Seven things Solak thinks: Bucs will regret the Mayfield contract? Chargers are a bottom-10 team?
Ben SolakSep 22, 2026, 06:25 AM ET
- Ben Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.
Week 2 is in the books! It came with big upsets (Raiders over Chargers! Browns over Bucs!) and devastating injuries (such as Commanders QB Jayden Daniels and Giants QB Jaxson Dart). Week 3 feels as murky a future week as ever.
Every Tuesday of the NFL season, I'll turn the page from the previous week to the upcoming one with seven things I think. These aren't full-scale predictions; those come later in the week. They aren't concrete takeaways from the past week of NFL action, either; those are fired off Sunday or Monday. Instead, these are the uncertain topics. They are things that might be true, but it'll probably take the next few games to find out. And at the bottom, you'll find a few extra half-thoughts ... just those little inklings I'm unable to shake.
This week, I'm starting with my concern for a big-ticket quarterback contract signed not even a month ago, my concern for one key AFC contender and my lack of concern for two others. Here are seven things I think ahead of Week 3.
Jump to:
Bucs regret the Mayfield deal
Chargers to pick top-10 in 2027
Patriots offense is fine, everyone
Hurts is settling into Eagles' offense
Jaguars trenches will be postseason downfall
Henry won't solve Ravens' late-game issues
Donald's workout regimen paid off
Five extra inklings
I think ... the Buccaneers are already regretting that Baker Mayfield deal
Mayfield has not played well through the first two games of the season.
This does not mean he is a bad quarterback who is undeserving of a nice contract. Two game samples are, in a vacuum, barely above meaningless. (They're just meaningful enough that you should keep reading this column.) But it would have been nice to see how this season played out, to see if this two-game trend continued, before signing an extension.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers looked destined for a prove-it season before the Buccaneers "surprised" Mayfield with an eleventh-hour offer that clearly met his expectations. It is a three-year deal, as Mayfield wanted, though it's really a two-year deal with a $55 million team option in 2029. Still, at $55 million per year, Mayfield is making Matthew Stafford and Trevor Lawrence sort of money ... Joe Burrow and Josh Allen sort of money.
Mayfield's play has been decidedly below that level to start the season. Through two weeks, Mayfield is 29th among 32 quarterbacks in EPA per dropback and 27th in success rate. Of course, two-game samples are useless, so let's add last season. Since the start of 2025, Mayfield is 24th among 32 quarterbacks in EPA per dropback and 25th in success rate.
But last season was a down year. Mayfield played through a strained knee that he suffered in Week 2 and endured shoulder pain (non-throwing side) after a big hit in Week 12. His 2025 offensive coordinator, Josh Grizzard, was fired at the end of the season. So, let's throw in 2024 as well. Since the start of that season, Mayfield's career year with offensive coordinator Liam Coen, Mayfield is 13th in EPA per dropback and 13th in success rate. There he is, the guy the Bucs paid. We just had to go back a couple of seasons to find him.
But even including the 2024 season, we find some problems. A big part of Mayfield's success in that season, and in the seasons to follow, is how well he played when pressured. His dropback success rate (34.9%) is eighth; his first-down/touchdown rate (29.7%) is third behind Burrow and Brock Purdy.
But play under pressure tends not to be sticky. Pressured plays are either big wins (the passer beats the blitz with a deep throw) or disasters (the passer gets sacked), and that creates large swings in the outcome. Good play against pressure also relies heavily on athleticism. Mayfield has scrambled on 17.9% of his pressured dropbacks since the start of the 2024 season, second to Jayden Daniels. Mayfield's numerous 2025 injuries reflect his toughness, but they also reflect his playstyle. He gets sacked a lot (22.8% pressure to sack ratio, eighth highest) and takes more hits on scrambles down the field. It is reasonable to expect Mayfield's effectiveness against pressure to decline with age and accumulated hits; he's 31 years old! I'd argue it already has.
