NFL Week 2 losers: Coaching, quarterback blunders stand out

Brian Daboll, head coach, New York Giants 

He knew his kicker was not 100% going into the game. He did not elevate another kicker to his roster for the game. Then he had to watch as his already injured kicker left the game on the opening kickoff unable to return. In a game that his team lost by three points, that is an unforced error for a team that can not afford any errors.

Trevor Lawrence, quarterback, Jacksonville Jaguars

Lawrence is clearly a top-half-of-the-league quarterback, but he is not a difference-maker consistently enough for the money the Jaguars are paying him. That was true again on Sunday in an 18-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns where he struggled to move the ball and did not make enough plays. He has now lost seven consecutive starts going back to the 2023 season.

Indianapolis Colts run defense

With the Green Bay Packers missing quarterback Jordan Love from the lineup, the Indianapolis Colts had to know they were going come out with a run-heavy offense with limited threat to pass the ball. That is exactly what they did. The Colts still could not stop them, allowing 261 yards on the ground in a 16-10 loss. When you know what the other team is going to do and still can not stop it? That is a bad performance.

Jared Goff, quarterback, Detroit Lions

Goff has been a perfect fit for the Lions and has done an incredible job getting his career back on track. He did not have a great day on Sunday, averaging just 5.6 yards per pass attempt and being intercepted two times. The second of those interceptions came late in the game, deep in Tampa Bay territory as the Lions attempted to take the lead.  

Dallas Cowboys defense

Speaking of bad defense, the Cowboys could not stop the run or the pass on Sunday in a staggering 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints. For as good as the Cowboys looked in their Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns, they looked every bit as bad on Sunday.

Will Levis, quarterback, Tennessee Titans

For the second week in a row, Levis made an absolutely baffling decision with the football that ended up costing his team points. This time it was an inexcusable backward, desperation toss with his team in the red zone that resulted in a Jets fumble recovery and robbing the Titans of points.

This cannot happen.

Bryce Young, quarterback, Carolina Panthers

It might not be all his fault. In fact, it is almost certainly not all his fault. Young was drafted into one of the most difficult situations in the NFL in Carolina where the organization has terrible ownership, bad roster management and bad coaching. Still, you would like to see some progress from him. The Panthers are not seeing it as he had an historically bad passing day with only 84 yards on 26 attempts as the Panthers opened the second with a second straight lopsided defeat.

Sean Payton, head coach, Denver Broncos 

Payton made some bizarre decisions in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. With the team trailing by 13 points and deep into Steelers territory, he elected to kick a field goal instead of going for a fourth-and-six. The kick was good, but it kept what had been a two-score game as a two-score game. Then, after the Broncos kicked another field goal with under two minutes to play in regulation, and while only having one timeout at his disposal, he elected to kick off deep instead of going for an onside kick. The Broncos got the ball back more than 70 yards from their end zone with no timeouts and only 18 seconds to play. Given how much the Broncos paid to hire Payton (in terms of draft picks and money) those are not the type of decisions they probably want to see.