NFL Week Two Previews

Optimism: A State Of Believing In Positive Outcomes, Whether Evidence Exists To Support It Or To The Contrary, Creates The Backdrop For Most Of The Overreactions Fans And Critics Can't Help But Swing Themselves Into After A Week-One Slate Of Games. A Feeling Composed of Several Chemical Signatures, Psychologists Recommend That Humans Switch on Optimistic Lenses in Most Cases in Our Lives. Yet, optimism leaves us so dangerously vulnerable to being let down. The Chargers' uniform features a color palette (Yellow and Light Blue) that is widely recognized for creating feelings of happiness, optimism, and joy, according to psychologists. Yet, their fan base suffered a massive letdown in Week One.

NFL Teams Take Weeks To Forge An Identity, Create A Sustainable Formula For Success, and Give Fans A Product Worth Investing In Long Term. Those Teams That Won The Week One Splash Bowl Have a Lot to Celebrate, and even if none of Week One’s Results Permeate the Season, for some teams that hope, this moment feels good.

Panthers Vs Falcons

On One Side Of The Ball, the Panthers ' season got off to a spectacular start. I Speak Of, of course, the offense. The Panthers Fell Short of perfection by a few margins, But Overall Dave Canales' Group Delivered Positive Vibes Despite The lopsided Loss. Bryce Young looks like a complete quarterback. I never thought a 5’10 Could Look Complete, But He Connected On Passes All Over The Field, Maneuvered The Pocket, and found those Special Throws Downfield Like only “Short Kings” Like Young Can On Sundays. Young Threw A Pick and Another Completion of His Turned Into A Fumble and The Panthers Could Keep Pace with The Freight Train Bears But young coming with 361 With Three Touchdowns, +0.21 EPA Per Dropback, +4.7 Completion Percentage Over Expected Still Feels Like A Victory what Does Young Have In The Cap For A Encore? Young Will Face the division foe Falcons coming off a loss to the Steelers, but they too have something to hang their heads on the defense: the Falcons finished sixth in EPA Per Pass Allowed, Held The Steelers Offense to 264 Total Yards, -0.284 EPA Per Play, and One Point per Drive. Against the Falcons, Aaron Rodgers needed 41 Attempts To Get 222 passing yards, a passer rating of 83.5, and zero deep completions.

The Steelers endured A Slight drop, but otherwise the Falcons defense played otherworldly despite entering the game without their top two edge rushers. The Falcons secondary is brimming with talent: AJ and Aevion Terrell, Mike Hughes, and Xavier Watt All Kept Their Passer Rating Below 90 while Playing More Than 20 Snaps each. Those Falcons will face the forces of T.J. McMillian and Jalen Coker, who both netted Better Than 75 Yards Against The Bears; Coker with 135 receiving yards and six first downs. The Steeler Wide Receiver DK Metcalf dropped a few opportunities to make big plays against Atlanta's secondary; I Can Imagine The Panthers and Bryce Young earning A Fair Share Of Those Opportunities. The Panthers spent most of their battle with the Bears trailing, which didn’t give their run game with Chubba Hubbard, AJ Dillon, and Jonathan Brooks much room to flourish, but the Panthers generated +0.22 EPA Per Play On Runs: 127 Yards, 5.7 Per Rush, 34 on scrambles, led by Hubbard with 49 Yards. The Falcons Shut Down The Steelers ' run game: just 2.8 Yards Per Rush allowed, -0.20 EPA Per Rush, 58 Rushing Yards Total. The Falcons may deploy The Same RunFit Scheme To Force The Panthers to become one-dimensional on offense. The Falcons Offense enters Week Two kind of one-dimensional. The quarterback wants to get the ball to Bijan Robinson at all costs: 29 Touches Total. Robinson rushed for 83 yards on his 21 carries, added eight Catches On 10 targets for 90 yards and a touchdown, for a 65.9% Touch Rate. Bijan Has Offered 104.8 scrimmage yards per game in his career against the Panthers, whose defense just got walloped by the Bears offense on the ground: 292 Yards, +0.35 EPA Per Rush Play, 7.3 Per Carry, 164 Yards On Explosive Plays.

