Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) Through two games, the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson has thrown for 9 touchdown passes, which is incredible in it’s own right, but when you consider he has only 11 incompletions you realize just how ridiculous his start to the 2020 has been.

He’s long been one of my favorite non-Bear players to watch, and this year it seems like he’s going to be allowed to cook as the offense will truly be run through him.

2) The Green Bay Packers’ offense is frightening so far in 2020.

They’re averaging 505 yards per game and 42.5 points per game. Aaron Jones is averaging 6.9 per rush on his 234 yards, Davante Adams has 17 receptions for 192 yards, and Aaron Rodgers is playing like we’d all expect him to by completing 67.6% of his passes for 604 yards, with 6 TDs and no picks.

They have played the Vikings and the Lions, so maybe it’s more a product of playing a couple bad defenses, so we’ll learn more about them when they take on the Saints week 3.

3) Another hot QB is the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen.

Picking Allen as a regression candidate was popular among analysts this offseason, but Allen must not have received the memo.

In Buffalo’s first two games, Allen has thrown for 729 yards, with six touchdowns and no interceptions, which makes him just the fourth quarterback to pass for at least 700 yards, six TDs and zero picks through his team’s first two games in NFL history. He joins some good company in Peyton Manning (2013), Tom Brady (2015), and Patrick Mahomes (2019).

4) The Atlanta Falcons had no business allowing the Dallas Cowboys to recover this onsides kick.

Pop Warner players know that the return team can jump on the ball at any time while the kicking team has to wait for it to go 10 yards, but the Atlanta special teamers were hypnotized by the spinning ball.

When asked to explain the play, Falcon head coach Dan Quinn had this to say.

“The front three are usually blocking as the high bouncers go to the second side, so the front line, generally on an onside kick, they’re looking to get a block first, then the high hop goes to the next player,” Quinn said. “So when that instance happens and it’s not one that’s a high hopper you transfer in and you go to your ball... They definitely know the rule.”

They definitely did not.

4a) Sucks being the 1 in 440-1.

5) Football fans are always saying kickers don’t matter, but if you cheer for a team with a damn good kicker I wonder if that’s as true.

Stephen Gostkowski hit a game winner in each of the Titans two games this year. Dallas’ Greg Zuerlein beat Atlanta on a last second kick, and the Chiefs Harrison Butker nailed a field goal to tie their game against the Chargers in regulation, then hit three more to walk off with the win in overtime.

6) The San Francisco 49ers were one of several teams hit hard by injuries on Sunday, but the Niners’ bad luck got started on Friday when the plane they were supposed to fly to New York in was crashed into.

To pile on the bad juju that could be surrounding them due to the Super Bowl hangover, the MRI truck that come to test defensive players Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas broke down which delayed the results.

Oh yeah, Bosa and Thomas are both lost for the season with ACL tears.

You can scroll through most of the week’s injuries here.

7) There’s nothing better than watching really good offensive linemen, and clips from the Indianapolis Colts’ Quenton Nelson is as good as it gets.

And another...

A lot of Bears fans lament missing out on Aaron Donald in the 2014 NFL Draft, but I’ll always wonder what could have been had the Colts passed on Nelson in 2018 with the sixth overall pick.

8) The NFL is not messing around.

And either is the Raiders’ Jon Gruden.

9) It’s the little things that separate good quarterbacks from bad ones, and if Mitchell Trubisky can continue doing things like this...

And keep working on his craft like this...

He might make believers out of all Chicago Bears’ fans.

I would love to see more consistency in his game, but so far he’s played better than he did a year ago. He has another suspect defense up this week as they travel to play the Atlanta Falcons in what could end up being a shoot out.

If Mitch can put together 4 quarters of solid football the Bears will go to 3-0.

10) The Patriots James White was a surprise inactive before their game on Sunday night, and with social media being what social media is, several people Tweeted their anger about the news.

But once news came out why it put everything into perspective.

White’s parents, Tyrone and Lisa, were in a car accident earlier on Sunday and his father was killed. His mother survived, but was in critical condition.

Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them every chance you get, because you never know when you’ll see them for the last time.