Judging biggest overreactions for NFL Week 2 games

ARLINGTON, Texas — Brian Schottenheimer was having a rough week.

The Dallas Cowboys’ first-year head coach had three extra days to sit with a tough season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles before coaching again Sunday against the New York Giants. Early last week, both of his dogs were bitten by snakes. On Friday, his 82-year-old mother broke her arm and was hospitalized.

“So I was hoping things would turn around at some point,” Schottenheimer said after Sunday’s game.

They did, of course. Then they turned back the other way. Then back his way. Then back the other way. Then back his way when the Cowboys were able to pull out a 40-37 overtime victory over the Giants to give Schottenheimer his first win as an NFL head coach.

This game was packed with potential overreactions. In the fourth quarter alone — when 41 total points were scored, the final three on a game-tying, 64-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal — you could have argued that Russell Wilson is more than good enough to keep Jaxson Dart on the bench, Malik Nabers would lead the league in receiving yards this season, the Cowboys’ defense isn’t good enough to get them to the playoffs or that Aubrey should get more MVP voting attention. In overtime, which nearly went the distance, you could have argued that Wilson isn’t good enough to hold off the rookie, a fully healthy Dak Prescott is going to be back in the MVP conversation again this season or that Javonte Williams — not George Pickens — was the Cowboys’ most important offseason pickup.

The game featured 984 total yards, 26 accepted penalties (and many, many more that were declined or offset), three different wide receivers going over 100 yards and five fourth-quarter lead changes. It was bonkers. When it was over, Prescott and team owner Jerry Jones gifted Schottenheimer a game ball in a postgame ceremony he characterized as emotional. Schottenheimer’s voice was hoarse, and he was asked when it would come back.

“After a couple of Schotties,” he said. A “Schotty,” he explained, is vodka, water and three lemons.

After a game like that, the coach wasn’t overreacting. But we are. Let’s sort through the Week 2 overreactions to try and figure out which ones might hold up and which ones are mirages.

Jump to:
Cowboys have playoff-worthy offense?
is Lions’ offense just fine without Ben Johnson?
Could Steelers’ defense cost them?
Are Eagles-Chiefs still Super Bowl quality?
Is Jones this season’s Darnold?

The Cowboys’ offense is good enough to get them into the playoffs

It was an ugly start. The Giants committed six penalties on an opening drive that covered nearly nine minutes and kept the Cowboys’ offense on the sideline until deep into the first quarter. Dallas looked rusty when it finally did get out there, and the Cowboys trailed 13-10 at halftime and only led 17-16 at the start of the fourth quarter.

But when it was over, Prescott had thrown for 361 yards and run for 17 more. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had 112 yards on nine catches. Pickens added five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown that put Dallas up by four with 52 seconds left in regulation. Williams, the former Broncos running back the Cowboys signed this offseason for next to nothing, ended with 97 rushing yards, a touchdown and 33 more yards on six catches.

The line is playing well. The quarterback looks like he’s in fantastic shape coming off last season’s injury. (“Rehab went really well, guys,” Prescott said when asked about his 14-yard scramble that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime.) The addition of Pickens might have unlocked some things, especially if Williams is really having his own resurgence.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION

I’m not a fool. I recognize that Dallas’ defense is going to have to be better than this. And I think it will be. Dallas is very shorthanded right now in the secondary, with cornerback DaRon Bland having joined the ranks of the injured this past week. But he’ll be back in a few weeks, as will rookie corner Shavon Revel Jr., whom the Cowboys are very high on. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown will also return from injury at some point, and after the game Jones announced that the team had signed veteran edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

The Cowboys couldn’t do a thing Sunday against Nabers (or Wan’Dale Robinson, for that matter) until overtime, but reinforcements are on the way. And as they showed in the Week 1 loss to the Eagles and again Sunday, the offense is going to be very tough to stop. Whenever Prescott has played a fully healthy season, the Cowboys have been a playoff contender. I don’t see why they can’t be this season.

The Lions’ offense is going to be just fine without Ben Johnson

It is possible people were doing some heavy overreacting last week, when Detroit struggled in the season opener against the Green Bay Packers. But it’s also possible the Packers are a monster team on both sides of the ball, as Washington couldn’t do much against them either this week.

The Lions rebounded Sunday, dropping 52 points on a Chicago Bears team that Johnson, their former offensive coordinator, is now coaching. They looked a lot more like what we’re used to. Quarterback Jared Goff had 334 yards and five touchdown passes. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught three of those. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery each ran for a touchdown. It was like old times. Must have looked quite familiar to Johnson, who must have hated it.

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Amon-Ra St. Brown hauls in his 3rd TD of the game

Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown connect for a 3rd time to pad the Lions lead.

Verdict: OVERREACTION

We have one bad and one good, so let’s see some more good before we assume all is well, right? I’m not necessarily as worried about John Morton’s ability to replace Johnson as offensive coordinator as I am about the interior of the Lions’ offensive line following the surprise offseason retirement of longtime center Frank Ragnow. It was the issues up front that were most worrisome in Week 1, and I think we need to see the reconfigured line in action for a few weeks before we decide whether it’s going to be able to hold up.

And remember, when we say “just fine” about the Lions, we’re talking about Super Bowl contender-fine. The standards are high in Detroit. The Lions could still be a very good team and not be the same kind of wagon they were on offense last season. They also could still be elite on offense. I just don’t think we have enough evidence either way, and the interior offensive line questions leave some room to wonder.

