Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 2

I came into Week 2 of NFL regular season action on a high from a solid Saturday in NCAA football.  Although all three of my favorite teams won big--including Michigan storming back from being down 14 points in the first quarter at home to beat Colorado 45-28--my favorite game of the day was between two unranked teams, Maryland vs. Central Florida.  After UCF QB McKenzie Milton lost his third fumble of the game in the second overtime in a tie game at 24, Maryland freshman QB Tyrrell Pigrome had the daunting task of filling in for the injured Perry Hills.  However, there are few plays better in someone's first snap than to get a 24-yard TD run to win the game 30-24 in double OT and push your team under your first-year head coach DJ Durkin to 3-0.  Yeah...seeing another one of my favorite college football teams win in dramatic fashion definitely got me ready for football on Sunday.  So enough about the kids and let's talk about the grown man's game...

MEMO TO THE BUFFALO FRONT OFFICE: YOU FIRED THE WRONG GUY!!!  After contending with Bills general manager Doug Whaley about underutilizing the likes of Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins, making former offensive coordinator Greg Roman the first major casualty in a war potentially spelling the end of the Rex Ryan era was a fairly easy decision.  Granted, when you look at the offense's putrid 160-yard performance in Week 1 on the road against Baltimore, I understand the frustration.  Furthermore, what also didn't help the case for keeping Roman was despite leading the league in rushing last year and being in the top half in overall offense (No. 13), the Bills were 28th in passing.  However, Roman's offense contributed 24 of the 31 points scored in a 37-31 loss to the rival Jets on Thursday Night Football, including a 297-yard, three-touchdown performance from Tyrod Taylor--although Sammy Watkins wasn't much of a factor once again with only two catches for 20 yards.

Meanwhile, Rob Ryan continues to benefit from name association and now nepotism after coaching some of the most average and abysmal defenses in recent memory and now he's cursing his brother's already-underperforming unit as Assistant Head Coach/Defense.  As a whole, the defense got gashed for 493 yards of total offense on Thursday, including Matt Forte's 100 yards and 3 TDs as well as the Jets picking apart the strength of Buffalo's defense and one of the NFL's best CB duos in Stephon Gilmore and Ronald Darby.  Granted, Dennis Thurman is the actual defensive coordinator, but we all know the Ryan brothers have more pull when calling the shots because they're supposed to be chips off of the old block of the late, great Buddy Ryan.  Since they aren't going to fire themselves and they haven't yet drawn as much of the ire from Buffalo's executive level, Roman was the ideal scapegoat to send this simple message to the rest of the coaching staff: "Do better."

MEMO TO THE CLEVELAND BROWNS: LEBRON WON, SO WHY ARE Y'ALL STILL CURSED?!?!  Ever since Art Modell moved the original franchise to Baltimore in 1996 and the replacements returned three years later, the Browns continue to be one of the most woeful teams in the NFL and their quarterbacks are the biggest casualties of that bad juju.  In a long line of failures including Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel, I don't know too many people who viewed the arrival of Skins castaway Robert Griffin III--who could've been the Browns quarterback had Washington not jumped up to snag him in 2012--as a promising end to their troubles at field general.  Not even a full game into the 2016 campaign, RG3 suffered a shoulder injury sidelining him for the next ten to twelve weeks and effectively ending his chances of remaining the Browns starting QB.  (Let many folks tell it, his shoulder injury may have dashed his last chance to be an NFL starter.)

In Sunday's game against the Ravens, their 20-point performance in the first quarter was their best in an opening quarter in seven years as Josh McCown once again played substitute teacher with two early TD passes--both to rookie Corey Coleman out of Baylor--along with an 85-yard TD run from Isaiah Crowell.  However, they forgot to come back in the latter three quarters as Baltimore held them scoreless for the rest of the game, scored 25 unanswered points to win the game and further secured Cleveland as the perpetual bottom feeders of the AFC North.  With both Griffin and McCown out due to injury, rookie Cody Kessler will be the Browns fifth starting QB in the last five games, making them only the second team since the AFL-NFL merger to have such a quarterback carousel.  Certain fan bases shouldn't have to endure such punishment and Browns fans could very well be the most afflicted of all in the Super Bowl era.

NOT THE IDEAL HOLLYWOOD ENDING, BUT A WIN IS A WIN.  After a 21-season stint in St. Louis that garnered the franchise's only Super Bowl win in 1999, one of the biggest discussions in the offseason was the Rams packing up once again, returning to the city they left over two decades ago and finally bringing NFL football back to Los Angeles.  However, despite drafting Cal quarterback and California native Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 Draft and the promise of Todd Gurley following up his solid rookie season, their offense still didn't strike fear in anyone's heart with Case Keenum starting at QB and an inconsistent receiving corps.  After the Niners blanked them 28-0 on Monday Night Football in the season opener, it merely confirmed what the doubters already knew.  If there was any comfort for Rams fans, they were facing the Seahawks, who they defeated in three of the last four meetings and swept last year in two close games.  In a defensive chess match keeping any touchdowns from the scoreboard, the Rams' offense played good enough to eke out a 9-3 win against a Seahawks team struggling in the absence of the now-retired Marshawn Lynch.  The Rams fanatics will have to wait until October 9th against the struggling Bills to see if they'll score the first NFL TD in the Los Angeles metropolitan area since Christmas Eve 1994.  For now, I'm sure they'll ride the high of the return of their prodigal sons who made them proud by winning the home opener.
 