Chicago Had Two Runners Rack Up 100 Yards, Three With 50 or better, led by D’Andre Swift with 125 Rushing Yards, along with three touchdowns and 6.6 yards per carry. Kyle Monagai hit 100 on ten carries thanks to his 61 Yard Blasts. The Panthers Will Need To Play The Run Better If They Hope To Survive A Brush With Bijan Robinson, a one-man who Can Exploit All Aspects Of Their Defense. If the Panthers commit more bodies to the run, their second, Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson, will have to hold up in coverage against the Falcons’ receivers. Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Jahan Dotson All Quieted By The Steelers ' defense and a Sparsely Prepared Cooper Rush. The Panthers' pass defense struggled with the size of the Bears’ receivers, but Cooper Rush won’t provide the same threat as Caleb Williams with his arm and legs. Rush will drop back and Decide To Lock In On Bijan—Normally The Check-down—As His First Read. While I Thought the Panthers Looked Impressive on Offense, I Think The Falcons Make Enough Stops, Bijan Produces a World of a Game, and Atlanta Takes The Win.

Jaguars Vs Broncos

Trevor Lawrence Rounded Out Week One As The Top Quarterback In Football, and who would have guessed that, other than everybody back in 2019-20? The Jaguars Played The “Lowly” Browns, But Realistically He Could’ve Flopped or struggled against a Browns defense and Secondary That Still Features Denzel Ward and edge rusher Jared Verse. Instead, Lawrence dominated Cleveland, netting the highest passer rating (150.6) and EPA per dropback (+0.71) on some high-level plays. Lawrence Looked Like The Guy, The Chosen One I think we believed he’d become, at least for one game. Now he’ll Get A Chance To strengthen his position among the top of the league, facing a Broncos defense a touch Bruised After A Monday night matchup with the Chiefs. The Chiefs blew through Denver for 393 New Yards Of Offense, +0.082 EPA Per Play, 31 points, and four touchdowns. Denver's defense, which stood out as a strength, looked vulnerable, but the Jags May Not Have The Edge Just Yet. Kansas City Did Most of Its Damage on the Ground with Kenneth Walker. The Chiefs Produced The Best Rush EPA In The Sport In Week 1. KC's passing game, with Patrick Mahomes back from injury, struggled mightily. Denver forced an 86 passer rating from Mahomes, along with a -0.11 EPA Per Pass Play, -11.9 Completion Percentage Above Expectation, 56% completion percentage, and just 16 Air Yards total. The Jags Had One Of The Worse Rushing Attacks In Football Last Season and their Offensive Diet Leans Heavily On The Drop Back a Pass Game And Trevor Lawrence, Not So Much Against The Browns. The Jags Ran The Ball 32 Times, -0.09 EPA Per Rush, 124 Yards, 3.9 Yards Per Rush. The Jags Roster Doesn’t Feature A Kenneth Walker-level threat; Bhayshul Tuten, Amer Abdullah, and Chris Rodriguez don’t move the needle, although the Jags Did Five Explosive Runs, and Trevor Lawrence Always Has the Capacity to take the Run Game into His Own hands. The Jags receivers can all “Go”: Parker Washington Can Create after The Catch, Jakobi Meyers and Brian Thomas Jr. can create after the catch and downfield, and while Denver shut KC's pass attack, they gave 71 Yards To Travis Kelce On Just Three Catches.

For the second week in a row, the Broncos Draw A Favorable Quarterback Matchup Facing Bo Nix. Nix Must Have Watched Deshaun Watson’s Performance On Sunday. Bo Nix Decided He Wouldn’t Let Watson Walk That Road Alone As Next Poured In the Second Worse Quarterback performance Only Cooper Rush Played Worse In Terms Of Adjusted EPA Per Play, 17/28 For 131 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, One Pick, 69.2 Passer Rating, Four Sacks, 25 Pressures Allowed As Nix Held The Ball A Paralyzing Length Of Time 3.2 Second Inviting Pressure. Everything the Jaguars achieved against the Browns won't translate throughout the season, but Jacksonville netted 24 Pressures and Five Sacks of Cleveland’s Offensive Line and Quarterback. Edge rushers Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen led the Way with 7 and 5 pressures, respectively. The Denver offensive line remains formidable, but if the Jags' coverage unit plays strong and forces Nix to hold the ball, it opens gaps for the Jags rusher, and Jacksonville Has A Way Into Creating Chaos. Dominating the Cleveland Browns for Trevor Lawrence means something; he delivered under the lens of high expectations, but if Lawrence wants to make a statement, he needs to bring down a juggernaut of a defense. They don’t get bigger than the top seed from the AFC From A Season Ago. I Believe The Broncos Bounce Back and down The Jags.

