The NFL kicked off the 2024 season in grand fashion, offering a slate of action-packed contests that featured everything from renewed rivalries, new faces, comeback performances and 10 games decided by a touchdown or less.
Can Week 2 deliver a worthy encore? The action began Thursday night between divisional rivals Buffalo and Miami, with the Bills winning 31-10 — and the Dolphins wondering what’s next after Tua Tagovailoa suffered another concussion. It rolls on with 14 more contests Sunday before concluding in Philadelphia on Monday night for Falcons–Eagles.
Here are six compelling NFL storylines to follow in Week 2. (Find the schedule here.)
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The 16 teams that lost last week look to bounce back with performances that reflect improvement and promise. An 0-2 hole is undesirable, because the odds of making the playoffs after such a start aren’t great. (Since 2002, roughly 90 percent of 0-2 teams have missed the playoffs.)
Sunday probably can’t come fast enough for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, who entered the season with Super Bowl expectations but looked supremely overmatched against a true contender in San Francisco. Rodgers returned from a ruptured Achilles tendon and escaped Sunday night’s game unscathed. But New York’s offense sputtered. Rodgers completed 13 of 21 passes for 167 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and the Jets managed just 68 rushing yards. The defensive effort was sorely lacking as well.
Up next: a road game against the Tennessee Titans, who also lost in Week 1. We’ll see if that season-opening action was enough to knock off the rust for Rodgers and his still fairly new offensive teammates, or if things will take even longer to jell. Meanwhile, the Titans hope young Will Levis can improve on the ball security issues that undid Tennessee against the Chicago Bears.
The Ravens, Packers, Bengals, Jaguars, Browns and Rams, predicted by many to make the playoffs, are also trying to rebound from Week 1 losses. (Jets at Titans, 1 p.m. ET Sunday.)
Quarterback Jordan Love last season led the Packers on an impressive playoff run, which included upsetting the Cowboys and almost beating the 49ers, then parlayed that into a massive contract extension. The sprained MCL he suffered in the closing seconds of the Packers’ loss to the Eagles in Brazil, though, could hamper Green Bay’s chances of leap-frogging the Detroit Lions for the NFC North.
Love is listed as questionable for Sunday, but Week 4 is likely the earliest he will return. Coach Matt LaFleur must turn to Willis, the former Liberty University star and 2022 Titans third-round pick.
Green Bay acquired Willis via trade Aug. 27, so he’s still working to gain a firm grasp of the playbook. And Willis remains raw as a prospect, having appeared in only 11 games before this season. He went 1-2 as a starter while throwing three interceptions and no touchdowns in 2022 and attempted only five passes in three games last season. LaFleur is an excellent quarterbacks coach, offensive architect and play caller. But can he really position Willis for success this early in the quarterback’s tenure with Green Bay? LaFleur believes the answer is yes.
The Packers need Willis to manage the game and take care of the football to keep them afloat while Love recovers. His first test comes against a scrappy Indianapolis Colts team at Lambeau Field. (Colts at Packers, 1 p.m. ET Sunday.)
The NFL schedulers refused to help the Chiefs ease into their title defense quest. After a heavyweight bout with the Ravens in Week 1, the Chiefs host the Bengals — another team built to challenge them for AFC supremacy.
Patrick Mahomes is the gold standard for this generation of quarterbacks, but Joe Burrow owns a 3-1 record against his Chiefs counterpart. He bested Mahomes in both of their regular-season meetings (a 34-31 Week 17 shootout in 2021, and a 27-24 duel in Week 13 in 2022). They’re 1-1 in the postseason. Burrow topped Mahomes 27-24 in the AFC Championship Game in January 2022 and Mahomes avenged that loss with a 23-20 triumph in the next conference title game. How will this meeting play out?
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Based on last week’s showing against Baltimore, Mahomes and the Chiefs look like they just might be even more dangerous in 2024 than during last season’s title defense run. Burrow, meanwhile, is waiting for his arsenal to return to full strength. Contract disputes between the Bengals and his top two receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, have prevented him from laying a proper foundation for the season. With a rusty Chase (who also said he was recovering from food poisoning), and Higgins sidelined by a hamstring strain, Burrow managed only 164 passing yards in a 16-10 loss to New England last week. Can the Bengals bounce back this week and give the Chiefs another stiff challenge? (Bengals at Chiefs, 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday.)
