All it took was nine games in the 1 p.m. slate of Week 2 of the NFL season to get football really rolling. The Dallas Cowboys pulled off a thrilling 40-37 overtime victory over the New York Giants, a game that took notice away from the late window thanks to Russell Wilson rekindling the fountain of youth.
The Cincinnati Bengals lost Joe Burrow but got a heroic performance from Jake Browning in relief, while the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions responded from Week 1 defeats in a big way. The Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks traveled two time zones and won, and the New England Patriots earned their first win under Mike Vrabel.
There was plenty of excitement during the early window of the Sunday slate, enough for Week 2 overreactions to dictate how the rest of the month (or season) will go. Which overreactions have merit and which ones are we truly overreacting to?
Overreaction or reality: Reality
The Cowboys proved they aren’t a good football team. Good football teams don’t allow the Giants to score 37 points and Russell Wilson to throw for 400-plus yards and three touchdown passes in regulation. There are a lot of issues with this Cowboys team, especially on defense.
But Dallas has Brandon Aubrey, who can make a kick from seemingly any distance. Trailing 37-34, Aubrey hit a 64-yard field goal with no time left to avoid an embarrassing loss to the Giants — and Dallas only needed to go 21 yards to get into his range.
Aubrey won the game with a 46-yard field goal in overtime with no time left, capping a day in which he converted 51-, 44-, 64- and 46-yard field goals in the win. The Cowboys lose that game if not for Aubrey, meaning they would have been 0-2.
Dallas isn’t a good team, evidenced by a close victory over a not-good New York squad. But a win is a win thanks to Aubrey — who may be the most valuable player on this team.
The Russell Wilson benching talk will end
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
Wilson had a career day for the Giants, throwing for 450 yards and three touchdowns (123.1 rating) as the Giants put up 37 points. He was the first Giants quarterback to throw for 450 passing yards in a game since Eli Manning in 2013. Wilson was 12 of 20 for 331 yards and three touchdowns with one interception (123.1 rating) on throws of 10-plus air yards.
Even in an incredible performance by Wilson, the Giants are 0-2. In overtime, Wilson finished 3 of 5 for 17 yards and an interception (26.7 rating) — overshadowing his brilliance through the first four quarters.
This is who Wilson is now. When he’s on, he can win any team a football game. When he’s off, he’s one of the worst quarterbacks in the game. This is what the Giants have to live with while he starts.
The calls for Jaxson Dart will remain, although they probably should hold off for a week after Sunday’s performance.
Mac Jones will be the next Kyle Shanahan QB to earn a big contract
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
Is it surprising that Jones delivered a big performance filling in for Brock Purdy in his first start with the 49ers? Jones went 26 of 39 passing for 279 yards and three touchdown passes (113.1 rating) in San Francisco’s victory over New Orleans, as the 49ers put up 344 yards of offense.
On throws of 10-plus air yards, Jones went 8 of 14 for 151 yards and a touchdown (118.5 rating). Jones looked poised and had total command of the offense, even if it was against the Saints.
While Jones looked good in the win, it’s still too early to claim he’ll get a big contract for being in Shanahan’s offensive scheme. There’s a lot that needs to happen for Jones to become the next Kirk Cousins, Brock Purdy or Sam Darnold — but this is a promising start.
Bengals can win games if Joe Burrow misses time
Overreaction or reality: Reality
Burrow left the Bengals game in the first half with a left toe injury, which appeared to be a doom-and-gloom scenario for the Bengals season. They won anyway, thanks to Jake Browning leading a 15-play, 92-yard winning drive with 3:42 left. Browning capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds to play.
Here’s the situation: The Bengals have won games with Browning before. When Burrow was injured two seasons ago, Cincinnati went 4-3 in Browning’s seven starts while he completed 70.4% of his passes. On Sunday, Browning threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, and he completed 9 of his 12 passes for 65 yards on the final drive.
Is Browning as good as Burrow? Of course not, but he can lead this team for multiple weeks if need be.
And even better news for the Bengals? They’re 2-0 and not off to a slow start for once. That’s a major win.
Lions offense will be just fine without Ben Johnson
Overreaction or reality: Reality
All one needs to do is look at the box score to see what the Lions did in the second game under new offensive coordinator John Morton. The Lions looked like the Lions the league has become accustomed to, racking up 52 points while totaling 511 yards and averaging 8.8 yards per play in a dominant victory over the Bears.
Jared Goff had as many incompletions (five) as touchdown passes, while Amon-Ra St. Brown looked like his old self with three touchdowns. Jameson Williams also had a 44-yard touchdown, something that was typical in the Lions offense last year.
Perhaps the Lions just ran into a perfect storm with the Packers defense debuting Micah Parsons last week, but this was the Detroit team we’ve seen over the last few years. A sigh of relief in Detroit.
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction
The Browns have to be encouraged by what they saw from Gabriel on Sunday, as the third-round rookie quarterback entered the game in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss to the Ravens. Gabriel went 3 of 3 for 19 yards and a touchdown — an 8-yard pass to Dylan Sampson — in his one possession.
Joe Flacco struggled with 199 yards passing on 45 attempts, a paltry 4.4 yards per attempt. The Browns have scored just 13.5 points per game in Flacco’s two starts, struggling to move the ball consistently. Even though Gabriel played well in his one possession, this is too small of a sample size to make a change for the 0-2 Browns.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski won’t make a change yet, and the Browns may not be in a rush to go to Gabriel. This change probably won’t be until Cleveland gets back from London (after Week 5).