Tuesday 20 September 2016 15:54, UK
There were some stellar performances during the NFL's week two schedule, including standout results for the Broncos and Cardinals. Andy Charles assesses each team's grades...
New York Jets (W 37-31 @ Buffalo)
Two big plays aside, which gave the Bills touchdowns of a combined 155 yards, the Jets have to be happy with their Thursday night performance. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for nearly 400 yards and Matt Forte showed the Bears just what they let go with a three touchdown effort. Grade A-
New England Patriots (W 31-24 v Miami)
The Patriots looked brilliant for most of the first half, when Jimmy Garoppolo was doing his best impression of Tom Brady before leaving the game injured after throwing three touchdown passes. Jacoby Brissett did nothing wrong after coming in for Garoppolo but their defence went to sleep under constant bombardment from Ryan Tannehill, who threw for 389 yards. An escape - not necessarily a lucky one though - in the end for Bill Belichick's men. Grade B
Miami Dolphins (L 24-31 @ New England)
Miami looked like being ripped to shreds until Garoppolo injured his shoulder, but there was a lot to like about their second-half display with Tannehill looking to be in sync with receivers Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker, who combined for 18 catches and 243 yards. They will have easier tasks in the coming weeks to get a win after two narrow defeats but need to hope Arian Foster's injury is not serious as their running game options behind him are limited. Grade B-
Buffalo Bills (L 31-37 v New York Jets)
Struggled badly for long spells against a suffocating Jets defence, and barring 84 and 71-yard touchdown passes from Tyrod Taylor their offence was little better than in defeat against the Ravens. Defensively a game to forget but it was offensive coordinator Greg Roman who lost his job after the game. Grade D
Pittsburgh Steelers (W 24-16 v Cincinnati)
The Steelers have to be happy to get the win on a day when Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown struggled to get into a rhythm. Brown only had four catches for 39 yards and Roethlisberger threw a pair of interceptions, but his three touchdown passes were enough in the end. Pittsburgh's run defence also gets a big tick after restricting the Bengals to 46 yards on the ground. Grade B+
Baltimore Ravens (W 25-20 @ Cleveland)
A superb comeback from the Ravens, who were on their way to an F grade when they fell into a 20-2 hole inside the first quarter, possibly still coming to terms with the sad loss of defensive line coach Clarence Brooks to cancer on Saturday. Three quarters of shutout football followed, with a fine performance from Joe Flacco and Mike Wallace. Lovely also to see tight end Dennis Pitta pass 100 yards on nine catches after two years of injury heartache. Grade B+
Cleveland Browns (L 20-25 v Baltimore)
A painful afternoon for Hue Jackson and the Browns, who looked very good for 15 minutes against Baltimore and then reverted to type to fall to an agonising defeat. Josh McCown was ineffective after hurting his non-throwing shoulder but it was their defence that let them down again. They have a lot to look forward to from wide receiver Corey Coleman, who scored two of their TDs. Grade C
Cincinnati Bengals (L 16-24 @ Pittsburgh)
Disappointment for the Bengals, who also saw their star offensive player shut out, as AJ Green managed only two catches for 38 yards. The rest of their passing attack was fine in yardage terms but their only touchdown came too late to challenge the Steelers. Grade C
Houston Texans (W 19-12 v Kansas City)
The Texans have to be happy with their performance in this one, especially on defence where the Chiefs were kept to four field goals and less than 300 net yards. Brock Osweiler threw a couple of interceptions but they were a couple of small black marks on a good day that saw rookie receiver Will Fuller and established superstar DeAndre Hopkins pass the 100-yard receiving mark. Grade A-
Tennessee Titans (W 16-15 @ Detroit)
The Titans struggled badly on offence for three quarters in Detroit, with most of their yardage coming on a 67-yard DeMarco Murray run. Murray was ineffective for most of the game but they were rescued by their defence stopping a number of Lions drives and three touchdowns being called back for penalties before Marcus Mariota made two touchdown passes in the final 15 minutes. Grade B+