This season, Mayfield's scramble rate has almost halved (9.2%) as the Buccaneers have prioritized throws behind the line of scrimmage, but his ability to escape is also underwhelming, leading to a 9.2% sack rate.
Here's one of three sacks he took against the Browns. Cool concept here on third-and-7 from new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, who motions receiver Emeka Egbuka into the bunch to create a natural pick for Chris Godwin Jr. to get into the slant. The Buccaneers get the hoped-for man coverage. This ball should be out to Godwin immediately.
Mayfield is aggressively climbing the pocket despite the fact that there's plenty of room to stand and throw, and accordingly, he's too late to get the ball to Godwin by the time he reaches a throwing platform. Watch safety Ronnie Hickman, meant to rob the middle of the field, burn right by Godwin and give Mayfield hot pursuit; Hickman knows the scouting report on the quarterback. As Mayfield tries to escape, Hickman hawks him down.
Here's another simple one from Week 1 against the Bengals. Rookie wideout Ted Hurst III has a vertical route to the bottom of the screen, and the single-high safety is on the opposite hash when Mayfield drops back. A veteran quarterback needs to land on his back foot and send this throw, beating the deep safety to the spot by pulling that vertical route outside the numbers. Not an easy throw, but one a $55 million quarterback should be expected to attempt. Instead, he hitches, double-clutches and gets sacked
Mayfield's attempts breakdown has become worryingly polarized through two games of the Robinson offense. A harrowing 37.1% of Mayfield's pass attempts are behind the line of scrimmage, more than all quarterbacks save for Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. But 16.1% of his throws go more than 20 yards downfield, as well; that's fifth highest in the league. Such a spray chart is unhealthy. It indicates a quarterback is uncomfortable testing coverage and either checks it down in front of all defenders or sails it deep beyond all defenders.
Again, this is a small sample. Seven of these eight deep throws came in Week 2 against the Browns, and the lack of success had more to do with miscommunications than anything else. If you're looking for a sunny side in the Buccaneers' offense through two games it's that clearing up those little mistakes should lead to big downfield connections.
This is why the Buccaneers might regret that Mayfield deal. Not because his bad play through two games is written in stone, but because they could have collected a season's worth of additional data to inform their contract decision, and at little cost. What was Mayfield going to demand if he had a good year? Maybe $60 million instead of $55 million? Actual guarantees in 2029?
These are peanut problems compared with the larger issue: Mayfield is a late-career breakout who relies heavily on his athleticism and accordingly is on a shorter time horizon than most quarterbacks over 30. He also plays an inherently erratic style, and Robinson has had little success tamping that down through two weeks. I enjoy when Mayfield is at his best and look forward to seeing it again, but paying for peaks makes the valleys difficult to endure. The Buccaneers likely never had a better alternative than paying Mayfield a sizable veteran contract, but I sure would have liked to turn every stone before I consigned myself to that path.
I think ... the Chargers will pick in the top 10 of next year's draft
I can't name 10 teams worse than the Chargers (0-2) through two weeks. I'm not even sure if I can name five.
There is nothing about the Chargers that works right now. They remind me of the Nathaniel Hackett-led Broncos in 2022. I have no idea what they're working on at practice throughout the week.
One season after the interior offensive line made football untenable in Los Angeles, general manager Joe Hortiz and head coach Jim Harbaugh have failed to improve it an inch. The Chargers' guard-center-guard trio, which featured a Week 1 rotation between Kayode Awosika and Trey Pipkins III, remains one of the worst in the NFL. Even worse, both star tackles, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, look like players affected by their 2025 injuries (Alt, in particular).
In theory, the Mike McDaniel offense can mitigate the effect of poor pass protection by getting the ball out fast. But that hasn't happened. Justin Herbert is constantly dropping his eyes and climbing the pocket the moment he hits his back foot. At times, the throwing windows are not there, as the Chargers' receivers (save for Ladd McConkey) struggle mightily to create separation. At other times, Herbert is unwilling to rip it.
