Week 2 of the 2018 NFL season had some surprises and some fantastic games of football. Both teams that made it to Super Bowl LII last year suffered losses at the hands of quarterbacks that had great performances. There was a tie in a historic rivalry after a complex sequence of events at the end of regulation. Here’s that and more stories from week 2.

The Dallas Cowboys shot to the top of the NFC East with a 20-13 win over their division rival New York Giants. Dallas was up 20-3 late in the 4th quarter before New York rallied with ten quick points to narrow the gap, but it was too little, too late. Dallas improved to 1-1 with the win after their week 1 loss to the Panthers. Dallas had 6 sacks among 6 different players, including a sack by Pro-Bowler DeMarcus Lawrence (pictured above). The Giants defense had a hard time stopping Dallas, as they had zero sacks and zero interceptions. One noticeable difference in the Dallas offense was that more plays were set up for quarterback Dak Prescott to run the ball, as he ran for 45 yards on 7 carries. Giants safety Landon Collins was quite critical of Prescott heading into the game, saying, “Honestly, we really just have to focus on stopping Zeke. Making sure every run gap, we’re playing our gap assignments and make sure we close the air out of their running game. If we do that, put the ball into Dak’s hands, I think we have a better shot at winning.” (Courtesy of sportsday.dallasnews.com) Prescott responded to that, saying, “Challenge accepted.” (Courtesy of sportsday.dallasnews.com) After the game on Sunday, Prescott reflected on how he and his team responded to the statements made by Collins. “I kind of said ‘challenge accepted’ but I can tell that I wasn’t the only that accepted it,” Prescott said after the game. “This team accepted it. This offense accepted it. We wanted to go out there and show these guys.” (Courtesy of sportsday.dallasnews.com)

The Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots, who played each other in last season’s Super Bowl, both lost in week 2. The Eagles were defeated 27-21 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in Tampa while the Pats lost to Jacksonville 31-20. Ryan Fitzpatrick was stellar once again at quarterback for the Bucs, serving as a replacement for Jameis Winston while he serves his three-game suspension. “Fitzmagic”, as he is often nicknamed, passed for 402 yards and 4 touchdowns while throwing only one interception, and made fantasy football owners very happy for the second straight week. Fitzpatrick, who was wearing an unbuttoned shirt in his press conference after the game, said, “It’s nothing, man. We’ve just gotta make sure we stay humble [laughs].” (Courtesy of espn.com) DeSean Jackson also had another big game, recording 4 catches for 129 yards and one touchdown. He was another guy who thrilled fantasy owners this past week. Fortunately for the Eagles, Carson Wentz has been medically cleared to play in the Eagles week 3 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars defense, nicknamed Sacksonville, came up big, recording two sacks and forcing a fumble. Blake Bortles also came up big, having one of the best games of his career. He passed for 377 yards and 4 touchdowns while only throwing one interception. “I think anytime you win it is a good game,” Bortles said. “It’s a good football team obviously, so to beat them is a good win. I try to do whatever I can to make sure we can win, if it’s throwing for 300 yards or getting us in the right run-game checks or whatever it might be. It was definitely good for the most part today.” (Courtesy of espn.com)

The Packers and Vikings tied 29-29 in their game at Lambeau on Sunday after a missed field goal at the end of overtime by Daniel Carlson of the Vikings. Carlson was ultimately released on Tuesday because of going 0/3 on field goals in that game. The Vikings then signed former Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey as a replacement. A made field goal by Packers kicker Mason Crosby at the end of regulation did not count, as the Vikings called a timeout before the ball was snapped. Crosby then had to kick again, and missed, sending the game to overtime. Neither team scored at all in the ten minute overtime period, leaving the game in a 29-29 tie.

Maroon 5, the popular band featuring singer Adam Levine, were announced as the main act of the Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show. It will be interesting to see who they might bring along with them, if anyone. Possibly Cardi B, as they collaborated on their smash hit “Girls Like You.” With the Super Bowl being in Atlanta, could the rap trio Migos, consisting of Offset, Takeoff, and Quavo make an appearance? We’ll just have to find out.

Here are the scores from NFL week 2.

BAL 23 – 34 CIN
CAR 24 – 31 ATL
HOU 17 – 20 TEN
IND 21 – 9 WAS
KC 42 – 37 PIT
PHI 21 – 27 TB
MIA 20 – 12 NYJ
LAC 31 – 20 BUF
MIN 29 – 29 GB
CLE 18 – 21 NO
DET 27 – 30 SF
ARI 0 – 34 LAR
OAK 19 – 20 DEN
NE 20 – 31 JAX
NYG 13 – 20 DAL
SEA 17 – 24 CHI

My NFL MVP Rankings
1. Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Tampa Bay
2. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City
3. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay
4. Todd Gurley lll, RB, Los Angeles Rams
5. Von Miller, LB, Denver

Sources:
“2018 NFL Game Scores – Week 2.” CBSSports.com, CBS Sports, 2018, www.cbssports.com/nfl/scoreboard/all/2018/regular/2/.

Epstein, Jori. “Cowboys QB Dak Prescott Thought He Met Landon Collins’ Challenge. Did Collins?” SportsDay, 17 Sept. 2018, sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboys/2018/09/17/cowboys-qb-dak-prescott-thought-met-landon-collins-challenge-collins.

Laine, Jenna. “Bucs’ Ryan Fitzpatrick Throws for 400 Yards, 4 TDs in Win over Eagles.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 17 Sept. 2018, www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24702351/ryan-fitzpatrick-throws-4-tds-tampa-bay-buccaneers-win-philadelphia-eagles.

DiRocco, Michael. “Jaguars Put Game in Blake Bortles’ Hands and He Delivers with a Win.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 17 Sept. 2018, www.espn.com/blog/jacksonville-jaguars/post/_/id/25926/jaguars-put-game-in-blake-bortles-hands-and-he-delivers-with-win-over-patriots.

Written on September 19, 2018