Indianapolis Colts (L 20-34 @ Denver)
A strangely dull performance from the Colts and Andrew Luck but they were still in the game until fourth quarter when Luck's two biggest mistakes led to the 14 points the Broncos won by. Frank Gore's tippy-toe run down the sideline for a touchdown was one of the highlights of the weekend but counted for nothing more than seven points. Grade C
Jacksonville Jaguars (L 14-38 @ San Diego)
This was just an ugly Sunday for the Jaguars, with hopes that their summer strengthening would lead to better results now completely thrown out of the window. No running game, defensively just as bad as last season and making Philip Rivers and Melvin Gordon look like world-beaters. Head coach Gus Bradley's seat might be getting a little hotter. Grade F
San Diego Chargers (W 38-14 v Jacksonville)
The Chargers have played some really good football this season, barring the two fourth quarters. Their offence has been excellent in both games but much will depend on Rivers and Gordon staying healthy now Danny Woodhead has joined Keenan Allen on the sidelines for the season. His injury was the sole black mark on Sunday. Grade A
Denver Broncos (W 34-20 v Indianapolis)
It wasn't perfect from the Broncos, but not far off as their defence - possibly the best in the league - halted Andrew Luck all game and kept the Colts to 253 yards of overall offence. Their offensive performance was decent enough but there are still question marks over their passing attack. With a slightly better QB than Trevor Siemian this would quite possibly be the NFL's best team. Grade A-
Oakland Raiders (L 28-35 v Atlanta)
Not a whole lot of defence was played in this game and the Raiders will have to be concerned at giving up 69 points in their two outings so far. Quarterback Derek Carr was excellent again, with three touchdown passes, but it was strange to see Jack Del Rio use his running backs so sparingly when they were finding holes in Atlanta's front line when handed the ball. Grade C
Kansas City Chiefs (L 12-19 @ Houston)
The Chiefs came back down to earth after their stunning week one comeback in San Diego. A stuttering performance on offence, again in the absence of Jamaal Charles, but their running game was fairly effective, unlike inaccurate quarterback Alex Smith, who struggled against constant pressure from JJ Watt and the Texans defence. Grade C-
Dallas Cowboys (W 27-23 @ Washington)
The Cowboys can overlook a sloppy performance on defence thanks to their rushing game, which provided all three touchdowns in a narrow victory, the last coming from a former Redskin in Alfred Morris. Dak Prescott is a work in progress but this win could be big in his learning curve after going down narrowly to the Giants in a similar week one game. Grade B+
New York Giants (W 16-13 v New Orleans)
A very strange performance from the Giants, who totalled 417 yards on offence and failed to score a touchdown thanks to some lousy red zone performance and costly turnovers. They were rescued by defence, special teams and Josh Brown's boot but would appear to have much more to come if they can overcome their fumbling issues. Grade B
Philadelphia Eagles (W 29-14 @ Chicago)
A road win is almost always a positive but this one was more of the ugly variety. The Eagles made the most of some Bears errors and played decent defensively but their schedule will get much harder and they may have only beaten two of the league's three worst teams thus far. Grade B
Washington Redskins (L 23-27 v Dallas)
A tough loss for the Redskins, who had rallied well in the third quarter to overcome a deficit on the back of some more consistent play from quarterback Kirk Cousins. But they failed to punch the ball into the endzone on two key drives at the end of the third and that came back to haunt them when the Cowboys regained the lead late on. Grade C
Minnesota Vikings (W 17-14 v Green Bay)
A second straight win for the Vikings and a second straight defensive performance of the highest quality. They were all over Aaron Rodgers for most of the game and look like a real contender, but what will life look like for Mike Zimmer's team when they play, most likely, for a few weeks without Adrian Peterson? AP was struggling before he went down with a torn meniscus, and they now have Stefon Diggs as the focal point of their offence and it's a lot to ask of the second-year man. Grade A
