Sports Then and Now

Week 1 had a lot, but Week 2 might have it beat. There was everything from a weather delay (those 49ers) to four last-second wins, of course some interesting quirks mixed in and who could forget about the Manning Bowl. Here are your Week 2 NFL headlines.

Aaron Rodgers was the top performer in Week 2.

Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass in his 50^th consecutive game as the Patriots beat the Jets, 13-10, to open the week on Thursday Night Football, but was also below a 50-percent completion rate for the first time since 2009. He now sits just four behind the all-time record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass. New England forced four turnovers and now have at least one in 29 straight games, the longest since the Eagles did that between 2003-04. The win gave the Pats 12 straight victories over division opponents, which is the longest current streak in the league, according to Elias. The only other time the Patriots began a season 2-0 with both wins by three points or less was in 1999. They won this one despite having more punts (11) than first downs (9) – the first time that has happened in the Bill Belichick era. Julian Edelman had 13 catches, but just 78 yards. That is the third-fewest yards in a 13-catch game in the Super Bowl Era. Brady improved to 6-0 in his career in games played on a Thursday.

Cordarrelle Patterson tied a team record with a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as the Vikings fell to 0-2 with a 31-30 loss to the Bears. Adrian Peterson had 100 rushing yards and has just 193 through two games. He had only 144 last year, however. After doing so nine times last season, the Bears scored their first defensive touchdown of 2013 with an interception return from Tim Jennings in the win. Their 10 defensive touchdowns since the start of last year are the most in the league. Devin Hester had 249 kick return yards in the win, setting a new franchise record. Jay Cutler hit Martellus Bennett on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left in one of four games to be decided in the final seconds. Bennett became the fourth player in Bears’ history to catch a touchdown in each of his first two games with the team.

Aaron Rodgers threw for 335 yards in the first half alone as the Packers got out to a 24-0 lead and topped the Redskins, 38-20. Rodgers finished the game 34-of-42 with a career-high 480 yards – tying the Packers’ record. In so doing, he became the first NFL quarterback to record 480 yards passing and throw four touchdowns with no interceptions since Y.A. Tittle in 1962. James Starks had 132 yards rushing and became Green Bay’s first 100-yard rusher since 2010.  They won their eighth straight home game and their 21st of 22. Washington fell behind 24-0 after two quarters and have now been outscored 50-7 in the first half this season. The Pack now rank second in the NFL with 66 points scored. The Broncos, who are first, have scored 66 points in the second half.

Eddie Royal has five touchdown catches for the 1-1 Chargers through two games, including three of the four Philip Rivers threw on Sunday. He had just two in 2011 and 2012 combined. The Chargers racked up 539 yards of offense – their most in a game since 1985 as they escaped with a 33-30 win over the Eagles. The NFL’s longest current home losing streak was extended to seven games with the Philly loss.

Eddie Royal has surprised with five touchdowns through two games.

With their one-point win over the Cowboys, the Chiefs became the first team since the 2002 Panthers to begin a season 2-0 after winning two or fewer games the previous year. They are just the seventh team since the merger to accomplish that. Alex Smith became the first Kansas City quarterback to lead all players in rushing yards since 1995 and only the fourth in team history.

The Falcons rushed for just 36 yards, but still improved to 1-1, beating the Rams, 31-24, behind 11 catches and 182 yards from Julio Jones. It was the fewest rushing yards in a win for them in franchise history. Steven Jackson became the first 10,000-yard rusher to ever score a rushing touchdown against his former team.

The Ravens beat the Browns for the 11th consecutive time, the longest active win streak for any team against one opponent, according to Elias. The 14-6 win for Baltimore gave them the honor of becoming the 24^th team to give up seven or fewer points a week after giving up seven or more touchdowns.

Deandre Hopkins caught a three-yard touchdown in overtime to give the Texans the 30-24 win over the Titans and Elias says it is just the third time a player has ever scored an overtime touchdown within his first two professional games.

Mario Williams set a Bills‘ single-game record with 4.5 sacks in Buffalo’s last-second 24-23 win over Carolina. E.J. Manuel hit Steve Johnson with a touchdown pass with two seconds left to tie the game and the Panthers lost for the sixth time in the last two seasons when holding a lead in the fourth – the most of anyone in the league. Manuel’s 296 passing yards were the most by a Bills’ rookie quarterback since 1970. He also became just the second rookie to ever throw a winning touchdown pass inside of two minutes in a September game during his rookie year. The other? Russell Wilson last season.

The Buffalo crowd reacts to the last-second win as Steve Johnson hauls in the pass.

The Dolphins scored two first-quarter touchdowns in a road game for the first time in 11 years as they got out to an early lead and held on to beat the Colts, 24-20. They had gone 83 road games without multiple touchdowns in the first – the longest active streak in the league. Miami became the first team to open a season with two road wins since they did it back in 2010.

Peyton Manning became the third quarterback to amass 60,000 career passing yards as he beat brother, Eli. He joined Brett Favre and Dan Marino as the only three men to ever throw for 60,000 yards in their career. The Giants were held to just 23 rushing yards in the loss, making it their lowest total in a home game since 1954.

Wilson began the game 0-for-6 before completing his first pass on his seventh attempt. He had never started worse than 0-for-2 in a game before. The game was the sixth since the merger and first since 1992 to feature a 5-0 halftime score. Colin Kaepernick threw three interceptions in the 29-3 loss, matching his total from a season ago.

The Steelers fell to 0-2 with a 20-10 loss to the Bengals on Monday night, but the last four times the franchise has started out with two losses, they went on to have winning records. They are 0-2 for the first time under Mike Tomlin and first time since 2002. Cincinnati’s Giovani Bernard became the first Bengal to score two touchdowns in a game against the Steelers since 2010. He is also the first Cincy rookie to score two offensive touchdowns on Monday Night Football since 1975. Ben Roethlisberger ranks 28^th in total QBR after two weeks at 31.8.

Andy Dalton sent the Steelers to their first 0-2 start in 11 years.

Just a couple of add-ons: Calvin Johnson had two TD catches in the first half of Detroit’s 25-21 loss to the Cardinals. Megatron did not have a multi-touchdown game at all last year. The Bucs committed 118 yards of penalties in their Week 2 loss which is more than 22 teams have through two weeks. All four AFC West teams won for just the second time in the last eight years, whereas all four NFC East teams lost for just the third time in the last 12 seasons. Finally, before this season, only two quarterbacks had thrown for 800-plus yards and 5-plus touchdowns in the first two weeks of a season. The two newest are Eli Manning and Rodgers. who have both done it this year. Drew Brees has thrown for 300 or more yards in seven straight games and the Saints improved to 2-0 with a 16-14 win over Tampa Bay. Week 3 begins tomorrow night.

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