The 14 Stats That Explain NFL Week 2

Week 2 of the NFL season delivered more chaos than it did clarity. The Lions roared back to life against the Bears with their most efficient offensive performance of the Dan Campbell era, while the Chiefs stumbled to 0-2 for the first time with Patrick Mahomes. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are undefeated but can’t seem to make anything happen downfield, Justin Fields and J.J. McCarthy both bottomed out a week after showing promise, and Miami’s defense is already a disaster. From Micah Parsons wrecking Washington to Cam Ward piling up sacks, to rookies Tetairoa McMillan and Elic Ayomanor shining on struggling teams, these are the numbers that cut through the noise in Week 2.

0-for-10: Passes Geno Smith Completed 10-Plus Yards Downfield

After torching the Patriots for 219 yards on downfield throws in Week 1, Geno Smith went 0-for-10 on such attempts, and two of his three interceptions came on downfield throws against the Chargers on Monday Night Football in Week 2, matching his career high for picks in a game. He was the only quarterback this week who failed to complete a single pass beyond 10 yards in the air, a staggering reversal from his opener.

Las Vegas’s offense was undermanned, as right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson sat out with a concussion and star tight end Brock Bowers played hurt, but the bigger story was Jesse Minter’s Chargers defense. The secondary blanketed everything deep and the disguised coverages kept Smith guessing. On the first play from scrimmage, safety Alohi Gilman rolled directly into a passing lane and should have had the interception himself, but he still tipped the ball in the air and linebacker Daiyan Henley secured the pick. Smith never looked comfortable in the pocket, rarely threw in rhythm, and when he tried to force the ball out late, he was inaccurate.

The Raiders managed just three field goals in a 20-9 loss, joining the Vikings as the only teams without an offensive touchdown in Week 2. For Smith, it was a reminder of how quickly things can flip. He went from outright surgical in Foxborough to playing one of the worst games of his career just a week later. For the Chargers, it was another signal that Minter’s defense is going to be a major problem for AFC offenses this year.

8.8: Detroit Lions Yards per Play, a New High for the Dan Campbell Era

One week after Parsons and the Packers beat them into submission, Detroit’s offense looked reborn on Sunday. The Lions averaged 8.8 yards per play in a 52-21 win over Ben Johnson’s Bears, their best single-game mark under Campbell and a staggering jump from the 3.8 average they managed in Week 1. Jared Goff was sharp and decisive, completing 82 percent of his throws for 334 yards and five touchdowns while avoiding both sacks and turnovers.

The difference was all in the trenches. Against the Packers, Goff was pressured on 37 percent of his dropbacks and Detroit’s running backs averaged 0.10 yards before first contact—both bottom-tier marks in the league. Against the Bears, Goff was pressured only 14 percent of the time, the second-lowest rate for any quarterback in Week 2, and Lions backs led the league with 4.04 (!) yards before first contact. With clean pockets and wide rushing lanes, the Lions offense looked a lot like the Johnson units that were so difficult to stop the last three years. Goff had time to wait for long-developing routes, and he was able to drop a 44-yard touchdown into Jameson Williams’s hands and feed Amon-Ra St. Brown for three scores.

This wasn’t merely a blowout win for Campbell and new play caller John Morton: It was a needed reset after a week in which many questioned whether this team would get back to the heights of last season without Johnson … and they delivered against that very coach. Kismet.

0: Kansas City Chiefs Wins

The Chiefs are 0-2 for the first time in the Mahomes era, and their offensive dysfunction is obvious. Kansas City ranks 20th in the league in success rate and 21st in EPA per drive heading into Week 3, and Mahomes has been the team’s leading rusher in back-to-back games. He scrambled on 13 percent of his dropbacks against the Chargers in Week 1, the seventh-highest rate for a game in his career, and then on 18 percent of his dropbacks against the Eagles, which was his second-highest scramble rate ever. With Xavier Worthy hurt, Rashee Rice suspended, and the offensive line and running backs overmatched, Mahomes has to be everything for the offense—especially if tight end Travis Kelce is going to volleyball would-be touchdowns into defenders’ hands.

Steve Spagnuolo’s defense held up its end against Philly, but until Andy Reid finds answers for a broken run game and a stale passing attack, the defending AFC champs are digging themselves into a hole that few teams ever escape. Only 11 percent of teams that have started 0-2 in the Super Bowl era have made the playoffs.

2: Jalen Hurts Completions More Than 10 Yards Downfield

The Eagles are 2-0, but their passing offense doesn’t look anything close to the unit that carried them to a Super Bowl title last season. Through two weeks, Hurts has attempted just eight passes more than 10 yards downfield and has completed only two of them. Among NFL starters, only Titans rookie Cam Ward has a lower completion rate on such throws. Against Kansas City, Hurts went 1-of-5 on those attempts, with his lone completion coming on a 28-yard heave to DeVonta Smith that set up a fourth-quarter tush push touchdown to put Philly up two scores.

