5 things I think about the NFL this week

It was another helter-skelter slate of games in week two of the National Football League.

The AFC West is the early star of the league with three of its four teams rocking a 2-0 record while the Atlanta Falcons' supposed Super Bowl hangover is turning more into the sort of Vegas morning-after where you wake up and find $10,000 in your back pocket.

They have the same 2-0 record as the Carolina Panthers but their respective performances could barely have been more different. On the sadder end of the spectrum, the New York Giants look like a hot mess despite Super Bowl ambitions and the Chicago Bears need to throw Mitch Trubisky into the game to avoid a season of complete waste.

The Cincinatti Bengals are as disappointing a team as there is in the NFL, while the New York Jets should be considered for expulsion from the league.

But what do I think this week? Well, I'm glad you asked....

1. I think the list of teams needing quarterbacks next April is already taking shape.

We knew coming into the season that the New York Jets, a pathetic shell of a team, and the San Francisco 49ers would be in the market for a QB next spring as their long rebuild process continues.

But the other teams now desperate for a new signal-caller are already becoming obvious just two weeks into the season.

Jacksonville - as discussed later in the column - need new blood immediately while the New York Giants' explosive offense seems no longer able to function with the statuesque Eli Manning behind a sieve of an offensive line.

Carson Palmer's situation in Arizona is similar, with the veteran's feet seemingly set in concrete during an ugly win over a dreadful Indianapolis Colts team.

Those teams are all desperately in need of a new QB though Buffalo, who seem completely unsold on the underrated Tyrod Taylor, are likely to also be in the hunt. Should Kirk Cousins walk out on Washington then he is likely to end up in San Fran but that would push the Redskins into the quarterback market.

Then we have teams for whom injury and age might necessitate a dip into the QB pool. New Orleans need a successor for Drew Brees and Baltimore can finally get out of Joe Flacco's heinous contract, just as he's showing a worrying lack of mobility with this persistent back issue.

The LA Chargers probably figure on the heir list too, with Philip Rivers getting no younger, and Pittsburgh haven't got an answer if Ben Roethlisberger actually does retire this time.

Injuries have blighted both Minnesota quarterbacks and they must be thinking about their options while the same can be said for Miami, who picked up a one-year stop-gap in Jay Cutler but nothing more.

I guess this extensive list of teams that are desperate for someone new under center tells us all we need to know about the state of quarterback play in the bottom half of the National Football League.

With three absolute studs likely to go in the top five of the draft next year, it is a rich QB class and yet there will still be plenty of teams left disappointed and without an answer.

2. I think the situation with Jordan Howard in Chicago is interesting for two reasons.

The running back had a huge rookie year after being picked in the fifth round of the 2016 draft and came second in the league in rushing, but his first two games of the season have been more of a struggle and the second-year rusher is now seeing competition for snaps from jitterbug rookie Tarik Cohen.

Cohen is the lightning to Howard’s thunder and they could easily work as complimentary pieces in an offense that is desperate for any sort of spark, but the struggling sophomore is obviously unhappy with either his performances or diddy racer Cohen’s role and refused to speak to media in the locker room after both of the Bears’ first two games – something that had local press smelling trouble.

After practice on Monday though, with head coach John Fox having found out about Howard’s little self-imposed blackout, the 22-year-old Pro Bowler was suddenly out in front of the media and ready to speak.

Media access to players is something that the NFL gets so right. Sport is for the fans, after all, and the fans deserve to hear from the players whose incredible lives they fund via tickets, merchandising and much more besides. Ten minutes after the game finishes, journalists have access to the locker room to speak to stars and add colour and nuance to their coverage of the sport.

In soccer in particular, where players are kept in a sterile bubble, the balance is all wrong and footballers view speaking to the press as a dirty side-role of their privileged existence. That is an affront to the supporters who deserve to have their questions asked win or lose, 100-yard game or frustrating afternoon.

As for Howard’s performances, the Alabama native faces a big year to prove he’s not just another flame-out.

That said, I think we’ve seen enough when he has been effective that I would err on the side of him being legit and a cornerstone for the rebuilding Bears to construct an offense around.

3. I think that the Raiders can have championship ambitions but they're not a perfect team by any stretch.

Their biggest worry should be that Bill Belichick is already watching their tape 16 weeks ahead of the AFC Championship game in a bid to work out how to pick them off in the playoffs.

Watching this offense, albeit this week against the pathetic New York Jets, there is so much to believe in. Derek Carr has continued to build on last season, where he was an MVP candidate until he broke his leg. Amari Cooper moves the chains while Michael Crabtree is a red zone hammer and Marshawn Lynch melds nicely with Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington to form a productive running game.

Defensively they will need to improve if they are to be Super Bowl candidates and their seemingly unfixable weakness against tight ends could be problematic should they run into Rob Gronkowski in the post-season.

But the back end looks better with first-rounder Gareon Conley in there and Karl Joseph a year older. Khalil Mack continues to be a wrecking ball and the Raiders are certainly now one of the NFL’s most fun teams to watch – just not when they’re playing on that awful baseball field.

4. I think Blake Bortles is done.

And it’s a shame, because if the Jacksonville Jaguars had a serviceable quarterback then this defense could carry them to an AFC South title.

Instead, the Tennessee Titans gave them a going-over in Florida on Sunday and there is no chance of progress in Jax until Bortles is out of the team.

It is a disgrace how many NFL teams are finding every way possible not to pick up Colin Kaepernick in a shameful attempt to placate racists among their fanbase.

5. I think it will be interesting to see whether the great starts of new defensive coordinators in Carolina and Denver can last and turn into permanent upgrades.

Sean McDermott left Carolina to become the head coach in Buffalo this off-season and there was a fear that the Panthers defense would take a step back. Likewise the Broncos lost hall-of-fame coordinator Wade Phillips in their reshuffle, with the Son of Bum taking over a spicy-looking unit in Los Angeles that includes Aaron Donald.

But while we expected both of their former teams to struggle, Steve Wilks in Carolina and Joe Woods in Mile High have both provided not just continuity but an early-season improvement on what came before.

47-year-old Woods schemed his team do a destructive win over the Cowboys this week, slicing and dicing one of the best offensive lines in NFL history.

Wilks, up against his former boss McDermott this week as the Bills came to town, became the first coordinator to keep opponents to three points or fewer in the first two games of the season since Buffalo themselves did it in 1981.

Julius Peppers says it’s the best defense he’s ever played on. I think that might be hyperbole but they could barely have started the season better.