September 19, 2023
Week 2 of the NFL season is in the books, and the NFC is 6-0 so far in games against the AFC. Maybe they're not the weaker conference after all. There are still no obituaries yet, so let's get right to the Hierarchy.
16) Cardinals (0-2): Here are the outcomes of Jonathan Gannon's second half defensive series in his last two games at State Farm Stadium:
Chiefs:
Giants:
Also, this appears to be a common sentiment:
People had a fun time mocking a 10 second clip of Gannon, but he has the supposedly least talented roster in the league playing HARD right now.
— Jason Hayes (@JasonHayesNFL) September 10, 2023
But whatever. On the point that his players are "playing HARD," it's Week 2! Of course guys are playing hard! They make millions and would like to continue to make millions. What are they going to do? Sit down on the ground and pick grass?
Last week: 16
15) Bears (0-2): In our Week 2 picks, we pointed out the criticisms of the Bears' unorganized offensive scheme. And well, they didn't fix it in between Week 1 and Week 2:
This was the type of stuff that was called out in TONS of videos after the game last week. Receivers running the same routes. Well it's still happening. pic.twitter.com/DRN5BNJUO4
— ✶Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) September 17, 2023
On the one hand, Justin Fields probably isn't good. On the other hand, I kinda can't fault anyone for continuing to make excuses for him.
Last week: 14
14) Panthers (0-2): If you missed the Saints-Panthers game on Monday night, I envy you.
Last week: 13
13) Giants (1-1): I don't think I've ever seen a team have a worse first six quarters of a season, losing 40-0 in the opener and then digging a 20-0 hole at the half against the worst team in the NFL. But credit where it's due — the Giants were facing an absolute disaster of a season if they had lost in Arizona, but they took advantage of Gannon's "cover literally nothing in the intermediate parts of the field" defense and saved their season in the second half.
Last week: 15
12) Vikings (0-2): Kirk Cousins, after two games:
| Kirk Cousins | Stat | NFL Rank |
| Completion percentage | 72.7% | 3 |
| Yards | 708 | 2 |
| Yards per attempt | 8.0 | 4 |
| TD throws | 6 | T-1 |
| QB rating | 114.2 | 2 |
He also leads the league in losses, though that's probably not his fault.
Cousins is on the last year of his contract, and there's a decent chance he won't be in Minnesota next year. Is there a "Cousins is better than Brad Johnson / Trent Dilfer / Eli Manning and we can maybe win a Super Bowl with our defense as long as we have a competent quarterback" argument to be made for the Jets to trade for him? Because the Vikings could probably get something decent for him, and then go into tank mode.
Last week: 12
11) Commanders (2-0): Each year, Mike Sando releases his "quarterback tiers," as voted on by "50 league insiders who placed 30 veteran quarterbacks into tiers included eight general managers, 10 head coaches, 15 coordinators, 10 executives, four quarterbacks coaches and three involved in coaching/analytics."
Sam Howell checked in at No. 28 out of those 30 quarterbacks. I had him 31st out of 32.
I'm not sure how far I'd move him up after two games, but he has shown something.
The ball placement on Sam Howell's two TD throws vs. Denver ... pic.twitter.com/yxzhWHFoth
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) September 18, 2023
Last week: 11
10) Buccaneers (2-0): Baker Mayfield put up some pretty crazy numbers when under pressure on Sunday.
Baker Mayfield finished 14/17 for 223 yards and a TD under pressure, tied for the most passing yards under pressure in a game over the last four seasons (since 2020).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 17, 2023
The Bears pressured Mayfield 17 times without recording a sack, tied for the 6th-most pressures without a sack… pic.twitter.com/iN10FDrSak
.@bakermayfield back at it again 💪
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 17, 2023
📺: #CHIvsTB on FOX pic.twitter.com/MJiX4n2FV0
Last week: 10
9) Seahawks (1-1): The Seahawks' offensive line allowed one QB hit on Sunday, a sack by Alex Anzalone. It took Anzalone 12 seconds to finally corral Geno Smith.
HUGE 3rd down sack for the @Lions ‼️
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2023
📺: #SEAvsDET on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/FA8Zt60UXB
Otherwise, Geno basically wasn't touched in the pocket. And that was with both starting Seahawk offensive tackles out. Even if Smith was getting the ball out quickly, that was a bigtime performance by their depth players.