The Chargers' offensive issues extend to the running game. McDaniel was elite here with the Dolphins last season. Their 13.5% explosive rush rate on running back carries led the league. The Chargers are down to 9.1%, and their 0.2 yards before contact per carry is third worst among offenses. The interior cannot generate vertical displacement, and second-year running back Omarion Hampton is suffering for it; he has been hit behind the line of scrimmage on 54.2% of his carries, seventh worst among league backs. He has also made a fair share of nosedives into contact when patience would have served him well, and has fumbled twice as a result.
The fumbles bring up something else. The Chargers are barely playing professional football. "Chargering" once meant heartbreaking losses in end-of-game collapses. These Chargers start the game collapsing. They have 13 offensive penalties this season (second to the Panthers). The Chargers have fumbled the ball seven times (somehow tied with the Packers for the most through two weeks), including six in Week 2 against the Raiders. One such fumble was a mistimed snap/motion combo on third-and-inches that forced a punt. The Chargers have lost 42 percentage points worth of win probability through turnovers in two games, behind only the Patriots. The Chargers are blowing assignments in pass protection and allowing free rushers; Herbert has a quick pressure rate of 21.5%, seventh highest among all quarterbacks.
2:02
Pat McAfee isn't giving up on the 0-2 Chargers yet
Now, on to the defense.
The high preseason expectations for the offense have overshadowed the early disappointments for the defense in its first two games post-Jesse Minter. Sure, it's not all bad under first-year defensive coordinator Chris O'Leary. The Chargers are preventing explosives (9.1% explosive play rate allowed) at a clip well above league average, which is the point of this defensive structure. But they're suffering a paper-cut death.
Despite facing quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Kirk Cousins, the Chargers have allowed the ninth-highest passing success rate among league defenses, and it should be worse: They have a league-leading six opponent drops working in their favor. The defense is still forcing tight windows by driving on routes from deep-zone alignments, as they did with Minter -- only the Bills have forced more tight-window throws, per NFL Next Gen Stats -- but the Chargers' defensive backs are too small to affect the catch point across the board. Quarterbacks throwing into tight windows against the Chargers are 10-for-13 with a 148.7 passer rating. Since the start of last season, tight-window attempts have averaged about 4.3 yards. The Chargers, though, are allowing 10.3 on average through two games this season.
Even if the Chargers improve in that area, it might not matter as they face a gauntlet of opponents in the next two months: at Buffalo in Week 3, at Seattle in Week 4 (presumably with Sam Darnold back), vs. Denver in Week 5, at Kansas City in Week 6, at the Rams in Week 8 after a Week 7 bye, vs. Houston in Week 9 and at Baltimore in Week 10.
What's a best-case scenario through that stretch? Winning three of seven would be a miracle -- they won't be favored in one of those games, barring major injury -- and would give the Chargers a 3-6 record. By then, the season might already be dead.
A record of 2-7 (or worse) feels a lot more likely, and that is still charitable. Through two weeks, the Chargers look as if they've never practiced together. Herbert lets bad plays spiral and is more visibly skittish, frustrated and confused than I can remember seeing him. Going back to the playoff loss to the Patriots, this is the worst three-game stretch of his career. If the Chargers implode, they risk more than an embarrassing season and a top-10 pick. They risk losing the trust of their franchise quarterback and watching that essential keystone of a Super Bowl contender fracture permanently.
I think ... the Patriots' offense is fine, though I understand why people think otherwise
Weird things are afoot in New England. Coach Mike Vrabel was asked after the Patriots' 20-3 win over the Steelers about his concern level regarding Drake Maye and the offense, to which Vrabel responded that he wasn't going to let questions about the offense ruin his Sunday and his enjoyment of the win.
The Patriots (1-1) had an extremely regular and unremarkable day on offense against the Steelers (1-1). New England's success rate of 45.3% was almost exactly its average success rate since the start of last season (45.4%). Same for yards per play: 6.2 on Sunday and 6.1 since the start of the 2025 season.
