The Carolina Panthers made surprising news Monday when coach Dave Canales made the decision to bench Bryce Young and start veteran Andy Dalton.
The move, of course, put a spotlight on what the Panthers gave up 18 months ago to draft Young with the No. 1 pick in 2023. But with the amount of draft picks the Chicago Bears gained from the Panthers, they haven’t done much to improve an offensive line that allowed Caleb Williams to get crushed several times in the first prime-time game of his young career during Sunday’s 19–13 loss to the Houston Texans.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the Panthers and Bears landed in the losers section for this week’s winners and losers column. As for the winners side, the victorious underdog teams from Week 2 made up most of the entries. It was a good Sunday for the Las Vegas Raiders, Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints. But we’ll start with the explosive team from Arizona.
Winners
The Cardinals’ high-scoring offense
The Cardinals might have graduated from being a pesky team to a legitimately good one, because they appear to be playoff contenders thanks to their emerging offense, which lit up the Los Angeles Rams during a dominant 41–10 victory.
Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing quickly gained the advantage by calling a variety of plays to get Marvin Harrison Jr. involved in the first quarter. Harrison’s quiet debut hurt Arizona in the Week 1 loss against the Buffalo Bills. But Sunday’s game was essentially over after Harrison and Kyler Murray connected on two touchdowns during the first seven minutes. From there, Petzing called several running plays, leading to a standout performance from running back James Conner, who recorded 122 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Some tabbed the Cardinals (1–1) as a sleeper team this season because of the many weapons on the offensive side, including rising star tight end Trey McBride, and the health of Murray, who missed half of the 2023 season while recovering from a knee injury.
But the offseason hype for Arizona was minimal partly because of the lack of talent on defense and the team’s reputation for underperforming. Those who put too much stock into that might not have paid attention to coach Jonathan Gannon leading the Cardinals to upset wins vs. the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers last season.
The wins were few last year, but it set the standard for the Gannon era. And it helps that Gannon and his staff have shown they’re capable of maximizing the potential of players on the roster. Arizona doesn’t have a star edge rusher on its defense, but the unit was still able to beat up on the Rams’ banged-up offensive line.
Malik Willis’s right to bring up old receipts
Now would be a good time for Malik Willis to call out the critics who strongly urged the Packers to sign or trade for a veteran quarterback while Jordan Love recovers from a knee injury.
Many were quick to write off the Packers against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2 because of Willis’s past poor performances when he was with the Tennessee Titans, but the doubters overlooked that Green Bay obviously saw something in him after trading for him near the end of training camp. It wouldn’t have made sense to not give Willis a chance to at least show what the team’s pro scouts saw in the 2022 third-round pick.
Yes, Willis has a ways to go to become a consistent passer, but he ran the offense well, made smart plays and leaned on his skill players during the 16–10 upset win against the Colts. Willis (12-of-14 for 122 yards and one touchdown) took advantage of a balanced attack, while running back Josh Jacobs punished the Colts’ defense on the ground.
With the win, Love can now focus on his rehab and not rush back to the field. Coach Matt LaFleur will likely keep the possibility open of Love playing Sunday against the Titans, but Willis getting to start against the team that gave up on him would make for a good story.
Willis had three disastrous starts in Tennessee as a rookie, leading many to say he was an overhyped draft prospect coming out of Liberty. Situations matter in the NFL, though, and Willis has a pretty good one with the Packers (1–1).
Kamara’s fountain of youth and Kubiak’s play calls
After months of being called old by the fantasy football community, Saints running back Alvin Kamara delivered a vintage performance in a 44–19 rout of the Cowboys, recording 115 rushing yards, 65 receiving yards and four total touchdowns.
The Saints didn’t receive much offseason hype partly because of their veteran-filled roster, which many believed had gone stale. But so far the offense has been revitalized under the watch of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
Derek Carr has averaged 11.4 yards per passing attempt through two games this season and has connected downfield with wide receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. It’s still early in the season, but the Saints (2–0) have had the best offense and it’s not even close. They recorded six touchdowns on their first six drives against the Cowboys.
Antonio Pierce’s revenge against the analytics nerds
Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was often asked last week about his views on using analytics during critical fourth-down situations because he had a costly punt in the season-opening loss against the Los Angeles Chargers.
It wasn’t the first time that Pierce’s conservative ways hurt the Raiders late in games, but perhaps he has turned a corner, because he went for a fourth down in the third quarter of Sunday’s 26–23 upset over the Baltimore Ravens. The Raiders (1–1) didn’t convert (take that analytics nerds), but it might have inspired confidence in the offense with the Raiders scoring on their final four drives to erase a 10-point deficit before Daniel Carlson’s game-winning 38-yard field goal.
If the Raiders’ offense gets off to better starts, perhaps this blend of physical defense and an impressive group of pass catchers can lead Pierce to turning Las Vegas into a winning organization, similar to what Dan Campbell did for the Detroit Lions. Both are exceptional leaders with an affinity for physical players. Pierce might not ever go for it on fourth down as frequently as Campbell, but Sunday could be the start of him giving the Raiders’ offense more opportunities to do their part, especially when the defense is doing the heavy lifting.
One area of concern, though: the Raiders’ rushing attack hasn’t done much through two games. That’s something that must be eating at Pierce, but it helps to have star players such as Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams to make life easier on the field.
