Week 2 is always a fascinating week because it exposes what we saw in Week 1 as either a fluke or a trend. There is a lot more clarity on several teams that had some unexpected Week 1 outings. Most of this column will focus on those teams. $.01--I will start close to my heart: The Detroit Lions are 2-0 after annihilating the Chiefs 48-3, a score that does not adequately reflect the dominance of Detroit. Matt Stafford once again looked very sharp, spraying the ball all over the field for nearly 300 yards and four more touchdowns. He has perhaps the most effortless motion to throw a deep ball since Dan Marino, an amazing economy of motion that still produces great zip and pretty darn good accuracy. It helps that he can throw the ball anywhere within about three square yards of Calvin Johnson and the ball gets caught, and Stafford also has several other capable weapons that he is not afraid to utilize. Also helping: Stafford has not been touched in two games. No that is not hyperbole either. Last week the Bucs failed to record even a QB pressure, let alone a sack; the Chiefs posted two QB pressures and zero sacks, though there was a (terrible) roughing the passer call mixed in. Major kudos to Dominic Raiola and the rest of the heretofore embattled Detroit line for letting the Stafford engine fire on all cylinders. We all knew the Detroit defensive front was going to be great, and they have been. But the back end has stepped up their game as well. Newcomer Justin Durant was all over the field, snuffing out runs and closing on the ball with controlled speed that erases the stain of Ernie Sims overrunning every play for all those years. Amari Speivey is settling in nicely at safety, showing better field awareness and more confidence in what he sees. Reserve corner Aaron Berry has been a pleasant surprise, using his body well and quickly making tackles. There appears to be much more coordinated movement and communication at the back end, and also some real emotion. Some of that emotion poured out for Coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who was rudely deposed by the Chiefs a couple summers ago. That is among many moves that are going to rise up and bite Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley where the sun never shines. His triteness and generally unpleasant, combative manner has clearly exhausted its effectiveness with Kansas City. Granted the team has lost its best player on defense (Eric Berry), best red zone target (Tony Moeaki) and now one of the best running backs in the league (Jamaal Charles, injured while landing on the down marker slip-n-slide), but I have seen teams that are playing to get their coach fired before. This Chiefs team is absolutely playing to get rid of Haley, and honestly there is little Haley can do about it. With so many key players already gone and saddled with a substandard QB and shaky O-line, the Chiefs are almost officially on Andrew Luck watch already. Losing your first two games 89-10 with more turnovers (9) than second-half first downs (7) will do that to a team. As a Detroit fan for far too long, I can empathize with Chiefs fans. It also makes me hesitant to fully buy into these Lions because I am waiting for the inevitable disaster. But this Lions team does have a distinctly different feel to them, and that is very encouraging. There is not the giddiness from the players that came along with the 6-2 start back in 2007. Kyle Vanden Bosch and the rest of the veteran leadership are acutely aware that there is still work to be done and it is too early to celebrate. Could this really be the end of the years of nightmarish failure and comical organizational inefficiency? I still need more convincing, but something tells me Detroit is for real. $.02--All is well again in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers nicely rebounded from their Week 1 pasting by obliterating the Seahawks 24-0. James Harrison & Co. held Seattle to eight first downs and nearly doubled the time of possession. The offensive line remains a sore point, but Pittsburgh returned to anticipated form by continually finding the soft spot in the defense and nicely mixing in power runs with Ben Roethlisberger patented rolling thunder passes. The defense looked like a completely different animal, not allowing Seattle to cross midfield until the 4th quarter and recording a sack or QB pressure on 18 of the 34 times Seattle tried to pass. The inferiority of the opponent dampens the enthusiasm a little, but this sure looked like the same old Steelers, the defending AFC Champions with the fierce defense and opportunistic big-play offense. With Baltimore going in the opposite direction in their disheartening loss to Tennessee, where their defense looked old, slow, and ineffective and their quarterback looked easily rattled and mistake-prone, the Steelers are right back where they need to be. For their part, Seattle certainly looks like the worst team in the league after two weeks. The defensive front is not too shabby, but the rest of that team has less talent than some of Pete Carroll’s teams at USC. Of course those Trojan players probably got paid more money than Paul Allen pays for the Seahawks. $.03--Tampa Bay just might have salvaged their season with a gutty come-from-behind win at Minnesota. For the second week in a row, the Bucs looked largely lifeless