There were a lot of highlights and signature performances on Sunday and all will get their fair share of attention this week. But let's flip it. What or who was the biggest disappointment in Week 2?
The Baltimore Ravens went from looking like lions in the trenches in Week 1 to fawns in Week 2. It was a textbook letdown game, following the emotional high of crushing rival Pittsburgh in the home opener. The Ravens did not come to play in Tennessee and it could cost them come playoff tie-breaker time.
Joe Flacco was erratic, the offensive line fell apart, receivers couldn't get open and the defensive line could not get to aging and injury-prone quarterback Matt Hasselbeck or find anyone capable of covering Kenny Britt.
All of the preseason concerns about Baltimore -- offensive line continuity, lack of playmakers at receiver, inability to rush the passer beyond Suggs -- came back one week after looking like the most dominant team in the league.
That's the way it goes sometimes in the NFL.
I know there must be some real soul searching in Indianapolis right now. When it came right down to it, the Colts couldn't muster the effort to beat the Browns at home. More specifically, they couldn't corral Peyton Hillis. Along with the Colts, the performance of the Ravens was disappointing. Not to take anything away from the Titans, but the Ravens can't consider themselves an elite team with a 13-point performance against Tennessee.
The Chiefs have to rally. We all saw what the Packers did last season with numerous injuries. While Kansas City has been hit very hard, that's no excuse to lose 48-3. The Lions are a good team. Clearly the Bills are better than everyone thought. But Kansas City got hammered by both and, frankly, never really had a shot in either game. Maybe it's a lost season for the Chiefs, but it sure would be nice to see the AFL's most historic franchise rebound and steal a few games down the road.
The Baltimore Ravens didn’t show the character that I thought they’d established with the Week 1 beating of the Steelers. Instead, they got intoxicated with the victory over their archrivals and didn’t take the right approach in playing a physical Titans team that carved them up in Nashville. As a whole, the Ravens didn’t play well and they got a wake-up call from a hungry team. I would think Baltimore will regroup and recognize it can’t allow for slippage.
The Chiefs are the biggest disappointment, but not for the reasons that you might think. The Lions blew out the Chiefs, 48-3, and one might contend that Detroit was even running up the score.
So where was Todd Haley?
Haley was the guy who screamed at Josh McDaniels last year for this same offense. Hell, Haley even went mental during the preseason when he thought that John Harbaugh was piling it on, though Haley might have been more clued in to just how bad his team was going to be this season. But moments after the Lions finished their drubbing of the Chiefs, we all huddled around the TV waiting for the inevitable blowup between Haley and Lions coach Jim Schwartz. But there was nothing.
That, my friends, was the ultimate disappointment. The Haley I used to know would have been tempted to throw a Floyd Mayweather-like sucker punch.