Proper Reaction Monday From NFL Week 2: AFC North Volatility Is League's Biggest Story
Last week, I explained that the first NFL Sunday of the season is the biggest "overreaction" day on the sports calendar. Week 2 represents another example, though we do have more information.
Still, let's revisit what I wrote one week ago:
Every NFL team plays a 17-game schedule. That means that Week 1 accounts for less than 6% of the entire season.
People in the sports media are going to arrive at wild conclusions based on that small amount of information.
What if you walked into a used car dealership and the salesperson said, "Hey, here's 5.9% of the total information about this car. You ready to buy?"
Or if you met a future spouse and got to know 5.9% of their personality? Ready to slap on -- or accept -- a ring? Of course not. That would be incredibly irresponsible.
But here we are, every season, making decisions based on 5.9% of the information. Nonsense.
With Week 2 nearly in the books, we now have 11.8% of the information on 28 NFL teams. That's still a small picture of how the season is going to go.
So, with that backdrop, let's take a look at some overreactions from NFL Sunday #2.
Any reaction that claims to know what's going on in the AFC North.
I don't claim to know exactly what the hell is going on in the AFC North, but anyone who does is overreacting.
Here's what we know: the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) are inexplicably leading the division and are two games ahead of the favorites, the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, who are both 0-2.
The Cleveland Browns, who were left for dead after a Week 1 drubbing, beat Jacksonville on the road to improve to 1-1 and sit in second place.
The AFC North is the biggest story in the NFL after two weeks of the 2024 season.
(USA Today Network/Imagn Images)
I know that the Steelers aren't as good as their record.
They've beaten the Falcons and Broncos, and faced arguably the two worst QBs in the NFL in their first two games (Kirk Cousins looked awful in his return from the Achilles injury, but I expect him to improve with time).
Pittsburgh has more wins this season (two) than touchdowns scored (one). That can't continue.
Cincinnati is 0-2 and looked atrocious in Week 1, but the Bengals probably should have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs on the road in Week 2 if not for some questionable penalties that benefited the Chiefs. I'm not worried about the Bengals at all.
The Baltimore Ravens snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after blowing a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That's a bad loss, but still not panic time for Baltimore. However, their next three games are against Dallas, Buffalo and Cincinnati. If the Ravens go 0-3 or 1-2, it might be time to start ringing the alarm bells.
Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns are a complete enigma, and I won't pretend to know what the hell is going on in Eastern Ohio. No one else should, either.
The New Orleans Saints are the best team in the NFL.
Spare me. No, I don't suddenly believe that Dennis Allen learned how to coach football or that Derek Carr is suddenly a Top 3 NFL quarterback.
The Saints have dominated through two games, but it's been two games. Let's chill out for two seconds here, please.
Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints look great through two weeks, but let's chill with the overreactions to two NFL games.
(Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)
They certainly impressed fans and analysts with the way they shredded the Cowboys defense in Week 2, but these things happen. The Saints just happened to roll double-sixes in back-to-back weeks, so we have to bow down to their greatness.
Not so fast. Are the Saints a playoff team? Probably, but mostly because they play in the NFC South.
But they haven't even played a game outdoors yet, and they won't until October. Let's relax until at least then.
Sam Darnold is actually a good NFL quarterback.
No, he isn't. However, he is a perfect case-study when it comes to how important coaching and scheme are to quarterbacks in the NFL.
Fans and analysts are often quick to place all the success or blame on the player and not pay enough attention to the coach, organization and offensive scheme.
There are some quarterbacks that transcend all of that – like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. But many are at the mercy of what's around them.
RELATED: High Five-Low Five After Second Week Of NFL Season: Dobbins, Darnold And Daboll
Bryce Young is getting a taste of that in Carolina, a mess of an organization with one of the worst owners in professional sports. That's not to say Young is great, but he was the #1 overall pick for a reason.
He's not nearly as bad as he looks playing for that disastrous franchise.
Sam Darnold was drafted by the Jets, who have now destroyed the careers of two Top 3 NFL Draft picks – Darnold and Zach Wilson – and then went to the aforementioned Panthers.
Sam Darnold is experiencing a resurgence with the Minnesota Vikings, mostly due to being in the best situation in his NFL career.
(Jeffrey Becker/Imagn Images)
But now he's playing in Minnesota for Kevin O'Connell, arguably one of the best quarterback coaches in the entire NFL. Plus, the Vikings are a much more stable franchise.
And you're seeing the difference. Darnold was never as bad as he looked in New York and Carolina, and he's not as good as he looks in Minnesota.
He's one of those mediocre quarterbacks who will accurately reflect his coaching and offensive scheme.
Those are much more important than most people ever discuss.
Quick hitters and NFL Monday reactions that are probably right…
The Carolina Panthers are very bad.
I wrote this in last week's column, and I'm just going to leave it here until it isn't true. Which means it's probably here for the next 17 weeks.
Actually, everything I wrote last week in this section still holds true after another week:
"The New York Giants should not have paid Daniel Jones." Check.
"NFL referees aren't getting better." If you don't believe me on this one, ask the Cincinnati Bengals or Chicago Bears.
Sean Payton is an overrated head coach.
I've been beating this drum for a while, and I'm not going to miss an opportunity to take another swing.
Payton made an indefensible decision to forgo an onside kick after kicking a field goal to cut Denver's deficit to seven points.
The two-minute warning had already passed, and the Broncos had only one timeout. There's no logical reason to not try an onside kick in that situation. Literally, not one.
Plus, Denver's offense is a mess, and you could blame Bo Nix, but Payton shares the blame. He's supposed to be this offensive genius, but he's not.
Also, he's the one that coveted and drafted Nix in the first round, so even if Nix sucks, that's on Payton, too.
And, apparently, he doesn't even understand basic end-of-game decisions.
The Arizona Cardinals might be kinda good.
This might seem like an overreaction on my part, and maybe it is.
But I believe Jonathan Gannon was a great choice for head coach and I took Kyler Murray in virtually every fantasy football league I'm in because I expected a big year from him.
I wasn't ready to commit after they blew last week's game against Buffalo, but they did almost beat the Bills on the road. Then, they blew the doors off the Rams, who I think might actually be good, too (they're just too injured right now).
The Cardinals play the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers over the next four weeks, so we're going to learn a lot about Arizona before we get to Halloween.
Don't be shocked if we learn they're actually pretty good.
That's it for this week … check back next week for another edition of Proper-Reaction Monday, and feel free to send me your proper reactions (or overreactions, honestly) via email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com.