10 takeaways from Week 2 of the NFL season

After two weeks of NFL football, we're starting to get a sense of which teams and players are poised for strong 2017 campaigns. Week 2 produced plenty of expected results, such as the Oakland Raiders pummeling the hapless New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts continuing to struggle on offense without quarterback Andrew Luck, but there were also a number of interesting games from which we gained some new knowledge. Let's take a look at 10 of the key takeaways from Week 2 of the 2017 NFL season.

The Bengals need to reboot

The Cincinnati Bengals were dominated again in Week 2, this time scoring just nine points against a Houston Texans defense that, while talented, gave up 29 points to a bad Jacksonville Jaguars offense in Week 1.

The Bengals became the first team since 1939 to open a season with two consecutive home games and fail to score a touchdown in either contest. Blame can be placed in a number of places, from recently fired offensive coordinator Ken Zampese to horrible offensive line play at every position, but it has become clear that quarterback Andy Dalton and head coach Marvin Lewis are not the types to dramatically elevate the team.

The thought has long been that Dalton and Lewis were somewhat mediocre, but they always stuck around in Cincinnati due to their ability to squeeze into the playoffs (though they'd always perform poorly and get knocked out in the first round).

Now that they are coming off a 6-9-1 season and have started the current campaign with consecutive abysmal performances, it's time for the front office to begin planning for the next chapter. There's not much the team can do now (aside from giving backup quarterback A.J. McCarron a look as the potential starter of the future), but it looks like the ceiling of Dalton and Lewis has proven to be a one-and-done playoff appearance.

Sam Bradford is still unreliable

Many were singing quarterback Sam Bradford's praises after he led the Minnesota Vikings to an impressive 29-19 win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 1. The Vikings offensive line played well, and the thought was that if Bradford could stay upright, he'd be able to stay healthy and make strong throws all year.

However, the fragile 29-year-old, who has a laundry list of injuries on his resume, surprisingly popped up on the injury report ahead of Week 2's matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he couldn't make it through warmups, resulting in Case Keenum being thrown into the fire against a tough Steelers defense.

The Vikings have a loaded roster which features an abundance of defensive talent and offensive playmakers like Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and rookie Dalvin Cook, but if Bradford is unable to stay on the field, the team will be hard-pressed to beat quality competition. The Vikings are fortunate to have a quality backup in Teddy Bridgewater, who is recovering from a knee injury of his own but should be ready to play at some point in the middle of the season.

The Vikings better hope that Bridgewater can return to pre-injury form, because it's going to be difficult to count on Bradford to play for any extended stretch.

The Patriots are fine

Most football fans probably knew the New England Patriots would bounce back after their 42-27 season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but it was nice to get some confirmation in the form of an easy 36-20 win over the New Orleans Saints. While most of us have learned to never doubt Tom Brady, the legendary quarterback is 40 years old and surely can't play forever (...I think).

Any time a player that old struggles, it could be a sign of decline, but Brady seems to have put that possibility to rest with 447 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2. Granted, that performance was against a horrible Saints defense, but as of now, it looks like the Patriots are back on track.

The Chiefs are really, really good

It seems like the Kansas City Chiefs' selection of quarterback Patrick Mahomes at 10th overall in this year's draft was a great move—not because Mahomes is lighting it up for the Chiefs, but rather because starter Alex Smith seems to have been motivated by the acquisition of the young gunslinger.

Notoriously ultra-conservative coming into this season, Smith was aggressive downfield for the second consecutive game in Week 2, posting an average of 9.0 yards per pass attempt against the Philadelphia Eagles, giving him a mark of 9.8 yards per attempt through two games—his career mark prior to this season was 6.8.

It's still early, and teams may learn to better game plan for rejuvenated quarterback, but with Smith slinging the way he is, the Chiefs have almost no holes in their game. With explosive weapons, solid offensive-line play, an abundance of defensive talent, and now a dangerous quarterback, the Chiefs look like one of the NFL's clear top teams right now.

The Jaguars offense is not good enough

After a dominant 29-7 win against the Houston Texans in Week 1, it looked like the Jacksonville Jaguars could make some noise in the AFC South this season. It was clear that the hype may have been an overreaction, as any team starting Blake Bortles at quarterback is going to struggle to consistently put points on the board, but it seemed as if the Jaguars had a chance at piling up some wins by leaning on an ultra-talented defense and getting just enough offense by grinding out yards on the ground with the No. 4 pick of this year's draft, Leonard Fournette—teams like the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens have used the same method to build contenders in the past.

However, the Jaguars' offensive deficiencies blew up in the team's face in Week 2, as Bortles and company struggled to move the ball so much that the defense eventually broke down. Halfway through the third quarter, the Tennessee Titans led only 9-3, but they then pulled away in grand fashion as the Jaguars went over 45 minutes of game time without scoring a point. The Jaguars have one of the most talented defenses in the NFL, but they can't do it all—the offense needs to give them something, or else it will be another long season in Jacksonville.

