The football calendar is very strict. You overreact to everything after Week 1. Then, like clockwork, you talk about how much you overreacted and whether those overreactions were right or wrong after Week 2.
We’re looking at the wrong ones today. That means we’re looking at teams, units, and players that were entirely awesome or entirely terrible … And it turns out our takes have just been a tiny little bit off.
The Broncos offense stinks, baby
The Broncos played the Chiefs in Week 1, and everything looked terrible. Not only was their defense pathetic at tackling, but their offense was a wreck. It looked like an uncoordinated mess led by a guy who had never called plays before: the running game stunk, Bo Nix looked like a human blooper reel, and Jaylen Waddle was a complete no-show.
Week 2 came around, and the Broncos’ offense looked rough at the start. That was highlighted by Bo Nix throwing a bad interception on their last play of the first half.
When Denver had their first drive in the second half, they were looking at a 13-3 deficit. If there was a time to get it together, that was it … So they did.
The ground game started working, and Bo Nix made good decisions and let it rip. They put down 17 unanswered points and ended the game with the ball in their hands after a 4:40 drive that killed the clock.
It was a pretty big turnaround for a team that looked very lost in the season opener … And they did it against a solid Jaguars defense. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.
The Bears are a runaway train
Back in August, Ben Johnson said that he wanted to have the “highest-scoring offense ever.” That means his offense would have to score 607 points to beat the 606 points from the 2013 Denver Broncos.
Sure enough, they went out in Week 1 and scored 59 points against the Carolina Panthers. The passing game worked, but the running game was the real star of the show. They looked like they were ready to crush anyone and everyone who got in their way.
It turns out they were less like the train from Unstoppable and more like the bus from Speed. They slowed down, and then everything exploded.
Since Brian Flores got hired as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator in 2023, he’s done a pretty solid job giving Ben Johnson’s offenses some trouble. This performance and plan were something different.
Not only did he limit the Bears to three points, but he did it with the mega-super-high blitz rate that Johnson must have known was coming. That made Caleb Williams hold onto the ball, and nothing good happened.
It's obviously not as easy as ‘blitz Caleb and win,’ but that’s a decent spot for every other team to start their defensive game plan in the future … Also make the weather terrible, force a fumble on the goal line, and block a field goal. Those are also helpful.
The Patriots are toast
Drake Maye and the Patriots picked up Week 1 right where they left off in 2025: Not only did they lose to the team that beat them in the Super Bowl, but they also got torn to pieces by a good defense.
On top of that, A.J. Brown went down with an ankle sprain, and Romeo Doubs caught another case of the Dropsies. Every good vibe they had (which were scarce) vanished, and it was a team that looked dead.
Then, in Week 2, they got to play the Steelers, and it was a different story.
The offense was gross, and they certainly didn’t look like any kind of world-beaters … But the defense showed up and made Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s offense look pretty pathetic. It was a 20-3 beatdown … which seems like a score that a lot of Steelers games are going to be this year.
Regardless, this was a game that New England should have won handily if they were going to be a serious team, and they did. If they can win early-season games without A.J. Brown, they’ll be in a good spot going forward.
The Giants are back
The Giants are simply not back. Even when it seemed like they might’ve been back after they ripped apart a terrible Cowboys defense, they went into Week 2 and got smoked by the Rams … That was lowlighted by Jaxson Dart getting his knee all gnarled up on the first drive of the game.
It sounds like he’s going to be out for either a long time or the entire season. It stinks because football is better when he’s playing.
Jameis Winston came in, and not only did the passing game fall apart, but the ground game did too. Was that because Dart is a plus-one in the running game, and without him, it lets the defense focus on stopping Cam Skattebo? Or was that because the Cowboys' defense is terrible at stopping the run?
Regardless, this offense is in a whole bunch of trouble from top to bottom, and that Week 1 game is going to be a dragon that this franchise is chasing for the next four months.
Deshaun Watson is getting benched in Week 3
This goes back all the way to August: In the preseason, Deshaun Watson was playing terribly and getting deservedly booed at home. So when the Browns said he was going to be their starting quarterback, the first thing everyone did was look at their schedule and find where he’d lose that job.
They would lose their first two games against the Jaguars and the Buccaneers, and Shedeur Sanders would get promoted to QB1 going into their home opener in Week 3 … At least, that’s what we thought.
Watson ended up looking kind of good in the Browns' Week 2 win over the Buccaneers. He was 24-of-30 for 238 yards and two touchdowns, which was his second-best game (numbers-wise) that he’s had in Cleveland.
Is this a good thing? Probably not. At this point in his career, we know what kind of quarterback and person Watson is, and it’s all bad. This win just bought him some more time as QB1 and delayed an inevitable benching. However, if you’re a Browns fan, now you get to boo him at home again … So that’s nice.
Add us as a preferred source on Google