Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) I already shared my thoughts about Peyton Manning and his fit in the Gary Kubiak offense on Twitter, but if you don't follow me (follow me here!), I'll share them here as well.

At this point in Manning's career, he is what he is. Don't try and make him run a playaction/bootleg offense. The man is 39 years old and he's one of the greatest to ever play the game. Through two weeks of football the only time he's looked comfortable is when he's back in shotgun directing a fast break O.

2) While some NFL analysts are questioning how much Manning has left in the tank, 38 year old Tom Brady is throwing for his 2nd most ever yards (466 and 3 TDs) in New England's victory over the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots were cruising, up 37-13 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but the never say die Bills scored 19 4th quarter points to make it interesting.

Head coach Rex Ryan will have the Bills in the AFC playoff hunt this season.

3) Number one overall pick Jameis Winston had a nice bounce back game on Sunday as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints 26-19. After mightily struggling in his first pro game against the Titans, Winston went 14 for 21 (66.7%), with 207 yards, 1 TD and no interceptions in New Orleans. He even ran for a TD on 6 carries for 23 yards.

But the best thing about Sunday was Jamesis' Dad spotted sporting this awesome T-Shirt.

Check out the shirt Jameis Winston's father wore to the Bucs game in New Orleans on Sunday: pic.twitter.com/MEzkHWviRt

— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 21, 2015

4) Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was reported to be on the hot seat before the season even started, but now that his team is 0-2, it's really, really warm. But if Pagano is going down, he wants it to be known it's not entirely his fault. After last night's game he took a shot at his general manager Ryan Grigson, who built the team.

When asked about his quarterback Andrew Luck, and if he's trying to rush things behind their shaky offensive line, Pagano danced around the fact that his GM hasn't strengthened the trenches. "I don't think so. That's been the case for three years now. Has it not? He (Luck) should be more than comfortable dealing with what he's dealing with. We've got to get it fixed."

4a) Pagano was also critical of his QB, firing off this line, "You just got to take care of the football. Make great decisions and take care of the football. It's not that hard. It's not trigonometry."

Speaking of taking care of the football, did you realize that Luck leads the NFL in turnovers since the start of the 2014 season?

For more on the 0-2 Colts, hit up our sister site, Stampede Blue.

5) The Baltimore Ravens' offense looked much different going against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, but they lost again to fall to 0-2. Oakland QB Derek Carr looked good in leading his team to the victory by going 7 for 9 on the game winning drive. Carr got a little lucky when a penalty negated a late pick, but he came right back and fired the winning TD.

6) Another young QB that led his team to victory was the Jacksonville Jaguars Blake Bortles, who marched the Jags 9 plays, 66 yards in 1:08 to get his team in position for the winning field goal.

Don't look now, but the Jags are tied atop the AFC South at 1-1 with the Tennessee Titans. Yes it's early, but for a franchise that hasn't eclipsed 5 wins since 2011, that's a step in the right direction.

7) The Seattle Seahawks only threw two passes (1 catch, 11 yards) to Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. In week one, the Packers allowed Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett to grab 5 for 55 yards and a TD, so you would have thought the Seattle passing game would have found a way to feature Graham a bit more.

I know it's a small sample size, but through 2 games Graham has only been targeted 10 times and he has 7 receptions for 62 yards and 1 TD.

From 2011 to 2014 Graham has averaged 138 targets, 89 receptions, 1,099 yards and 12 receiving TDs per year. Yes, I get that he was playing with a better passer in Drew Brees for those 4 years, but Graham was competing for catches with a talented Saints offense. In Seattle, he's clearly the best option in the passing game.

8) Speaking of Drew Brees, on Monday it was reported that the 36 year old Brees could miss several weeks with a bum shoulder. Many experts thought the Saints would be in the thick of the NFC South race, but of Brees is out for an extended time, they don't have a chance.

8a) Then again, Saints' back up QB Luke McCown could surprise and build off his new-found commercial appeal.

9) With Tony Romo sidelined for at least a couple months with a fractured clavicle, the Dallas Cowboys could be in trouble with Brandon Weeden at the helm. Even though Weeden calmly came in against the Philadelphia Eagles and completed all 7 of his passes, he's a big downgrade from Romo.

Through 2 weeks Dallas is struggling in getting their run game going, and I would expect even more stacked boxes with Weeden in at QB. The only thing that could keep Dallas afloat in the NFC East is the rest of the division being bad.

10) Some Chicago Bears fans are clamoring for 2nd year pro, and frequent practice squader David Fales to get the start if Jay Cutler is out for any length of time. Their main reasoning being, 'He can't be any worse than Jimmy Clausen.'

But he could be. He certainly could be worse than Clausen.

And us Bears fans should know better. I'll just throw out some stat lines for you to ponder.

Rick Mirer (1997) 7 games, 3 starts (0-3), 53 for 103 (51.5%), 420 yards, 0 TDs, 6 Ints, 37.7 passer rating.

Moses Moreno (1998) 2 games, 1 start (0-1), 19 for 43 (44.2%), 166 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int, 62.7 passer rating

Cade McNown (1999) 15 games,  6 starts (2-4), 127 for 235 (54.0%), 1465 yards, 8 TDs, 10 Ints, 66.7 passer rating

Shane Matthews (2000) 6 games, 5 starts (3-2), 102 for 178 (57.3%), 964 yards, 3 TDs, 6 Ints, 64.0 passer rating

Henry Burris (2002) 6 games 1 start (0-1), 18 for 51 (35.3%), 207 yards, 3 TDs, 5 Ints, 28.4 passer rating

Craig Krenzel (2004) 6 games, 5 starts (3-2), 59 for 127 (46.5%), 718 yards, 3 TDs, 6 Ints, 52.5 passer rating

Jonathan Quinn (2004) 5 games, 3 starts (0-3), 51 for 98 (52.0%), 413 yards, 1 TD, 3 Ints, 53.7 passer rating

Todd Collins (2010) 2 games, 1 start (1-0), 10 for 27 (37.0%), 68 yards, 0 TD, 5 Ints, 5.9 passer rating

Caleb Hanie (2011) 6 games, 4 starts (0-4), 51 for 102 (50.0%), 613 yards, 3 TDs, 9 Ints, 41.8 passer rating

We've seen bad quarterback play. We've seen what happens when you throw a guy, who isn't ready, to the wolves.

And I do get the argument that the team knows what it has in Jimmy Clausen, but don't you think they know what they have in David Fales too?

I think Fales has some potential, but to ask him to go from the practice squad to an angry 0-2 Seattle team in their home opener is unfair to him.

What are some of your thoughts this week?