Last week: 9
8) Rams (1-1): The following field goal was a hilarious "bad beat" on Sunday. I mean, not hilarious if you had the Niners -8, but hilarious for everyone else.
— Sports Fan (@sportsnow12345) September 17, 2023
Rookie fifth-round WR Puka Nacua has 25 receptions through two weeks. He's #OnPaceFor 212.5 catches this season.
Last week: 87) Saints (2-0): The Saints have a good veteran defense, as usual. But for a guy who gets to throw to Chris Olave, a seemingly rejuvenated Michael Thomas, and the electric Rashid Shaheed, Derek Carr hasn't been very impressive so far. They're not going to beat good teams scoring under 20 points per game.
Last week: 7
6) Packers (1-1): Jordan Love leads all NFL quarterbacks in EPA per play, which is especially impressive given that he played on Sunday with a blood alcohol level of 0.28.
Fake #ButtFumble 🤣 pic.twitter.com/sWSFpqwYBU
— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) September 17, 2023
Last week: 5
5) Lions (1-1): Lions players and fans wore ski masks on Sunday, because they want to be thought of as "villains."
The Lions then proceeded to give up 37 points in a home loss to the Seahawks, who mocked the ski masks in a postgame celebration.
The Seahawks brought out the blue ski mask after beating the Lions 👀🍿
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 17, 2023
(via @JerrickReed) pic.twitter.com/FLb6lOal0s
It's hard to be taken seriously as a "villain" when you haven't won a playoff game in 31 years. Reminds me of Butters / Professor Chaos:
Also, this is bad news for the Lions' defense:
#Lions DB CJ Gardner-Johnson is feared to have suffered a a torn pec in Sunday’s game, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. The playmaker had been a big part of Detroit’s defense. Now out indefinitely, potentially for the season. pic.twitter.com/lpWTKG7rUY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 19, 2023
Last week: 4
4) Falcons (2-0): Here's every Desmond Ridder dropback the first two games of the season:
Every Desmond Ridder dropback from Week 2 vs. Packers 🧀#DirtyBirds https://t.co/TSSdk8fK3K pic.twitter.com/bxZBC0Oj98
— ً. (@InBijanWeTrust) September 18, 2023
Did you watch all of that? No? I did. Ridder can make plays with his legs and there are certainly some throws that one could point to as encouraging if they're really rooting for the kid to succeed. However, there are a whole lot of inaccurate throws, and some really bad decisions. He kinda reminds me of the guy he replaced, Marcus Mariota.
If Jaire Alexander or Quay Walker were able to hold onto easy interceptions against the Falcons Week 2, it's probably a different outcome.
But, they didn't, so I guess the 2-0 Falcons are at the top of the "Tier 2" teams in the NFC, for now, with a huge gap between them and the top three teams.
Last week: 6
3) Eagles (2-0): The Eagles have had their struggles through the air, on both sides of the ball.
BUT... they have the No. 2 rushing offense and the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL, and are outgaining opponents 356-104 on the ground.
Last week: 3
2) 49ers (2-0): The 49ers looked like a juggernaut Week 1, but the Rams outplayed them Week 2 for the first three quarters before a gift INT that glanced off the hands of Kyren Williams.
With the Giants and Cardinals at home the next two weeks, the 49ers should cruise to 4-0 before they face the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football Week 5.
Last week: 2
1) Cowboys (2-0): Micah Parsons:
Another one. @MicahhParsons11
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2023
📺: #NYJvsDAL on CBS⁰📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/pN6j8Bupgv
TD didn't count but Micah Parsons forced and recovered the fumble.
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2023
The 🦁 never ceases to amaze. @MicahhParsons11
📺: #NYJvsDAL on CBS⁰📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/rRZB7oz0BV
And more Micah Parsons:
Special stuff from a special player 💪 @MicahhParsons11
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2023
📺: #NYJvsDAL on CBS⁰📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/FhXtx7w3wW pic.twitter.com/dgEWD84dqT
I mean, even that little crawl that Parsons does after the above sack is impressive.
Honestly I could've shown like five more Micah Parsons plays from that game, but you get the point.
Last week: 1
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