NFL Week 2: Five things we liked and didn't like, including Daniel Jones' strides, historically bad penalties

The Colts are the most pleasant surprise of the first two weeks of the 2025 NFL season, and it's not even close. Entering the season, Indianapolis had a less-than-inspiring quarterback battle between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones. Jones won, a decision I didn't exactly endorse.

To be fair, I wasn't alone. Only the Panthers, Browns, Saints, Giants, Jets and Titans had a lower preseason win total. Jones had been among the NFL's worst quarterbacks -- if not the worst quarterback -- in 2023 and 2024.

Right now, though, he's playing like one of the best. He leads the NFL in yards per attempt. The Colts scored on each of their first 10 possessions of the season, the longest streak to open a season ... ever. Indianapolis, on its eighth different Week 1 starting quarterback in the last nine seasons, is 2-0 for the first time since 2009, when Peyton Manning was the quarterback. Indianapolis went 14-2 and made the Super Bowl that year.

Of course, it's early. We've all heard of the dreaded 0-2 and how much it impacts playoff chances. What about the 2-0 start? Last year, the Saints started 2-0 and finished 5-12. The year before, the Commanders started 2-0 and finished 4-13.

I'm not saying the Colts will join that group. I'm also not 100% convinced they're legit yet. But you can't be better than 2-0, and the NFL is the land of opportunity and surprises. Good on Jones for taking advantage.

Here's what else we liked -- and didn't like -- in Week 2.

Five things we liked in Week 2

Old guys still got it: Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins make big plays

Both Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins have a very specific set of skills, and both are delivering in their new homes early this season.

Let's start with Adams, the route-running maven who had six catches for 106 yards and a score Sunday against the Titans.

Adams crushes man coverage. Puka Nacua crushes zone coverage. We've already seen that come to life this year.

Among all players who have run at least 15 routes against man, Adams ranks third in yards per route run. Among all players who have run at least 15 routes against zone, Nacua ranks third in yards per route run. (Nacua also ranks fifth against man. He's really good.) But with Adams, there's no way to focus primarily on Nacua -- and with Nacua, there's no way to primarily focus on Adams -- without getting burnt.

Meanwhile, Hopkins made another highlight-reel catch in Week 2 after having a truly all-time catch that will be lost to history in Week 1.

Hopkins isn't playing many snaps. He doesn't have to, especially early in the season. He is still a remarkable 50/50 ball winner, the type of target Lamar Jackson hasn't had in his career.

Micah Parsons is a defense all by himself

Micah Parsons had eight pressures Thursday against the Commanders. That was more than five teams had in Week 2. And remember, Parsons had no training camp or preseason, and his snap count is still being ramped up !

One of the reasons I say Parsons is a defense all by himself is because he plays all over the defense. In Week 2 alone, he played ...

• 15 snaps at right outside end (two pressures)
• 12 snaps at left outside end (four pressures, 0.5 sacks)
• nine snaps at right outside linebacker
• four snaps at left outside linebacker (one pressure)
• two snaps at right defensive tackle (one pressure)
• one snap at left defensive end
• one snap at right defensive end

He also frees up everyone around him, not just in the pass-rush department, but also in the secondary. When you can get pressure so quickly -- Parsons' 2.2-second average time to pressure is the second-fastest among all edge defenders -- you don't have to worry so much about getting beaten deep. Xavier McKinney also helps.

The result? The Packers have allowed just six explosive plays, tied for the fewest by any team through two games in the last eight seasons.

Lions get back to who they are

If you close your eyes and picture the Lions at their best, you picture a tough, explosive running game and a play-action passing game off of it that allows Jared Goff to attack the middle of the field at intermediate depth. And guess what we saw Sunday against the Bears? Exactly that.

Yes, the Bears are beat up in the secondary. Still, after a tough Week 1 against the Packers, the Lions looking like last year's Lions was encouraging.

Baker Mayfield: Gamer

I thought Troy Aikman made a really good point on Monday night: Baker Mayfield is one of the greatest reclamation project successes we've really ever seen. One year after ending Cleveland's 17-year playoff drought, he got run out of Cleveland in favor of Deshaun Watson. Then he didn't even make it through one season with the Panthers and played out the string in 2022 with Rams.

He got a one-year contract as the guy succeeding Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. Ever since, all he's done is throw the most touchdowns in the NFL and led six fourth-quarter comebacks, including another Monday night. How about this pocket movement and first-down scramble on fourth-and-10?!

The win over the Texans came without his two starting tackles, facing one of the NFL's best defenses. Mayfield is a wild man in the best sense of the phrase. He's super fun, yes, but that's underselling it. He's really, really good.

Kickoff changes are working to perfection

My friends and I love to play "Remember Some Guys," and we often wind up naming kick returners. Remember Josh Cribbs? Remember Leon Washington? Remember Dante Hall?

