What We Learned From NFL Week Two

San Francisco 33 Seattle 30
Seattle Seahawks’ receiving core is stuck in a bad Stephen King novel.
Receivers Bobby Engram and Deion Branch are sidelined with injuries until at least October.  Wideouts Nate Burleson (knee) and Ben Obomanu (clavicle) are done for the season.  During warm-ups for Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49’ers, backup quarterback Seneca Wallace, who practiced at wide receiver all week, pulled a muscle and couldn’t play. 

Then, in the first quarter, wide receiver Logan Payne blew out a knee and is done for the season.  For Seattle fans this year’s injury horrors are worse than anything in the Shining, Pet Semetary, or It.

Dallas 41 Philadelphia 37
DeSean Jackson has more talent than smarts.
Monday night game against the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles’ wide receiver DeSean Jackson prematurely released the ball on his way into the end zone.  Instead of a 61-yard touchdown pass, the Eagles got the ball at the Dallas one-yard-line. 

Fortunately, Brian Westbrook scored on the next play and saved Jackson from being the goat.  Even so, Jackson’s bonehead move distracted attention away from him being the first wide receiver to have back-to-back 100-yard receiving games to start his career since fellow Eagle Don Looney did it in 1940.

New England 19 New York 10
Bill Belichick can win without Brady.
For the first time since 2000, the New England Patriots won a game with a starting quarterback other than Tom Brady.  Matt Casel didn’t play like Brady, but he managed the game and didn’t turn the ball over.  This kept the experienced and well-coached Patriots in the ball game and poised to strike when the New York Jets made a mistake.  And the Jets did. 

Tennessee 24 Cincinnati 7
Aliens abducted Carson Palmer and replaced him with Alki Smith.
How else do you explain Palmer’s 2008 quarterback rating of 37.1, his lifetime rating is 88.8.  This is a player many pundits said was a top five quarterback in the league. 

Against the Tennessee Titans, Palmer went 16 for 27 with only 134 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.  Sadly, it was an improvement over his week one performance.  Palmer has yet to throw a touchdown in the `08 campaign and he’s not even completing 50% of his passes.

Denver 39 San Diego 38
Go for two.
Mike Shanahan was not about to let a coin toss decide his team’s fate in overtime (like it decided Seattle’s fate in their overtime loss to San Francisco).  With the Chargers sans timeout, back on their heels (thanks to Ed Hochuli’s bad call) and with only 24 seconds left in the game, Denver Broncos went for two. 

They converted and won the game.  Not only did Shanahan teach us a two-point conversion gives a team the same chance to win as overtime, he also taught us he’s got some serious guts.

Tampa Bay 24 Atlanta 9
Michael Turner’s HOF ceremony should be postponed.
Atlanta Falcons’ running back Michael Turner turned on the burners in Week One and rushed for 220 yards in 22 attempts.  In Week Two, he came back down to Earth and rushed for 42 yards in 14 attempts.  Of course, he was rushing against a team other than the Detroit Lions.

Green Bay 48 Detroit 25
Aaron Rodgers can play.
Before his Monday Night game against the Minnesota Vikings, Aaron Rodgers was the bust-in-waiting, the quarterback that was going to sink the playoff-ready Green Bay Packers into obscurity.  After two games, he’s the NFC’s second highest rated QB and his team is 2-0, both wins coming at the expense of division foes.