32 things we learned in NFL Week 2: Saints among biggest early-season surprises
The 32 things we learned from Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season:
1. The jersey number of Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, undoubtedly the biggest story of Week 2 after suffering his third documented concussion in the past two years, casting doubt not only on the Fins’ season but his NFL future. Asked what he said to Tagovailoa, whom he’s very close to, when he exited the field Thursday night, HC Mike McDaniel revealed, “I told him he’s the starting quarterback of his family.”
1a. As for his football family – the one that reached a four-year, $212.4 million extension with Tagovailoa this summer – the Dolphins are 7-10 (including playoffs) without him in the starting lineup since he was their first-round draft pick in 2020.
1b. On a happier No. 1 note – Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray also has that jersey number – he posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating for the first time in his six-year career by throwing for 266 yards and three TDs in a 41-10 blowout of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
1c. As for the No. 1 team in the NFL? It's probably still got to be the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs after they squeaked past the Cincinnati Bengals 26-25 on Sunday, but check back Tuesday morning for our weekly power rankings.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
2. The debate for No. 2, not to mention what's sure to be a heavily shuffled top five, will doubtless include the New Orleans Saints, who are 2-0 – courtesy of a league-high 91 points – after they drubbed the Dallas Cowboys 44-19 on the road.
3. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, only one team has scored more points through two games than the 2024 Saints – the 2009 Saints (93), the lone edition in the franchise’s 58-season history to win the Super Bowl incidentally.
4. New Orleans RB Alvin Kamara was Sunday’s star with 180 yards and four TDs from scrimmage, the second time in his eight-year career he’d found the end zone at least that many times in a game.
5. Fun fact: The Saints were also 2-0 last year … on their way to a 9-8 record that fell short of postseason due to tiebreakers that didn’t break New Orleans’ way.
6. And congratulations to Saints LB Demario Davis, who has now started all 100 of his games with the team since signing with New Orleans in 2018. The two-time Pro Bowler had eight tackles in Sunday’s win.
7. Dallas’ loss snapped a 16-game regular-season winning streak at AT&T Stadium.
8. But the manner of the Cowboys’ collapse is surely what’s going to fuel further debates about their viability in 2024 after what largely felt like a botched offseason.
All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.
9. Of course New Orleans isn’t the only (surprise?) 2-0 club – one of six (Bills, Buccaneers, Vikings, Seahawks and Texans) emerging with that mark in battles of 1-0 teams – the most in Week 2 since the merger.
10. Mike Macdonald, 37, got the best of the New England Patriots' Jerod Mayo, 38, Sunday in a showdown of the league’s youngest coaches. Macdonald becomes the first Seattle coach to ever start his tenure with consecutive wins.
11. So much for “Burrowhead.” After losing their first three games to Joe Burrow’s Bengals (including playoffs) since the start of the 2021 season, the Chiefs have won their past three. None of the six matchups has been decided by more than one score.
12. On the flip side, six Week 2 games also featured matchups of 0-1 squads … and the Colts, Giants, Jaguars, Rams, Ravens and Titans are now all among the league’s 0-2 outfits – which means an 11.5% shot of reaching postseason based on what’s occurred since 1990.
13. After yet another of their patented fourth-quarter collapses – against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders of all teams – Baltimore is 0-2 for the first time in its tenure under QB Lamar Jackson, who was drafted in 2018.
14. Jackson becomes the first reigning MVP to start 0-2 since Kurt Warner’s St. Louis Rams stumbled to two straight losses out of the gate in 2002.
15. The New York Jets evened out their flight path with a 24-17 win at Tennessee thanks to major contributions from the NFL’s oldest and youngest players.
15a. NYJ QB Aaron Rodgers, 40, threw a pair of touchdown passes, while rookie RB Braelon Allen, 20, scored twice – including on a 12-yard pass from Rodgers. Allen is the youngest player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to reach the end zone.
16. But let's acknowledge the assist the Jets got from Titans QB Will Levis, who "really irritated" his head coach, Brian Callahan, with his mistake-laden play.
17. After registering 4½ sacks Sunday, Detroit Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson is now on pace to collect 47 this season. (That would be a record. It’s also, well, early.) Still, there were some smart folks who prognosticated Hutchinson as the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
17a. Hutchinson also became the fourth player since 1982, when the sack became an official statistic, to have games of at least three sacks in each of his first three seasons.
18. Of course, the Lions lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, HC Dan Campbell saying the defeat was “100 percent on me” due to a sequence at the end of the first half when a penalty for too many men on the field caused the clock to expire and cost Detroit a shot to score. But whatever was lost by a 1-1 team, little doubt ever-accountable Campbell earned more points from a locker room that already adored him.
19. Just when you thought the Green Bay Packers might regurgitate all that progress made in 2023 following QB Jordan Love’s knee injury, well … turns out a little vomit can help lead to a big victory.
20. It didn’t hurt that Pack QB2 Malik Willis, now in his third season, also threw his first career TD pass in a 16-10 victory over error-prone Indianapolis.
21. After catching one pass in his NFL debut, Cards WR Marvin Harrison Jr. needed one quarter to rack up four receptions for 130 yards and two scores in the runaway against the Rams.
22. It’s not necessarily pretty, but no way the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to immediately pivot to veteran QB Russell Wilson and his problematic calf after getting off to workmanlike 2-0 start behind Justin Fields and a dominant defense ... not that Fields wasn't always the better choice.
23. Still, tough watch. The Steelers and Denver Broncos combined for as many points (19) as penalties in Pittsburgh’s 13-6 victory.
24. Is it really that unreasonable to expect a punter to have a legitimate chance of converting PATs and field goals if a team’s regular kicker goes down? The New York Giants are the latest example of “apparently not” after Graham Gano injured a hamstring on Sunday’s opening kickoff. P Jamie Gillan missed his only extra-point try, and the Giants otherwise just ditched kicking as an option.
25. Meanwhile, new Washington Commanders K Austin Seibert drilled all seven of field-goal tries – the difference in a 21-18 victory over the G-Men.
26. Hard to figure why new Giants RB Devin Singletary chose to wear predecessor Saquon Barkley’s No. 26. Singletary rushed for 95 yards and a TD in Sunday’s loss … but the image of him going into the end zone almost feels like an unnecessary troll of the team’s fan base.
26a. If that wasn't bad enough for Giants fans, they'll get to see Barkley in prime time − again – Monday, when his Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons.
27. Arizona K Matt Prater's 57-yard bomb Sunday was his 81st career field goal from beyond 50 yards, extending his own all-time record.
28. The consistency of Prater, 40, from way downtown should probably be further appreciated given the Ravens' Justin Tucker, almost universally regarded as the premier kicker of his era, is now 1-for-7 from beyond 50 since the start of the 2023 season.
29. Tucker was wide left from 56 yards Sunday, another component of Baltimore's stunning home loss to Las Vegas, which clearly had the better kicker on this day – Daniel Carlson drilling off four of his FGAs, including two beyond 50 yards.
30. Minnesota WR Justin Jefferson galloped for a 97-yard TD in his team's 23-17 upset of the reigning NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. Per Next Gen Stats, Jefferson actually traveled 127.5 yards on the play, the most by a player on an offensive TD since NGS initiated in 2016.
31. Uniform note of the week: The Jets’ win occurred in their green jerseys and throwback (now permanent) logo, the first time they’d worn that uniform combination in almost exactly 35 years.
31a. The Broncos debuted their new blue pants Sunday. Didn't help.
32. Very premature MVP vote goes to … Kamara. He already has five TDs this season – after averaging five during the 2022 and ’23 campaigns – and 290 yards from scrimmage.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.