This Week
The weekend’s most important results came from the examination room
Two quarterbacks selected first and second in the 2024 draft left Sunday with injuries. By Monday evening, neither team could offer a firm return date.
Washington’s Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow on the final play of the first half in Dallas. Left guard Chris Paul stepped on Daniels’ foot as the quarterback moved away from center, and Daniels landed awkwardly while trying to brace himself with his non-throwing arm. Postgame X-rays showed no fracture, according to coach Dan Quinn, but the injury involved the same elbow Daniels dislocated last season.
Daniels underwent additional imaging Monday and was scheduled to consult specialists over the next two days. Washington has not announced a recovery timetable. Quinn did confirm that Marcus Mariota will start while Daniels is unavailable.
The immediate football problem is obvious. Daniels had kept Washington within one score before he was injured, rushing seven times for 69 yards and completing 11 of 17 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. The Commanders ultimately lost 37–20, falling to 0–2 before a home game against the defending champion Seahawks.
The longer-term question cannot yet be answered responsibly. This is a repeat dislocation, but Washington has not said whether Daniels will need surgery or how much time he will miss. Any more precise prognosis would be speculation.
Chicago’s uncertainty is different but nearly as consequential. The Bears announced Monday that Caleb Williams is week-to-week with a right hamstring injury suffered during their 9–3 loss to Minnesota. Williams pulled up while scrambling left in the fourth quarter and was later taken to the locker room.
Coach Ben Johnson said Williams is unlikely to practice this week, although he did not rule him out for next Monday’s game against Philadelphia. Tyson Bagent would start if Williams cannot play.
The injury ended a miserable afternoon for an offense that had scored 59 points in its opener. According to NFL Research, Chicago’s 56-point decline from Week 1 to Week 2 was the second-largest such drop in league history. Weather contributed to the disorder, but Minnesota’s defense deserves the larger share of the credit: four sacks, two takeaways and only three points allowed.
Daniels and Williams do not have identical injuries, circumstances or outlooks. What connects them is their importance. Washington and Chicago built their offenses around the movement and improvisation of their young quarterbacks. Even a short absence requires more than changing one name on a lineup card.
Kansas City survives an overtime argument
The Chiefs defeated Indianapolis 33–30 on Harrison Butker’s 40-yard field goal as overtime expired. Patrick Mahomes completed 32 of 47 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns. Travis Kelce caught nine passes for 101 yards and a score. Running back Kenneth Walker III added 117 rushing yards and 61 receiving yards.
The enduring discussion concerns replay rather than the box score.
Kansas City led 30–27 in overtime when Daniel Jones completed a deep pass to Laquon Treadwell. Nohl Williams punched the ball free, the Chiefs recovered, and officials initially ruled a fumble that would have ended the game.
After review, officials ruled that Treadwell had established control and was touched by a defender before his knee hit the ground. He therefore was down by contact before the ball came out. The play became a 48-yard completion to the Kansas City 17 rather than a turnover. Indianapolis subsequently tied the game on Spencer Shrader’s 38-yard field goal with 3:11 remaining.
The rule-based explanation is coherent: possession, defensive contact, knee down, ball out. The reasonable debate concerns the replay standard and whether the video was sufficiently clear to overturn the call on the field. Disliking the result is not evidence that officials misunderstood the down-by-contact rule. Questioning whether replay supplied indisputable evidence is a separate, legitimate issue.
Kansas City then drove from its 32 to set up Butker’s winner. The result moved the Chiefs to 2–0 and extended Indianapolis’ losing streak to nine games.
San Francisco makes difficult football look routine
The cleanest performance of Sunday belonged to the 49ers, who beat Miami 35–13 after scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions.
Brock Purdy completed 20 of 22 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns, added a rushing score and completed 18 consecutive attempts at one point. San Francisco produced that efficiency one week after returning from its season opener against the Rams in Australia.
Christian McCaffrey supplied the historical marker. His two one-yard touchdown runs gave him 100 career touchdowns in his 114th game. In the Super Bowl era, only LaDainian Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith and Shaun Alexander reached 100 faster. McCaffrey also became the third player, after Marshall Faulk and Randy Moss, to score at least 50 touchdowns for two franchises.
