BACK OFF! Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III leaps into the end zone past Rams safety Craig Dahl for a touchdown Sunday. The Skins lost, but Griffin had another stellar performance in his second week in the NFL. (AP)
The only predictable thing about the NFL through the first two weeks is its unpredictability.
If you thought all the craziness in Week 1 was just a matter of Opening Day always being full of surprises, think again — because the madness continued unabated last weekend and looks as if it plans to stick around awhile.
“I hear people say the NFL is the best reality show on TV, and I definitely think you can say they have a good case,” Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomougha said Sunday after Philadelphia squeaked out a 24-23 home win over the Ravens despite four turnovers.
The Eagles are certainly prime contributors to the list of unexpected events the first two weeks. Philly is the first team in NFL history to start 2-0 with a pair of one-point victories, even more of an eyebrow-raiser considering Andy Reid’s club has already committed a whopping nine turnovers.
Some other eyebrow-raisers:
* You want parity? A whopping 21 of the 32 teams are 1-1, marking the most .500 teams through two weeks in the history of the league.
* The passing explosion around the league shows no sign of slowing down. After Drew Brees smashed Dan Marino’s nearly 30-year-old NFL record for most passing yards in a season a year ago, both Eli Manning and Michael Vick are on pace to play the same trick on Brees.
Manning’s 510 yards passing Sunday in a comeback win over the Buccaneers gave him 723 for the season and puts him on pace to throw for 5,784 for the season, while Vick is on track to throw for 5,504 yards — both of which would top Brees’ mark of 5,476 last year.
* The top two picks, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, have both done the seemingly impossible so far and matched — or, in RG3’s case, exceeded — the runaway hype that greeted them in last April’s NFL Draft.
Both QBs are 1-1, with Luck leading the Colts to a 23-20 win over the Vikings last Sunday by throwing for two TDs after Griffin opened eyes the week before directing the Redskins to a 40-32 win in New Orleans.
Griffin, in fact, has been every bit as impressive as a runner as he has been throwing the ball. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner is averaging 6.2 yards per carry with two touchdowns while passing for three more scores.
* Apparently distracted more than they let on by the Bountygate controversy (and coach Sean Payton’s year-long suspension), the Saints are 0-2 and looking helpless on defense under new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. New Orleans is dead last in total defense, giving up an average of 461 yards and 37.5 points per game.
* Last Sunday, Carolina’s Cam Newton, in a 35-27 win over those same Saints, became just the second player in league history to pass for at least 250 yards with a 125-plus rating and run for at least 70 yards and a TD in the same game.
* The Cardinals’ 20-18 upset Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. — Arizona was a two-touchdown underdog — marked the Patriots’ first loss in a home opener since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002. It also was just the second regular-season loss in the past 37 home games for Tom Brady.
And it’s all happening against the backdrop of a referee lockout getting uglier and more controversial by the week as the replacement officials struggle just to identify the correct teams at the coin flip, prompting an increasingly angry backlash from players, coaches and fans alike while the owners dig in their heels.
“This league is so crazy now, and that’s the beauty of it,” Ravens running back Ray Rice said Sunday. “You never know what’s going to happen. There’s that saying. ‘On any given Sunday’? They’re right.”