Matt Verderame’s Notes: Five On-Field Storylines That Are Key in Week 2

Last weekend, real football returned. This week, patterns will emerge, and trends will become more refined.

In Week 1, under-center looks were the league’s hot topic, with many teams both running and passing out of bigger looks and condensed formations. The results for some teams were incredible, including the Bears hanging 59 points on the Panthers while the Ravens racked up 506 yards and 41 points on the Colts in a season-opening road win, paced by Derrick Henry’s 144 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

However, not everyone had it so easy in their debut. The Chargers were a prime example, losing 26–14 to the Cardinals while rushing for only 81 yards, including 29 from quarterback Justin Herbert. The question is whether that was an aberration or a looming issue.

Earlier this week, I spoke to coaches and front-office staff around the league on all those topics and more. We start in Kansas City, where an old veteran and a horde of newcomers showed why the Chiefs’ defense could be a problem all year long.

Chiefs’ belief in youngsters, L’Jarius Sneed could reap rewards

On Monday night, the Chiefs put on a show against the Broncos, beating them 31–10. The main storyline going into the game was Patrick Mahomes making his first start since tearing his ACL and LCL in Week 15 of last season. Coming out of the game, it was Kenneth Walker III rushing for 173 yards and scoring twice in his Kansas City debut.

But the defense’s performance was somewhat overlooked. Against Denver, the Chiefs trotted out seven new starters on defense, including rookie corner Mansoor Delane, second-year corner Nohl Williams and third-year safety Jaden Hicks in the secondary alone. Meanwhile, two other rookies, edge rusher R Mason Thomas and defensive tackle Peter Woods, rotated into the front seven and played more than 50% of the snaps.

After the game, multiple people within the Chiefs’ organization were thrilled about the defense’s production, highlighting the play of Thomas (one sack, two pressures) and Delane (an interception on three snaps before leaving with a shoulder injury) among others as reasons for optimism.

The unit produced four sacks of Bo Nix, including one from Felix Anudike-Uzomah, a 2023 first-round pick who missed all of last year after tearing his right hamstring off the bone. Now recovered from having both hamstrings surgically reattached (he had injured his left hamstring prior), Kansas City believed Anudike-Uzomah could be a factor alongside All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones and edge rusher George Karlaftis.

Another factor in the Chiefs’ decisive win? The return of veteran corner L’Jarius Sneed.

Sneed, who won a pair of Super Bowls with Kansas City in 2022 and ’23 before being traded for a third-round pick to the Titans, is now back after playing 12 games over two injury-plagued years in Nashville. Released by Tennessee earlier this year, Sneed recorded a game-high seven tackles against Denver on Monday while allowing 22 passing yards. The leader in the defensive backfield, Sneed brings invaluable experience to coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system and a secondary populated by youth.

One game does not make a season, but the Chiefs believe they’re only scratching the surface with a host of youngsters and a cagey veteran leading the way.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough — Saints quarterback Tyler Shough overcame a 21-0 deficit to the Lions and almost pulled out a victory in overtime in Detroit on Sunday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Tyler Shough, Saints could be a team on the rise

Things started poorly for the Saints quarterback in Detroit in Week 1. Through the middle of the third quarter, New Orleans had zero points, and Shough had thrown two interceptions with a lost fumble. The Saints trailed the Lions, 21–0.

Then Shough showed the moxie that is winning over the New Orleans fan base.

Shough finished 25-of-32 for 323 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring drives in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. New Orleans’s comeback bid fell short on a failed two-point conversion attempt, but the Saints, who won four of their final five games in 2025 under Shough, showed the fight of a team on the rise.

Texting with an NFC personnel executive, I’m told Shough has earned the full confidence of everyone in New Orleans as a leader to accompany his skills and intangibles, showcasing the total package since the latter part of his rookie season. Before he became the Saints’ 2025 second-round pick, one front-office executive from a rival team raised concerns about Shough, specifically citing him playing at three different schools (Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville) and wondering whether he’d be able to handle adversity in the NFL.

On Sunday, Shough faced a tidal wave of adversity before storming back and coming within one completion of pulling off what would have tied for the biggest comeback in franchise history.

With the Ravens on deck for their home opener, Shough will get another stiff challenge in Jesse Minter’s defense.

Under-center offenses are making life tough on defenses

Everything is cyclical in life: Music, clothes, decor and football are no different.

