Winners and losers from NFL Week 2: The Falcons might be the worst team in the league

When most were asked entering the season who the worst team in the NFL might be, the usual suspects emerged: the Tennessee Titans, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns. All of them appear to be better right now than the Atlanta Falcons, who were embarrassed at home in a 34-3 loss to Carolina to drop to 0-2 on the year.

They are not the only team to drop to the dreaded 0-2 as the Buccaneers, Texans, Chargers, Titans, Dolphins and Commanders exited Week 2 without a victory. Let's take a look at the landscape around the league and determine who the biggest Winners and Losers of the latest round of NFL action ended up being.

Winners and losers in NFL Week 2

Loser: Atlanta Falcons

The addition of Kevin Stefanski as their head coach hasn't unlocked the Falcons' offense, which has generated a combined 16 points in two games after a loss in Pittsburgh in Week 1. Injuries to Michael Penix and Tua Tagovailoa have left Cooper Rush at the helm and he was so awful in Week 2 that he got replaced by undrafted rookie Jack Strand, who played collegiately for Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead.

With a short week on tap for a Thursday night showdown with the Packers, Stefanski isn't in a good spot, as the offense is a complete non-entity despite the presence of Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts. America is about to get a lot of exposure to the Falcons, whose next three games will be in primetime, and if this is the level of play they can put together, there's a good chance that third game on Sunday night in Baltimore earns the rare early-season flex-out.

Winner: New Orleans Saints

After a spirited effort in an overtime loss to Detroit, it was hard to see New Orleans emerging victorious with a road trip to Baltimore in Week 2. The Saints defied the odds and came marching in to M&T Bank Stadium to upset the Ravens 24-17, improving to 1-1 on the year and putting them in a tie with the Panthers for first place in the NFC South.

Tyler Shough was undaunted by playing in one of the most hostile environments in the league, making smart decisions with the football as he racked up 252 yards passing and a touchdown while completing 27 passes in 34 attempts. The defense stepped up as well, limiting Derrick Henry's impact to just 68 yards and a touchdown a week after he bullied the Colts, offering some hope they can make things interesting after finishing the 2025 campaign strong.

Winner: Josh Allen

We're going back to Thursday here, but Josh Allen's "flu game" deserves a mention in this space. Few could tell how sick Allen was during Buffalo's dominant victory to open the new Highmark Stadium, but whatever contagion he had was clearly passed onto the Lions' defense that failed to stop him.

Allen won a lot of fantasy matchups by himself, racking up five total touchdowns, 248 yards passing and another 69 rushing. Buffalo is now off to the races thanks to Allen, who has nine touchdowns in two weeks to establish himself as the early front runner for MVP.

Loser: Quarterback Injuries

After a relatively healthy Week 1, there were a lot of devastating quarterback injuries in Week 2. Caleb Williams became the Madden Curse's latest victim when he hurt his hamstring trying to run for a first down, becoming one of the key passers to go down on Sunday.

We also witnessed another bad Jayden Daniels elbow injury as he was carted off late in the first half against Dallas, denying us the opportunity to witness the two stars of the 2024 draft class show us what they can do. While Chicago does at least have a win under its belt, both teams will now likely have to find a way to survive while their injured quarterbacks heal.

Winner: Brian Flores

The Bears' offense was the talk of the town as they ripped off 59 points in their Week 1 win over Carolina, with Ben Johnson vowing to become the most potent offense in NFL history. Brian Flores took that challenge personally and baffled the Bears on a rainy Sunday in Chicago, limiting them to only three points in a 9-3 defensive battle at Soldier Field.

The pressure and blitzes that Flores drew up had Chicago flustered, resulting in four sacks and two turnovers to deny the Bears scoring opportunities. On a day where Minnesota needed to manage the game with Carson Wentz as their starter, they saw Flores put on a master class against Johnson to help the Vikings get out to a 2-0 start.

Loser: Aaron Glenn

While things looked good for the Jets for most of the day against Green Bay, when they built a 17-7 lead before falling to the Packers in overtime, Glenn put on a master class in how to lose a football game. The turning point of the contest came in the fourth quarter, when the Jets had a 4th-and-1 deep in Green Bay territory, and Glenn ordered his offense to try and draw the Packers offsides before kicking a field goal.

The Jets never scored again as Green Bay took their break and ran with it, scoring 13 unanswered points to win the game as Mike LaFleur coached circles around Glenn down the stretch, effortlessly bleeding the clock at the end of regulation before Glenn made a bizarre choice to take the ball first in overtime when his offense was performing worse than his defense. Glenn didn't help himself in the postgame press conference with strange explanations for his actions, putting him back on the hot seat as the Jets go on the road against an angry Detroit team in Week 3.

Winner: Treveyon Henderson

With the Patriots staring a potential 0-2 start in the face, they needed someone to step up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Enter Henderson, who missed Week 1 due to injury and immediately became New England's most proficient offensive spark plug in a 20-3 victory.

A 39-yard touchdown run helped Henderson regain the trust of New England's coaching staff, which saw him out-touch Week 1 starter Rhamondre Stevenson 16-7 on the afternoon. Henderson clearly has more burst than Stevenson and could run away with the starting job as the Patriots face off with the Bills in Week 3 with first place in the AFC East on the line.

Loser: Aaron Rodgers

It is truly sad to see a former great stay in the NFL for too long and we appear to be witnessing that again with Rodgers, who looked every bit of a 42-year-old in the Steelers' loss to New England. Rodgers averaged just 4.8 yards per attempt in the defeat and got absolutely crunched during a strip sack early in the game, which set up a fourth-and-43 for the Steelers that was emblematic of their offensive ineptitude.

The Steelers don't have many great options to turn to instead of Rodgers as Mason Rudolph is a game manager while youngsters Will Howard and Drew Allar have no NFL experience. Mike McCarthy will likely let Rodgers keep going for a bit in hopes of unlocking some vintage magic from the future Hall-of-Famer but this looks like a Joe Namath playing for the Rams situation.

Winner: Cincinnati Bengals

First place in the AFC North belongs to the Bengals, who put together another strong performance with a 20-6 victory in Houston to improve to 2-0 on the season. Joe Burrow, who battled a back injury throughout the week, was sacked five times but didn't turn the football over while hitting Ja'Marr Chase for two spectacular touchdowns to provide all of the offense the Bengals needed.

The star of the game was the Cincinnati defense, which held the Texans to only six points despite allowing 353 passing yards to C.J. Stroud. There was a lot of bend-but-don't-break here from the Bengals, but they deserve credit for forcing Houston to go 5-of-17 on third down attempts and completely throttling the Texans' rushing game, which yielded only 60 yards on 18 carries.

Loser: Los Angeles Chargers

While the Falcons may be the NFL's worst team right now, there may not be a bigger disaster in the league than the Los Angeles Chargers. After being handed two winnable games to start the season at home, the Chargers found a way to fumble both as they lost 24-14 to the Las Vegas Raiders to drop to 0-2 on the season.

The pressure will heat up on the Chargers as their next seven games feature a gauntlet of the Bills, Seahawks, Broncos, Chiefs, Texans and Ravens. Five of those matchups come on the road so there is a very strong chance that Los Angeles' season could be over well before Halloween, which is a major disappointment for Jim Harbaugh after back-to-back 11-win seasons.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow