NFL Week 2 winners and losers: Mixed bag for Bengals, Lions offense back in gear, Giants fall apart again

Week 2 of the NFL season is off to a wild start, as there were crazy games and crazy performances all around the league. That means there's a whole lot to review.

We had four matchups of former No. 1 overall picks take place on Sunday, with Matthew Stafford facing off against Cam Ward, Joe Burrow going up against Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff doing battle with Caleb Williams and Kyler Murray clashing with Bryce Young. 

We also had the Lions going up against their former offensive coordinator in Ben Johnson, the Cowboys and Giants going back and forth in the wildest game of the day, the 49ers playing with their backup quarterback and a whole lot more.

With all that happening around the league, we wanted to take stock of who was up and who was down on Sunday. Welcome to your Week 2 winners and losers.

NFL Week 2 grades: Buccaneers get 'B' for outlasting Texans on Monday night; Vikings sink vs. Falcons

Cody Benjamin

Winner: Lions offense

Detroit bounced back from its dreadful season-opening performance against the Packers by blowing the doors off the Bears. The Lions dropped 511 yards and 52 points on Chicago, racking up 25 first downs and averaging 8.8 yards per play along the way. Jared Goff went 23 of 28 and threw for five touchdowns, including three to Amon-Ra St. Brown and a deep ball to Jameson Williams. The explosive plays were back for the Lions, who had seven gains of 20 yards or more after having just one of those last week against Green Bay. 

Loser: Brian Daboll

Daboll's Giants played one of the more undisciplined games on Sunday that you will ever see. They were called for 14 penalties and took at least six more that were wiped off the board by either offsetting calls or being declined. They undermined themselves with a series of penalties on their opening drive of the game, and things continued on like that from there. Oh, and they blew multiple leads against the Cowboys, including a three-point lead with 27 seconds left in the game. That dropped them to 0-2 with games against the Chiefs and Chargers on top. Things could get ugly soon.

Winner: Lamar Jackson

After last week's brutal loss to the Bills, Jackson looked no worse for the wear in absolutely tearing up the Browns. He went 19 of 29 for 225 yards and four touchdowns, controlling the game through the air with Derrick Henry (11 carries for 23 yards) struggling on the ground. Jackson spread the ball around to all of his receivers, as Devontez Walker found the end zone twice while DeAndre Hopkins and Tylan Wallace each got there once, and Zay Flowers had 7 grabs for 75 yards. It was a confident, assured performance to get the Ravens in the win column after last week's breakdown.

Loser: Kaleb Johnson

The Steelers rookie running back made one of the more boneheaded plays of the day. He let a kickoff bounce through his hands early in the fourth quarter and simply did not go try and recover it. The Seahawks recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown to extend their lead from three points to 10. 

Winner AND Loser: Bengals

Cincinnati improved to 2-0 with a dramatic, come-from-behind victory over the Jaguars led by backup quarterback Jake Browning. Ja'Marr Chase went absolutely nuclear with 14 catches for 165 yards and a touchdown while Tee Higgins got on the board as well. But Burrow went down with a toe injury in the first half, which necessitated Browning coming into the game in the first place. We don't yet know what his status is moving forward, and that makes the Bengals a potential loser despite walking away with a victory. 

Loser: Justin Fields

In just his second start with the Jets, Justin Fields looked just as bad -- if not worse -- than his days wearing a Bears uniform. Fields finished 3 of 11 for 27 yards (39.6 passer rating), as the Jets had 0.6 net pass yards per attempt when he was in the game!

The Jets didn't even trust Fields in the second half as Fields had just 2 passing yards -- on one pass attempt -- in the third quarter. The Jets started 0-for-7 on third down and had five possessions in which they had less than 10 yards on their first eight attempts. 

The Bills had more points (30) than Fields had passing yards (27). To say this was not Fields' day is an understatement. 

Winner: Brandon Aubrey

The Cowboys kicker went 4 of 4 on extra points and 4 of 4 on field goals, including a 64-yarder that sent the game into overtime and a 46-yarder that won the game for Dallas. The first of those two kicks, which came with no time left on the clock, was the longest kick in NFL history to send a game to overtime. The two-time All-Pro is automatic. 

Loser: Joe Flacco

Flacco winning the Browns' starting quarterback job at 40 years old is a cool story, even if it dives into the start of the quarterback position in Cleveland. The Browns may have to go in another direction. 

Flacco struggled with 199 yards passing on 45 attempts in Cleveland's loss to Baltimore, a paltry 4.4 yards per attempt. The Browns have scored just 13.5 points per game in Flacco's two starts, struggling to move the ball consistently. 

Dillon Gabriel played well late in Sunday's loss, but it may be too soon for the Browns to turn the page on Flacco yet. Flacco has struggled to move the ball through the air, so his job status may be under watch.