Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season is in the books, and we’re down to eight undefeated teams — including the Las Vegas Raiders! With rookie head coach Klint Kubiak and 38-year-old quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Raiders are one win away from equaling their 2025 win total.
There are eight 0-2 teams, including two that were in the playoffs last season (Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers). Of course, the Texans started 0-3 last season and still made the playoffs, so there’s that.
Week 2 didn’t have the scoring explosion we saw in Week 1, but there were still some great offensive performances. There weren’t as many great individual defensive performances, though team defense stood out. One thing’s for sure: You don’t need a poll to declare Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores the Coach of the Week. Sure, the wet weather conditions played a part, but Flores’ defense held a Chicago Bears offense that scored 59 points on the road last week to just three points at home.
Every week of the season, Athlon Sports will nominate players for Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week. This week, we’re adding a new category: Best Performance in a Losing Effort. Check out the Week 2 nominees and vote below:
Offensive Player of the Week
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen gets nominated for the second straight week. Sure, it was against the atrocious Detroit Lions defense, but Allen had 317 total yards (248 passing, 69 rushing) and five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) in a 41-31 Thursday night win.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the 2025 Offensive Player of the Year,had nine receptions for 155 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Smith-Njigba, who had 1,793 receiving yards last season and had fans thinking about when a player will have 2,000 receiving yards in a season for the first time, has 277 yards through two games. It’s a little early to talk about “on pace,” but let’s do it anyway: Smith-Njigba is on pace for 2,354 yards.
For the second week in a row, the final nominee comes from the Monday night game. With Puka Nacua out for the Los Angeles Rams, wide receiver Davante Adams more than picked up the slack. Adams had eight receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensive Player of the Week
While the Bears went from scoring 59 points in Week 1 to scoring three in Week 2, Chicago’s Week 1 victim did the exact opposite: After allowing 59 last week, the Carolina Panthers defense allowed just three points in a 34-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Panthers linebacker Devin Lloyd had nine tackles, three passes defensed, two tackles for loss, and two interceptions, including a 16-yard pick-six. Lloyd joined Charles Woodson (2009) and Zach Brown (2012) as the only players in the last 20 seasons with a sack, multiple interceptions and a pick-six in a single game.
Allen wasn’t the only Bills player making a return appearance to the NFL Awards list. After recording two sacks and two fumbles last week, linebacker Greg Rousseau had another two sacks and another forced fumble in the win over Detroit. The NFL record for forced fumbles in a season is 10; Rousseau has three through two games.
The Green Bay Packers finally won a game without Micah Parsons, and linebacker Lukas Van Ness had a lot to do with that. In a 20-17 overtime win over the New York Jets, Van Ness had 10 total tackles, 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss.
Best Performance in a Loss
Jared Goff’s stat line from Thursday night is even more impressive considering the Lions were trailing 21-0 early in the second quarter. The Bills defense was able to pin its ears back and get after Goff, yet he ended up completing 26 of 38 passes for 327 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor had 132 scrimmage yards (92 rushing, 40 receiving) and two rushing touchdowns in the OT loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Taylor, who has led the league in rushing touchdowns twice (2021, 2025) already has four in two games.
The Tennessee Titans put a major scare into many suicide pool entrants, ultimately losing a heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-20. The Titans couldn’t do much offensively, but their first touchdown was set up by safety Amani Hooker, who gave Tennessee a 14-point swing by intercepting Jalen Hurts in the end zone and returning it 92 yards to the Eagles’ 10, leading to a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cam Ward.
