These 2 NFL teams aren’t getting enough attention right now, but that’s about to change

Hurricane Florence came roaring through Charlotte this weekend and I’ve been without power since Saturday night. My unlimited plan came in handy as did my three backup batteries for my iPad. For not having power, I feel like I was able to take in the entire weekend of football, and it was a great one with another tie, a quarterback throw for SIX touchdown passes out of 23 completions, three 2-0 football teams all in Florida and so much more.

Right before Week 1 I was looking at NFL lines and noticed the Bengals getting three points against the Colts. That line looked odd considering the Bengals had a good preseason and the Colts, well, aren’t ready for primetime yet. I asked around to some Bengals people and they all told me this Bengals team reminded them of the 2015 playoff team. I’d say they are spot on.

The Bengals hot start is due to their success in the red zone. They are fourth in red zone success and first inside the ten. That leads to points, and you can’t have enough points in this league.

Defensively, they are stout against the run and can rush the passer, a great recipe for success. They head into Carolina as three-point dogs this week. Still being undervalued.

About two weeks before the season I was doing Sirius NFL radio and we (Alex Marvez and I) started a discussion on the Dolphins.

He said “Schwartz, before you say anything, look at the roster.” So I did. It quickly changed my opinion about this team. They have dudes. And remember this as well. Ryan Tannehill led the Dolphins to the playoffs when he was mostly healthy in 2016. He might be nothing flashy, but he’s played well under Adam Gase. Don’t discount this team.

After two weeks, the biggest storyline in the NFL is unfortunately the rules. No, not the helmet rule, which yours truly said would disappear once the season started. It’s the new body weight rule when tackling quarterbacks. It’s changing the outcomes of ballgames.

The spirit of the rule makes sense. Protecting the star players in the NFL from injury. However, it’s becoming increasingly tough to officiate these plays. Defenders are taught from the start of their career to explode through a tackle. I don’t know how they’re supposed to let up around the quarterback while taking him to the ground. Something to take into consideration with these tackles is the force being applied to the quarterback on these hits. A slender framed quarterback is standing upright in the pocket and a 275-pound defensive end is forcefully tackling the guy. By nature it’s going to look worse than it probably is.

We’ve been told that if a defender rolls off to the side as they tackle the quarterback, it’s not a foul. Then we saw Clay Matthews get flagged as he did just that and it led to the Vikings scoring points.

There are two solutions to this “problem.” One is erring on the side of not calling these as often, which we know won’t happen. The other, is making this reviewable. I’m strongly against adding more reviewable plays because of the time it takes and disrupting the flow of the game, but this seems like the only solution. Except, I’d like for this to be reviewed only by replay officials in New York and radioed down to the field. I don’t think the official needs to go under the hood and review this. Just look at it from New York, make the decision, and move on.

Since I’m discussing changes in the NFL, can we please get a camera down the end zone. It’s remarkable that we have technology in tennis that can see exactly where the ball lands in regards to the line but we don’t have that same technology to see if the ball crossed the goal line.

The wonder kid has 10 touchdown passes in his first two games this season, an NFL mark for touchdown passes in the first two games of the season. I’m not sure there’s enough adjectives to describe how bright the future is with Mahomes.

He has a rocket arm and a quick release. The ball is accurate and on time, even between multiple defenders. He makes throws that Alex Smith just wouldn’t attempt and that’s going to take this offense to new heights.

Part of his success is the Chiefs arsenal of weapons. Look at this list — Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Chris Conley. Oh, and then there’s Kareem Hunt. Mahomes also benefits from having the offensive OG in Andy Reid to guide him.

What I love best about the Chiefs offense is how simple it looks at times. They love running All Go, just dudes running verticals and bending routes around defenders. It requires a quarterback looking off safeties and then making tough throws. The concept is so simple and Andy Reid dresses it up with formations and personnel groupings.

However, the Chiefs defense is not as stellar as the offense. It’s a worry. Not much more to be said there. It needs to improve.

Ryan Fitzpatrick has lead the Tampa Bay Bucs to a statrling 2-0 record with his arm. After shredding the Saints in Week 1, Fitz was back in Week 2 for an encore. He hit two 75-yard touchdowns against the Eagles on Sunday as they rolled to a 27-21 victory. So two questions: Is this what we can expect from Fitzpatrick for the season? Should he remain the starter when Jameis Winston returns from suspension after week 3?

Fitzpatrick had a magical season in 2016 with the New York Jets, but he’s generally been a below average starter. Let’s breakdown the game yesterday. He hit two 75-yard touchdowns — that’s not reliable to expect week in and week out from a quarterback. Besides those two passes, Fitz threw for 250 yards, which is serviceable, but often not enough to win a game, especially when your offense rushes for 43 yards.

Winston is still the future of their franchise and should get the starting nod when he’s back. But that probably won’t happen until Week 5, since the week before is a short one with a Monday night game.

I’m going to write this every single week until he plays. Tyrod Taylor is just wasting their time. The reason to play Taylor was that he would allow Hue Jackson to get some wins under his belt. That hasn’t worked. I’d argue that’s partly because of Taylor.

Their defense is legit, super legit. The offense can do more to support that defense with Mayfield starting. Just play him, please.

I do something that’s unique to social media. I admit when I’m wrong. I had to admit last night that I was wrong about the New York Giants. I thought the Giants, with a new offensive minded head coach and some new additions to the roster, would be able to score points. I was wrong. They look exactly the same as last season.

The Giants haven’t scored over 30 points in a game since 2015! That’s unbelievable. The one constant through all those poor offensive performances is Eli Manning. I’m a huge fan of his, and I stated throughout the offseason that I believed he could still manage this offense.

They revamped their offensive line, which now doesn’t seem like it’s worked much, added running back Saquon Barkley and got Odell Beckham Jr. back healthy. But Manning is the only person who’s played through this whole time. I’m starting to believe he’s closer to being finished than I thought. It pains me to write that.

Those are my takeaways from Week 2. Once I get my power back, I’ll be able to review more of these games and get my thoughts and videos out on Twitter, so stay tuned!