The only thing worth remarking on in New England is the turnovers. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled on the first drive, reawakening the sleeping dragon of his ball-security issues and opening the door for TreVeyon Henderson, who was active and healthy after missing Week 1, to hit a 39-yard touchdown run and get more snaps than Stevenson (32 to 15) the rest of the way.
The second giveaway was a Maye interception, his fourth pick of the year. Jack Sawyer came free on the loop, hurrying Maye into a challenging flat-footed throw. He's throwing this route only because linebacker Patrick Queen's back is turned, but Queen flipped his body and located the football in the air, which is not a given for NFL linebackers. Two of Maye's three picks in Week 1 against the Seahawks were terrible reads and bad throws, but this one Sunday was a good defensive play to create, then capitalize on a bad offensive play. It happens sometimes!
New England scored only 13 offensive points, and these two drives ended on turnovers inside the Steelers' 35. Maye was sacked three times against a deep defensive line that was wreaking tons of havoc, and he created more positives with his legs than allowed negatives in the pocket. Even without receiver A.J. Brown (high ankle sprain) and battling rain, the Patriots still found explosives in the air. There was a scramble-drill teardrop to Romeo Doubs on third-and-5 and a high-corner route to Eli Raridon -- a very similar play to the pick Maye threw, down to the interior pressure. It was a fine day!
But the discourse about the Patriots that centers on schedule strength and team-level performance has become distilled and concentrated into reactive Maye referendums. He played great last season (MVP runner-up). It doesn't mean he's as good as other MVP winners, such as Lamar Jackson and Mahomes. We need to see more to know that. It doesn't mean he'll always play at that level; ask MVP winner Matthew Stafford about Week 1 against the 49ers. This weird scrambling to rip the mask off Maye and reveal a so-so quarterback, similar to an episode of "Scooby-Doo," feels unwarranted and ultimately fruitless.
The Patriots have faced a brutal run of opponents. In the playoffs, they faced the defenses of the Chargers, Texans, Broncos and Seahawks. This season started with a Seattle rematch. Because so much was written about Maye's easy schedule in 2025, this stretch has become the cleansing light of truth in the world of knee-jerk discourse (this is who Maye really is). The better explanation is far simpler: Every quarterback looks worse when they play truly top-tier defenses. The truth of Maye is somewhere in the middle, and the truth will change over time, especially as Brown gets reintroduced to the offense and as Maye gains more playoff experience.
New England has a very interesting test in Week 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Trevor Lawrence has been surging at quarterback in the same way Maye did through the 2025 season. After watching Broncos defensive tackle Zach Allen terrorize the Jaguars' interior, the Patriots should feel good about their defensive matchup against Jacksonville on paper. Christian Gonzalez just put DK Metcalf to bed for four quarters. Will Gonzalez do the same to Brian Thomas Jr.? Or can the Patriots find a way to get him over Parker Washington in the slot?
But there's no doubt that the margins will be thinner against Jacksonville, even if the defense has a good day. The Steelers' offense lacked the teeth to punish the Patriots for their two giveaways. Drew Lock and the Seahawks barely pulled it off with three picks. The Jaguars won't struggle nearly as much, and the injuries are piling up in New England, as starting right guard Mike Onwenu (broken right ankle), tight end Eli Raridon (thigh), safety Craig Woodson (shoulder) and edge Dre'Mont Jones (shoulder) all left the Pittsburgh game early.
This is a game for Maye to produce more than an average day on offense and demonstrate the floor-raising efficiency that characterized much of his 2025 (and 2024) season. It has been a brutal run of defenses through the 2025 postseason and into 2026, and Jacksonville offers a bit of a reprieve. It's a gut-check game for New England.
I think ... Jalen Hurts is settling into the Sean Mannion offense
At a team level, I do not love what I'm seeing from the Eagles' offense. The offensive line looks worse even than it did in 2025, and the running game is suffering as a result -- fifth-lowest yards before contact per rush among all teams through two weeks. For the amount of money poured into that unit, that's scary. Hopefully, guard Landon Dickerson comes back from his injury looking back to form, but we haven't seen that form in a while; same for center/guard Cam Jurgens. I'm not holding my breath.