Two of the most intriguing figures of the season: New England coach Jerod Mayo, the former Patriots linebacker turned Bill Belichick assistant; and Seattle coach Mike Macdonald, the former Baltimore defensive coordinator.
The 37-year-old Macdonald was among the most sought-after coaches this past hiring cycle, while Patriots brass long viewed Mayo, 38, as their head coach in waiting. Sunday’s meeting in Foxboro between these young coaches is only the sixth time in NFL history that a pair of coaches under age 40 have faced each other.
Both directed their teams to victories in Week 1. Mayo’s Patriots upset a short-handed Bengals team despite being in the middle of a rebuild. Macdonald’s Seahawks rallied from a slow start to defeat the Broncos at home. The Patriots and Seahawks are still establishing their identities, but both coaches want to play a physical brand of football while leaning heavily on their defenses for tone-setting plays. It’s a bucking of the trend of high-scoring, offensive-centered operations, so Sunday’s game could have a bit of a throwback feel to it.
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An interesting sidebar to this meeting: the quarterback position, which also bears similarities. The Seahawks’ offense is led by Geno Smith, who revived his career after six years as a backup and enters his third season as Seattle’s starter. Meanwhile, New England’s starter is Jacoby Brissett, who has spent the majority of his nine-year career as a backup. He wants to prove that, like Smith, he can provide the steadying force and playmaking ability necessary to guide a winning team. (Seahawks at Patriots, 1 p.m. ET Sunday.)
The last time these teams met, in the divisional round of the playoffs, the host Lions beat the Buccaneers 31-23. Now, eight months later, these 1-0 teams aim to lay the foundation for repeat playoff runs.
Both squads orchestrated strong starts in Week 1. Baker Mayfield led the Bucs to a blowout of Washington after throwing for four touchdown passes, 289 yards, no interceptions and a 146.4 passer rating. Mayfield’s effectiveness reflected his continued comfort in Tampa. In his last eight starts, he has averaged 278.6 yards per game while recording 20 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. He’ll lead the Buccaneers against a Detroit defense anchored by Aidan Hutchinson, who has 15 sacks in 20 home games (playoffs included), and a Lions offense led by Jared Goff. Goff last week directed an eight-play, 70-yard, game-winning drive in overtime against the Rams.
We should be in for a treat between these two gunslingers and their teams. In January’s playoff meeting, Goff passed for 287 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. But Mayfield went down firing. He amassed 349 passing yards and three touchdowns and pulled his team within 8 points with a touchdown pass to Mike Evans with 4:37 remaining. But then Detroit linebacker Derrick Barnes ended Tampa Bay’s comeback quest with an interception with 1:35 left on the clock. (Bucs at Lions, 1 p.m. ET Sunday.)
Sunday night’s action offers a treat: A showdown between Houston’s C.J. Stroud, the best quarterback from last year’s draft class, and Chicago’s Caleb Williams, the first pick of this year’s draft. If the projections are accurate, these two will eventually take over as the faces of the league.
Stroud certainly appears headed that way after a record-setting rookie season. Now he and the Texans host the Bears and try to build on last year’s surprising success, followed by last week’s victory over AFC South rival Indianapolis. Stroud continued to impress in Week 1, throwing for 234 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
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Williams kicked off his career with a victory over the Titans — but delivered a forgettable performance (14-for-29 for 93 yards and no touchdowns). Chicago’s victory came largely as a result of robust special teams and defensive play. In the second half, Chicago scored on a blocked punt that safety Jonathan Owens returned 21 yards for a touchdown and a 43-yard pick six by cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. On the bright side, Williams didn’t commit a turnover. But the Bears expect more from him, and he does as well. After the game, Williams vowed, “I will be better.” Excelling against a talented Texans defense, however, could prove challenging. (Bears at Texans, 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday.)
(Top photo of Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
