Four biggest surprises from Week 2 of NFL season

by | Sep 22, 2015

Week 2 of the 2015 NFL season was full of surprises.

There were upsets, breakout performances, stunningly bad performances and perhaps even a change in the way the game is played.

These are the week’s four biggest surprises.

Jets beating Colts

The Jets weren’t the biggest Vegas underdogs in Week 2, but no one’s going to turn any heads beating the Browns at home in Week 1. So the Jets remained under the radar heading into Monday night’s game at Indianapolis. The Colts just ran into a buzz saw in their opener at Buffalo. No way they were going to go 0-2, right? Well, the Jets forced five turnovers in stuffing the Colts 20-7. They lead the NFL with 10 takeaways.

The Colts can’t beat the team coached by Rex Ryan or the team that fired Rex Ryan.

Technically, the Buccaneers’ 26-19 win at New Orleans was the biggest upset of Week 2, but nothing that happens in the NFC South is surprising. It only took seven victories to win that division last year.

Travis Benjamin

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 20: Travis Benjamin #11 of the Cleveland Browns returns a second quarter punt for a touchdown while playing the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 20, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Travis Benjamin didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. He did catch a 54-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Manziel in Week 1.

But lightning struck twice.

Manziel’s first pass in Sunday’s 28-14 win over the Titans was a 60-yard touchdown to Benjamin. Then with less than a minute left in the first half, Benjamin returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 Browns lead. Manziel secured the win with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin to make it 28-14 late in the fourth quarter.

Travis Benjamin is the second player in NFL history with 100+ receiving yards and 150+ punt return yards in a game. First was Steve Smith.

— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) September 20, 2015

Benjamin entered the year with 41 receptions in three seasons, catching 18 passes in both 2012 and 2014. He’s caught six passes this season and he’s in some elite company with 204 receiving yards, behind only Antonio Brown, Julio Jones and Rob Gronkowski. He’s also tied for second in the league with three touchdown catches.

DeMarco Murray

DeMarco Murray’s faceplant performance was another Week 1 anomaly that few figured would happen again in Week 2.

Except that it did.

It didn’t seem possible that Murray could take a step back from his eight-carry, nine-yard night in the season opener. But on Sunday he could muster just two yards on 13 carries. Murray’s poor season so far might not be entirely surprising to the hardcore number crunchers concerned about his heavy workload in Dallas taking its toll. But two yards on 13 carries is jaw-droppingly bad for a guy who ran for 1,845 last season.

The Eagles’ offensive line deserves a lot of the blame. Murray isn’t getting a lot of holes to run through.

It was only the third time in the last 36 years that a player ran the ball 13 or more times and gained two yards or less. It hasn’t happened since 2002 when the Texans’ Jonathan Wells had one yard on 13 carries in a loss to the Titans. That was the Texans’ expansion season. Before that, Barry Sanders ran for minus-1 yard on 13 carries in a wild-card loss at Green Bay. At least Murray has something in common with one of the all-time greats.

Steelers going for 2

Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley expressed a desire to go for more two-point conversions with extra points moved back to the 15-yard line. But that was the summer. There’s lots of talk during the offseason. Were we supposed to believe that any NFL coach would be daring enough to go for two in the first quarter? That’s just what the Steelers did in Sunday’s 43-18 win over the 49ers at Heinz Field. The Steelers made two-point conversions on each of their first two touchdowns to build a 16-3 lead.

Seven two-point conversions have been made in the NFL this season according to Pro Football Talk, and the Steelers have three of them. Who would have thought that a franchise steeped in tradition would blaze the two-point trail?