Who needs to ‘bounce back’ in Week Two?

Week One is complete and we now turn our attention to Week Two of this season. Week One gave us the full range of emotions and this week could well be the same. For certain players and teams, this week’s matchups will provide them with an opportunity to bounce back from their opening game woes.

So let’s get straight into it and see who is in need of an early season turnaround…

1. Kadarius Toney

Rewind back to this season’s opener and it was a rather miserable night for Toney. He didn’t look himself and gave his former team’s fans plenty of ammunition to taunt him with.

A number of passes were dropped, with one in particular standing out as a pivotal moment in the game, a great pass by Mahomes which sadly resulted in an interception being returned for a touchdown. 

Toney needs a bounce back badly this week. 

2. Cincinnati Bengals offense

The Bengals need a quick turnaround – losing in week 1 is okay, but when you lose in the manner they did, it’s a tough pill to swallow. 142 total yards, when you have arguably the best WR room in the league, that is just not good enough. 

Joe Burrow now holds the title as the highest paid QB and in his first game since that massive deal, to have 82 yards and less than 50% completion, just shouldn’t happen and he needs to come back in week 2 big time. Yes he is short of game time and practise, after his calf injury, but for me that doesn’t justify that performance. 

3. Kenny Pickett

The Steelers got taught a lesson by the visiting 49ers and it wasn’t pretty. Pickett didn’t have a good pre season, he had an unbelievable pre season, from camp to games he looked great. That has therefore added to the expectations and excitement, spoiler alert, it was a huge let down.

Two interceptions, sacked five times and he looked on a different wavelength compared to his receivers. It was a very deflating performance and Pickett will need to get the preseason version of himself on show in Week Two. 

4. New York Giants

This will be short and sweet.

40 – 0.

Zero points, outplayed, dominated and embarrassed. Strong words but it’s true, it was boys against men in the Giants’ Prime Time opener against the with Dallas. New York has to bounce back and in good fashion too after their humbling on opening night. 

5. Josh Allen

Allen is one of the top quarterbacks in the league, the cover of this year’s Madden and unfortunately really in need of a Week Two bounce back. Interceptions along with a fumble, ouch. I want to focus for a second on the interceptions, these weren’t incredible defensive plays, taking nothing away from Whitehead who claimed all three.

These were all moments where Allen bit off more than he could chew and got greedy. Sometimes the play isn’t there and if so you cannot, in this league, force it. Allen’s decision making and inability to take what the defence gave him, ultimately cost his team the game. He needs the penny to drop finally and I hope he bounces back this week. 

6. Los Angeles Chargers defense

This defensive unit isn’t a stranger to criticism, especially over the last few years. If they want to get to the heights that they dream of, they need a bounce back and some. J.C Jackson’s performance against Miami was just the cherry on top.

Now, Miami were fantastic and I’m taking nothing away from them, however, the Chargers were at many points their own enemy. This isn’t an inexperienced group of players lacking talent, this is experienced, talented players who know better than to give such a talented opponent any help. Chargers offense, thumbs up. Chargers defense, thumbs down. Bounce back and show us something, just now this defense will cost them again if it doesn’t find a formula to perform. 

There we go. Plenty more could have made the list but there are many, many weeks still to go and there will be a lot more bounce backs needed as the season continues. The question I have is will any of the above six make the bounce back this week or will their struggles continue?