10 Things We Learned: Week 2 Sunday Edition

By Jonathan Comey
Cold. Hard Football Facts Writer Guy

Here are 10 things we learned Sunday afternoon, as the pass-happy 2011 season got even pass-happier with some incredible performances by the best group of signal callers since Rommel.

1. Matthew Stafford and Cam Newton are erasing the stain JaMarcus Russell left on the No. 1 overall pick.

It’s now Newton 2, Haters 0, after the No. 1 pick overall became one of seven quarterbacks, ever, to throw back-to-back 400-yard games on the stat sheet. He wasn’t as good against Green Bay (three picks), but he passed for 432 and ran for 53 more. Has anyone told him he’s not still playing against college kids?

If there’s been a better opening statement by any rookie player in any major sport, we certainly don’t remember it.

As for Stafford, consider that he picked apart a pretty good Chiefs’ secondary – without going to Calvin Johnson much. Megatron only had three catches, but Nate Burleson, Titus Young and Jahvid Best combined for 18 catches and 248 yards.

That’s pretty much the hallmark of a good quarterback, and Stafford clearly is one – he was brilliant all preseason (154.7 rating) and followed it up with 118.9 and 106.1 ratings to go with the 90.2 and 94.7 games he had at midseason before injury in 2010.

Newton is 22, Stafford is 23. Scary stuff, as an NFL stocked to the teeth with franchise quarterbacks gains two more that are barely old enough to drink.

2. The Vikings, Colts and Dolphins can start making vacation plans in January.

It’s tempting to add Kansas City to this mix after their ridiculously bad start, but at least they can say they’re only a game behind in a weak-ish AFC West.

But the Vikings are two behind Green Bay and Detroit with their loss, and it feels like it might as well be 20. When you get booed off the field in your home opener, good things are unlikely to ensue. Minnesota’s offense got going, but the defense was bad all last year and shows little sign it’s improved this year.

The Colts are also two behind the Texans in the AFC South (2.5 with a head-to-head loss), and Kerry Collins is simply not going to get it done. We could use some Cold, Hard Football Facts to make this point further, but do we really have to?

And then we’ve got the Dolphins. They’re behind the triple suns of the AFC East (all 2-0), and where’s the improvement coming from? Chad Henne’s playing above his career norms, and it has meant nothing in terms of wins and losses. They’ve had a tough start on the schedule with New England and Houston, but it’s not exactly getting easier with trips to Cleveland, San Diego and the Jets the next three games out.

3. But yeah, the Chiefs are probably done too.

According to the pro-football-reference.com search engine, only four teams have ever allowed as many points as the Chiefs did in their first two weeks (89). The record for most points allowed in Weeks 1 and 2 was 102, by the 1973 Saints – who finished with a respectable five wins, which is probably where the Chiefies are heading with Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry out for the year.

When you lose a guy (Charles) who has averaged 6.1 yards a carry FOR HIS CAREER, well, that’s not good. Dexter McCluster will have to fill that role with gusto if they’re going to get back in it.

It looks like a real long shot – but they’re only a game behind the flawed threesome of Denver, Oakland and San Diego, and the cupboard isn’t completely bare. They play the Vikings in Week 4 and the Colts in Week 5, so we’ll see what Matt Cassel – so good at times in 2010 – is made of.

4. Getting a 100 passer rating in a game isn’t easy … unless you’re Tom Brady.

Has Tom Brady been good lately? How about this for a 10-game regular-season run: 10 wins, no losses, 10 straight games with passer ratings over 100, 29 touchdowns, one interception. Is there any proof that Brady is not at least partially bionic?

(It’s notable that Brady was also pretty decent in the playoff loss to the Jets that came in between this run, finishing with an 89.0 rating in the loss to the Jets – he didn’t lose the game for New England, he just failed to win it for them.)

He’s averaged more than 10 yards a throw five times in his last eight regular season games – that’s a number many good quarterbacks don’t reach in their entire careers. The aforementioned Kerry Collins has done it nine times in 197 lifetime games.

With 940 yards in two games, Brady needs to average 290.0 yards per game the rest of the way to become the third QB ever to hit the 5,000-yard mark. At his current pace, he’d top 5,000 yards in Week 11.

He is … the most interesting man in the world.

5. If the Patriots and Packers meet in the Super Bowl, will there be any punts?

Aaron Rodgers (126.4 rating through two games) and Brady (128.0) are making a mockery of opposing pass defenses – maybe thanks to getting their confidence against their own secondaries in practice.

The Packers have allowed 800 passing yards and a 92.9 rating, the Patriots 762 yards and a 95.4 rating. The only saving grace for either team has been interceptions – three each, suggesting that both teams are playing a riskier style that fits their nearly unstoppable offenses. Neither secondary has looked as bad as their stats.

