Winners, Losers, And Storylines To Watch

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 14: Joey Bosa #97 of the Buffalo Bills attempts to sack Justin Fields #7 of the New York Jets during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium on September 14, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Jordan Bank/Getty Images)

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The second week of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, and while it’s still early, Week 2 gave us a more defined picture of which teams and players are finding their rhythm and which are still searching for answers.

The biggest story, of course, is the Cincinnati Bengals losing Joe Burrow for most of the year to a toe injury. But beyond that, plenty of other moments stood out across the league’s 16 games. Here’s a look at the winners and losers from Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season.

NFL Week 2 Winners:

Joey Bosa

When the Los Angeles Chargers let go of Joey Bosa in the offseason, there wasn’t much doubt about his skills. It was mainly whether he could manage to stay healthy for a full season. Through two games in Buffalo—yes, just two games, but it’s still something—Bosa not only looks healthy, but is playing at a dominant level.

After an opening week performance where his presence was more felt on the field than seen on the stat sheet, Bosa showed up against the New York Jets in a big way. Bosa finished the game with seven quarterback pressures, one sack, and two forced fumbles. The Jets didn’t have an answer for him, as he blew past tackles both inside and outside no matter where he lined up. In many cases, he made it look as easy as an NFL team going up against a college program.

It was a master class of what Bosa can bring to the table for the Bills this year should he stay on the field.

Brandon Aubrey

If there was still any doubt who the best long kicker in the NFL is, there shouldn’t be. Brandon Aubrey’s 64-yard boot as time expired in the fourth sent the Dallas Cowboys to overtime against the New York Giants. He then made a 46-yard kick in overtime to save Dallas from an improbable loss and an 0-2 start. On the day, Aubrey went 4-of-4, including two 50+ yard kicks.

For his career, Aubrey is now 27-30 from 50-plus for his career.

Daniel Jones

Until he proves otherwise, Daniel Jones will continue to be a winner during the early stages of the season. He has the Indianapolis Colts at 2-0, and seems to fit in Shane Steichen’s system like a glove. Following a three-touchdown performance in Week 1, Jones racked up 316 yards and two total touchdowns for the Colts against Denver.

But the high-level numbers are just part of the story. Jones’ ability to move around in the pocket on Sunday while keeping his eyes down field and finding open receivers was impressive. He’s looked like a completely different quarterback to where people might start changing how they evaluate the position moving forward if this keeps up.

The only thing that really needs improvement right now is Indianapolis’ ability to finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals. While they still won the game, five field goals, including three within the opposing 25 yard line won’t keep you at the top of a division.

NFL Week 2 Losers:

Joe Burrow And The Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals are 2-0 for the first time since 2018. And while this should be a time to celebrate the early wins for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, there’s no real joy in southern Ohio.

With 8:36 left in the second quarter against Jacksonville, quarterback Joe Burrow went down with a left foot injury that was later revealed to be a turf toe that will require surgery. The timeline is expected to be around three months with the Bengals needing to rely on back up Jake Browning to lead them into December.

Should Cincinnati manage to stay afloat in the AFC playoff race by then, Burrow could return at the right time to lead the Bengals on a run. The chances of that, however, look pretty slim despite the 2-0 start.

Steelers Special Teams

Someone didn’t tell Pittsburgh Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson the full kickoff rules. With the Seattle Seahawks up by three and kicking off to Pittsburgh, the ball came down in the landing zone before rolling into the endzone. Under old rules, the play would’ve been ruled dead once it reached the endzone. With the current kickoff rules, however, the ball needs to either be returned or downed by the receiving team. Johnson failed to do that, making it a live ball that was recovered by Seattle’s George Holani for a touchdown that ultimately proved to be the game-winning score.

Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin said after the game that it was a scenario practiced by the team and that it was “poor judgement by a young player”.

Travis Kelce

The future husband of Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce had himself a mixed bag against the Philadelphia Eagles. While he did have four catches for 61 yards, that won’t be what everyone talks about from the game.

