Sports Fountain’s NFL top 10: 49ers edge Seahawks after two convincing wins
Chicago scored 59 points in its opener. Seven days later, the Bears spent an entire afternoon trying to find the end zone and never got there. Minnesota left Soldier Field with a 9-3 win, which probably felt considerably prettier from the visitors’ locker room than it looked on television.
That game deserves a place in the conversation alongside Buffalo’s fireworks. Josh Allen accounted for five touchdowns against Detroit. The Vikings won without scoring one. Both performances helped produce a 2-0 record, although anyone watching them would have had very different experiences.
There is room for both kinds of football in SportsFountain’s top 10. We’re judging what teams have done through two weeks, with the opposition and the circumstances attached. Nobody gets to carry a preseason reputation past an ugly September afternoon without questions.
Editor's Picks
San Francisco starts us off. Seattle has an excellent complaint. And yes, Philadelphia fans, there is a 1-1 team ahead of the Eagles.
1. San Francisco 49ers (2-0)
Miami managed to keep Brock Purdy on the sideline for much of the first half on Sunday. The Dolphins controlled the clock, restricted San Francisco to two possessions and still went into halftime behind 14-6. You can understand the frustration. Making the other offense wait is supposed to help.
Purdy kept making those opportunities count. The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first five possessions, and Miami finally forced a punt with 10:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. By then, it was 35-6. Purdy finished 20-of-22 for 287 yards, two passing touchdowns and another on the ground.
The interesting part of Kyle Shanahan’s assessment of his quarterback was his emphasis on aggression. He described Purdy recognizing chances to attack while retaining the judgment to avoid reckless throws. On one completion to Mike Evans, Shanahan thought anything less than perfect placement would have invited an interception.
That is a more encouraging development than a quarterback simply collecting easy completions against Miami. San Francisco already beat the Rams 27-7 in Australia, then came home and handled a game whose early pace could have become irritating. Two weeks in, the 49ers have given us very little to argue with.
2. Seattle Seahawks (2-0)
Arizona tied Sunday’s game at seven, and Seattle’s defense apparently took that personally.
After the touchdown, the Cardinals’ next six full possessions produced five punts and an interception. Their entire second half yielded 44 yards, with 24 coming on two handoffs in the final seconds. Seattle won 31-7.
Mike Macdonald’s group has already allowed the Seahawks to win while their offense finds its way. Seattle needed only 13 points against New England. Against Arizona, Drew Lock and Jaxon Smith-Njigba supplied three touchdown connections, including an 82-yarder on Seattle’s second offensive play. Give this defense that kind of help and an opponent’s afternoon can get very long.
My favorite detail came late: Seattle consumed 10:14 on a 16-play touchdown drive. Arizona could barely move the ball when it had possession, then spent most of the fourth quarter waiting to get it back.
New England and Arizona both won their other game, which gives Seattle a reasonable argument for first. I lean toward San Francisco’s more productive offense so far. I would not spend much time trying to talk a Seahawks fan out of the opposite conclusion.
3. Minnesota Vikings (2-0)
Carson Wentz was supposed to be the contingency plan. Two weeks into the season, Minnesota has needed him to help rescue one division game and survive another.
He replaced Kyler Murray after a concussion against Green Bay and helped lead a 39-22 comeback win. Then came Chicago, where Wentz threw for 143 yards in the rain and the Vikings’ defense took responsibility for the result.
The 59-to-three swing in Chicago’s scoring is irresistible, but it does need some restraint. The weather was miserable, and Caleb Williams left in the fourth quarter. Minnesota’s work also included something much more specific than benefiting from poor conditions: Jalen Redmond punched the ball loose near the goal line in the third quarter, and Isaiah Rodgers recovered it. Chicago had finally put together a threatening drive. The Vikings ended it a yard from the end zone.
That play is why I’m comfortable putting Minnesota this high despite nine points of offense. Brian Flores’ defense kept producing answers when one mistake could have changed the game.
Wentz does not have to make every Sunday look like the Green Bay comeback. Minnesota does, however, need to make his next start, whenever it comes, a little less dependent on goal-line theft.
4. Buffalo Bills (2-0)
Watching Allen against Detroit makes fourth place feel a little stingy.
Buffalo scored on a quarterback run, attacked downfield and found both tight ends for touchdowns while building its early lead. James Cook supplied 139 rushing yards. The Lions had plenty to account for before Allen started improvising, which is an unpleasant place for a defense to begin.
The Bills have scored 77 points in two games. They have also allowed 62. I can thoroughly enjoy the first number while being bothered by the second.
Houston makes the concern harder to wave away. The Texans scored 31 against Buffalo and six against Cincinnati. That comparison doesn’t mean the Bengals automatically jump the Bills, but it should interrupt any suggestion that Buffalo simply encountered an offense nobody could stop.
Allen is already giving Buffalo enough to beat teams in several different ways. The defense needs to let some of those performances turn into comfortable afternoons. A quarterback accounting for five touchdowns should buy more peace than this.
5. Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)
Kenneth Walker III has wasted very little time making himself useful.
He rushed for 117 yards against Indianapolis and added 61 receiving yards. In overtime, with Kansas City needing another scoring drive, his 22-yard catch helped put Harrison Butker in position to finish the game. The Chiefs won 33-30, and their new running back had contributed through considerably more than handoffs.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 382 yards and three touchdowns. There was plenty to like about the offense, including its ability to keep finding a response in a game that refused to settle down.