But Hurts' Week 2 performance against the Titans was about as good of a game a quarterback can have with a dead-in-the-water rushing attack. Hurts had nine third-down conversions in this game, the most single-game third-down conversions he has had. With no running game, Hurts averaged 7.9 yards to go on third down, well above his career average, and still got big gains in the air, converting three third-and-12 or longer downs (the most in a game in his career).
Perhaps most notable of these late conversions was the first one. Hurts hits an intermediate in-breaker to Dontayvion Wicks between the layers of the defense.
This throw has been the golden goose of the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan offense and the bane of Hurts' existence in the NFL. Since the 2021 season, only 7.3% of Hurts' throws have been 10 to 22 yards downfield and between the numbers. Among 44 quarterbacks with at least 1,000 dropbacks, that ranks 43rd, above only Russell Wilson.
One of the key objectives of the Mannion era in Philadelphia has been opening this area of the field. It's just one play, but to see Hurts willingly trigger on a throw like this is a significant sign of growth.
There are other objectives to Mannion's offense: get under center more and run more play-action. These we will charitably call "works in progress." Hurts had six snaps under center in play-action against the Titans after only two against the Commanders in Week 1, and that's still lagging well behind the league's ever-increasing usage of under-center dropbacks. He went 3-of-6 for 27 yards against Tennessee, not exactly gangbusters numbers.
But there is evident comfort and intent. Hurts ripped a deep outbreaker to DeVonta Smith, who was so, so good Sunday, against leverage, and then was just a beat late on a huge corner route to Smith in the end zone. As Hurts gets faster and more comfortable in the offense, the hope is that he'll eliminate some of these additional hitches and create more YAC opportunities by hitting throws before the sideline.
The Eagles have yet to log a convincing win against two inferior opponents, and their overall team health has me pretty dubious. But what a refreshing change of pace from most seasons when the Eagles were a super team, and we were debating how much credit Hurts deserves. He was, emphatically, one of the Eagles' best individual players against the Titans and the reason Philadelphia won the game. And his contributions were far from perfect, too. With better timing, he could reach another level in this new-look offense.
The Eagles (2-0) face the Bears (1-1) on "Monday Night Football" in Week 3 (8:15, ESPN/ABC), another light defensive test. There's a real opportunity here for a confidence-building game in the passing attack before the Rams in Week 4. My overall expectations for the Eagles' offense will remain tempered until I see the line and the running game return to form, but if Hurts can use his arm to guide them to wins through September and into October, they'll have time to iron out their rushing issues.
I think ... the Jaguars' trenches will be a problem come playoff time
The Jaguars are 1-1. They are also the sole leader of the AFC South through two weeks; the Colts, Texans and Titans are a combined 0-6. Good stuff.
The Jaguars are also really good. They went punch for punch with the Broncos in Denver -- not an easy ask -- and even in a loss, stacked another tremendous Trevor Lawrence day in the emphatic Liam Coen-led rebuild of their young quarterback. Lawrence hit a couple of defenders in the hands, but that's the cost of doing business when you're ripping downfield throws with reckless abandon. I love the aggressiveness in that passing game.
I do not love when Lawrence has to hold the ball. One of the first objectives that Coen and GM James Gladstone had when they took over the Jaguars was a reinvigoration of the offensive line. In the 2025 offseason, they signed offensive linemen Robert Hainsey and Patrick Mekari and drafted Wyatt Milum. Every job was up for grabs, and that's how Cole Van Lanen, who was a backup, ended up as the starting left tackle and eventually earned a nice extension.
In 2026, the Jaguars were willing to shuffle again. They flipped Van Lanen to the right side and moved 2023 first-round pick Anton Harrison to the blindside. Third-round rookie Emmanuel Pregnon out of Oregon won the starting left guard job over Wyatt Milum; Ezra Cleveland, who spent 2025 at left guard, has been moved to the right.