Green Bay Packers (L 14-17 @ Minnesota)
Question marks for the Packers, who simply could not deal with the Vikings defense or protect Aaron Rodgers well enough to allow him time to pass. Sam Bradford also had far too much success against their secondary, which could be without key safety Morgan Burnett for a while after he suffered a hamstring injury. Grade C
Detroit Lions (L 15-16 v Tennessee)
The Lions won a close game in week one and came out on the other side seven days later, their stifling defence being unable to hold the Titans in the fourth quarter. Wide receiver Marvin Jones was electric at times but there wasn't enough from the Lions running game, after Ameer Abdullah went out injured, to take time off the clock. Grade C
Chicago Bears (L 14-29 v Philadelphia)
Looks like it could be a very long season for the Bears, who struggled badly on offence again in a game that was decided by mistakes. Chicago looked a little better when Brian Hoyer took over from Jay Cutler after the quarterback injured his thumb, but still their only second half score came on a sensational Eddie Royal punt return. Grade E-
Carolina Panthers (W 46-27 v San Francisco)
Cam Newton clearly enjoyed playing the 49ers defence a lot more than he did against Super Bowl champions Denver. Just for a moment in the fourth quarter, San Francisco looked like getting back into the game but the Panthers shut them down late on. Kelvin Benjamin looks primed for a huge campaign with probably his hardest regular season game already out of the way. Grade A-
Atlanta Falcons (W 35-28 @ Oakland)
An excellent offensive performance from the Falcons with Matt Ryan just falling short of 400 passing yards and Devonta Freeman having plenty of success on the ground. Defensively there are still some question marks and it will be interesting to see whether they go for 100 points combined against the Saints next weekend. Grade B+
New Orleans Saints (L 13-16 @ New York Giants)
A very poor showing from the normally fluent Saints, although they were the only team to score an offensive touchdown in a turgid game far removed from the 101-point encounter between the teams last season. They need a lot more from running back Mark Ingram to give Drew Brees time in the pocket to find his multitude of wide receiver threats. Grade D
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (L 7-40 @ Arizona)
A night to forget for the Buccaneers, who were completely shredded by the Arizona defence and lost star running back Doug Martin to injury. Little they did went right and Jameis Winston just has to shrug off a bad performance against what should be one of the league's best teams. Grade E
Arizona Cardinals (W 40-7 v Tampa Bay)
A superb performance in almost all aspects of the game from the Cardinals, who rallied well from their hard-luck defeat against the Patriots in week one. They forced four interceptions with heavy pressure on Jameis Winston and Carson Palmer threw three touchdowns, two of them to his old friend Larry Fitzgerald. A quiet night running for David Johnson was one small concern, but that would be nit-picking. Grade A
Los Angeles Rams (W 9-3 v Seattle)
Defence, defence and more defence from the Rams, who claimed victory on their return to Los Angeles without scoring a touchdown. In fact, they are yet to reach the endzone all season and have only scored nine points but credit to co-ordinator Greg Williams, as well as kicker Greg Zuerlein of course. Grade A-
San Francisco 49ers (L 27-46 v Carolina)
The Niners shut out the Rams in week one and then proceed to give up nearly 50 points and more than 500 yards to the classy Panthers. Blaine Gabbert played okay and probably tightened his grip on the quarterback role but there was little running game to speak of and they were defensively awful. Grade C-
Seattle Seahawks (L 3-9 @ Los Angeles)
Russell Wilson was clearly struggling with his mobility during another poor Seahawks display on offence, but what excuse for the rest of the team? Fifteen points in two games now for a Seattle team expected to contend for a Super Bowl place. Improvement is needed rapidly and it might have to come from running back Christine Michael with last season's rookie sensation Thomas Rawls still clearly nowhere near 100 per cent. Grade C-
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