The Steelers’ defense will keep them from making the playoffs

So much attention has been paid this offseason to Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense and how it would come together around quarterback Aaron Rodgers, wide receiver DK Metcalf and a rebuilt running back room. And they scored 34 points in a Week 1 victory over the New York Jets, so it seemed like things might be cool. But they also gave up 32 in that same game. And in Sunday’s home-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks, they gave up 31 more while the offense looked considerably more lackluster.

The Steelers were outgained 395 yards to 267 and turned the ball over twice. Those 267 yards, by the way, are only four fewer than they gained in Week 1, when the Jets helped them out with some turnovers and short fields. So through two games, Pittsburgh is averaging 269.0 yards per game on offense and 394.5 yards allowed per game on defense. If not for a Chris Boswell 60-yard field goal at the end of Week 1, Pittsburgh would be 0-2.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION

We assume the Steelers will always be great on defense. We take it as a given. That’s why the talk has been about whether the offense can be good enough around the 41-year-old Rodgers. Not elite — the thought is that the Steelers just need to be good enough on offense and their normally elite defense and special teams will take care of the rest. Even if they’re going to be a great offense, it’s probably going to take some time for it all to come together.

But what if the defense isn’t great? What if this is the year it starts to show cracks? The names all sound good — T.J. Watt, Jalen Ramsey, Cameron Heyward, Patrick Queen, Darius Slay, Alex Highsmith, etc. — but it’s one of the oldest units in the league and at some point some of these guys might not be as great as they used to be.

This is the first time since 2002 that the Steelers have allowed 30 or more points in each of their first two games of the season. It’s the first time since 2021 that they’ve allowed 30 or more points in consecutive games at any point of a season. Could Mike Tomlin & Co. get it turned around? Of course. But if they give up 30 more to Drake Maye and the New England Patriots next Sunday in Foxborough, it might be time to worry.

Neither the Chiefs nor the Eagles will return to the Super Bowl this season

Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch was a defensive slog between an Eagles team still putting its passing game together and a Kansas City Chiefs team missing the bulk of its wide receiver depth chart. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes kept Kansas City in the game with his legs, but it turned on a fourth-quarter interception that bounced off of Travis Kelce’s hands at the goal line and then a couple runs of the Eagles’ patented “tush push” — an abomination of a play that 22 of the league’s 32 teams voted to outlaw this past offseason and on which the officials ignored multiple obvious false starts by the offensive linemen.

The Eagles came out of the game 2-0, but other than a bunch of cool scrambles by quarterback Jalen Hurts in the opener against the Cowboys, the offense has looked stuck in the mud. The Chiefs came out of the game 0-2, and outside of some brilliant running by Mahomes in both games, their offense has looked nonexistent. The Chiefs’ Week 1 loss was to the Los Angeles Chargers, one of the two other teams in their division that made the playoffs last season, so they’re behind the 8-ball in a way they haven’t been in quite a while.

Verdict: OVERREACTION

The Chiefs have played in the last three Super Bowls, so forgive me if I need to see them mathematically eliminated before I buy that they can’t get to the next one. If Mahomes were to lose an AFC Championship Game in regulation, that would be the earliest a Chiefs season has ended with him as their starting quarterback. The receivers will get healthy, Rashee Rice will be back from his suspension after Week 6, and no team in the league has proven better at solving their problems in-season than Andy Reid’s Chiefs have. They aren’t out of this yet by any stretch.

The Eagles have played in two of the last three Super Bowls, so it’s almost as foolish to write them off. They’re 2-0 without having played particularly well, which is something Chiefs teams of the recent past can relate to. The Eagles are coming together around a new offensive coordinator, but with Hurts as their leader Philadelphia has what it takes to weather early-season struggles and still keep winning. I’m not telling you to expect a rematch of the Super Bowl, and it’s possible neither one of these teams makes it back. But it’s nuts to rule them both out at this early stage of the season.

Darnold was one of the great stories of the 2024 season. A former top-10 pick who flopped with the Jets and bounced around for a couple of years before landing in Minnesota with head coach and QB guru Kevin O’Connell, Darnold led the Vikings to 14 wins last year in his seventh NFL season while throwing a career-high 35 touchdown passes.

Jones is a former top-10 pick who flopped with the Giants and actually spent the final part of last season with O’Connell and Darnold in Minnesota before signing with the Colts this offseason. He beat out former top-10 pick Anthony Richardson Sr. for the starting QB job and after a brilliant 29-28 comeback victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, he has the Colts 2-0 to start the season.

Jones is 45-for-63 (71%) passing with 588 yards and two touchdown passes in his first two games and also has rushed for 26 yards and three touchdowns. It was one thing to do it in Week 1 against a Miami Dolphins defense that has yet to stop anybody. But the Broncos are supposed to have one of the best defenses in the league, and Jones had his way with Denver on Sunday.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION

Why not? Jones has talent. We’ve seen him get a team into the playoffs before. The Colts have a lot of good pieces around him, including running back Jonathan Taylor, a stout offensive line, rookie tight end Tyler Warren and a fair number of really good players on defense. Their coach, Shane Steichen, got the Indianapolis job in part because of the work he did with Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, and he nearly made the playoffs two years ago with Gardner Minshew playing quarterback.

Could this be a situation where Jones has a Darnold/Geno Smith-style resurgence and cashes in with a big new contract in the offseason? Stranger things have certainly happened.