Packers Vs Jets

If we disregard the fourth quarter of the Packers' Week One Matchup With The Vikings, Green Bay will probably produce the third- or fourth-best offensive performance of The Weekend. Jordan Love Punished The Vikings' secondary for 387 passing yards and two touchdowns. The 21/42 looks bad, but he faced a lot of pressure all game as the Vikings got at him 50% of the time. Of course, we can't ignore the fourth-quarter love: the Green Bay O-line and Run Game all Suffered Massive Lapses, and games like these remind fans of the sudden, unforgiving world of football that tears victory away from those who don’t play the game worthily. The Packers Won’t Have To Face Justin Jefferson, Who Registered Two Touchdowns, or Carson Wentz, who still Has One to Three High-Level Throws Left in His Frame. The Packers Defense Will Face Geno Smith, Another Quarterback who Proves He’s Still Got 1-3 high-level games left in his arsenal. Geno Smith Quietly Played an Effective Game at Quarterback in Week 19/25: 215 Passing Yards, a 104.0 Passer Rating, and 9 Yards Per Attempt Against The Packers. The Packers Secondary Will Face off against Jets Receiver Garrett Wilson, Who Is off to a Strong Start to 2026 after playing just seven games in 2025. Wilson Still Leads the Jets In Receiving Yards, registering 79 receiving yards, while Adonai Mitchell, In His Second Season In Gotham, has 60 Yards. The Packers' secondary could have their hands full, even without rookie Receiver Omar Coopers, Who Suffered an Ankle Injury. The Jets Put Their Full Offense on Display. New York’s Other Rookie Tight end, Kenyon Sadiq, netted a rushing touchdown; veteran running back Breece Hall Hit For 102 Yards On the Ground, one touchdown, and 4.6 Yards Per Carry. The real crux of the matter: Can the Packers Get Enough Pressure On Geno Smith? He’s Easily One of the Worst Quarterbacks Under Pressure in the League in 2025.

When pressured, his EPA per dropback dropped from +0.24 to -0.71. The Packers Didn’t Net Many Pressures Against The Vikings, and with Micah Parsons still sidelined, I Don’t Think Green Bay has the Tools to Light Geno Smith up consistently all Game. Conversely, the Packers Offense Gave Up 32 pressures on Jordan Love. The Vikings Blitz an absurd 78.3% of their defensive snaps. When pressured, Love’s production fell Off Against The Vikings from +0.29 EPA Per Dropback to -0.48 EPA per dropback. He’s Best When Kept Clean. The Jets walk away from their matchup with the Titans With A 41% Pressure rate, led by rookie and second-over pick David Bailey, who had six sacks. The Jets Could Decide To Follow Brian Flores’s Approach and Bring A lot of heat to Love. Blitzing Will Leave The Jets' secondary locked in a lot of Man Coverage against Explosive Threats Like Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. Still, with No Run Game, the Packers become a predictable dropback offense, giving the Jets the schematic advantage of playing more defensive backs and rushing More Pass rushers. I Like The Jets To Upset The Packers in this one, as Green Bay Seems Vulnerble Without A Run Game and A Pass Rush.

Commanders Vs Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys learned on Sundays they lost to the New York Giants that offseason hype trains don't get stops Dont Sundays. A Classic Case Of Buying Into The Spreadsheet and the brand, but not the product: new Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Christian Parker Came Over From Philly To Call Defense In Big(Little) D, and Somehow The Former Defensive Backs Call as much blown coverage as the Cowboys Produce Last. The Cowboys change the label on the jar, but the product still sinks. On a Sunday when the Carolina Panthers surrendered 59 points, the Cowboys still finished Dead Last In EPA per play allowed (- 0.363) to the Giants. On Sunday, the Cowboys Looked Like A Student taking A Test For A Class They Never Attended, nearly paralyzed At The prospect of battling with the dual-threat capabilities of Jaxson Dart and certainly not the strides Dart Made As A Passer. Unfortunately For The Cowboys, up next is a divisional matchup with the Commanders and Jayden Daniels, the Former Rookie Of The Year, Didn’t Display His Elite Abilities Against The Eagles in Week 1: just 18/34 for 163 passing yards, two touchdowns, 31 Yards On The Ground, and One Almost Game-Tying Drive. The Commanders' offense generated a +0.66 EPA but struggled to keep drives alive; of their 15 Third Downs, 10 were third-and-long, far too many for an Offense to overcome. The Cowboys' defense, unsurprisingly, struggled on third down, and the Giants converted 82% of those, along with +1.49 EPA Per Play On Third And Long Allowed. The Cowboys' offense was mostly stitched together from the same players. The Cowboys Produced A Positive EPA per play but were pretty unlucky. While trying to throw the ball away early in the game, Dak Prescott Threw A Pick, and That Moment Symbolized the Cowboys' Entire Downfall. Dak went 22/34 for 175 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one pick, with an 84.8 passer rating, and struggled throughout. Completely passes downfield, Prescott completed zero Passes Over 20 Air Yards and just over 10 Air Yards.