through the first three quarters before the caffeine kicked in and they staged a furious rally. It was not enough last week against Detroit, but Josh Freeman pulled a rabbit out of his hat in Minnesota. Freeman just might be the best clutch quarterback in the league, as over half his career victories have been 4th quarter comebacks, with five of those eight overcoming more than 10 points. Legarrette Blount stopped running into the backs of his blockers and plowed for the winning touchdown, while the line looked completely different down the stretch as well. Someone needs to get the Bucs some Five-Hour Energy for breakfast on game days, because they cannot possibly continue to win many games by only showing up for 15 of the 60 minutes. Someone also needs to get their fans some blood pressure medication and mood stabilizers if they keep this up. I still don’t know how impressed to be with Tampa; obviously they have the capability of being an excellent all-around team that can do some playoff damage because they play so well in clutch situations. Yet they also go through such prolonged stretches of glaring inadequacy and lacking urgency. Next week I want to see the Bucs field a competitive effort in the first half against Atlanta. If I get that, then I have genuine optimism for Tampa and the playoffs, but another skin of their teeth win will not breed me any confidence. $.04--Oakland and Buffalo both get a push for their efforts. In a very evenly matched, entertaining affair, the Bills prevailed 35-31 on a late Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdown pass. That was the fifth touchdown in the fourth quarter, capping a rally that saw the Bills overcome an early 21-3 deficit. I greatly admire the gumption to pull out the win, but color me skeptical on the Bills going forward. Maybe I watched too much of the first half, where Buffalo did the following on first down: Fred Jackson 1-yard run, Jackson 1-yard run, Jackson 1-yard loss, 15-yard penalty followed by an incompletion/throwaway, 16 yard pass to Roscoe Parrish, Jackson 2-yard run, incompletion, Raiders penalty wiping out an incompletion, incompletion, 12-yard pass to Jackson, 9-yard pass to David Nelson on a play where the Raiders were conceding yards to eat clock. That is not going to get it done. To their credit, Chan Gailey and his staff dialed up the pressure and made some aggressive changes at halftime, but not every opponent will be as conciliatory as Oakland. I do like the way the offensive line has congealed together thus far, and the defense has had some strong moments. More consistency would be nice, but Bills fans have to feel good about starting 2-0 and looking like they could threaten for a Wild Card in a diluted and wide-open second tier of the AFC. Oakland is a little tougher to read. We know they are very physical, and Jason Campbell looks comfortable running the offense. They found themselves a legit playmaker in rookie wideout Denarius Moore (making my frigid trip to San Antonio for the Texas vs. Nation game worthwhile!), and Michael Bush and Darren McFadden are a very effective, dynamic running back duo. But this team continues to make too many mistakes to consider them a legit threat. I counted four dropped interceptions, including two on the final drive where Buffalo ultimately won the game. After 15 penalties in the opener, they committed another eight on Sunday, lending a little too much resemblance to the “same old Raiders”. They failed to register a sack, though Matt Shaughnessy did play a very strong game, and their run defense was awful. There is a fine line between playing with abandon and abandoning responsibility, and too often the Raiders defense veered to the wrong side of that line. I like Hue Jackson as a coach but he has some work to do before I buy into the Raiders. $.05--If you are a Philadelphia Eagles fan, you might now understand why many of us were not drinking your Kool Aid and why banking on Michael Vick is a very risky proposition. Even before he left the game with his latest injury, Vick was once again responsible for more turnovers (3) than touchdowns (2) and made his receivers work harder than needed on several catches. As had been customary throughout his career, Vick proved once again he just cannot handle heavy pressure. In the midst of making some great plays and guiding the Eagles to a lead, Vick could not finish what he started for the 9th time in his career. That is not a lot of fluke incidents, ladies and gentlemen; Michael Vick is not durable, period. I would feel a lot more confident if the Philly defense were better, but the Eagles are being exposed for going el cheapo on the linebacker and safety fronts. Poor tackling, inadequate range, and general ineffectiveness have dogged the Philly defense in both games. They got to Matt Ryan quite a bit and forced some mistakes, but Trent Cole and those great corners are human; asking them to be perfect on every play is simply too much. There will be many times where they will be good enough, particularly on days where Vick is good enough. Neither happened in Atlanta, and now the Eagles are 1-1 and full of as many questions as answers. $.06--Tony Romo has taken a lot of crap over the years, much of it unnecessarily harsh. Rex Grossman has also taken a lot of crap over the years, a good portion of it deserved. But on Sunday, both