The defense made the evening unnecessarily adventurous. Indianapolis opened its overtime possession with a 50-yard completion and had a chance to win before Kansas City stopped three consecutive runs and forced a field goal. That was excellent recovery work after a very dangerous concession.
The 31-10 opening win over Denver showed a more complete Chiefs performance. Sunday showed how much offensive help is available when the game gets untidy. Walker’s involvement is particularly encouraging: Mahomes has another player he can turn to when a possession needs saving.
6. Cincinnati Bengals (2-0)
Houston faced fourth-and-inches at Cincinnati’s 18-yard line. Dexter Lawrence got through and tackled David Montgomery for a loss. Seven plays later, the Bengals were celebrating a touchdown at the other end.
That sequence does a good job of explaining why Cincinnati’s start is interesting. The defense created the opening, and Joe Burrow’s offense made Houston pay for it. Ja’Marr Chase finished the drive with a difficult touchdown catch against Derek Stingley Jr., giving the Bengals a lead they could build on.
Burrow finished with 207 passing yards in the 20-6 win. Cincinnati could afford that relatively modest total because Houston managed only two field goals, 60 rushing yards and five conversions on 17 third-down attempts.
The opening win over Tampa Bay had also featured four defensive takeaways. I’m cautious about expecting turnovers to arrive on demand every week, but Sunday offered something sturdier to get excited about: Cincinnati repeatedly stopped the run and got off the field.
Burrow and Chase will have their spectacular days. Being able to win when the offense is working this hard for its points would make Cincinnati a much less exhausting team to follow.
7. Las Vegas Raiders (2-0)
Cody White’s first two catches as a Raider were touchdowns. Rookie cornerback Hezekiah Masses intercepted Justin Herbert twice. Las Vegas won a road division game with major contributions from players who were hardly the main attraction entering the afternoon.
That is fun. It is also useful evidence that Klint Kubiak is getting production beyond the obvious names.
Kirk Cousins has thrown three touchdown passes in each of his first two games. The Raiders have beaten Miami and the Chargers by double digits, and there is a defensive detail in the team’s Next Gen Stats breakdown worth lingering over: through two games, Las Vegas generated pressure on 50% of dropbacks while blitzing on only 7.4%.
Getting after quarterbacks without repeatedly emptying the coverage is a good way to give young defensive backs chances to play the ball. Masses took his.
Miami and Los Angeles have yet to win, so the schedule has not established how far this can go. But the Raiders are doing enough well that dismissing them would require ignoring the games in favor of an old opinion.
8. New England Patriots (1-1)
The Patriots’ defense is making a persuasive case for the top 10. Their offense keeps interrupting.
New England held Pittsburgh to three points and scored a defensive touchdown, with Christian Barmore forcing the fumble and Elijah Ponder returning it. The offense produced 13 points of its own, losing possessions to a Drake Maye interception and a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble. Both turnovers came in Pittsburgh territory.
There were encouraging moments. TreVeyon Henderson broke a 39-yard touchdown run, and Maye found Romeo Doubs for a 63-yard gain. The problem was getting those plays to accumulate into something without giving the ball away.
Defensively, New England could be much more assertive. Evan Lazar’s film review charted Pittsburgh at nine completions for 47 yards on 19 attempts against man coverage. That gave the Patriots considerable freedom to attack the pocket.
A three-point loss in Seattle and this win give New England enough to sit above Philadelphia. But Maye has to stop letting promising possessions disappear. The defense is already doing its share.
9. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)
Darius Cooper’s assignment on the winning touchdown was to help get DeVonta Smith open. Tennessee covered Smith, Cooper found himself available, and Jalen Hurts put the ball where he could catch it. A receiver scoring his first NFL touchdown decided the game with the Eagles almost out of time.
That is a terrific finish. Philadelphia would probably appreciate needing fewer of them.
The Eagles beat Washington by two and Tennessee by four. Against the Titans, Hurts threw two interceptions before leading a 65-yard winning drive with no timeouts. Smith caught four passes on that possession. Philadelphia’s best players were excellent when the game demanded it, with Cooper providing the final contribution.
There were real complications: Saquon Barkley was limited by a stinger, and Dallas Goedert left with a knee injury. Those absences belong in any fair account of the afternoon. They don’t make two narrow wins against teams now 0-2 look more commanding.
I like how readily Hurts recovered from his mistakes. I’m less comfortable with how much recovering Philadelphia has already required. The Eagles are unbeaten and have plenty they should be dissatisfied with.
10. New Orleans Saints (1-1)
Tyler Shough is giving New Orleans a reason to keep watching after the sort of start that usually sends people looking for another game.
The Saints fell behind Detroit 21-0 in their opener, fought back and lost by a point in overtime. In Baltimore, they trailed 14-3 and came back again. This time they finished the job, winning 24-17.
Shough completed 27 of 34 passes against the Ravens, but his most important contribution came on fourth-and-goal from the 1. With 1:28 remaining, he ran for the winning touchdown. Juwan Johnson had helped put him there with a 26-yard third-down reception.
I’m willing to put a 1-1 team in this spot after those two road performances. I’m also unwilling to turn falling behind into an admirable team trait. New Orleans has already demonstrated that it can recover. Kellen Moore needs to find out what his offense looks like when it gets going before the game becomes a rescue operation.
The Saints finally get to play at home Sunday. The unbeaten Raiders are coming, with a pass rush that should make Shough’s afternoon interesting from the opening possession.
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