Saints continue historic start with victory over Cowboys, last-second field goal helps Chiefs down Bengals: NFL Week 2 Sunday review
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — The NFL season continues to provide drama, thrills and plays worthy of praise. The 14 games on Sunday were no exception, providing no shortage of entertainment, with each matchup seemingly having drama and noteworthy moments.
Here are the main storylines from Week 2’s Sunday games:
Saints continue hot start to season
Before the start of the season, The Athletic ran a survey of fans of all 32 NFL teams to evaluate their hopes for the upcoming season. The ‘Hope-O-Meter’ had the New Orleans Saints ranked last out of all teams, as supporters expressed trepidation for the 2024 campaign.
But after two weeks, those fears look misplaced after the team’s second offensive explosion put the Dallas Cowboys away with a convincing 44-19 victory.
For the second straight week, the Saints offense – under new coordinator Klint Kubiak – was almost unstoppable, with a combination of big plays from quarterback Derek Carr and elusive running from Alvin Kamara.
Against the Cowboys, New Orleans scored touchdowns on its first six possessions, with Kamara racking up four himself and another coming from a 70-yard Carr throw to Rashid Shaheed.
A tipped interception ended that streak, but by then, the damage was already done as the Saints arrived in Texas and stunned the Cowboys in their house.
Having scored 47 points in their opener, the Saints have now tallied 91 points in their two games this season. According to the NFL, only two teams since 1970 have scored the same or more in their first two games since 1970 – the 1971 Cowboys (91 points) and 2009 Saints (93) – and both went on to win the Super Bowl.
For Kamara – who finished with 180 total yards and four touchdowns – it was his second career game with at least 150 total yards and four TDs, leaving the Saints running back in good company.
The other two players in the Super Bowl era with more 150+ yard and four-plus TD games are Hall of Fame running backs LaDainian Tomlinson (four) and Marshall Faulk (three), per the NFL.
However, head coach Dennis Allen was adamant that his team wasn’t getting ahead of itself, despite the red hot opening to the season.
“Look, this, this was a good football team that we played, and we were certainly ready to go play the game,” Allen told reporters. “And yet I don’t think we looked at this as anything other than this is the next corner on our schedule, and really it’s about us.
“It’s about us going out and doing the things that we know that we can do for us to be successful. And that’s really what we focused on. And yeah, that’s a really good football team that we just played. And so, hopefully, our team will gain some confidence with that.”
For the Cowboys, it was a disappointing home opener after an impressive Week 1 victory against the Cleveland Browns.
Quarterback Dak Prescott looked scrambled throughout, throwing two interceptions and one touchdown.
Prescott said afterwards that he’s “confident” in Dallas’ ability to bounce back next time out.
“I know I can go in there and set the example of how we’re going to move forward, how we’re going to respond and how we’re going to approach this week. Understanding it’s a process,” he told reporters.
“I already echo it in the locker room how we’re not going undefeated. Coach McCarthy said that at the end of the day, wipe that all behind. We’re going to learn from it. Can’t wipe it until we’ve learned from it. We build off it.”
Last-second field goal helps Chiefs down Bengals
The rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals has been one of the AFC’s most heated – and the latest edition of the match-up was enthralling.
There was little to separate the two teams for most of the encounter, with both squads trading touchdowns and field goals.
Evan McPherson’s field goal midway through the fourth gave the Bengals a narrow two-point advantage and, after exchanging punts, the Chiefs got the ball back with just over two minutes remaining, needing a score.
Kansas City superstar Patrick Mahomes was able to move the ball down the field – helped by a defensive pass interference call on Cincinnati’s Daijahn Anthony on fourth-and-16 which moved the ball 29 yards downfield to the Bengals’ 36-yard line.
And after moving the ball a few yards further, the offense set up a 51-yard field goal for Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker to rifle through the uprights as time expired to give Kansas City a 26-25 win and move to 2-0 on the season.
It wasn’t a pretty display for the Chiefs – Mahomes was intercepted twice as the offense struggled to find explosive plays outside of a 44-yard touchdown catch from Rashee Rice – but they now have an undefeated start to the new season as they aim for a historic Super Bowl three-peat.
