It’s a Tuesday edition of “No Huddle.” Today I’m going to quickly recap last night’s Bears-Eagles game, update my NFL Top 5/Watch List, and go over some of the best and worst from Week 2.

Last night we learned a lot more about the Carson Wentz-led Eagles. In short, the early results have been pretty good. Wentz isn’t doing anything flashy, but he’s getting the job done and protecting the football (no turnovers through two games). Credit to Doug Pederson and Frank Reich for coaching up their rookie quarterback. I especially loved Wentz being able to read the defense and audible at the line of scrimmage to get the Eagles into the best possible play. It’s those little things that show the intelligence of the young QB, who looks more than capable in his first two games. By the way, that Eagles defense has been solid under Jim Schwartz, and has been incredibly difficult to get anything against. Granted this has been against two of the weaker teams in the league so next week’s game against Pittsburgh will be a true test of what this team is made of.

On the other side, Chicago is going to be in real trouble now that Jay Cutler is injured (another casualty of a horrific Week 2). Once Brian Hoyer stepped into the game, things went from bad to worse. The Bears have very little running game, and the loss of Cutler takes away much of the explosiveness of the passing attack. Cutler isn’t a top tier quarterback, but his arm strength gives him the ability to make some tough throws. It’s going to be tough sledding for Chicago from here on out.

Let’s take a look at how this week’s Top 5 and Watch List shakes out after Week 2.

(1) New England Patriots (2-0) – Last Week: 1

The Patriots looked dominant against the Dolphins until Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a shoulder injury. With a solid lead, Bill Belichick and his staff shifted to a much more conservative gameplan to protect the lead. New England almost let Miami back into the game but the defense held up in the end. I’m very intrigued to see how New England looks Thursday night against Houston. Rob Gronkowski may finally make his 2016 debut, and the Pats could sorely use him to give Jacoby Brissett another safety valve against a tough Houston defense.

(2) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) – Last Week: 2

In a torrential downpour on Sunday, the Steelers grinded out a win against division rival Cincinnati, 24-16. I really like what I’ve seen so far from Pittsburgh and things are looking up with one more game left on Le’Veon Bell’s suspension. The running game has been fantastic in his absence with DeAngelo Williams carrying the load. Pittsburgh has been sharp defensively, and really caught a break with the weather taking the deep-to-intermediate passing game out of the gameplan. Next week, the Steelers travel to Philadelphia to take the upstart Eagles.

(3) Denver Broncos (2-0) – Last Week: 4

Denver’s defense did it again on Sunday against the Colts. Aqib Talib and Shane Ray each scored a defensive touchdown en route to a 14-point victory against the Colts. In addition to the defensive success, Denver turned quarterback Trevor Siemian loose. He was 22-for-33 passing for 266 yards. His progression in the passing game will be a key to keeping defenses from loading up the box against CJ Anderson, who was solid again on Sunday. Denver will hit the road next week and playing against the Bengals.

(4) Carolina Panthers (1-1) – Last Week: 5

 

Things didn’t go smoothly for Carolina against the Niners in the first half. However, the Panthers looked like themselves in the second half putting away San Francisco for its first win of the season. Cam Newton looked great after an early interception and torched the 49ers defense. I’m interested to see who will step up at the running back position with Jonathan Stewart injured, but with the way this passing game is clicking that may be a moot point. Carolina’s top dog status in the NFC will be on the line this week with Minnesota coming into town.

(5) Minnesota (2-0) – Last Week: Unranked

Funny how this worked out. Minnesota looked great defensively against the vaunted Packers offense on Sunday night. Stingy and opportunistic, the Vikings have put together quite the core of players on defense. Now my worry about this team is on the offensive side of the ball. Adrian Peterson suffered a torn meniscus in Sunday’s game, and his status will be up in the air week-to-week (I think he misses some time in the short-term). Sam Bradford is still learning the offense and building up the timing with his receivers. The offensive line looked out of sync and had a difficult time protecting Bradford (who’s injury history is well known at this point). It’s not all bad for this offense though. Stefon Diggs is a star-in-the-making, posting monster numbers in his first two games and looks like Antonio Brown-lite so far this season. A road test against Carolina will show what this team is made of against the class of this conference.

Watch List: New York Giants (2-0), Houston (2-0), Arizona (1-1), Green Bay (1-1), Baltimore (2-0)

Okay, now its time to look at the best and worst moments from this week. It wasn’t the best week of football but there are a couple gems from the week.

Best: Jimmy Garoppolo (prior to injury)

Pats fans saw the conservative Garoppolo in Week 1. In Week 2, the NFL was introduced to the potential that New England has whenever they decide to move on from Brady. Garoppolo was fantastic throwing for 234 yards and 3 TDs in a little less than a half of football. Pretty good, if you ask me. Unfortunately his dismantling of Miami’s defense was cut short when Kiko Alonso crushed Garoppolo into the turf causing a sprained AC joint for the Pats QB.

Worst: Injury, Upon Injury, Upon Injury…

I wrote about this yesterday, but Week 2 was a busy week for the medical staffs across the league. It was a who’s who of names that will be out for extended periods of time, or the entire season in the case of Danny Woodhead. Football is a tough sport and there is always one or two of these weeks every season. San Diego looks to have the worst injury luck this season with Woodhead joining Keenan Allen on the injured reserve.

Best: Marcus Mariota’s Game Winning Throw Against Detroit

Can’t really draw it up better than this for a young QB. Mariota ripped the hearts out of Detroit fans with this throw to Andre Johnson, who makes an amazing play on the ball in traffic. It’s going to be a long season for Tennessee, but this has to give some hope to the Titans faithful.

Worst: Seattle’s Offense…Again

Yikes! Didn’t think things could get much worse for the Seahawks. Somehow they did against a Rams defense that didn’t look like it could stop a nosebleed a week ago. Seattle’s offensive line is non-existent at the moment and if Russell Wilson is going to continue to play hurt, these blocking issues could erupt into a full-blown epidemic in Seattle.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of “Reality of Fantasy” where I’ll look back at fantasy studs and duds from Week 2 and look ahead at Week 3. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.