But if these are the favorites to meet up in Indianapolis this February (and Vegas says they are), we could be looking at the offensive matchup of all time.

6. Norv Turner giveth and he taketh away.

With any head coach, over a long haul all you can do is judge him by how his team plays. So where does that leave Turner? He’s a master at getting his teams to move the ball, but can’t get them to make the plays when they matter most. They’re like a Georges Seurat painting – they look great far away, but the closer you get they’re just useless blobs of color.

(We’ll wait while you Google Georges Seurat. Done? Cool.)

In the end, they make too many dumb mistakes and don’t win enough games they’re in late. We uncovered one of the most amazing stats we can remember this week – San Diego has been either ahead or within a single score of the lead in the fourth quarter EVERY WEEK SINCE SEPT. 2007. They were there again vs. New England Sunday, but failed to get it done.

It’s pretty great that you can fail to be blown out once in 64 straight games, but their record is only 41-23 over that span. That’s 23 games they could have won but didn’t -- a testament to Turner’s schemes, but a knock on his ability to ensure discipline.

7. The NFC West looks like first to eight wins gets in again.

The 49ers and Cardinals are 1-1, the Rams are 0-1 and likely to be 0-2 and the Seahawks seem like they’ve already lost three times despite it being just Week 2.

The Cardinals are the only team of the four who can say that they’ve got a unit that looks playoff-worthy  -- the offense. Arizona  averaged a whopping 7.0 yards a play in the opener vs. Carolina, and followed it up with 6.8 yards a play at Washington Sunday. That’s impressive stuff. Chalk one up for Arizona management – the Kevin Kolb-less Cardinals didn’t come remotely close to those type of numbers in 2010.

As for San Francisco, the 49ers’ great defensive effort of Week 1 was just so-so in Week 2. They stopped the run but allowed 427 net passing yards – and they don’t have the offense to win a game like that.

8. Chalk another one up for Cold, Hard Football Facts comeback tracker Scott Kacsmar.

In the leadup to the Thursday night opener between Green Bay and New Orleans, our Captain Comeback detailed the curious case of Aaron Rodgers and his “front-runner” status. Rodgers then got the Packers out in front early, but watched as the Saints almost came back to tie it late.

This week, he detailed Tony Romo’s real record as a clutch QB – not half bad, when compared to some of the best of today and yesterday. How does Romo respond? With a nice fourth-quarter comeback and overtime win.

He finished with 345 yards on 33 attempts, no interceptions, despite the Cowboys’ continuing inability to run the ball (22 carries, 45 yards). And he did it with a cracked rib. Ballsy stuff for a guy who we’re supposed to believe is lacking in cojones.

Who will Kacsmar put under the Cold, Hard microscope next week? Stay tuned.

9. The Steelers’ shutout of Seattle was one of the most predictable games in the history of professional sports. The Ravens’ loss to Tennessee was one of the least.

Pittsburgh made unofficial gambling history by being favored by 14.5 points a week after a 28-point loss – and did anyone think they wouldn’t cover? All the pieces were in play: team coming off an outlier game (on the road) returns home to play a terrible team that always loses big (Seattle) and doesn’t have a quarterback (Tarvaris Jackson). And the Steelers took care of business with a 24-0 win that could have been 42-0. Seattle didn’t have the ball over midfield until the fourth quarter.

While the Steelers looked like a lock, so did AFC North foe Balitmore, playing at a Tennessee team that couldn’t even beat Jacksonville in Week 1. Result? A 26-13 win that was no fluke. Tennessee averaged 6.1 yards a play to Baltimore’s 4.4, and wideouts Kenny Britt and Nate Washington combined for 16 catches and 234 yards. The Ravens, Steelers, Bengals and Browns are all 1-1 as a result, and Titan fans are feeling optimism for the first time in almost a calendar year.

10. All Fred Jackson wanted was a chance.

For six years, Jackson has been in the mix with Buffalo. He made the team in 2006 as a 25-year-old rookie, and didn’t play a down. They drafted Marshawn Lynch in the first round in 2007, but Lynch never quite made it and Jackson was the better back when getting the chance. The Bills gave up on Lynch after a month in 2010, but only after drafting C.J. Spiller in the first round the prior summer.

Meanwhile, the Coe College product just gets it done. Since getting the starting job for Buffalo in Week 5 last year, Jackson has 1,069 yards rushing in 14 games with a healthy 4.51 yards per carry average – which is right around his career average of 4.53. That’s not half bad. More important, when Jackson gets the ball enough to pile up 100 yards, the Bills win – they are 8-1 when Jackson gets 100 in a game, and that’s saying something for a team that has been under .500 for almost his entire career.

Are the Bills for real? We’ll see how they do against the Patriots (Sunday), Jets and NFC East, but they’ve already done more than most people thought they would.

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