I really don’t have good evidence to back this up. Really no excuses for him negatively after this one. He played from behind, he was facing a top five secondary and he utilized the deep ball. His adjusted completion average through two games is close to 80 percent and yet something deep down in my soul just isn’t buying on him still. So let’s put some tangible markers on things that will convince me Tua is legit.
a. He puts up at least 280 air yards against a Buffalo passing defense that is short handed right now.
b. Over the next four games, Bills, Bengals, Jets, and Vikings he is the no doubt better QB 2/4 times.
I am so close to buying into Miami but I just need to see more of it.
Bengals Cowboys
The Bengals grade out as the 23rd best pass blocking team on PFF. I would argue that’s higher than they should be. That isn’t even what I want to talk about first though, this defense has been flat out awful for two weeks.
You cannot stop Mitch Trubisky and Cooper Rush, you could not cover Noah Brown, something has gone terribly terribly wrong here for the Bengals. I think the offense can figure itself out, way to much talent for them to look this limited all year but man, this has been a really tough stretch for Joe Burrow who has been sacked 13 times in two games.
Things are not trending positively in Cincy.
Touchdowns on touchdowns in Week 2.
(by @Verizon) pic.twitter.com/QEHB0wMXzR
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2022
Midway Point of the Week 2 NFL Notebook, Top 10 QBs of the week.
- Josh Allen
- Patrick Mahomes
- Jalen Hurts
- Justin Herbert
- Lamar Jackson
- Tua
- Aaron Rodgers
- Tom Brady
- Jared Goff
- Matthew Stafford
Colts Jaguars NFL Notebook
Are the Colts talent poor? It would seem the Colts are talent poor. For two years running the Jaguars have been the worst team in the league and the Colts just got shut out by them. Matt Ryan has no weapons, his pass pro is suspect and the defense doesn’t seem to have any real game changers on it.
The Colts seem like a team where it isn’t an overreaction to say, they just aren’t as good as we hoped them to be. They grade as one of the seven lowest teams in the league according to PFF. They just aren’t playing well right now and they have the Chiefs this week. It’s time to stop praising Frank Reich and Chris Ballard, they have had five years since Andrew Luck retired and done nothing. The seats need to be hot, this used to be a team that was an AFC power the Luck/Manning days are gone. Matt Ryan won’t cut it, maybe it’s time to lean into the skid make a change in the front office and coaching and go find a real young QB. That obviously won’t be the plan, but there is a very real reality where this Colts season slides off the train tracks.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars picked a stud in Devin Lloyd and the defensive line looks fast and athletic. Trevor Lawrence didn’t do anything awe-inspiring in this one but he had a really solid performance going 25-30 on the day. If Lawrence improves a little bit each week at this point that is a huge win for his development. He looked calm, cool and collected on Sunday and he hasn’t always looked that way this deep into his career. NFL Notebook looks forward to tracking his progress closely.
Check out the Endzone podcast here.
Buccaneers Saints
Just a point of emphasis here, Mark Ingram much like corn still has the juice. This guy just looks as good as ever and he was running well through most of the game in New Orleans. He’s just had a really solid NFL career and I will always pound the table for him, he is the man, big truss.
The Bucs defense is just all over the place. Swarming to the football, making sound tackles, covering well this might be the best defense in the league I would put them up there with Buffalo and Baltimore. That’s good news because I still think Tom Brady looks lost man. He just is not playing his best football right now and it shows, he makes plays when it counts but this is a guy that just clearly isn’t fully there mentally. It will be interesting to see if he improves by November.
Michael Thomas is just fully back, dominating, cannot be covered. Looks like one of the best dudes in the league right now and that’s just absolutely messed up for me. My friend Vishwa, who I can’t stand as a fantasy football player has him in our league and it makes me so so angry. How did we allow him to get this guy? Like seriously, just wild. Personal tangents aside though Thomas looks dominant and that is good news for Jameis.
Classic Jameis this week though, just some great physical comedy throwing the ball directly at the linebackers, I missed that honestly.
Jets Browns NFL Notebook
Finally, we finish with the Jets in the NFL notebook. I did not think Garrett Wilson would have this immediate of an impact on this offense but here we are. The dude just looks like an absolute weapon, running creative routes, cooking rookie corners he just looks good on an NFL field and is playing extremely well. This has to be the best Jets win in five years, it just has to be and lead by Joe Flacco. Who knows, maybe hope is somewhere in the heart of the Meadowlands, maybe just maybe Jets fans can look forward to the future.
Zach Wilson really has zero excuses. If Joe Flacco can drop 30 with this team than Zach Wilson should be able to function as a top 15 NFL QB in this scenario.
Jacoby Brissett: Really not as bad as you think, made some very very very nice throws.