The 49ers are 2–0, have outscored their opponents 62–20 and have opened a season with consecutive victories of at least 20 points for the first time in franchise history.
Buffalo opens its stadium at full volume
Week 2 began Thursday with Buffalo’s 41–31 victory over Detroit, the first regular-season game at the Bills’ new stadium.
Josh Allen threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more. He completed 20 of 31 throws for 248 yards and added 69 rushing yards. Buffalo scored on each of its first four possessions and led 27–10 at halftime.
Detroit eventually produced 31 points, with Jared Goff throwing for 327 yards and four touchdowns, but its early deficit dictated the rest of the game. James Cook’s 134 rushing yards helped Buffalo control the closing stages.
Philadelphia wins before the heat wins
The Eagles beat Tennessee 24–20 on Jalen Hurts’ three-yard touchdown pass to Darius Cooper with nine seconds left.
Hurts’ final drive covered 65 yards in nine plays after Tennessee took a 20–17 lead with 1:56 remaining. He finished with 264 passing yards and two touchdowns but also threw two interceptions. DeVonta Smith caught 10 passes for 117 yards.
The conditions became part of the contest. The fourth-quarter air temperature reached 98 degrees, while the artificial playing surface was measured at 157. Tennessee personnel sprayed water on players’ cleats, and Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni required intravenous fluids.
The Eagles are 2–0, but neither victory has been comfortable. That is not necessarily a defect in September. The useful habit is winning after the original plan has stopped working.
Monday night: Los Angeles resets, New York turns into a health story
The Rams finally looked like the preseason chalk. Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes and Davante Adams finished with eight catches for 195 yards and two scores in a 28–6 win at SoFi, with Aaron Donald logging his first snaps since 2023. A Puka Nacua-less night still produced red-zone efficiency and a Giants offense held to 182 yards.
New York’s night ended almost as soon as it started. Jaxson Dart’s left knee bent awkwardly on the opening drive, and although the Giants said he appears as if he will be okay, Jameis Winston’s relief act left the offense stuck. Australia is erased for Los Angeles. The Giants’ 1–1 is now a health story first.
Three performances that shouldn’t disappear beneath the headlines
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle. Drew Lock started in place of injured Sam Darnold and repeatedly found Smith-Njigba in a 31–7 win over Arizona. The receiver caught nine passes for 155 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. The Seahawks have won 12 consecutive games including the postseason, a franchise record.
Devin Lloyd, Carolina. After allowing 59 points in Week 1, the Panthers held Atlanta to three. Lloyd recorded nine tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, three passes defensed and two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown. Carolina won 34–3.
Dak Prescott, Dallas. Prescott completed 26 of 32 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns against Washington. His second touchdown to CeeDee Lamb was the 249th scoring pass of his career, moving him past Tony Romo for the Cowboys’ franchise record.
Monday’s quarterback decision
The Falcons announced that Michael Penix Jr. will start Thursday at Green Bay. It will be Penix’s first start since a season-ending knee injury last November. Atlanta has scored 16 points while losing its first two games. Penix returns on a short week against a Packers team that narrowly avoided 0–2 with an overtime win over the Jets.
The rest of Sunday, compressed
New Orleans converted two third downs and two fourth downs on its decisive drive, then beat Baltimore 24–17 on Tyler Shough’s fourth-down touchdown sneak. Cincinnati moved to 2–0 with a 20–6 victory at Houston, with Joe Burrow throwing both touchdowns to Ja’Marr Chase. New England pressured Aaron Rodgers into two fumbles and an interception in a 20–3 win over Pittsburgh. Denver scored the final 17 points to beat Jacksonville 20–13. Las Vegas beat the Chargers 26–14. Cleveland outlasted Tampa Bay 23–19 after a lightning delay lasting more than two hours.
Final thought
September records can mislead; September problems usually do not. San Francisco’s efficiency, Buffalo’s explosiveness and Seattle’s defensive control look sustainable. So do the offensive concerns in Atlanta and Los Angeles before Monday night’s reset.
Washington and Chicago face a different test. Their next few days will be governed not by standings or film study but by medical information. Until that information arrives, restraint is more useful than prediction.