Well, kick returners have been decidedly less memorable recently ... until now. Week 2 saw Malik Washington return a punt for a touchdown and Antonio Gibson return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, the first time with a punt return touchdown and a kick return touchdown on consecutive plays since Desmond Howard and Deion Sanders in 1992. Now those are some names easy to remember.

We also saw Kaleb Johnson make an awful mistake, not fielding a kickoff, which led to a Seahawks touchdown.

How dire had things gotten in the return department? There were only 587 kickoff returns last year. This year, we're on pace for over 2,100, which would be the most since 2002. Give credit to not only the dynamic kickoff, but the rule changes that discourage touchbacks; the ball now comes all the way out to the 35. Kickoffs are back, and it's awesome.

NFL Week 3 picks and score predictions: Winless Giants take Chiefs to the wire, 49ers edge unbeaten Cardinals

John Breech

Five things we didn't like in Week 2

Bengals offensive line crumbles, and Joe Burrow pays the price

Joe Burrow is hurt, again. The Bengals superstar suffered a turf toe injury on a sack and is expected to miss at least three months. It's Burrow's third major injury in his NFL career, and all three have come on pass protection breakdowns. On Sunday, it was a sack when the Jaguars sent four pass rushers. In 2023 (wrist), he got hit by Jadeveon Clowney, who pressured him nearly unimpeded. In 2020 (knee), he got nailed by two Washington rushers.

Burrow had been pressured on 46.5% of his dropbacks this season, the highest rate in the NFL. That includes a 40% rate on non-blitzes, the third-highest rate in the NFL.

Here's how Cincinnati's pass blocking has ranked, per Pro Football Focus' grades, in Burrow's career:

• 2024: 29th
• 2023: 22nd
• 2022: 30th
• 2021: 25th
• 2020: 27th

It's just not good enough, and it's costing Burrow and his team dearly.

James Hudson's historic penalties -- and the Giants' historic penalty problem

Not one, not two, not three ... James Hudson had four penalties on the Giants' opening drive against the Cowboys.

And because the video above doesn't show it, here's the first one:

This is all-time stuff, and no, I'm not exaggerating. He's the only player to have four penalties on a single drive this millennium. He ended up getting subbed out for rookie Marcus Mbow as the Giants' quest to find a viable left tackle when Andrew Thomas is out continues.

Hudson was the face of a team-wide problem: The Giants were flagged 21 times Sunday and committed 14 accepted penalties for 160 yards -- both the most this millennium for the team. The offensive penalties wiped out 80 yards' worth of would-be gains on just three plays. The defensive penalties wiped out two incompletions, a run stuff and a play that would have resulted in -2 yards.

The Giants did so much right. Russell Wilson looked terrific. So did Malik Nabers. But they made so many mistakes, too, and that's why they lost a winnable game.

Jaguars' red zone mistakes

The Jaguars make some truly baffling mistakes, and their Week 2 loss to the Bengals was full of them. How about this inexcusable red zone turnover?

How about the brutally disappointing play of Brian Thomas Jr., including a fourth-down drop on a play that could have put the game away?

Monday, Liam Coen revealed Thomas has been dealing with a wrist injury, though he has not been listed on the injury report.

Then you also had Lawrence waving off Coen after he missed a throw and Coen was trying to tell him to pin the ball on his target.

Over the past three seasons, Lawrence has 32 turnovers, tied for the most in the NFL. Only Aaron Rodgers has been the victim of a higher drop percentage. The sad thing is the Jaguars have shown some really positive signs this season. They really should be 2-0. But if the Jaguars did everything they should do, they wouldn't be, well, the Jaguars.

Bears feel like a punchline

I distinctly remember Taylor Swift sitting alongside Donna Kelce at a Bears-Chiefs game in 2023. Travis Kelce caught a touchdown pass. The cameras went to Swift. It almost felt like a Harlem Globetrotters game. All the attention was on the Chiefs, on Kelce, on Swift ... and the Bears just happened to be the other team playing.

It happened again Sunday. Pass catchers ran wide, wide open. Lions fans jeered Ben Johnson. And Detroit scored 52 points. The Bears have four losses of 30+ points in the past five seasons. Only the Jaguars have more. I still have hope for Johnson and for Caleb Williams. But it's taking longer than anyone would have wanted, and things are getting ugly on the defense. Oh, and Monday brought the news that All-Pro cornerback Jaylon Johnson is out indefinitely.

Geno Smith's turnover penchant

Geno Smith is an uber-aggressive downfield thrower. He believes he can make every single throw work, and when they do work, it's awesome. When they don't the turnovers pile up in a hurry. He had three interceptions on Monday, including two on crowded downfield throws where the pass had to be perfect.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Smith went 0-for-12 on throws 10+ yards downfield, the most such attempts without a completion in a game in the past decade. He was inaccurate when guys were open and unable to pin it on his targets when they weren't.

His 19 interceptions since the start of last season are three more than anyone else. His seven interceptions inside the opponents' 25-yard line are also most in the NFL. Smith can deliver some absolute darts, but when he's a little off, he can deliver some really rough results, too.