quarterbacks earned a whole lot of praise and respect. Romo suffered a broken rib early in the game, but gamely returned when it was clear Jon Kitna was not ready to fill his shoes. After last week’s implosion, it would have been easy for Romo to nurse his wounds on the sideline and watch the Cowboys fall to 0-2. But Romo showed true grit and rallied the team to an overtime victory. My wife caught the end of the game and wondered if Romo was going to leave the field in an ambulance, he looked so bedraggled. But he sucked it up and saved the day, keeping the Cowboys in the thick of the NFC East and showing there is more to Tony Romo than the goofy smile, backwards hat, and Steel Panther wedding reception. Sexy Rexy is making Mike Shanahan look genius. While Grossman had some shaky moments, for the most part he managed the offense and made enough plays to get Washington the big win. I liked his composure in the red zone, and Shanahan has apparently taught Grossman how to throw a ball away. Much like Romo, it appears Grossman is also earning the confidence of even his harshest critics amongst his teammates. Of course we have seen Grossman look good in stretches before, but this does have a different feel to it. Congrats to Rex Grossman for shaking off the vultures and showing real pluck in getting Washington to 2-0 and alone in first place in the NFC East. Next week these two teams meet, and I hope both quarterbacks continue the feel-good story lines they are crafting. $.07--Carolina might be 0-2 but their fans have to feel pretty good about their team. Cam Newton continues to amaze, lighting up the defending Super Bowl champion Packers for over 400 yards and nearly pulling off the unthinkable upset. There were some serious rookie errors, but you just get the feeling that Cam Newton is the kind of player that has “it”. In his first two weeks, Newton has certainly quashed a great deal of the pre-draft venom sent his way. Only Tom Brady--who had to set an NFL record to do it--has thrown for more yards, and Newton obliterated the two-game rookie passing mark. He has shown touch, he has shown he can rifle the ball into tight spaces, and he has shown he can run like a bull when needed. But the most impressive thing about Newton to me thus far is his ability to learn from his mistakes and process information. After finding a great deal of early success against the Packers, Green Bay changed the way they played him. Dom Capers started dropping his ILBs deeper and having his corners steer the receivers into the middle of the field. That caused a couple of interceptions as Newton was slow to pick up on the read. But Newton kept his head and figured it out, and both he and Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski tweaked the offense and took what the Packers were giving. Obviously it wasn’t quite enough, but these are the things that great quarterbacks do. Newton sure looks like he is going to be great. I thought Aaron Rodgers--already a great one--summed it up nicely after the game when he stated he was happy the Pack played Carolina now before Newton really starts to figure it out. Quick note on the Packers: they won a game where they clearly did not bring their “A” game, but it was also the first game in a long time where they were not the team dictating the pace and outcome. Some Packers fans might fret at their performance, but I am strongly encouraged by it. They showed the ability to persevere on the road and win a game they easily could have lost. Last year they lost these types of games (Detroit, Atlanta) and it forced them to play the playoffs on the road. More wins like this and the road to the NFC goes through Green Bay. $.08--5 NFL quickies: 1. Some of these roughing the passer calls are just ridiculous. Just in the first quarters of the early games I saw three flags that might as well put quarterbacks in red vests and pink skirts. The calls on Desmond Bishop in Carolina and Glenn Dorsey in Detroit both led to home teams getting touchdowns that should not have been, and neither call was close to merited. Meanwhile, Chicago got two homer calls…in New Orleans, one on a roughing call, the other on a shot out of bounds that did not get flagged. The Patriots got flagged for a ridiculous one later as well. Not a good weekend for the zebras. 2. Steve Smith of the Panthers is a great talent, but he epitomizes the type of player many people (myself included) just loathe. Prime example: on 3rd and 7, Smith runs a 5-yard pattern and gets flattened immediately by Nick Collins, an abject failure by Smith to help his team or accomplish the goal. Yet he leaps up and cheers as though he just bowled a perfect game while wired on cocaine with a Thai stripper on each arm. Later on Smith fumbles after a catch while being flippantly careless with the ball and comes up yapping and pointing fingers. Where have you gone Tom Landry? 3. Jacksonville has an interesting decision going forward at quarterback. Luke McCown was pathetic against the Jets, and rookie Blaine Gabbert showed some life. More importantly, the rest of the team responded positively to Gabbert. But he is still not ready for prime time, and they risk blowing his confidence if the wolves he is thrown to tear him up. Nice job by the Jets to put a beating on an inferior opponent with a complete all-around effort. 