Jay Cutler gives the Dolphins a chance

It's tough for a quarterback to immediately get acclimated to new teammates, but Jay Cutler seems to have hit the ground running with the Miami Dolphins.

Despite not playing in Week 1 due to Hurricane Irma, Cutler looked to be in midseason form during Week 2's matchup with the San Diego Chargers. The Dolphins offensive line didn't even play very well, but the team was able to put up enough points for the 19-17 victory in part due to Cutler's playmaking ability and willingness to throw the ball deep—seven of his 33 pass attempts traveled 20-plus yards downfield.

The Chargers boast a pretty tough defense, yet Cutler was still able to manage a 101.8 passer rating. The loss of Ryan Tannehill was terrifying for the Dolphins, but it looks like this team could still be a playoff contender thanks to Cutler. One should always be wary of getting too high on Cutler—many of us have fallen for his captivating style of play before, only to end up disappointed—but the Dolphins offense may have even more upside now thanks to Cutler's willingness to push the ball downfield to big targets like DeVante Parker, who didn't get a ton of great opportunities last year in the Tannehill-led offense.

The same old Chargers

Despite finishing with just a 5-11 record last season, the San Diego Chargers had some high hopes for 2017, and for good reason. Their roster is loaded with talent, they have a great quarterback in Philip Rivers, and they were just a few plays from posting a much higher 2016 win total—of their 11 losses, a whopping nine were decided by one score. The thought was that perhaps this year they'd find ways to win rather than ways to lose.

Through two weeks, however, the Chargers have been just what they were last season: a team that can play with anybody but can't pull it out at the end.

In Week 1, rookie kicker Younghoe Koo made a field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, but the Denver Broncos called a timeout just before the snap. On the next attempt, Koo's kick was blocked. In Week 2, Koo set up for another huge field goal at the end of the game with his team down 19-17, but he missed the kick wide-right.

You have to hope that Koo, who made just one of three field goals on the day, hasn't allowed these misses to get into his head. He's a talented young kicker who was a timeout away from making a huge Week 1 field goal on the road. But as of now, he's helped the Chargers continue their 2016 narrative as a good team that can't figure out how to finish games.

The Dallas offense has flaws

Dak Prescott captivated fans last season, leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 13-3 record. Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing yards as a rookie. Dez Bryant is an electrifying pass-catching threat on the outside. The offensive line is loaded with talent. But the Cowboys offense is not perfect, and they showed some flaws while getting trounced by the Denver Broncos 42-17 in Week 2.

Let's not overreact here—the Broncos have perhaps the best defense in the NFL and can make even the great Tom Brady look bad (he posted a 68.2 passer rating against them last season and a 56.4 rating against them in the playoffs the prior season). But the Broncos showed that the Dallas rushing attack, considered by many to be the best in the league, is not unstoppable—in fact, it's possible to completely shut it down, as Elliott had nine carries for a mind-boggling eight yards. And when you are able to take away the run, Prescott may not have the dynamic ability of the league's top quarterbacks to put the offense on his back.

Through two weeks, the Cowboys offense ranks 21st in points and has generated just three touchdowns, with one of them coming when the game against Denver was already out of reach. Granted, these games have been against great defenses (Week 1's contest was against the New York Giants), but if the Cowboys want to be Super Bowl contenders, as many expect them to be, Prescott and Elliott will need to learn to generate touchdowns against elite defenses.

The Seahawks are in trouble

Russell Wilson is among the most dynamic quarterbacks of all time, but even he can't overcome an offensive line as bad as what the Seattle Seahawks are trotting out onto the field. It used to be that the Carolina Panthers were sort of a poor man's Seahawks, but the Panthers—who have often struggled on offense since the start of last season—still managed to post 23 points against the San Francisco 49ers on the road in Week 1. The Seahawks, meanwhile, hosted the hapless 49ers in front of the famed 12th man crowd, and they managed just 12 points and needed a miraculous fourth-quarter touchdown to win the game.

The Seattle offensive tackles now rank 55th and 72nd in the NFL among 72 qualifying players at the position, according to Pro Football Focus, while the team's guards rank 50th and 67th among 69 qualifying guards. The defense is still elite in Seattle, but if the offense can't even put up points at home against the 49ers, it will struggle to score enough points to win with any consistency.

The Giants need to get Ereck Flowers off the blind side

The New York Giants have been horrible on offense through two games despite having an offensive-minded head coach and a two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback. You can point fingers all over the place for their struggles, but the biggest issue right now is at left tackle, where Ereck Flowers has been routinely embarrassing himself. Eli Manning has never been a mobile quarterback, and he needs some halfway decent protection if he's going to have any success. The Giants may not have any surefire replacement options, but anything has to be better than Flowers. Try Justin Pugh, a player drafted in the first round as a tackle in 2013, or give someone like Ryan Clady (retired but only 31 years old) a call—just do something. To continue to roll with Flowers is to give up on the season.