NFL Sunday Week 2 Takeaways: QB Questions Abound

• Our NFL Sunday Week 2 takeaways, recap, and analysis focus on quarterbacks and how underperformance and injury will impact the season going forward
• Bengals’ Joe Burrow may be out for 3 months
• Browns have early decisions to make with Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders
• Danny Dimes is on his way to getting his revenge
• J.J. McCarthy is a work in progress

Joe Burrow Likely Out for 3 Months

Joe Burrow suffered a toe injury in the second quarter of the Bengals’ win over the Jaguars. Now, he is expected to miss around three months with surgery pending.

Burrow is undoubtedly a key to the Bengals’ success or failure. But backup Jake Browning played well in 2023, the last time he replaced Burrow for an extended period. The team went 4-3 with Browning under center and finished the season with a record of 9-8.

That sounds mediocre, and they were in last place in the AFC North. But for context, it was the toughest division in the league that year.

Browning is not Burrow, who is a top-5 QB in the sport, but he’s competent and has weapons and moxie.

The Bengals’ odds to make the playoffs are long, but the AFC is heavy on parity, and the AFC North is not close to what it was in 2023.

The Browns’ Logo Should Be a Question Mark

This could be asked in infinite ways. But for this purpose, we’re talking about their familiar refrain: What are the Browns doing at quarterback?

Head coach Kevin Stefanski may be coaching for his job. He is dealing with a QB situation with no good options, partly through his own doing after running Baker Mayfield off. And they have lost their first two games of the 2025 season to division opponents, with their next four games against the Packers, Lions, Vikings, and Steelers.

Joe Flacco was the “best” option for Stefanski given the circumstances. With two rookies, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, behind him, and the carnival that follows Sanders seemingly by intent, he had little choice but to go with the veteran.

What does Flacco have left? And does it make sense to keep playing him at this point?

Flacco might be passable on a contending team. He still has his howitzer arm, doesn’t run any slower than he did when he was 15 years younger, and has valuable experience. But for the Browns?

Stefanski’s problem if he switches QBs is that he presumably wants Gabriel since he didn’t want to draft Shedeur, and the media and fans want Shedeur. Maybe the owner will too.

It would likely be better for him and the team to just throw Shedeur out there to see if he can actually play. Since it’s the Browns, they…oh, who knows what they’re gonna do?

At this moment, there are no odds available for the first coach to be fired, and Stefanski has rough competition with Mike McDaniel and Brian Daboll sharing the hot seat with him.

Daniel Jones, 2-0 With the Colts, Still Impacts the Giants

Colts QB Daniel Jones currently has the fourth-best odds for NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Indianapolis is 2-0, and Jones is playing competently and not spectacularly. And that’s all they need.

For years, while he was being destroyed by Giants fans and media and was eventually discarded, it was largely ignored that he was taking a brutal beating and never had any consistent coaching in one system.

It’s only two games for the Colts, but they’re not asking him to do too much. In those two wins, he’s 45 for 63 with 2 TD passes and no interceptions. His passer rating is 111.1. For the drive leading to the game-winning field goal against the Broncos, he did the smart and safe thing by predominantly handing the ball to All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor.

Jones is still impacting the Giants, given how his former team is now 0-2.

Giants GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are on thin ice. Now that Jones, in his first full year away from the Giants, is playing this well, and that is piggybacked on another player they discarded, Saquon Barkley, leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl title last season, how much mistaken evaluation and incompetent guidance is owner John Mara going to tolerate?

J.J. McCarthy Is a Work in Progress

J.J. McCarthy has had maybe 20 solid minutes in his first two games as the Vikings’ starting QB. And that was against the Bears, who are now 0-2 and in complete disarray.

In Week 2 against the Falcons, he completed 11 of 21 passes for 158 yards and 2 interceptions. He was sacked 6 times for 38 yards. To make matters worse, he was overthrowing and underthrowing receivers all over the place and looked overwhelmed under pressure.

There was immediate speculation as to whether head coach Kevin O’Connell should bench him; if there was a flicker of a thought to trade for the backup QB on the other sideline, former Viking, Kirk Cousins; if McCarthy can play.

It’s been two games, and O’Connell is highly skilled in evaluating and working with QBs. The Vikings let Sam Darnold walk after his big 2024. They had Jones at the end of last season and let him go too.

McCarthy is listed among the odds for Comeback Player of the Year.

Succinctly, they are committed to McCarthy. And if they do make a move to backup Carson Wentz, it won’t be until Week 7 at the earliest.

Whether you like McCarthy or not, it’s important to remember that he’s basically a rookie.

John Elway was benched by Broncos head coach Dan Reeves when Elway was a rookie in 1983. He only got back in the starting lineup when DeBerg separated his shoulder in Week 10.

That’s not to compare McCarthy with Elway, but it takes time to figure things out. The Vikings put all their chips on him. They’re not walking away from the table after two hands, one in which they won.

NFL Sunday Week 2 Takeaways

Quarterbacks get all the attention for a reason, but everything that happens with a QB can affect the entire team. Some of these questions are relevant; others are circumstantial. But all will make a big difference for the remainder of the 2025 season.

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