2010 NFL Week 2 Review: Falcons Fly Over Cardinals, Buccaneers Trip Up Panthers

If you are a fan of the Arizona Cardinals or the Carolina Panthers, the young 2010 NFL season has not been kind to you and it may be slipping away. The Cardinals were hammered by the Falcons in the Georgia Dome while the Buccaneers sailed out of Carolina with a win over the Panthers.

While both loses have to be concerning, the manhandling of the Cardinals by the Falcons has to be particularly disturbing as it came with Atlanta fielding a third string running back.

Falcons Even Up at 1-1  Cardinals Fall Back to 1-1 – Final: 41-7

The Atlanta Falcons enjoyed some home cooking and still had room to feast on the Cardinals as they throttled Arizona 41-7 in Week Two NFL action. Trailing 10-0 early in the second quarter the Cardinals appeared to be back in the game after a one play drive that resulted in an electrifying 80-yard touchdown sprint by RB Tim Hightower.

That was the beginning of the end though as the Falcons scored 31 unanswered points to crush the Cardinals. Are the Falcons that good or are the Cards that bad? The answer is a little bit of both as neither of these teams are as good or as bad as they looked on Sunday. One thing that is certain; the Falcons are the better team of the two.

Falcons QB Matt Ryan went 21-32 for 225 yards and tossed three touchdowns while third string running back Jason Snelling had 186 total yards and three touchdowns of his own.  The Falcons defense had two interceptions with two sacks and, apart from the 80 yard TD, they allowed just 38 rushing yards.

Buccaneers Set Sail at 2-0 Panthers Prowl for Answers at 0-2 – Final: 20-7

Another team that is a surprising 2-0 is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after they swashbuckled division rival Carolina in another game that the 20-7 final score was not indicative of how the game went down. The Panthers swept the Bucs in 2009 and rookie QB Josh Freeman had a five interception day against them during that game on Week 13.

Fast forward to nine months later and Freeman had the last laugh with an effective, mistake free afternoon on Sunday. Completing just half of his passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns the numbers were pedestrian but also good enough for the win and most importantly, Freeman was mistake free.

The defense also did their part as they limited the Panthers to 278 net yards of total offense and forced three turnovers as they chased QB Matt Moore out of the game in the fourth quarter. Rookie QB Jimmy Clausen came in to mop up the mess but was just as ineffective as Moore in relief.

Hopefully the Bucs are enjoying the early season success because the seas get choppy with the Steelers, Bengals and Saints all on the horizon over the next four weeks. There isn’t much relief in sight for the Panthers as they face the Saints, Bengals and resurgent Chicago Bears. Carolina could be 0-5 by the time their Week Six bye rolls around in mid-October….ouch!

Six games reviewed with ten more to come, stay with us as we break down the rest of  the Week Two 2010 NFL action!