ClutchPoints
Week 2 of the NFL season started off with another statement from the Green Bay Packers that they are Super Bowl contenders and finished with a couple of scratchy Monday Night games, but plenty happened in between.
From controversial calls, an overtime thriller, a reunion that didn’t quote go according to plan for Ben Johnson and a Super Bowl rematch won by the Eagles, there is plenty of fallout from the second week of the season.
The Lions, Falcons and Kyle Shanahan topped the list of winners from Week 2, now it’s time to dive into the losers.
I consider myself a Geno Smith truther, a debate that has become a heated one in recent years. Smith is accurate, not afraid to be aggressive and make big-time throws into tight windows, and has become one of the best pocket managers and sack avoiders in the sport while playing behind some really terrible offensive lines.
On Monday night, Smith got a prime time game to show off what he could do to the world on his new team, and he responded with one of his worst games ever. Smith finished 24-for-43 with 180 yards and three interceptions against a very good Chargers defense, essentially throwing the Raiders out of the game every time they got a chance to get back in it.
When Smith wasn’t throwing it to the guys in the wrong jersey, he spent a lot of the night missing guys high and low when he did get a chance to push it downfield. Jesse Minter and the Los Angeles defense forces you to be patient with their two-high, quarters-heavy scheme, and Smith couldn’t help himself but to push it a little too much at times.
Next Sunday, Smith gets an early kickoff against the Washington Commanders. He will probably light it up and not many people will watch, leaving the Geno stans with nothing but All-22 clips once again.
Kaleb Johnson was one of the top running backs in the NFL draft, so when the Steelers took him on Day 2, he figured to be a big part of the offense. The Steelers lost Najee Harris in free agency, leaving just Johnson and Jaylen Warren in the backfield.
As it turns out, Johnson has not been a big part of the offense, or even a part at all. Warren has gotten a lion’s share of the snaps while Kenneth Gainwell is the established No. 2, and Johnson has been relegated to special teams.
Now, he may just be relegated to the bench. With the Steelers trailing 17-14 against the Seattle Seahawks, Johnson thought twice about fielding a kickoff off the bounce, instead allowing it to roll into the end zone. Unfortunately for the Iowa product, this is not college football and a ball bouncing in the end zone is still live, and the Seahawks [recovered for a...
