Add The New York Post on Google A trio of legendary quarterbacks opened the season looking like they will be in the MVP hunt again, but a new challenger also emerged.
The Bills’ Josh Allen (one MVP), Ravens’ Lamar Jackson (two MVPs) and Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes (two MVPs) put up their standard star performances in Week 1, but the Bears’ Caleb Williams had the most dominant outing of the weekend.
Meanwhile, reigning MVP Matthew Stafford of the Rams played like he aged a dozen years during one offseason.
So, how do those quarterbacks and their teams stack up in the biggest overreaction week of the season?
Here are The Post’s NFL power rankings for Week 2:
Something old: Allen threw a go-ahead 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:36 remaining. Something new: The defense actually closed out a win when Greg Rousseau had his second strip sack of the day in a 36-31 victory over the Texans to mark head coach Joe Brady’s debut. The Bills won in Houston for the first time since 2006.
Williams threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more as the Bears scored two touchdowns in every quarter to rout the Panthers 59-37 in the highest-scoring Week 1 game in NFL history. D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai both reached the century mark for a 291-yard, six-touchdown rushing attack. It was the fourth-most points scored in franchise history.
The 49ers’ 27-7 beatdown of the Rams in Australia is being judged as a referendum on travel agendas. Perhaps it’s just further proof that the 49ers, when healthy, are a Super Bowl threat and that Kyle Shanahan has Sean McVay’s number. Brock Purdy threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns, including one to old friend Deebo Samuel Sr.
Disaster struck when Sam Darnold injured his hip on the fifth snap, but the defense answered the bell against the Patriots with three fourth-quarter interceptions, including Josh Jobe’s at the 3-yard line with 26 seconds to go to seal a 13-10 comeback win in the Super Bowl rematch. Drew Lock efficiently threw for 187 yards and a touchdown.
Derrick Henry moved into third place all-time in rushing touchdowns (125) with a trio of scores in a 41-23 pasting of the Colts. Jackson threw for 324 yards and accounted for touchdowns on the ground and in the air. The Ravens have scored 20 or more points in 10 straight Week 1s, but this was the first time under head coach Jesse Minter.
It couldn’t have gone worse for the preseason Super Bowl favorites against the 49ers. Stafford was intercepted, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett was ineffective — and now is on injured reserve — and Tyler Higbee lost a fumble. Maybe arriving in Australia more than 28 hours before kickoff would’ve been smart.
With Taylor Swift in the stadium instead of at the Emmys, the Chiefs looked like a powerhouse again as Mahomes passed for two touchdowns and ran for another. Newcomers Kenneth Walker III (191 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in his first game since winning Super Bowl MVP for the Seahawks) and rookie Mansoor Delane (interception) made their presences felt.
Kamari Lassiter dropped a could’ve game-clinching interception and then was beat for the game-winning touchdown by Joshua Palmer in the final two minutes of the loss to the Bills. It was befitting of a day when the Texans’ vaunted defense flopped and allowed its most points in nearly 1,000 days. David Montgomery scored three touchdowns in his Texans’ debut.
Moro Ojomo stuffed the would-be game-tying two-point attempt with 61 seconds remaining to clinch a 24-22 victory against the Commanders. Jalen Hurts threw for three touchdowns, including two to Dallas Goedert, and extended his winning streak in season-openers to six under head coach Nick Sirianni. Hurts also added a key 22-yard scramble on a third-and-18 to set up a field goal.
Detroit blew a 21-point third-quarter lead but survived with a 32-31 overtime win when the Saints missed a field goal at the end of regulation and threw an incompletion on an all-or-nothing two-point play. Jahmyr Gibbs carried a career-high 29 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns, and Amon-Ra St. Brown caught two touchdown passes.
Malik Nabers (69 receiving yards) and Isaiah Likely (78 and two touchdowns) looked like a dynamic duo for Jaxson Dart, who completed 23 of 29 passes for three touchdowns in a 28-20 win against the Cowboys. The offensive line paved the way for 165 rushing yards and kept Dart mostly clean. Just how head coach John Harbaugh drew up his debut.
Set up in a revenge game against fired former head coach Robert Saleh, the Jets instead got the last laugh in a 23-10 win to spoil Saleh’s debut with the Titans. Geno Smith passed for 215 yards and wasn’t sacked, and Breece Hall ran for 102 yards — all a credit to the offensive line. Rookie David Bailey notched his first sack.
