NFL 2016: Week 2 NFL Preview

NFL 2016: Week 2 NFL Preview

On Sunday, NFL football returns to Los Angeles for the first time since 1994 as the Rams host the Seattle Seahawks. And, that night in primetime, the Minnesota Vikings open their new home -- U.S. Bank Stadium -- when they host the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers. Here's a preview of the interesting games and storylines entering Week 2

Close Games

The NFL got "Back to Football" with a thrilling Kickoff Weekend, highlighted by close games and comeback victories.

In Week 1, six games were decided by two points or fewer, the most such games in any week in NFL history. There were four games decided by exactly one point, the most ever on Kickoff Weekend.

Oakland notched a one-point victory (35-34) at New Orleans when the Raiders converted a go-ahead two-point conversion with 47 seconds remaining. They became the fourth team to score the game-winning points on a two-point conversion in the final minute of the fourth quarter and the first to do so in a season opener.

"I was thinking that we're here to win, so let's win it right now," explained Oakland head coach JACK DEL RIO after the game.

Week 1 2016 Games Decided By One Point

Winnner	Loser	Score
Source: NFL (Home Team in CAPS)
DENVER	Carolina	21-20
Cincinnati	NEW YORK JETS	23-22
Oakland	NEW ORLEANS	35-34
New York Giants	DALLAS	20-19

Week 1 2016 Games Decided By Two Points

Winnner	Loser	Score
Source: NFL (Home Team in CAPS)
SEATTLE	Miami	12-10
New England	ARIZONA	23-21

There were nine fourth-quarter comeback wins in the opening week, the most Week 1 fourth-quarter comeback victories in NFL history. And, for the first time ever on Kickoff Weekend, eight teams trailed at the end of the first quarter and went on to win the game.

The Kansas City Chiefs overcame a 21-point deficit to defeat San Diego 33-27 in overtime, the largest comeback victory in franchise history. The Chiefs have won 11 consecutive regular-season games and are the first team in NFL history to extend a winning streak of at least 10 games with a comeback victory of 21 or more points.

"It's pretty sweet," says Kansas City head coach ANDY REID about the comeback victory. "When you come back in the National Football League from three scores down and win, that's pretty nice."

Everybody wants to get off to a good start as history has shown that teams that are victorious in their season openers are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than losers of an opening game. But that doesn't mean an 0-1 start is impossible to overcome as nearly 25 percent of teams that lost the opener went to the playoffs.

Since 1978 when the NFL went to the 16-game schedule (and excluding the abbreviated season of 1982):

Of the 554 teams which won openers &ellips; 288 went to the playoffs (173 won division titles)

Of the 555 teams which lost openers &ellips; 134 went to the playoffs (77 won division titles)

Week 2 kicks off with Thursday Night Football presented by Bud Light as the New York Jets visit the Buffalo Bills in an AFC East showdown (CBS/NFLN/Twitter, 8:25 PM ET). The game will mark the debut of the "Tri-Cast" distribution model of broadcast, cable (NFL Network) and digital (Twitter) which will be used for 10 Thursday Night Football games this season. CBS and NBC will each broadcast five Thursday Night Football games which will be simulcast on NFL Network and streamed to a global audience across devices for free on Twitter.

On Sunday afternoon, NFL football returns to Los Angeles for the first time since 1994 as the Rams host the Seattle Seahawks in their regular-season home opener at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (4:05 PM ET, FOX). And, that night in primetime (8:30 PM ET, NBC), the Minnesota Vikings will open their new home -- U.S. Bank Stadium -- when they host the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.

Here's a look at a few interesting storylines entering Week 2

Cincinnati Bengals (1-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)

(Sunday, CBS, 1:00 PM ET)

The teams split the regular-season series last year with the Bengals winning at Pittsburgh in Week 8 (16-10) and the Steelers earning a victory at Cincinnati in Week 14 (33-20). Pittsburgh won the Wild Card playoff game in Cincinnati last season, defeating the Bengals 18-16.

The Bengals won their season opener against New York last week, defeating the Jets 23-22.

Cincinnati quarterback ANDY DALTON passed for 366 yards with a touchdown in Week 1 and wide receiver A.J. GREEN had 12 catches for 180 yards with a touchdown (54 yards).

Pittsburgh defeated Washington 38-16 on Monday Night Football to open the 2016 season.

In Week 1, Steelers quarterback BEN ROETHLISBERGER threw for 300 yards with three touchdowns, wide receiver ANTONIO BROWN had eight catches for 126 yards with two touchdowns and running back DE ANGELO WILLIAMS rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Seattle Seahawks (1-0) at Los Angeles Rams (0-1)

(Sunday, FOX, 4:05 PM ET)

Football returns to Los Angeles as the Rams will host a regular-season game in LA for the first time since 1994.

The Seahawks defeated Miami 12-10 in Week 1 as quarterback RUSSELL WILSON connected with wide receiver DOUG BALDWIN on a game-winning touchdown pass with 31 seconds remaining in the game.

From the start of the 2015 season, Baldwin has 15 receiving touchdowns, the most in the NFL.

The Rams swept the season series last year, defeating Seattle 34-31 in overtime in Week 1 and knocking off the Seahawks 23-17 in Week 16.

Rams running back TODD GURLEY rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown in the last meeting between the teams.

Green Bay Packers (1-0) at Minnesota Vikings (1-0)

(Sunday, NBC, 8:30 PM ET)

Minnesota's U.S. Bank Stadium will host its first regular-season NFL game.

The Packers notched their NFL-best 55th win in road openers as Green Bay knocked off Jacksonville 27-23.

Packers quarterback AARON RODGERS threw touchdown passes to wide receivers JORDY NELSON (six yards) and DAVANTE ADAMS (29 yards) in the team's Week 1 victory.

The Vikings, sparked by two defensive scores, earned a 25-16 win at Tennessee on Kickoff Weekend.

Minnesota linebacker ERIC KENDRICKS had a 77-yard interception-return touchdown and defensive end DANIELLE HUNTER returned a fumble 24 yards for a score in the win over the Titans. The Vikings are only the second team to record both an interception-return touchdown and fumble-return touchdown in a season opener since 2000, joining the 2013 Dallas Cowboys.

Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) at Chicago Bears (0-1)

(Monday, ESPN, 8:30 PM ET)

The Eagles opened the season with a 29-10 win over Cleveland, giving new Philadelphia head coach DOUG PEDERSON his first career victory.

Eagles rookie quarterback CARSON WENTZ, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft, completed 22 of 37 passes (59.5 percent) for 278 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 101.0 passer rating in the Week 1 victory. Wentz was the first Eagles rookie to start at quarterback in a season opener since DAVEY O'BRIEN in 1939.

The Bears have won four of the past six meetings between the clubs. The teams have met three times on Monday Night Football with Chicago winning two of those three contests.

Bears wide receiver ALSHON JEFFERY had four catches for 105 yards (26.3 average) in Week 1, his 13th career 100-yard receiving game. Jeffery has recorded at least 100 receiving yards or a touchdown catch in each of his past five Monday games.