The lack of vertical bite is stalling Philly’s offense. Defenses are sitting in their short and intermediate passing coverages, daring Hurts to push the ball beyond the sticks. That led to empty possessions against Kansas City and kept a dysfunctional Chiefs team in the game far longer than it should have been. For all the talk of continuity on the Eagles offense, the passing attack has looked clunky and one-dimensional so far. Hurts has been bailed out by his legs, the offensive line, and clutch catches like Smith’s on Sunday, but this is not a sustainable formula.

Negative-2: Total Yards for Panthers Wide Receiver Xavier Legette on Eight (!) Targets

The Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick has been invisible to start this season. Against the Cardinals on Sunday, Legette was targeted eight times and finished with one catch for negative-2 yards. Three of those targets were broken up by defenders in tight coverage, and Bryce Young missed him on a couple others. That followed Legette’s Week 1 line of three catches on seven targets for just 10 yards, including a baffling missed opportunity where he failed to keep his feet inbounds on a wide open corner route.

Meanwhile, this year’s no. 8 pick, Tetairoa McMillan, already looks like the better pro. McMillan has 11 catches for 168 yards and nine first downs through two games—more than double the receiving yards of any other Panther—and he’s been close on a handful of other highlight-reel grabs along the sideline. Legette is playing nearly 60 snaps a week, but his production doesn’t warrant that at the moment. The Panthers need answers beyond McMillan if they’re going to right the ship after starting the season 0-2.

8: Total Pressures for Micah Parsons Through Two Weeks

The Parsons-led Packers defense is terrifying. After holding the Lions—who scored a 50-burger on Sunday—in Week 1 to their lowest yards per play average (3.8) since Anthony Lynn was calling the offense in 2021, Green Bay clobbered Jayden Daniels and the Commanders on Thursday. The Commanders averaged just 2.7 yards per play and scored three points through the first three quarters of the game. Two fourth-quarter Daniels touchdowns made the final score 27-18. But Washington finished the game with a negative-0.14 EPA per play average, the lowest for any game in the Daniels era. Parsons (on a snap count, mind you) led the charge.

Parsons totaled five hurries, two quarterback hits, and a sack against the Commanders. And he consistently had rookie first-round tackle Josh Conerly Jr. in hell, winning quickly off the snap on multiple third downs and drawing a holding penalty on the same play where he sacked Daniels. Parsons also beat veteran left tackle Laremy Tunsil on fourth down to seal the game late, and he wreaked havoc while stunting on the interior. The Packers paid a lot for Parsons—two first-round picks, veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark, and $188 million—expecting to get a superstar. Parsons is that and more. He’s a force multiplier who’s helping a loaded, young defense finally explode onto the scene.

The Green Bay secondary is taking advantage of the extra heat—cornerback Keisean Nixon had five (!) pass breakups against Washington—and all of the first-round picks along the defensive line (Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and Devonte Wyatt) have been partying with Parsons in the backfield. Those three combined for 11 pressures through the first two weeks of last season; this year they’re at 25.

11: Cam Ward Sacks This Season

Cam Ward has been sacked 11 times in two games, which is two more than any other quarterback this season. Some of that is due to protection issues: recent first-round pick JC Latham left the game with an injury in Week 1, and his replacement, John Ojukwu, surrendered five pressures and two sacks against the Rams in Week 2. Third-year pass rusher Byron Young manhandled Ojukwu all game. Center Lloyd Cushenberry has also struggled, grading near the bottom at his position in pass protection through two weeks.

But Ward is compounding the issue. Several sacks have come because he held the ball too long or ran into pressure, including a fourth-quarter fumble against Los Angeles that set up a short Rams touchdown drive. At the same time, his connection with rookie Elic Ayomanor has shown some real promise. Ward threw an absurd, cross-body touchdown this week which Next Gen Stats said was the longest horizontal distance (30.4 yards) thrown on the run since they started tracking the stat in 2016. Ward’s talent is obvious, but he’ll have to limit his negative plays if he’s going to weather the Titans’ protection issues.