4. Normally I do not listen to the national television broadcasts of primetime games, as I prefer radio feeds. But I gave Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth a shot in the Sunday Night game, and my hunch proved correct. Collinsworth rewarded my gamble with great points about Jason Peters using his athleticism at tackle for the Eagles, and also Tony Gonzalez setting up routes against Philly’s greenhorn linebackers. Spot-on analysis delivered with proper tone and valid video reinforcement from the production truck--that is what we want, TV execs. Not dancing robots, not endless effusive praise, not inane banalities or smug cross promotions. Thank you Cris Collinsworth and NBC! 5. Stat line that blows my mind--Chad Henne last week against New England: 30-for-49, 416 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, and 59 yards rushing with another TD. Against Houston this week, Henne was 12-for-30, 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and 26 yards rushing. You might recall Houston had the 2nd worst QB rating allowed in NFL history last year. This year they are quite literally twice as good as the Patriots. In two weeks the Texans have given up 328 net yards passing; last year they allowed fewer than that net total in just three full games. $.09--College/Draft quickies: -- Miami walloped Ohio State in a game that proves the axiom about “if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one”. The Buckeyes continually rotated ineptitude and ineffectiveness with Bauserman and Miller, bringing back nasty memories of Steve Bellisari and Austin Moherman in the season that led to John Cooper leaving town. Kudos to the Hurricanes for playing great defense, but this Buckeye team completely lacks offensive flow and leadership. -- Baylor was in the process of drubbing SFA when it started to rain. That brought the loudest cheers heard in Waco in years, according to a scout I texted with who was in attendance. His take on Bears QB Robert Griffin: better touch than expected, great presence and confidence, lacks great vision, subpar arm, stay in school. -- I completely agree with Oklahoma QB Landry Jones in his assessment that it was nice to see the Sooners “win ugly”. That was my biggest question about the #1 team, if they could still win on a day where they were not at their best. Mission accomplished. -- Houston QB Case Keenum led a furious rally to help the Cougars beat Louisiana Tech, as Houston scored the final four touchdowns after the halfway point of the 3rd quarter. In the process Keenum tied Timmy Chang for TD passes with 117. I greatly admire Keenum for coming back from his torn up knee, but despite all the prolific numbers he is not an NFL prospect. -- Marcus Lattimore continues to mightily impress for South Carolina, which survived a real test from a well-coached Navy team. But the price for Lattimore could be high, as he racks up a freakish amount of carries that greatly diminishes his future NFL prospects. The sophomore running back now has 143 carries in his last 7 games, and that includes a 7-carry outing in a blowout last year. That kind of workload doomed the very similar Kevin Smith to a very brief NFL stint. Steve Spurrier is riding his NFL talent to the glue factory. $.10-- College football as we know it is about to end. Thank God! With the news that Syracuse and Pittsburgh are leaving the Big East for the ACC, any chance of retaining normalcy is long gone. Now it sounds like the big boys left in the Big 12 are negotiating their way into the Pac-12, which will expand to 16 teams. I think these are fantastic developments, not just for football fans but for students and athletes in other sports. These new mega conferences are destined to splinter away from NCAA oversight, free to compensate football players at their will. By venturing out from the NCAA, these top football schools do not have to worry about the ridiculously (and unintentionally) anti-male Title IX regulations. They can do what Oregon, USC, Ohio State, North Carolina et al have done and pay recruiting services and give cash to the players. They can provide stipends only to football players and not worry about the women’s golf team. Minor men’s sports like volleyball and wrestling will undergo a resurgence, because the 85-scholarship behemoth that is BCS football goes off the Title IX ledger. Instead of creating opportunities for more women student-athletes as intended, the reality has been that schools have simply cut other men’s sports. For those of us that participate in these “minor” sports, this is an opportunity to expand the dwindling numbers of male college students. I still don’t know how quickly all the shuffling will shake out or what schools will ultimately wind up in what conferences. But I hope they go all the way and make big-time college football an independent entity. All the non-football sports can reformulate into more geographically concise and sensible conferences. Get rid of the NCAA and its arcane, iron-fisted, inconsistent regulations and the laughable bowl and BCS system. Stop making tens of millions on the backs of players that cannot afford a taco, but cry bloody murder when the players try to improve their lot. Draw a clear line between the major players and those programs that have simply collected checks to get beat up by the big boys. Change is good, and it is time for change!