“You like that?!” Las Vegas fans must like the play of QB Kirk Cousins. The Raiders are a surprising 2-0 after a solid 26-14 win over the disappointing Los Angeles Chargers (0-2). Cousins threw 3 TD passes and has won his last six starts. (He won his last four 2025 starts in Atlanta.) The Las Vegas defense bent but never broke as FA LBs Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker contributed 20 tackles.

Even without starting QB Sam Darnold, Seattle looked in Super Bowl form in a 31-7 blitz of Arizona. Defending NFL OPOY Jackson Smith-Njigba grabbed 9 passes for 155 yards and 3 TDs from backup QB Drew Lock. The Seahawks defense Cardinals’ QB Jacoby Brissett to less than 3.250 DQCYPA and 1.40 player productivity. Combined with the D’s 3-interception game against New England, those numbers are 4.410 and 1.77. Since I invented coaching stats in 2008, only one team has held its opponents to less than 2.00 player productivity for an entire season, the 2008 Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle is still the team to beat.

Denver looked like it would fall to 0-2 when it trailed Jacksonville 13-3 with 9:02 to play in the third quarter. Then QB Bo Nix led the Broncos on 3 consecutive scoring drives and a 10-play march to close out the game. The Jaguars helped their cause with a missed Cam Little field goal and a Trevor Lawrence interception.

Cincinnati looks much improved on the defensive front. Led by DE Cedrick Johnson, a 2024 6RD pick from Mississippi, the Bengals sacked Houston QB C.J. Stroud 4x. The Bengals ranked 29th in pass coverage (8.032 DQCYPA) and 22nd in pass pressure (-.400 yards/attempt) in 2025. But the rebuilt D-line of DTs Dexter Lawrence II and Jonathan Allen and edge rushers Johnson and Cashius Howell took down Stroud and Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield for -.747 yards per attempt, which ranks 5th in the NFL. The coverage has improved even more to 6.108, which trails only Seattle. And have you seen the QBs that are the schedule going forward? If that continues and Joe Burrow and his offensive weapons stay healthy, Cincinnati should be in the thick of the AFC race.

New Orleans second-year QB Tyler Shough is emerging as “Captain Comeback.” Last week he rallied the Saints to force OT in Detroit only to fall 31-30 when he could not converte a 2-point PAT. In Baltimore in Week 2, he led New Orleans on two Q4 68-yards drives of 9 and 16 plays, respectively, to catch and pass the Ravens, 24-17. New Orleans fans probably would prefer to see Shough and the offense get out of the blocks quicker. But a QB that is money in the Q4 in the NFL will make a lot of money.

Browns fans and QB Deshaun Watson enjoyed their best day in a very long time. Watson hit 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards including TD passes to Denzel Boston and Blake Whitehart to lift Cleveland over Tampa Bay, 23-19. Watson also played TO-less football. It will be interesting to see how the home fans greet Watson this week when the Browns return home to face Carolina and then Pittsburgh. Neither of those teams looke like a lock for the playoffs. If Watson could keep it going, fans in the ‘Land might start to think about forgiving and forgetting.