Week 1 of the NFL season didn’t disappoint. The Kansas City Chiefs opened their three-peat quest successfully, and the Philadelphia Eagles triumphed in a wild game vs. the Green Bay Packers in Brazil (speedy recovery, Jordan Love).
New England Patriots rookie head coach Jerod Mayo won his debut vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, and Miami Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders kicked a game-winning 52-yarder as time expired to elevate the Dolphins over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It’s but a taste of what Week 1 provided. Week 2 shapes to be just as enthralling.
Week 2 NFL Regular Season Slate
Thursday Night Football
- Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins (Amazon)
1:00 ET Window
- New Orleans Saints at Dallas Cowboys (Fox)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions (Fox)
- Indianapolis Colts at Green Bay Packers (Fox)
- New York Jets at Tennessee Titans (CBS)
- San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings (CBS)
- Seattle Seahawks at New England Patriots (Fox)
- New York Giants at Washington Commanders (Fox)
- Los Angeles Chargers at Carolina Panthers (CBS)
- Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS)
- Las Vegas Raiders at Baltimore Ravens (CBS)
4:00 ET Window
- Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals, 4:05 PM ET (Fox)
- Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos, 4:25 PM ET (CBS)
- Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs, 4:25 PM ET (CBS)
Sunday Night Football
- Chicago Bears at Houston Texans, 8:20 PM ET (NBC)
Monday Night Football
- Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles, 8:15 ET (ESPN)
Storylines To Watch in Week 2
The Buccaneers-Lions matchup is a rematch of the 2023-24 NFC Divisional Round playoff contest, where the Lions edged out a home victory 31-23.
Young signal-callers meet in Bears-Texans. The Packers are in survival mode without Jordan Love, while both the Jaguars and Browns are hungry to avoid an 0-2 start.
Nonetheless, two games have caught the twinkle in my eye:
1) Bills/Dolphins
This article was written before the outcome of Monday Night Football, but we could be looking at all four teams in the AFC East winning in Week 1. An early division clash in the elements in Miami between two 1-0 teams certainly packs some punch.
MORE: Simulate the Season With PFN’s Playoff Predictor
Buffalo and Miami each had some struggles in home contests against the Cardinals and Jaguars, respectively. Still, these are two talented teams that know each other well. This is as good as Thursday Night Football gets.
2) Bengals/Chiefs
The Bengals losing at home to the Patriots was as shocking an outcome as Week 1 offered. To rebound and avoid an 0-2 start, they travel to Arrowhead to battle the Chiefs.
There was some silver lining in the Bengals’ loss.
Bengals
- Week 1 vs. NE: 4.5 yards per play allowed (matching their best game from 2023).
- Week 1 vs. NE: Allowed pressure on just 22.9% of dropbacks (their lowest rate since Week 6),
- The Bengals are 17-9 ATS as an underdog when Joe Burrow starts (unders are 15-10-1 in those contests).
The Chiefs, on the other hand, were rolling against a formidable opponent. Watch the pass rush/secondary interplay, as well as the Chiefs’ success rate in the red zone, as key factors in this pivotal AFC contest.
Chiefs
- Week 1 vs. BAL: 7.1 yards per play (a rate they topped just once last season).
- Week 1 vs. BAL: 17.6% blitz rate (way down from 28.6% last season, part impact of facing Lamar Jackson, but maybe also protecting against no L’Jarius Snead?).
- Over their past seven games, the Chiefs have converted just 38.5% of their red zone trips into touchdowns (25 games prior: 63.8%).
- The Chiefs gave up 302 passing yards in the 2022 Super Bowl win over the Eagles. Since then, they haven’t allowed a team to pass for 275 yards and are coughing up just 189.5.