First, there was Kelce’s helmet-throwing tirade on the sideline that was caught by Fox TV cameras with him yelling that he was “sick of this ****”. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Later on in the game, with Kansas City having a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter, Kelce dropped a would-be touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes. That pass would go into the arms of Philadelphia’s Andrew Makuba, who returned it from his endzone to the Eagles 41 yard line. On the ensuing drive, the Eagles would march down field and score a touchdown to make it 20-10, putting the game away.

It was another black eye for Kansas City at the start of the year as they look to become just the second team ever to make the Super Bowl in four straight seasons, joining the Buffalo Bills from 1991-1994.

I don’t know about you, but the Chiefs are 0-2.

Miami Dolphins

There’s not a single team in the NFL that looks more dysfunctional right now than the Miami Dolphins. Desperate to put the Week 1 beatdown by the Colts behind them, Miami had multiple chances to pull out a win against division rival New England. They came back from 12-0 to take a 17-15 lead, but couldn’t keep their foot on the pedal.

They tried, but New England had an answer for everything the Dolphins did, including returning a kick for a touchdown immediately after Miami scored on a punt return. That ended up being the deciding score as Tua Tagovailoa threw another untimely interception to set up the Patriots for another field goal.

They would get the ball back again, but Tagovailoa made two of the worst plays of the day, not counting the interception. A zero-yard rush on third and 12 and then a game-losing sack fourth down.

As the Patriots kneeled out the game, head coach Mike McDaniel stared at the ground, clearly looking like a defeated man. A man who can sense his time in Miami is coming to an end. And it doesn’t get much better moving forward.

Miami has a short week, traveling to Buffalo to face a Bills team on Thursday night that has beaten them in 13 of the last 14 meetings. Will this be the time for Miami to turn around their season with a major upset, or could this be the final game of the McDaniel era?

What To Watch For In Week 3?

The season is halfway through its first quarter already, and things are starting to shape up for a lot of teams. That said, there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on as games start to move towards becoming more important. Aside from the aforementioned Dolphins and Bengals future, these are just a couple storylines to watch in Week 3.

Will Kansas City Figure It Out?

The Chiefs are 0-2, but should fans really start to believe the dynasty is over? After two tough matchups to open the season against the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City gets a bit of a reprieve when they take on the New York Giants. Though, after the Giants hung up 37 on Dallas and Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns, how much of a “get right game” can this really be?

The Chiefs will have to be ready for everything a desperate 0-2 Giants team will throw at them on Sunday night. If not, 0-3 is a real possibility with a game against Baltimore coming the following week.

Will San Francisco Continue Their Momentum?

The San Francisco 49ers were without Brock Purdy and George Kittle on Sunday, and managed to hold off the New Orleans Saints. While the Saints aren’t in the upper echelon of NFL teams, San Francisco pulling out a win with Mac Jones leading the way should be viewed as a sign of hope that the season won’t be lost while the two stars recover.

The 49ers have a divisional game against fellow 2-0 division rival Arizona on Sunday. Was Jones’ performance a one off or will he be able to keep his team at the top of the division after three games?

Will Caleb Williams Show Improvement?

Through two games, Caleb Williams hasn’t looked like someone who’s the future at quarterback in Chicago. In each game, Williams looked stellar during Chicago’s opening drive. But, once the game script goes away, Williams has looked pedestrian at best. He looks uncomfortable on the field, and seems to be struggle finding open receivers.

In the first quarter this year, Williams has completed 90% of his passes and is completing 77% of passes in the first half. In the second half, that number drops to 43%. Even his yards per attempt falls from a low 7.1 yards per attempt in the first half to an even lower 5.6 yards per attempt in the second.

Chicago has a matchup with a Cowboys defense that just gave up 506 yards to the Giants. If there was ever a game for Williams to figure it out, it’s this one.