2023-09-14 07:00:00
While the Kansas City Chiefs, as the reigning Super Bowl champions, recovered from their opening defeat, the Cincinnati Bengals were caught cold again. The Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans both won their games in overtime. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers missed the late comeback.
Not doing well: Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals also lost in Week 2. IMAGO/USA TODAY Network
Even an 81-yard touchdown doesn’t help: Bengals lose again
Cincinnati suffered a veritable 3:24 defeat at the start of the new regular season in the “Battle of Ohio” against the Cleveland Browns – and was therefore under great pressure before the next internal AFC North duel with Baltimore. The Bengals, who were considered Super Bowl candidates around the expensively paid star quarterback Joe Burrow, basically couldn’t afford another defeat.
In the end they had to swallow the next bitter pill, because Cincy lost 24:27 in their home “jungle” against the Ravens. One of the keys: While playmaker Burrow (222 yards, two touchdowns) allowed himself an interception, his counterpart Lamar Jackson (almost 300 total yards, two TDs) remained error-free and threw a 54-yard bomb to rookie receiver Zay Flowers fourth quarter a fine touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor to make it 27:17.
In the end, Tee Higgins’ score didn’t help the Bengals to make it 24:27 – nor did rookie Charlie Jones’ splendid punt return touchdown over a full 81 yards. This meant that the highly rated Cincinnati slipped to 0-2 – as it was at the start of the regular season in 2022. At that time the team was still getting the hang of things. Will it succeed again this time? That will be the big question of the near future.
Mahomes finds Kelce – and the Chiefs win
In the opening game of the new regular season, defending champion Kansas City suffered a defeat against the cheeky Detroit Lions due to many of their own mistakes – and that without Chris Jones (holdout) and Travis Kelce (knee injury).
Both were involved again in the difficult guest game in Jacksonville and unsurprisingly played their part in the 17:9 success. However, the Chiefs around superstar Patrick Mahomes (305 yards, two TDs) had a small mountain to overcome here, which was made a little bigger even with their own mistakes (interception, two fumbles). On the other hand, the Jaguars didn’t know how to capitalize enough on it. Playmaker Trevor Lawrence (216 yards) wasn’t protected enough and didn’t do anything great. This was also due to the fact that Jones, who returned after his strike, dominated his matchups and always applied pressure.
Perhaps the biggest factor was the return of tight end Kelce, whom Mahomes found with a well-considered pass to make it 14:6. With the first success of this season, Kansas City also avoided starting 0-2 as reigning Super Bowl champions for the first time. The last time this happened was to the Denver Broncos in 1999.
Atlanta has the final say
Jordan Love’s debut as the Green Bay Packers’ new starting quarterback was celebrated – the successor to Aaron Rodgers (New York Jets) threw three touchdown passes without errors in the victory in Chicago. And this time at the Käsestädter’s away appearance in Atlanta, the 24-year-old again scored three scores without an interception.
Remarkable: Playmaker Love achieved this without his once again missing top left tackle David Bakhtiari, who has often been ailing for years, without number 1 receiver Christian Watson and without star running back Aaron Jones. The only bad thing: Despite leading 10:3, 17:9 and 24:12, the Packers couldn’t close the sack.
September 14, 202357:46 minutes
#63: NFL Preview Week 2 – Can the Bengals recover from the disastrous start?
Get into the preview of NFL Week 2. Kucze, Jan, Detti & Fynn have another crisp and colorful program for you. – What’s next for the Jets after Aaron Rodgers’ tragic end to the season? – Who will win the Thursday Night Game between the Eagles and the Vikings? – Our “matchup of the week” is the Dolphins’ appearance at the Patriots – Detti sits in the “Icing Hot Seat” accompanied by the Cowboys defense – “The user question of the week” comes from Jonas and is about the Bengals – “Ours “Upset the Picks” of the Week The next episode of “Icing the kicker” will be released on September 21st. Photo Credit: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
Rather, the Falcons, who were initially stopped again and again by an attentive Green Bay defense, took complete control of the action in the final fourth quarter and ultimately got off to a 2-0 start to the season for only the eleventh time in their own franchise history.
Quarterback Desmond Ridder (276 total yards, two total touchdowns, one interception) ran to make it 19:24 before the usual reliable kicker Younghoe Koo scored from 39 and 24 yards to make it 25:24. The final score, also because with almost a minute remaining, the Packers’ attack with Love was no longer effective. A big factor in Atlanta’s victory was once again rookie running back Bijan Robinson, who recorded 124 yards on 19 carries – plus 48 yards as a receiver.
Goff’s great streak breaks – and the Lions lose
Although Lions quarterback Jared Goff (right) also threw three touchdown passes, he lost the duel with the Seahawks for playmaker Geno Smith. Getty Images
The up-and-coming Detroit Lions around German-American receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had a strong 106 yards with six catches in the home game against the Seattle Seahawks despite being injured, ultimately caved in this wild game. After a great match from a neutral perspective, the score initially went into overtime with the score at 31:31.
Here the Hawks, who started the season 0-1, got the ball first – and didn’t give it away. Quarterback Geno Smith, who impressed with 328 passing yards and two touchdowns and had brought the team back from a ten-point deficit towards the end, found receiver Tyler Lockett after the start of overtime to make the final score 37:31. Before that, cornerback Tre Brown was also important, intercepting a ball from Detroit playmaker Jared Goff and carrying it into the opposing end zone for the pick six. For Goff, it was the end of a series after 383 passes without an interception (third longest NFL series after Aaron Rodgers with 402 and Tom Brady with 399).
Tannehill throws and runs, Henry runs, Folk shoots
The comparison between the Titans and Chargers also went into overtime this early Sunday in Week 2, with the hosts in Nashville/Tennessee having the longer stamina. Despite the falling rain, kicker Nick Folk converted at the decisive moment from 41 yards to make it a celebrated 27:24 victory. Previously, head coach Mike Vrabel’s team had always kept the familiar duo in the game: quarterback Ryan Tannehill (246 yards) with two total touchdowns, running back Derrick Henry (80 yards) with one score. On the other side, a dejected Justin Herbert stood at the end despite an impressive 305 yards passing and two touchdowns.
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