3: The Extra Passing Yards Russell Wilson Needed Against Dallas to Set a New Career High

Wilson came 3 yards shy of the best passing day of his career on Sunday, and he looked like vintage Russ during most of regulation time. He stepped up confidently in the pocket, trusted Malik Nabers to win his routes on the outside, and piled up explosive gains: a 50-yard strike to Wan’Dale Robinson up the seam against Cover 2, a 29-yard touchdown on an outstanding Nabers catch in the back of the end zone, a 52-yard bomb to Darius Slayton, and a 50-plus-yard heave to Nabers for a go-ahead score in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Still, Wilson and the offense stalled when it mattered most. The Giants scored just one touchdown on five red-zone drives, a continuation of the issues that haunted them in their Week 1 loss against the Commanders. Left tackle James Hudson had his own issues, committing four penalties on the Giants’ opening drive before he was eventually benched. One of those was for unnecessary roughness, where Hudson swung an open-hand haymaker at Dallas’s James Houston on the backside of a draw run to Cam Skattebo. Two plays later, a Hudson false start set the Giants up with third-and-24, and then on the long third down, Wilson hit Nabers up the seam for 50 yards. But Hudson was called for another unnecessary roughness penalty away from the play, this time for getting into a tussle with Sam Williams on the ground. Hudson then finished things off with a second false start two plays later. The Giants finished the game with 14 penalties for 160 yards, the most for the team since at least 2000.

And when the game went to overtime, Wilson turned back into a pumpkin. After two quick completions to Nabers on New York’s first overtime possession, Wilson accidentally threw the ball backwards and out of bounds for a 14-yard loss on a pump fake that he failed to holster. He somehow got another chance to win the game starting from his own 34-yard line with 2:49 left to go, but he arm-punted an interception to Donovan Wilson on the second play of the drive. Wilson’s near-record day was dazzling in stretches, but the Giants’ inability to finish, and his late unraveling, left it hollow.

0: Colts Punts Through Week 2

This is kind of a fake stat because the Colts turned the ball over on downs twice in their upset win over the Broncos on Sunday, but still, Indy’s offense—led by Daniel Jones, of all people—has scored on all but two of its drives this season.

Jones has missed some passes, sure, but he’s also delivered tough throws from the pocket with defenders in his lap and given his big guys a chance in one-on-one situations downfield. Wide receivers Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr. both hauled in contested catches on Sunday, and rookie tight end Tyler Warren was a demon with the ball in his hands. Warren earned 54 of his team-high 79 receiving yards after the catch. Running back Jonathan Taylor also had a massive impact: 215 yards from scrimmage on 27 touches, including a fourth-quarter run where he somehow avoided defensive tackle DJ Jones and then danced through three defenders to break loose for 68 yards.

It’s only been two games. And the Dolphins defense sucks and Broncos defenders Patrick Surtain II and Zach Wllen were playing through injuries. But at a certain point, we’ll run out of excuses for why the Colts never punt the ball.

Negative-0.52: J.J. McCarthy’s EPA per Dropback Two Games Into His Career

J.J. McCarthy’s NFL career opened with fourth-quarter heroics in Chicago—two touchdowns and another rushing touchdown in a Vikings’ comeback win over the Bears. But those highlights already feel like outliers. Two games in, his negative-0.52 EPA per dropback is the worst mark for any quarterback this season. And across seven quarters (excluding his fourth-quarter rally in Week 1), McCarthy has completed just 18 of 33 passes for 214 yards and three interceptions. His accuracy issues have been glaring throughout.

The Vikings played without left tackle Christian Darrisaw on Sunday night, then lost backup tackle Justin Skule and starting center Ryan Kelly mid-game. As a result, McCarthy was pressured on 53.3 percent of his dropbacks—the highest rate for any quarterback in Week 2—and took six sacks. But even when he had a clean pocket, he struggled with timing and accuracy. McCarthy went just 7 of 13 for 67 yards and two picks when he wasn’t pressured; his 54-percent completion rate on clean dropbacks is the lowest for any quarterback in Week 2.

And rather than rising to the occasion when the Vikings needed him most, McCarthy fell flat late in the game. He fumbled on the first play of the fourth quarter, missed Jalen Nailor on what should have been a 72-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive, and capped off the night by sailing the ball over Justin Jefferson in triple-coverage for a game-sealing interception. McCarthy will now have extra time to process his woeful start to the season, as it was reported Monday that he’s expected to miss two to four weeks with a high ankle sprain. Veteran Carson Wentz is likely to start against the Joe Burrow–less Bengals in Week 3. Wentz’s last two starts came in meaningless Week 18 games, playing with backups for the Chiefs and Rams in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The 32-year-old gunslinger has a live arm—definitely stronger than McCarthy’s—but the Vikings need an accurate, decisive signal caller to keep the offense on schedule more than they need a superhero.

Even a bad Bengals defense will be a test for Wentz and the Vikings with all of their offensive injuries. Cincinnati pass rusher Trey Hendrickson leads the league in pressures with 14 through two weeks; he’ll be licking his chops for whoever the Vikings put in front of Wentz on Sunday.