After the game, Mahomes said the Chiefs have a lot to improve on, but the team’s two tough wins speak volumes.
“It just shows that we can still do it,” he said. “Those are two great football teams [that] we’ve played these last two weeks, teams that we’ve played in AFC Championship games.
“To be able to come out with wins, at home, that’s important. Obviously, we feel like we can get a lot better. We’re going to clean up the mistakes, especially on the offense. It starts with me and then we’ll be a better team [going] forward as the season goes on.”
It’s a less positive start to the season for the Bengals, who are now winless through two weeks.
It was a more promising performance though after a Week 1 upset defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots, with quarterback Joe Burrow looking much more like himself.
The defense was a disruptive force throughout too – coming up with three turnovers – with defensive end Trey Hendrickson particularly proving to be a thorn in Mahomes’ side.
But in the end, it was another defeat for Cincinnati who host the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football in Week 3.
Ravens, Lions suffer upset home losses
Both the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions have aspirations of reaching the Super Bowl.
But each team suffered a surprise upset defeat at home on Sunday, with the Ravens losing 26-23 to the Las Vegas Raiders and the Lions downed 20-16 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Baltimore – who had lost a thrilling season-opener to the Chiefs in Week 1 – were strong favorites against Las Vegas and looked to be on the way to bouncing back as they held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
But through a combination of the Raiders’ offensive ability and Baltimore’s self-inflicted woe – the Ravens had 11 penalties for 109 yards on Sunday – Las Vegas clawed its way back into the contest, eventually taking the lead on a field goal with 31 seconds remaining.
Lamar Jackson and Co. couldn’t produce a last-second miracle to rescue the win, meaning the Ravens fell to 0-2 and need to dramatically improve if they want to reach their lofty ceiling.
“Disappointing loss,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told reporters afterwards.
“Tough loss. Could have gone our way for sure, but we didn’t get the job done. 0-2. We are going to play a 17-game season, and we will be defined by the next 15 games.
“So that’s going to be our objective to play the best 15 games we can, be the best football team we can be. If we do that, we’re going to have a really good season and have a shot to win a lot of games and get in the playoffs and make a run. So that’s what we have to do big picture.”
Over in the NFC, the Lions were also upset at home, with the Bucs avenging last season’s playoff loss at the hands of Detroit in impressive fashion.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield was excellent for the second week in a row, despite being continuously harassed by Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson; the former No. 2 overall pick had 4.5 sacks against Tampa Bay, the second-most by a Detroit player since individual sacks were first tracked in 1982.
Mayfield’s connection with Chris Godwin was productive throughout, with the wide receiver finishing with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Mayfield ran for what ended up being the game-winning touchdown in the third quarter.
Although the Bucs offense couldn’t seal the victory in the fourth, the defense did enough to put the clamps on Jared Goff and the Lions offense to close out a famous victory and start the season 2-0.
Full Week 2 Sunday scores
Away @ home (winners in bold)
(1-1) Las Vegas Raiders 26-23 Baltimore Ravens (0-2)
(2-0) Los Angeles Chargers 26-3 Carolina Panthers (0-2)
(2-0) New Orleans Saints 44-19 Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
(2-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-16 Detroit Lions (1-1)
(0-2) Indianapolis Colts 10-16 Green Bay Packers (1-1)
(1-1) Cleveland Browns 18-13 Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2)
(1-1) San Francisco 49ers 17-23 Minnesota Vikings (2-0)
(2-0) Seattle Seahawks 23-20 (OT) New England Patriots (1-1)
(1-1) New York Jets 24-17 Tennessee Titans (0-2)
(0-2) New York Giants 18-21 Washington Commanders (1-1)
(0-2) Los Angeles Rams 10-41 Arizona Cardinals (1-1)
(2-0) Pittsburgh Steelers 13-6 Denver Broncos (0-2)
(0-2) Cincinnati Bengals 25-26 Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)
(1-1) Chicago Bears 13-19 Houston Texans (2-0)
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