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If Week 2 taught us anything, it was this: Week 1 taught us nothing.Nothing, at least, that wasn't comprehensively blown to bits seven days later. Chip Kelly's Philly offense was a corpse, isn't Dan Marino (not yet) and the , , , , and are all winle s.Nothing makes sense, all theories are moot and society is a mystery.You know what that means: It's Heroes and Villains time:Heroes1. Loyalists -- For Now: The game tape doesn't lie. Manning's arm strength is -esque and his play is a shadow of yesteryear. Still, Denver's stunning comeback win over the Webster Rivas Jersey silenced the torch-and-pitchfork crowd for at least another week. Finally allowed to operate his up-tempo shotgun attack, Peyton looked like Peyton. It doesn't excuse the fluttering lobs, but Manning was at home again. You want to save Denver's season? Then it's time for coach Gary Kubiak to firebomb his rollout-based scheme, rescue Manning's old playbook from the blaze and make one final push for the Lombardi.2. New England's Namele s A sa sin: Why would any coach hand Bill Belichick even a syllable's worth of fodder for the Foxborough bulletin board? Not surprisingly, that's exactly what we got last week from coach Rex Ryan, who completely dismi sed running back prior to Buffalo's clash with the Pats, saying: I can't even tell you that kid's name."Fast forward to Sunday, when the hyper-elusive Lewis scorched the for 138 of New England's 507 total yards. It was a great moment for a young player bouncing back from a 2013 . Instead of acknowledging that -- or simply saying nothing -- Ryan chided Lewis after the lo s, quipping sarcastically: "Uh, that's the reason we lost," before saying: Bad look by Ryan, who we have more on below. As for Lewis, he can shrug off Rex and wage on with his saucy bounceback campaign.3. The Raaaaaaiders: The NFL is a better place when the are winning. It's been eons since they looked even marginally formidable, but Sunday's 37-33 outburst against the was a step in the right direction. Not only for the team, but for second-year quarterback . The pa ser sliced through Baltimore's defense at will, capping a 351-yard afternoon with Oakland's six-play, 80-yard game-winning march. fans -- love 'em or hate ' em -- have waited years for a moment like this:Villains1. Bloviators Angling to Destroy 22-Year-Old Quarterbacks:Few newbie pa sers have endured more attention than , the second-year arm whose first season was a comprehensive disaster. After handling his personal i sues in the offseason, Manziel on Sunday won his first NFL game over and the . Nobody rooted harder against his succe s than ESPN's Merrill Hoge, who called Johnny a after he was drafted and noted that AFC North teams "love the plan that Cleveland's under" because "all you do is set your organization back one more year by babysitting this guy as your starting quarterback."Fast-forward to Monday, when Hoge -- wearing a sparkly orange tie -- completely shifted course after 18 months of white-hot takes:Merril Hoge, wearing a Browns colored tie, has done a 180. Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) 2. Rex's Rambling Bluster Machine: Speaking of Hyper-Uncontrollable Bloviators (HUBs), can we circle back to Ryan for a sec? It's troubling to see a coach learn nothing the second time around. After making a trillion guarantees with the that wound up as quinte sential bunk, Rex still couldn't help but squawk before playing the "hated" .Painfully aware of Rex's fixation on the organization, the Pats simply went about their busine s. Their move? Dropping a 40-burger on a Buffalo defense Ryan spent all summer boasting about. For better or worse, fans will learn this is all part of The Rex Experience. Big talk, a few big wins, but little more. He's 47-51 in the regular season and his record is a fair reflection of what Ryan is: A talented defensive architect, but also a gusty quote-machine whose teams wind up suffering for his pre s-conference shenanigans.Seacrest out. Ha-seong Kim Jersey |
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