The NFL Roundup 2020: Week 2 – What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​Well another week of NFL football is in the books my fellow fans and what a week it turned out to be. Because the normally chill Week 2 ended up being quite the rollercoaster ride, one filled with big time wins and some supremely epic storylines. The kind that will have a major impact on the rest of the 2020 campaign, and they will motivate us (and every Fantasy manager out there) to talk for days on end about what we saw this weekend and well, let’s not waste any time today and dig right into those storylines and everything we learned from Week 2 in the NFL. 

The Denver Broncos need to make serious changes to their offensive line.
Sunday was a rough day for the Denver Broncos. For not only did they lose their star wide receiver to a devastating knee injury, they also saw their future franchise quarterback leave the game hurt, and while the injury bug is nothing new in 2020 since a great many big names went down hurt on Sunday (more on that later), Drew Lock’s health issues could have been avoided. Because if his offensive tackles weren’t getting beat on every single play, he likely would have played the entire game, and changed its outcome. But alas, here we are. Which means that the time has come for the Broncos to do something drastic at that position, because these third team value tackles just aren’t cutting it. So, hopefully John Elway does something in the next few weeks to bolster that position because Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson are costing Denver games.
 
The Atlanta Falcons are in need of some soul searching.
Make no mistake about it, the Dallas Cowboys should have lost on Sunday. But they didn’t despite being down by twenty points at the half and really, their victory came about by way of incompetent coaching and poor play on the Falcons part. Because once again, the Falcons got comfortable and relaxed with the lead like they did in Super Bowl LI, and once again, that cost them a major win. Which means that at this point, this team needs to do some serious soul searching. Because while they harbor a lot of talent and some smart coaches, they don’t seem hungry to win or put away an opponent, they just expect to win on merit or finesse and that doesn’t fly in this league. So, hopefully this team really takes the time this week to ponder upon their identity and their mantra on both offense and defense, and what they need to do to actually close out a game, so that this squad quits embarrassing themselves with sub-par and lazy play.
 
The Los Angeles Chargers might want to think about keeping Justin Herbert under center.
There was a great deal of surprise on Sunday when rookie QB Justin Herbert trotted out onto the field to start for the Chargers. Simply because everyone thought that Tyrod Taylor was going to be the guy and there’s still talk now about him leading this team once he is healthy from his chest injury. But honestly, why bother putting him back in the lineup? Because obviously the long-term plan is Herbert, that’s why the Chargers drafted him and quite frankly… he did a bang-up job on Sunday. After all, he hung with the Champs and gave them a run for their money and that’s no small feat. So, to heck with it. Start the kid from here on out, take your lumps and plan for the future because Herbert is clearly what this team was hoping for when they made that life-changing call during the draft. 

The Seattle Seahawks provided the league with a blueprint for beating the Patriots.
Once again, the football world is ablaze over Cam Newton and the New England Patriots and well... they shouldn’t be. Because New England lost, and a big reason why is because the Seattle Seahawks figured out how to neutralize the Patriots offense. Because despite the fact that Cam threw for a boatload of yards on Sunday Night, he did so against a depleted Seattle secondary, one that still found a way to stop the passing game since Cam turned the ball over in the air and only scored one touchdown with his arm. And his vaunted leg work was put to rest at the end of the game, which means that Seattle has given the entire league a simple blueprint for beating this team down the line, and it won’t be long before other squads work to blanket the Pats’ receiving corps in a similar manner and play containment against Cam in order to keep him from running. Which means that if the Pats want to win, they have to find a way to get Cam to play like a pocket passer and it should be interesting to see if that is something he is still capable of, or if this flash and dash offense is all that he and the Patriots can offer. 
 
Expect the league’s injury problem to get worse before it gets better.
Make no mistake about it, Sunday was one of the worst days fans have ever seen when it comes to the injury bug. Because big name after big name went down on Sunday and while injuries are indeed part of everyday life in the NFL, this particular problem is going to continue along for the next couple of weeks. Because this mess is a direct result of the lack of an offseason program and a lack of preseason games, since those key programs and games would have allowed for a great many players to get their bodies in game shape for the long season ahead. Which means that more marquee names will head to injured reserve in the next few weeks, and it should be interesting to see how teams respond to this rash of injuries since some of the guys they’re losing, are transformative players that simply cannot be replaced in the lineup.  

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