Losers
Callahan’s patience for Will Levis
For the second consecutive week, Titans coach Brian Callahan called out quarterback Will Levis for making a “dumb” turnover that ultimately cost the team the game.
Callahan gave Levis an earful for fumbling in the red zone during the 24–17 loss to the New York Jets. He also criticized the second-year quarterback after committing three turnovers in the 17-point collapse against the Bears in Week 1.
It’s a little surprising to see a rookie head coach publicly call out his starting quarterback, but Callahan might believe that Levis responds well to tough love and straightforward criticism. So far that hasn’t shown on the field, because Levis has regressed from a promising rookie campaign when he made nine largely encouraging starts. The flashes from the 2023 second-round pick were enough for the organization to splurge in free agency and surround Levis with expensive offensive players such as receiver Calvin Ridley, running back Tony Pollard and center Lloyd Cushenberry III.
Clearly, the Titans (0–2) expected to contend this season—they also traded for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed—which could put Levis on a short leash to prove himself as a starting quarterback. With Mason Rudolph as the backup, perhaps the Titans were too quick to trade Willis, who might get his revenge Sunday in Tennessee with the Packers coming to visit.
Everyone on the Jaguars besides Brian Thomas Jr.
Just about the only good thing going for the 0–2 Jaguars is the promising production from rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. Other than that, the Jaguars’ offense has been abysmal, and Trevor Lawrence is a big reason why they’re not executing offensively.
After the Jaguars handed Lawrence a massive contract extension in the offseason, the 2021 No. 1 pick has opened this season with a completion percentage of 51%, and it’d be even worse without Thomas’s breakout. It’s not all Lawrence’s fault, because he’s playing with an offense that has failed to execute and a coaching staff that can’t seem to gain a rhythm with the play calling.
Lawrence has plenty of talent, but the Jaguars have a seven-game losing streak with him as the starter. The Jaguars suck right now, as Lawrence himself put it following Sunday’s game. But the signal-caller isn’t going anywhere despite the weekly mistakes. It’s starting to look like coach Doug Pederson might be the first coach on the hot seat this season. Jacksonville will be underdogs in upcoming games against the Bills and Texans.
Jerry Jones’s GM skills fail vs. Saints
Jerry Jones recently said no one can do a better job than him as the GM of the Cowboys, which is easy for him to say because he’s also the owner of the team. But Jones’s GM mistakes this offseason were exposed during the embarrassing 44–19 loss to the Saints.
The one-dimensional Cowboys’ offense only generated 68 rushing yards, which might not be surprising with a backfield committee of Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott, who’s well past his prime. The Cowboys neglected the running back position after declining to re-sign Pollard. As a GM, Jones has failed to improve the run defense, which has been a weakness over the past few seasons. And it didn’t help that Dallas lacks depth at linebacker.
All these areas of concern led to Kamara running wild over Dallas’s defense and Carr getting plenty of time to connect with Olave and Shaheed.
Jones does deserve credit for paying CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, but the Cowboys (1–1) might now have a top-heavy roster, and Jones needed to be better this offseason as a GM to build depth around the star players.
Bryce Young’s No. 1 pick status
It was surprising that the Panthers decided to bench Young after making him the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft. His benching put a spotlight on the Panthers’ poor 2023 trade that sent DJ Moore and many draft picks to the Bears for the right to select Young.
Perhaps this is best for Young long-term, because it’s evident he’s not ready to be a starter after a forgettable rookie season and a disastrous two games to begin 2024. Carolina made the right move, which must have been a difficult decision after giving up many assets to land the Alabama product.
But the organization’s past failures shouldn’t be ignored, because they’re now paying the price. It was reckless to give up on Moore knowing that they needed a productive wide receiver to help a young quarterback. And why trade Christian McCaffrey in 2022 if there was a push for a quick fix in Carolina? That’s essentially what owner David Tepper wanted when the team traded the future for drafting Young.
As it turned out, a poor offensive line and lack of weapons isn’t the best way to win games with a rookie quarterback. Surprise, surprise. The Panthers (0–2) probably would have been better off keeping their draft picks and committing to a full rebuild, because those two first-round picks that they were offered by the Los Angeles Rams for Brian Burns would have helped. As a reminder, the Panthers did not get a first-round pick for Burns after trading him to the New York Giants this offseason.
Caleb Williams and his subpar offensive line
Williams was sacked seven times and took 11 total hits in Sunday night’s loss to the Texans. Some of those hits were vicious bodyslams with the nearest offensive lineman many feet away from Williams.
The Bears (1–1) took advantage of a reckless Panthers front office with the Young trade that ultimately landed Williams in Chicago with the No. 1 pick in April’s draft. But those picks haven’t done much to improve an offensive line that also failed Justin Fields during his three seasons in Chicago.
Right tackle Darnell Wright, the No. 10 pick in 2023, has struggled so far, and left tackle Braxton Jones hasn’t played as well since his promising rookie season in ‘22. Last year’s signing of guard Nate Davis has so far been a failure.
Maybe many were too quick to blame Fields for his inconsistent passing performances during his Bears tenure and overlooked the struggling offensive line. GM Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus need to fix this unit quickly or it might be a long rookie year for Williams and his many talented pass catchers.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 2 Winners and Losers: Cowboys, Jerry Jones Face Tough Questions After Blowout.