THE DOUBLEHEADER OF THE WEEK: DALLAS COWBOYS 27, WASHINGTON REDSKINS 23.  In a back-and-forth game, this rivalry matchup lived up to the hype of "Dallas Week" in the Nation's Capital and deserved to be both "The Home Field Advantage of the Week" as well as "Scribbler's Game of the Week".  While the run game showed more flashes of life with Matt Jones, Kirk Cousins' struggles continued.  Although he has a gunslinger's arm strength, he doesn't consistently have the accuracy as he missed two wide-open looks to Jamison Crowder and DeSean Jackson, which could've made the difference in the final score.  He did come out in the second half, look a little more like the Cousins who finished the second half of the 2015 season strong and made some accurate, decisive passes, including a 57-yard pass play to rookie Josh Doctson after the defense focused on DeSean Jackson and left him wide open.  Unfortunately, when he had another opportunity to bust the game open, he misread the defense and threw a costly red-zone interception to Barry Church--which permanently stole the momentum for the Cowboys--trying to thread the needle to Pierre Garçon.  Once the Cowboys grabbed the lead back on the Alfred Morris four-yard TD run--which I predicted would happen before the game because it had "revenge" written all over it, but was obvious once Ezekiel Elliott got a bad case of fumble-itis--he failed to read the defense once again as Justin Durant swatted down another tight-windowed pass to Garçon on 4th and 1 with under two minutes left in the game.

Defensively, I have no idea why Joe Barry or other defensive coordinators around the league are so bullish on keeping their best cornerbacks on one side of the field, but not making Josh Norman follow Dez Bryant the entire game was detrimental.  The tape of Bashaud Breeland's pitiful performance against Antonio Brown last week placed him squarely in Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan's crosshairs as plays were designed away from Norman and toward Breeland's side.  Although he threw no TD passes, the Skins defense still failed to disrupt rookie Dak Prescott's poise and presence in the pocket as he evaded pressure, used his mobility as a weapon in lieu of a crutch and constantly found  the open receiver.  Among his beneficiaries, Bryant more than made up for his one-catch-for-eight-yards performance against the Giants last week with seven catches for 102 yards--most of which were against Breeland, who defended him well last season--while the elusive Cole Beasley contributed another 75 yards on five receptions.  This is my thing: why pay a dude $75 million and not allow him to be the playmaker he has shown himself to be--including shutting down anyone who played on his side, forcing a fumble on Ezekiel Elliott and punching out what looked like a surefire Bryant catch?  Looks like Barry is doing to Norman what Greg Roman was reportedly doing to Sammy Watkins in Buffalo, which might not be a good look for Barry's job security.  

SCRIBBLER'S CHECKDOWNS: 

• CAR 46, SF 27: no need to worry, Charlotte...Cam is still Cam and Kelvin Benjamin is back while San Fran wasn't fortunate to face the Rams two weeks in a row;
• TEN 16, DET 15: Bashaud Breeland could learn something from Parrish Cox as he overcame being picked on all game with a game-ending INT and Marcus Mariota recovered from last week's inconsistent performance at home;
• HOU 19, KC 12: it doesn't matter who's throwing, running or catching the ball in Houston as long as J.J. Watt is leading that defense.  Next; 
• NE 31, MIA 24: this game might've been more of a beatdown if Jimmy Garoppolo didn't suffer an AC joint injury in the 2nd quarter because he was having another impressive showing.  All rookie Jacoby Brissett has to do is win at least one of the next two games--one of those against the aforementioned Watt.  God's speed, bro;
• NYG 16, NO 13: Brees continues not to be as great of a road warrior as he is a Sunday stud at home while the Giants' defense and special teams are rising.  G-Men continue to look like potential frontrunners for the NFC East crown;
• PIT 24, CIN 16: Big Ben is a man possessed, DeAngelo Williams continues his rebirth in Pittsburgh and the Steelers' defense shut down A.J. Green.  However, the real story is the latest contender for the most gangsta name in the NFL in TE Jesse James.  Ray-Ray Armstrong...your crown is in jeopardy, bruh;
• ARI 40, TB 7: Carson Palmer and Famous Jameis changed places from their performances last week as Palmer returned to form while Winston had a terrible day at the office.  Meanwhile, Marcus Cooper might've solved the question mark at the other corner position;
• DEN 34, IND 20: Von Miller is worth the money, Andrew Luck isn't looking like it so far and there should've never been Aqib Talib trade rumors.  With rookie Trevor Siemian holding his own at QB beyond expectations, the Broncos are still the team to beat in the AFC West;
• ATL 35, OAK 28: although Carr continues to keep games close along with "Blackjack" Del Rio's gutsy calls, the Raiders defense is atrocious. Specifically, Sean Smith's nickname needs to be "Toaster Setting No. 9";
• SD 38, JAX 14: Philip Rivers & Co. actually held on to a 21-point lead this time around and Travis Benjamin is confirming everything I've seen in him since his Cleveland days, especially in the absence of Keenan Allen.  Meanwhile, it's the same ol' Jags aka "Just Another Good Showing" as NFL analyst Ross Tucker would say;
• MIN 17, GB 14: 65 yards of total offense in the first half for Mr. Discount Double Check and the Cheese Heads says it all as Mike Zimmer's defense clamped down, especially Trae Waynes' as he redeemed himself Parrish Cox style with a victory-sealing INT.  Meanwhile, Sam Bradford played one of his best games and Stefon Diggs might be a problem.  Don't be surprised if the NFC North crown goes through US Bank Stadium;
• PHI 29, CHI 7: despite having a team full of Featherstones, rookie Carson Wentz made some pinpoint-accurate throws while the Eagles' defense looks improved under Jim Schwartz so far.  If Ryan Mathews can stay healthy, the Birds might have something to say about that NFC East crown.