Maybe all of this shuffling will prove the ideal alignment. And I certainly don't want to grade Pregnon on his second career start. But the Jaguars' line struggled against Denver. Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto had four pressures apiece. Allen (and his fellow interior rushers) found fast wins, which forced Lawrence to get rid of the ball before he could pick his matchup to exploit. Lawrence was pressured on 45.2% of his dropbacks and to great effect: He completed 33.3% of his pressured throws and 76.5% when unpressured. He had Denver's secondary beat when he had time.
Watch how often the Broncos get an early one-on-one win and a second, converging rusher on these reps. They were able to pincer Lawrence in the pocket by winning across the board. This wasn't just one weak offensive lineman they exploited; it was a comprehensive rush.
Compare and contrast this with the other side of the ball. The Jaguars' pass rush needs Josh Hines-Allen to excel; it doesn't have a duo, let alone a deep group. Former 2022 No. 1 pick Travon Walker is a wonderful pocket pusher who can clean up sacks with his huge tackle radius, but he isn't a high-pressure player; his pressure rate since the start of last season is 10.3%, well below the league average for edge rushers (12.6%). Defensive tackle Arik Armstead (8.5% pressure rate) is just above league average for interior players (7.6%). The Jaguars have some cool rotational players (Dennis Gardeck and Danny Striggow), but their base four-down rush isn't playoff-caliber.
This game against the Broncos served as a great example. Jacksonville had only a 19.4% pressure rate, less than half the 45.6% the Chiefs had in Week 1. And despite what you might expect, it was the Jaguars who blitzed more, at a 45% clip. Of their five second-half pressures, a half in which the Jaguars mostly led, four came on blitzes. Only one was in a four-down rush.
Hines-Allen was shut out in this one, finishing with 24 pass-rush snaps and 0 pressures. The Broncos' Garett Bolles had an All-Pro day at left tackle, and Walker's couple of wins against Mike McGlinchey weren't enough to even the scales. The Jaguars' defensive tackles have five pressures on 106 pass-rush snaps through two weeks. Consider the defensive tackle duos to recently make Super Bowl runs: 2025 Seahawks' Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams; 2025 Patriots' Milton Williams and Christian Barmore; 2024 Eagles' Milton Williams and Jalen Carter. The Jaguars aren't even halfway to a presence like that.
It's never too early to look to the playoffs, certainly not for the Jaguars, who have a quarterback and an offense worthy of those aspirations. But the first teams I distrust in the playoffs are the ones that lose the trench battles. The book isn't written, but after two weeks, I'm worried the Jaguars fall below that bar. A premier defensive tackle at the trade deadline, á la last season's Quinnen Williams, might be a godsend.
It's not too early to look to Week 3, either. The Jaguars get the Patriots at home in a game they should win. But the Patriots have a ferocious defensive tackle duo in Barmore and Williams, a good enough group to break the Jaguars' passing attack in the pocket, similar to what Denver did. Patriots left tackle Will Campbell might not be Bolles, but the best spot to beat the Patriots' offensive line is on the interior, and I'm not sure Jacksonville has the players for that.
I think ... the Ravens' late-game problems won't be solved with more Derrick Henry touches
They'll be solved only with some sort of ritual sacrifice to Vince Lombardi.
The Ravens (1-1) lost their seventh game since the start of the 2021 season in which they held a lead of at least 11 points. That leads the league, but we can make it worse. If we look exclusively for games in which the Ravens, at any point, had a win probability of at least 88%, we find that they have lost 11 such games, three more than the next-closest team.
(Did I have to drop the threshold from 90% to 88% to force this Sunday's Saints loss into the sample? Yeah, but I had to. And that's the point.)
