It's the Week of the Running Passers: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 2

Week Two of the NFL Season had some interesting and weird moments, including the Thursday Night Football game pitting the Cincinnati Bengals against the Houston Texans and an hour long weather delay in the Mile High City. I’m not going to be talking about the TNF game here because I’ve already written about it and what my thoughts about Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis are,which you can view here. With that out of the way, here are the Events that Sparked my Interest in Week 2.

Josh McCown is part of the Week of the Running Passers

In Week Two, the idea of a traditional quarterback was debunked. Russell Wilson (Seahawks), Carson Wentz (Eagles), Tyrod Taylor (Bills), Deshaun Watson (Texans), and Josh McCown (Jets) – of all people – each rushed for over 30 yards. Watson lead the way with 67 yards, 6 more than Lamar Miller, a running back and fellow Texan. Taylor and Wentz had 55 yards each, more than Matt Forte and Mark Ingram. Wilson and McCown had 34 and 31 yards respectively. Shane Vereen, Adrian Peterson, and DeMarco Murry all had less than 30 years, just to name a few running backs who performed worse. But, in true Josh McCown fashion, he fumbled the ball.  Regardless, running quarterbacks caught my interest this week because it means that Russell Wilson is back and Watson’s day suggests a possible second coming of Wilson.

Big Tight Ends Make Big Impacts in their Own Ways

This week was the week of the tight ends, with three high profile ones each making big, unique impacts.

But, before I can talk about the season or game changing performances I need to get to the history making tight end. Antonio Gates – yes, he is still playing – passed Tony Gonzalez for the most touchdown catches by a tight end in history, on a 7 yarder from Philip Rivers in the third quarter against the Miami Dolphins, giving him 112 in his career. Of those 112, 85 have come from Rivers’ arm, which is the most between a quarterback and tight end in history as well. To further make history in the first half Gates recorded his 900^th career reception, making him the third tight end to reach that mark. Only Gonzalez and the Cowboys Jason Witten – yes, he is also still playing– have more. 

The award for this week’s game changing tight end goes to Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. Kelce brought in 8 throws for 103 yards; including a 44 yard grab and a separate 15 yard touchdown. He was easily the Chiefs best receiver of the day as Alex Smith threw for 148 yards to non-Kelce receivers and no additional touchdowns. The Chiefs 27-20 win against the Eagles put them at 2-0 for the season.

Now to the season changing tight end moments from Week 2. Greg Olsen, the Carolina Panthers top tight end broke his foot and is out indefinitely. This is a huge blow to the Panthers that cannot be stressed enough. They already play in what is arguably the toughest division in football (the NFC South) and they just lost Cam Newton’s uncontested top target for who knows how long. For me, their season has now gone down the drain because they do not have any other big targets and the NFC wild card race is much tougher then the AFC’s one.

Events that Sparked My Interest is a series that I’m starting with the new NFL Season. It will contain 2-3 thoughts, notes, or other events that sparked interest during the week and will be posted on Tuesday’s. 

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