After a decade of passing games dominating the sport with quick-throw tactics and motion-driven concepts, the under-center running game is returning. This past weekend, teams were under center on 66.5% of first-and-10 plays, according to Ryan Paganetti, a former analytics coach with the Raiders, Eagles and Dolphins. That’s a 20.6% increase from a year ago.

Speaking to an NFC defensive assistant, he noted how much more difficult it is to defend runs when the quarterback takes the snap from under center.

“Under center is night-and-day more difficult,” the coach explained. “Under center, you can be more creative, have gap schemes, [use the] fullback to create an extra gap and set up your play-actions. Shotgun runs have always been very elementary to me.”

Part of the reason for this shift is teams going with heavier personnel. In 2025, six teams were in 13-personnel for more than 8% of their offensive snaps. In Week 1, 13 teams eclipsed that total. Taking it further, only three teams (the Rams, Steelers and Cardinals) utilized three-tight end sets more than 10% of the time. Last weekend, 11 teams cleared that benchmark.

A look around the NFL after one week, starting with which offenses saw the biggest increase in under center rate (2026 Week 1 vs. 2025 average). 🧵 pic.twitter.com/sTxAse5yIP
— SūmerSports (@SumerSports) September 15, 2026

And as heavy personnel groupings with under-center quarterbacks are becoming more vogue, so is pounding the rock. On Sunday, the Bears ran for six touchdowns. The next night, the Chiefs gashed the Broncos, the second-ranked run defense a year ago, for 220 rushing yards, including 173 and a touchdown from Kenneth Walker III.

Also of note, the three top rushing teams in Week 1—Chicago, Kansas City and Baltimore—all have their roots in the Ben Johnson scheme, with the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Ravens’ coordinator Declan Doyle both having worked for Johnson and the Bears last year.

With more teams climbing under center, expect that trend to continue in the weeks ahead.

Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel — Mike McDaniel's offense mustered only 268 yards against the Cardinals on Sunday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Why Chargers’ outside running struggles could continue

With Mike McDaniel taking over as offensive coordinator this season, we expected a super-charged attack from Los Angeles. But in Week 1, that notion fell flat, with the Chargers mustering only 268 yards (3.9 yards per carry) in a 26–14 loss at home to the Cardinals.

Some around the league weren’t surprised. Talking to a veteran defensive coordinator before the season about the marriage of McDaniel and the Chargers, there was skepticism about whether Los Angeles had the personnel to run wide. While first-round pick Omarion Hampton and former Ravens jitterbug Keaton Mitchell are quality backfield options, the coordinator wondered whether Los Angeles could hit the home run like the Dolphins often did with McDaniel as head coach, featuring the speedy De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert.

The result was troubling in Week 1. Los Angeles ran the ball six times off the right side and three times off the outside edge of left tackle Rashawn Slater. To the right, the Chargers averaged -0.35 EPA per rush, with a whopping -1.65 EPA to the left. Those figures were easily the worst combined numbers on outside runs in the NFL despite playing a last-place team that ranked 25th against the run a year ago.

Additionally, there was concern about whether the Chargers could effectively throw the ball to loosen up defenses. Last year, the coordinator noted Miami struggled mightily to throw after Tyreek Hill dislocated his knee in Week 4. While Herbert is superior to former Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, his weapons are lacking. Against the Cardinals, his primary perimeter receivers, Quentin Johnston and Tre Harris, combined for five catches on 12 targets for 37 yards.

Can Vikings’ blitz-happy attack slow down Caleb Williams?

Trailing 22–10 in the third quarter to the Packers and with quarterback Kyler Murray knocked out with a concussion, the Vikings appeared down and out.

Only half of that was correct.

Minnesota stormed back with 29 unanswered points to upend its divisional rival, primarily thanks to defensive coordinator Brian Flores’s unending belief in pressure.

Against Jordan Love, Flores blitzed an unfathomable 78.3% of the snaps (no other team was above 49%). Love was sacked four times and hit 15 times, including seven by 2024 first-round pick Dallas Turner, and Minnesota forced two fumbles (one lost) and an interception. Both turnovers came within the Green Bay red zone and during the decisive fourth quarter, resulting in two touchdowns that required a total of 15 offensive yards.

Speaking to an NFC coach, Flores’s approach is often high-risk, high-reward, but in this case helped pave the way for Minnesota’s avalanche of second-half points.

It’ll be interesting to see if Flores stays as aggressive this weekend when visiting the Bears, who scored a league-best 59 points in a 59–37 win over the Panthers in Charlotte. In Week 1, Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams sliced up Carolina when it blitzed, going 9-of-14 for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

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