For years, Baltimore fans blamed these losses on head coach John Harbaugh, but he's no longer here, so a new vent must be found. What has been particularly frustrating in recent history are their late-game losses in which they had Henry, but failed to use him. Henry is a uniquely taxing runner, given his size and strength, and has historically been a better second-half and fourth-quarter runner as the opposing defense gets winded. Yet, since the start of the 2024 season, the Ravens have four losses in which they've cleared that 88% win probability threshold. Sunday's loss to the Saints is one of them.
0:45
Sirianni proud of Eagles for battling through Nashville heat
The issue is that, though we might rush to cry "same old Ravens" at this disappointing result, the game against the Saints isn't really the sort of tectonic collapse we've associated with the Harbaugh Ravens. The Saints had the ball after halftime and were trailing by eight points, and never did the deficit become wider than that. New Orleans tied the score on a 2-point conversion with 9:42 remaining in the fourth; still a lot of game left.
Compare that loss with the real Ravens' disaster classes. In Week 16 of last season, the Ravens led the Patriots 24-13 with 12:50 left then lost in regulation as Maye guided two consecutive touchdown drives. In an unreal season opener in 2025, the Ravens led the Bills by 15 points with 11:42 left in the fourth before losing that game in regulation, too. That was the game in which Henry had a fourth-quarter fumble, something he never does, to put the Bills in position to pull within one score.
The Ravens never entered salt-the-clock mode against the Saints because they never got to that game state. They weren't up by two scores in the fourth quarter. They lost Zay Flowers (and Ja'Kobi Lane) at wide receiver, and left tackle Ronnie Stanley left the game in the third quarter (toe) after struggling against Chase Young. The Saints were also run-blitzing in the second half in an effort to take Henry out of the game plan, and coordinator Declan Doyle had some good calls to beat those looks, but pass protection failed across the board.
I wrote in Week 1 that the game against the Colts might be peak for the Ravens' offense, at least for a while, and I still believe that. Center is very much a weak point, and the tight end room isn't as good of a blocking group as it needs to be for the running game to shine independent of the opponent. The passing attack is, obviously, very Flowers-centric, as the receiver room is thin behind him.
Could the Ravens have funneled more runs to Henry? Sure. The larger issue is that they never put the Saints to bed in the bulk of the game; the Ravens were too lacking in talent on offense, and defensively, their dam burst as the Saints made second-half adjustments. I still like the Ravens from a season-long perspective, but this is a growing team. The Ravens get an unbelievable soft stretch of defenses over the next three weeks (Cowboys, Titans and Falcons) with a potential return of Flowers. This is good soil from which to grow confidence and cohesion on offense.
I think ... Aaron Donald's ridiculous retirement workout regimen has paid off
Thirty-two snaps? For a 35-year-old defensive tackle who hasn't played in 2½ years? I really can't believe it. Even if you remind me that this guy is a supervillain athlete, I still would have guessed 15, maybe 20 snaps in his debut game.
Only three defensive tackles at least 35 years old have taken at least 30 snaps in a game since the start of last season: John Jenkins, Calais Campbell and Cameron Heyward. Donald could have easily gotten to 40 if forced to contribute in the second half; he took four snaps in the fourth quarter.
The Rams didn't give Donald long strings of plays. They subbed their lines consistently, especially as they used four- and five-man fronts to combat various personnel groupings from the Giants. So, I still have conditioning questions, though those will exist with any big man playing at his age; it's hard to keep that engine humming for four quarters.
The Giants also wanted to test that motor, and they went tempo in the third quarter when Donald was on the field, though they weren't good enough on offense to pick up first downs and keep him trapped.
But how did Donald look with fresh legs? I was impressed. He's still quick as a cat off the line of scrimmage. Watch here on the final play of the first quarter. The Giants are trying to pin him with the right tackle and pull the center and guard around the block. Donald is so quick upfield that he forces the center (John Michael Schmitz Jr., No. 61) to take a wide path around his disruption (and he gets a little tug on the jersey as a bonus) while running back Cam Skattebo is accelerated by the blitz behind. The timing of the play is ruined.
