USA TODAY International Edition
As Seahawks sputter, is it time for panic?
Week 2 in the NFL can provide needed clarity, but it also can serve as the starting point for hasty conclusions.
Here are five overreactions we are pushing back on this week:
THE SEAHAWKS ARE IN TROUBLE
Sure, the stats are ominous. One touchdown in two games. Fifteen points. A modest 179 rushing yards in two games, only 67 in a Week 2 loss to a Los Angeles Rams team that had been shut out by the San Francisco 49ers six days earlier. An offensive line that has allowed six sacks.
But the Seattle Seahawks are a team built on defense. Here’s another stat: Seattle has allowed one touchdown. The Seahawks, in the Pete Carroll era, have played their best football after October.
Remember, this team started the 2015 season 2- 4 and went on to clinch a wild- card spot.
Yes, the offensive line is a concern. But quarterback Russell Wilson just wasn’t himself against Los Angeles, as he was hobbled by an ankle injury. Running back Thomas Rawls is trying to find his form after returning from last season’s broken ankle. Tight end Jimmy Graham has yet to break out.
These problems — perhaps with the exception of the offensive line — can be fixed as the season wears on. Seattle is still a contender in the NFC West and should improve.
As Carroll said after Sunday’s 9- 3 loss: “We’re better than that.”
If the Seahawks could only figure out how to beat the Rams.
THE PATRIOTS TOOK A STEP BACKWARD
Losing Jimmy Garoppolo to a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder is a loss for the New England Patriots, but let’s be real. Garoppolo was a backup plan, and once Tom Brady returns from his Deflategate suspension ( two games left), he’ll be the starter and team leader the rest of the way.
With New England facing a quick turnaround and hosting the Houston Texans on Thursday, it’s almost a certainty that Garoppolo will be held out. So the Patriots turn, again, to their backup plan.
Rookie Jacoby Brissett completed six of nine passes for 92 yards against the Miami Dolphins, but the game changed when Garoppolo went down. New England moved the ball well but couldn’t build on its lead. The Dolphins scored the game’s last 21 points and almost completed an improbable comeback.
“I felt prepared and did enough for us to secure the win,” Brissett said.
That’s all he needs to do. Houston ( 2- 0) is a tough matchup. But a Week 4 game, again at home, vs. the reeling Buffalo Bills should be another one the Patriots have a good shot to win.
THE REDSKINS ARE STILL THE NFC EAST FAVORITES AFTER LAST SEASON’S PLAYOFF RUN
Rumblings of discontent were seeping out of the Washington Redskins locker room after Sunday’s 27- 23 loss against the division- rival Dallas Cowboys.
Defensive end Ricky JeanFrancois lamented about how the Redskins defense had been a step behind. “Every team that adjusts to us,” he said, “we don’t adjust to them.”
Quarterback Kirk Cousins put up 364 passing yards on a 60.8% completion rate with one touchdown and one interception, but he played with hesitation, missed open receivers, locked on to his targets and failed to cycle through his progressions.
A Pro Football Talk report said there was growing discontent with Cousins in the locker room.
The Redskins still don’t have a stable plan for how to use prized free agent acquisition Josh Norman on defense.
And history isn’t on Washington’s side. The last team to reach the postseason after losing its first two games, both at home, was the 2003 Philadelphia Eagles.
It won’t get any easier. The Redskins travel to face the division- leading New York Giants ( 2- 0) on Sunday.
THE VIKINGS WON, SO THEY CAN HANDLE AN ABSENCE BY ADRIAN PETERSON
That the Minnesota Vikings are 2- 0 in spite of poor quarterback play in Week 1 and a lack of a running game says more about the talent on the roster and the coaching job Mike Zimmer has done than anything else. But that formula is not sustainable.
Minnesota’s foundation is a stingy defense and a productive rushing game, albeit one that has been absent in 2016.
The Vikings have rushed for 95 yards in their first two games.
But if running back Adrian Peterson is out for an extended period — Zimmer said he had a torn meniscus and his return date was unclear — it could be an obstacle too big to overcome.
It was bad enough that the Vikings lost starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for the season with a dislocated knee, but the trade that shipped a first- round draft pick for Sam Bradford looked like a shrewd deal after Sunday’s 22- for- 31, 286- yard, twotouchdown performance.
Unless the Vikings can come up with a productive solution in the rushing game while Peterson is out, it will be difficult for them to continue to win tight games like they did Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
The risk is that the offense becomes too one- dimensional. At some point, the Vikings are going to have to rely on ball control, and a productive rushing game is the easiest way to do that. Can backups Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon get the job done?
If there’s no running threat, defenses will adjust, and it will only be a matter of time before Bradford can’t do it on his own.
JAMEIS WINSTON SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT REGRESSION
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. Winston had an abysmal day as the Arizona Cardinals stifled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 40- 7.
Winston threw four interceptions and lost a fumble. Tampa Bay stumbled for multiple reasons, but Winston’s carelessness with the ball prevented the Bucs offense from finding a rhythm.
In a training camp interview, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter told USA TODAY Sports that consistency was the only thing missing from Winston’s game.
That shortcoming was on display Sunday. It was as ugly as ugly gets.
That it came after Winston’s 281- yard, four- touchdown performance in Week 1 at the Atlanta Falcons was even more confusing.
But Sunday was one game, against one of the top defenses in the NFL that had been embarrassed a week earlier by the Patriots. It was the second consecutive road game for the Buccaneers and one that required a near- crosscountry trip.
These might sound like excuses, but Winston still has exceptional football intelligence, can make every throw and read that is required of him and has dynamic pass- catching weapons.