The NFL regular season continues, and after an incredibly consequential “Thursday Night Football” game between the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, fans have turned their attention to the weekend. Last week, we were lucky enough to have football across four days: Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday.
With that being said, what does this weekend’s NFL schedule look like? Are there any games today or do we need to wait for the regular Sunday slate?
Will We See Saturday NFL Games This Weekend?
No, as unfortunate as it is, there is no NFL action today. However, fret not football fans, there is a massive college football slate of games on today if you need to quell your desire for the sport.
Although we do not have football today, we can always look back at Thursday night’s game where the Bills manhandled the Dolphins on their way to a 31-10 victory. Although that was a big storyline on its own, it was largely overshadowed by the Tua Tagovailoa injury.
Tua, who has a substantial concussion history, was trying to make a play in the red zone when he collided with Bills safety Damar Hamlin. He immediately fell to the ground and exhibited what is known as fencing posture, a symptom of a concussion.
Tua committed to this run to pick up the first down and got carried away and didn’t know how to protect himself
Literally just ran right into Damar Hamlin who didn’t look like he was set to deliver a hard hit
Tua hit Damar more than Damar hit Tua pic.twitter.com/cS2aXEIE9H
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 13, 2024
Following the game, Pro Football Network asked Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel if it was safe for Tagovailoa to continue playing, given his long history of head injuries. Here is McDaniel’s answer in full, which can also be viewed in the YouTube player below:
“I think from a medical standpoint, I don’t approach things that I’m far inferior of expertise. I’m just there to support my teammate, like I said. I think for me to go ahead and forecast things that I don’t know in my non-field of expertise, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” he said.
Remaining Week 2 NFL Regular Season Slate
1:00 p.m. 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 p.m. 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.
Game to Watch: 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.