Late in the first half, the Giants ask tight end Isaiah Likely to block down on Donald so they can run a puller in behind. This is a very silly idea. Donald again gets too far upfield and disrupts the puller, and Najee Harris is forced to burrow his head into the line of scrimmage and eat a TFL.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) September 22, 2026
As long as that first step is still kicking, Donald will be a problem for opposing offenses. Next Gen Stats had Donald with a 0.75-second get-off in this game, tied for the third-fastest get-off for a defensive tackle in a game this season. That sort of upfield disruption, even if it comes with fewer finished rushes and sacks, or comes on a lower snap count, still matters a great deal.
Were this a random game in 2023, I'd call it a bad performance for Donald's pass-rushing presence. He ate a lot of double-teams, which opened up other rushers. But he struggled to separate from offensive linemen and create pressure on the quarterback. He had only one pressure on the day, which occurred late in the fourth quarter, when the Giants were down by 22 and in desperation mode. In the Next Gen Stats era -- from 2016, 134 regular-season and playoff games -- Donald has had only one pressure in eight games. This was a rare sight.
I'd be worried about that if it weren't a weird game script: Jaxson Dart out (knee), good Giants offensive line, no real reason to play Donald in the fourth quarter. The pressures will come as Donald gets back into the flow of pass rushing against real offensive linemen. That's the sort of thing that no shirtless Instagram workout can really replace.
Five things I might think
I might think ... absolutely nothing about the Carolina Panthers. Through two weeks, there is no team from which we should draw less certain conclusions than from the Panthers. In games against the Bears in Week 1 (lost 59-37) and the Falcons in Week 2 (won 34-3 against backups Cooper Rush and Jack Strand), there were absurd game scripts and ridiculous plays. I think there's a chance the Panthers' offense is pretty good (receivers look great), but I'm holding no strong opinions about Carolina, and after Week 3's game against the Browns, I'll likely feel much the same.
I might think ... the Packers' season is chalked. The Packers needed a great punt return from Skyy Moore and an Aaron Glenn end-of-game clock management transgression to get to overtime against the Jets (1-1) and save themselves from an 0-2 start. The Packers aren't in as dire straits as the Chargers, but Green Bay lost two starters to injury -- WR Jayden Reed and RT Zach Bako-Bewele -- and the line is already thin on starting-caliber players. Kaleb Johnson looked fine, but not enough to save their running game. If Lukas Van Ness can keep his form when Micah Parsons comes back from last season's torn ACL injury, their defense might keep them in playoff contention. They should go 2-1 with a Thursday night win over the Falcons, but I have little to trust in Green Bay through two weeks.
I might think ... the Commanders will have a new starting quarterback in 2027. I'll know what I actually think when we get real news about Jayden Daniels' elbow injury. He's getting imaging and multiple opinions over this week. But Daniels missed 10 games last year. If he misses 15 games this year, I don't see how the Commanders don't consider a young, developmental investment in QB2. They won't give up on Daniels. If he's healthy, he'll get the 2027 Week 1 start, and they'll do everything they can to recapture his 2024 magic (and availability). But the Commanders will have to have a better long-term view at QB2 than Mariota. Anthony Richardson Sr., anyone?
I might think ... we should all band together and vote Dexter Lawrence II for Defensive Player of the Year, no matter his stat sheet. The highlight reel of Lawrence's run-stuffs against the Texans is an absolute sight to see. It's better than the Bengals could have dreamed of. Jonathan Allen is also feasting as a pass rusher next to Lawrence. It's exactly what the Bengals were paying for when they traded the 2026 10th pick to the Giants for Lawrence. The Bengals' offense hasn't been gangbusters through two weeks, but the defense is winning games. Give him the trophy.
I might think ... the Bears beat the Eagles on "Monday Night Football" with Tyson Bagent at quarterback. Bagent is a pretty good backup. The Bears' run game is vicious and took Vic Fangio's defense for a ride last season. The Eagles' run game is nonexistent right now given their offensive line injuries, and starting tight end Dallas Goedert is on injured reserve. This just feels like a spot for the Bears to rally.
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