3.7: Points Allowed per Drive for the Dolphins Through Week 2

The Miami defense handed second-year Patriots quarterback Drake Maye a career day on Sunday. Maye was pressured on just 23 percent of his dropbacks—the lowest rate of his career—and as a result he tallied career highs in EPA per dropback (0.55) and net yards per attempt (9.2). He spread the ball around with ease, dropping a moon ball to Kayshon Boutte for one score, scrambling for another, and watching Rhamondre Stevenson rack up 142 total yards on 16 touches. Detroit was the only offense with a better success rate than New England in Week 2. Credit Maye and the Patriots for executing, but the bigger story is just how bad the Miami defense has been to start the season.

Through two weeks, Miami ranks dead last in points allowed per drive (3.7), yards allowed per drive (42.1), and defensive success rate (50 percent). And that’s after facing Daniel Jones and Maye. At 0-2 and on a short week against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, things may only get worse.

Negative-0.91: Justin Fields’s New Career-Low EPA per Dropback

In Week 1 against Pittsburgh, Fields completed 73 percent of his passes. His 0.64 EPA per dropback was the best of his career. TruMedia charted him with zero inaccurate passes. A completely different quarterback played against the Bills on Sunday.

Fields was 3-of-11 for 27 (!) passing yards before he left the game with a concussion in the fourth quarter. He was wildly inaccurate all game, and the Bills defense often forced him to hold the ball longer than he wanted to by deploying defensive back blitzes and rolling safeties post-snap. Fields finished the game with a negative-0.91 EPA per dropback, a new career low just a week after he set a new career high. He missed an open Garrett Wilson on an in-breaker to end the Jets’ opening drive three-and-out, and New York proceeded to not convert a single third down all game. Veteran backup Tyrod Taylor went 7-for-11 for 56 yards and a touchdown on two drives in the fourth quarter after coming in for Fields. That was mostly because it was garbage time and he was playing against Bills backups, but by that point, Taylor was a sight for sore eyes. We’ll get a better idea of what Taylor can do with this Jets offense if Fields is unable to go against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

50.4 Percent: Steelers' Defensive Success Rate, Lowest Ever for a Mike Tomlin Defense Through Week 2

The Steelers defense doesn’t look like what we’ve come to expect in the Mike Tomlin era. Pittsburgh ranks 31st in both defensive success rate (50.4 percent) and percentage of plays allowed to go for 10-plus yards (25.4). Those are the worst numbers through two weeks for any Tomlin team since he took over in Pittsburgh in 2007. Justin Fields’s career day in Week 1 felt like a fluke when it happened, but the Steelers also struggled to limit explosive plays against Sam Darnold and the Seahawks on Sunday.

Cooper Kupp repeatedly carved up the middle of the field, finishing with seven catches for 90 yards. Jaxon Smith-Njigba continued his fast start, catching eight balls for 103 yards, including a 43-yarder in one-on-one coverage against Jalen Ramsey. And then came the backbreaker: Kenneth Walker III’s 19-yard touchdown run on a third-and-goal late in the fourth quarter. He was barely touched, and that’s the kind of play you just didn’t see against Pittsburgh defenses of old. Walker finished with 13 carries for 105 yards, including four runs of 10-plus yards.

The good news is the Steelers have a decent stretch of cupcake offenses ahead of them to try to get back on track. The bad news is that this old defense (with four starters age 30 or older) is now an injured defense, with four starters already missing time with injuries: edge Alex Highsmith, defensive tackle Isaiahh Loudermilk, cornerback Joey Porter Jr., and safety DeShon Elliott. Highsmith and Loudermilk played only 16 combined snaps before leaving the Seattle game, and Porter and Elliott missed all of Week 2 after suffering injuries in the opener. I trust Tomlin to right the ship, but margins to do so are thin.

59 Percent: Success Rate for Tampa Bay’s Running Backs Against Houston

A week ago, Baker Mayfield was the Bucs’ leading rusher with just 39 yards against Atlanta (while RB Bucky Irving averaged just 2.6 yards per carry). On Monday night, though, the Tampa Bay backfield came alive against a fierce Houston defense. Irving led the way with 71 rushing yards on 17 carries, most of which appeared to come after contact. Backup tailback Rachaad White, who had just two carries for 14 yards in Week 1, had 65 yards on the ground and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the final seconds of the game. Irving was the bruiser, constantly turning early contact into modest gains, and White was silky smooth as he cut through the line of scrimmage, and he showed great patience letting pulling blockers hit their targets in the hole. Credit White and Irving for making the most of their opportunities, and you have to tip your cap to a banged-up Tampa Bay offensive line for still creating push up front.

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