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It was a tough Sunday for some of the NFL’s best teams in 2023.
The 49ers were hindered by the Vikings The Cowboys were destroyed at home by the Saints. The Ravens lost a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter against the Raiders. The Lions slipped up in a home loss to the struggling Buccaneers.
New season. Different challenges. Last year’s records don’t matter.
Even Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, who defended the Super Bowl twice, had problems. They only narrowly defeated the Bengals when Harrison Butker made a last-second 51-yard field goal after a defensive pass interference gave them a chance on fourth-and-16.
And the Houston Texans had to mount a defensive effort in the final minute to keep Caleb Williams and the Bears at bay and secure a narrow 19-13 victory in the final game of the day.
According to BetMGM Sportsbook, Las Vegas, Tampa Bay and New Orleans were the three biggest underdogs in Week 2.
So much for point distribution.
Gardner Minshew rallied the Raiders (1-1) from a 23-13 deficit in Baltimore by leading the offense with three touchdowns in the final 12 minutes of a 26-23 victory.
Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson couldn’t do much to save the Ravens, who were favored by 8.5 points, from their first 0-2 start since 2015. Baltimore led the NFL with 13 wins last season and reached the AFC championship game before losing to the Chiefs. Now the Ravens have to climb out of a huge hole.
Of the 32 teams that have started 0-2 since the NFL expanded to 14 playoff teams in 2020, only Cincinnati in 2022 and Houston in 2023 made the postseason. Only five of the 32 teams even finished the season with a win.
“We’re not going to let everybody define us by saying we’re not good, we’re good (or) the season is over after two games,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “That’s what’s being said, and we understand that, but they’re not here; they’re not in there. Nobody in there is going to say that. We know we’re a good football team, and we’re going to keep getting better and better and better and define the season by the way we play.”
The Cowboys (1-1) had won 16 straight home games in the regular season and were 6.5-point favorites against New Orleans, which had crushed struggling Carolina in the season opener. But Derek Carr and the Saints overran Dallas in the same way Jordan Love and the Packers did in the playoffs last January in the same stadium.
Carr, Alvin Kamara and Rashid Shaheed were unstoppable in a 44-19 victory, scoring touchdowns on their first six drives. Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was better than Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, and New Orleans made a statement against Micah Parsons and Co.
“There’s a lot of things about this offense, the way Klint approaches things, the way he sets me up for success, puts me in position to succeed, it allows me to do a lot of things that I like to do as a quarterback,” Carr said. “It’s a really cool combination of that. And Klint and I are just getting to know each other. We’re only two games in, so we’re still getting to know each other.”
That’s bad news for the rest of the NFC South, as the Saints have already scored 91 points through two games and no one knows what they can do once Carr becomes more comfortable with Kubiak’s offense.
The Buccaneers (2-0) were missing All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr., defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and tackle Luke Goedeke in a rematch of an NFC Division playoff loss at Detroit (1-1). The substitutes stepped in and Baker Mayfield made great plays with his legs and overcame a wild pass rush led by Aidan Hutchinson’s 4 1/2 sacks.
Lions coach Dan Campbell, whose aggressive coaching decisions proved to be a mistake in a loss to San Francisco in the NFC title game, cost the team a chance at a field goal in the final seconds of the second quarter when he sent the field goal unit onto the field while Jared Goff was throwing the ball on the ground at the Buccaneers’ 9-yard line. The 10-second timeout for too many players on the field ended the half. Detroit ran its final play of the game from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 26-yard line, so a field goal would have made the difference.
“You can’t justify that,” Campbell said. “It was a big mistake on my part, nobody else’s, and I had to choose between a quick field goal and missing the shot. And it was 100% my fault.”
After an easy season-opening win over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets on Monday night, San Francisco (1-1) never really got going in Minnesota. Although the reigning NFC champions totaled 399 yards on offense, they couldn’t score enough points in a 23-17 loss. Brock Purdy threw for 319 yards but had two turnovers.
The Los Angeles Rams, also in the playoffs last year, are 0-2 after a 41-10 loss in Arizona. The Rams have struggled with injuries in the first two weeks and will face the 49ers next week.
“The only positive is that this game is over now and we can move on,” said Rams coach Sean McVay.
All coaches who remain on the road to success can say that.
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