The Cowboys' run game was effective but underutilized. With the Cowboys Trailing Most of the Game and the Offense Running just 52 Plays Total, the Giants Ran Nearly 70; the Cowboys averaged 65.9 plays per game last season. The Cowboys Might Find The Commanders Defense More Forth Coming Their Defense Against The Eagles The Commanders suffered Their Fair Share Of Blown Coverages One That Get Highlighted after They Lead To Massive Plays. The Commanders gave up 233 Yards Of Explosive Plays To The Eagles, 155 in the passing game. The Commanders' defense generated 21 Pressures On Jalen Hurts, including three sacks, against a regressing Eagles Offensive Line. Can they replicate that success against the Cowboys' offensive line? Dak Never Hit The Dirt Because Of A Defender and only saw Heat 10 Times on 36 Dropbacks. Both teams share similar flaws in the defensive backfield; neither wants To Start The Season 0-2 in the division because divisional games flatten playoff odds.

Texans Vs Bengals

CJ Stroud Did His Big One In The Texans' Week One Matchup With The Bills, while his ghastly playoff performance in January still looms over every drop he takes. His First Steps Toward a March return among the higher tier of quarterbacks look promising. Stroud Passed For 274 Passing Yards With No Picks, A 106.7 Passer Rating, And Next Gen Stats Ascribed A 21.1 Aggressiveness Percentage, Meaning 1/5 Of Stroud Attempts Feature A High Degree Of Difficulty. Stroud Will Face A Bengals Defense Riding High After Forcing Four Fumbles from the Buccaneers, Three off Baker Mayfield, In A 33-27 Victory Over Tampa Bay. Every season, the football gods bless one team with the turnover luck, and after one week, the Bengals Have The Hot Hand Against A Quarterback Prone to Turnover Problems. The Bengals Defense Held Mayfield to a 98.8 Passer Rating, 216 Passing Yards, 82.1%, and, adjusted to remove the impact of the Bengals Defense Allowed, +0.310 EPA Per Play and +0.404 EPA per dropback to the Buccaneers, and still gave up 27 Points In The Process. The worst aspect of C.J. Stroud’s game shows up when he faces pressure; the Bills got six pressures on Stroud and three sacks for -1.45 EPA Per Dropback. The Bengals Defense, on the Other Hand, generated a 45% Pressure Rate Against Baker Mayfield, who sits behind a pretty impressive offensive line in Tampa but has been crawling back from multiple put-downs, opening the door for the Bengals to Play More Aggressively on Defense. Could The Bengals Force Into More Predictable Dropback situation? the Run Game For Houston Generated +0.17 EPA Per Rush Mostly On The Strength Of David Montgomery Registering Two Rushing Touchdowns, Three In Total, But He Only Average 3 Yards Per Carry and The Texans As A Team 3.9 Yards Per Carry. The Bengals Shut The Bucs down on the ground, so Week Two could turn into another game where Haslett proves he’s one of them again. Another Guy With Proving On His To Do List In Week Two, Joe Burrow A Mediocre Return To Football 25/35 255 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, One Pick 89.6 Passer Rating, +5.3 Completion Percentage Over expected, -0.06 EPA Per Drop Back Far Off The Trails For One The Best Quarterbacks In Football. Star receiver Ja'Marr Chase Put His Face on A Milk Carton. He’s Missing From The Week One impact watch: just two catches, four targets for 12 Yards. Both the star quarterback and receiver will be hunting for bounce-back games. Cincy picked up a major receiving boost from tight end Mike Gesicki and No. 2 receiver Ted Higgins. The Texans Defense Will Also look To Bounce Back, The Projected Top Defense got Exposed Facing The Presumptive MVP Josh Allen And While Quarterbacks Have The Capacity To Acheive What Allen Performed (+0.49 EPA per Dropback, 334 Passing Yards)In Week One Against The Texans, Joe Burrow Possesses The Same Scale Of Skill As Allen. economist Kenneth Boulding, Once joked “anyone believing in endless exponential growth is "either a madman or an economist” He Neeed To Add Football Analyst, Who Also Believe That Houston Defens Would Pick From Last Year’s Elite Pace and Now Maybe, Just Maybe This Unit in Houston Has Plateaued. I Think Cincy Takes The Game.