Two weeks of the NFL season are now officially in the books and, similarly to Week 1, the league saw quite a few close games over the weekend.
Within those closes games — and even some that weren’t — several players stood out above the rest. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the five biggest individual performances from the week that was.
5. Travis Benjamin (wide receiver, San Diego Chargers)
After losing wide receiver Keenan Allen to a torn ACL, the San Diego Chargers were in desperate need of someone else to step up. On Sunday, Travis Benjamin did exactly that.
“That’s just what we talked about on Wednesday,” quarterback Philip Rivers said via Chargers.com after the game. “We said they’re going to have to have some six for 100-something yard games, and Travis did that today with two touchdowns.”
Call it clairvoyance or some sort of divine premonition, but Rivers and the Chargers got exactly what they predicted out of Benjamin and a little extra. He was perfect, hauling in all six of his targets for 115 yards and two scores.
When all was said and done, the Rivers/Benjamin combination led the Chargers to a dominating 38-14 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, with Benjamin on the receiving end of more than half of Rivers’ total production.
Final line: 6 receptions for 115 yards and two touchdowns, two punt returns for 25 yards
4. Matt Ryan (quarterback, Atlanta Falcons)
Entering the 2016 regular season, the pressure was mounting for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. And that pressure didn’t dissipate when the team lost its opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1.
But with rumors swirling of a potential conflict with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Ryan came out on Sunday, put the team on his back and — with a little luck also on his side — carried his teammates to a much-needed victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Ryan threw for nearly 400 yards, but it was his three touchdown passes that were the key. All three came with the Falcons trailing or the game tied, including a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter that was deflected before landing in the waiting arms of wide receiver Justin Hardy.
“Yeah, sometimes you need a little luck, right? For us, you talk about in our building all the time, ‘Good things happen to people who run.’ Good things happen to those guys who run all the time,” Ryan told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the game. “Hardy was busting his tail on the backside and ended up being in the right spot at the right time and it ended up being a huge play for us. So that was a good bounce.”
Atlanta’s running backs, who accounted for 139 yards, certainly did their part to help the team, but it was ultimately Ryan and his 131.5 quarterback rating that earned the gold star.
After two weeks, Ryans leads the league with a 121.4 quarterback rating.
Final line: 26/34 for 396 yards, three touchdowns and one interception
3. Stefon Diggs (wide receiver, Minnesota Vikings)
Teddy Bridgewater had already been lost for the season, Shaun Hill was on the sideline and Sam Bradford was under center.
For wide receiver Stefon Diggs, it was his third different quarterback in a month, but it didn’t slow him down one bit.
In front of his home fans under the brand new lights of U.S. Bank Stadium, Diggs had a career night, hauling in nine receptions for more than 180 yards and a key score. Diggs’ numbers also represented the best output for a Sam Bradford receiver in any NFL game and topped all other wide receivers in terms of yardage through two weeks of the season.
“I work hard and do things the way they’re supposed to be done just so I can have success out here,” Diggs said after the game, per The Star-Tribune. “I always want more.”
With running back Adrian Peterson (meniscus) now out a few weeks, the Vikings will need more of this kind of production from Diggs.
Final line: 9 receptions for 182 yards and one touchdown
2. Matt Forte (running back, New York Jets)
If anyone doubted what Matt Forte had left in the tank, the Jets running back proved them wrong with an impressive performance on Thursday night.
Forte had an impactful 32 touches in a 37-31 victory over the Buffalo Bills, and while his average per touch won’t jump out of the box score, his three touchdowns — including the game-sealer in the fourth quarter — most certainly will.
“He’s a workhorse,” Jets head coach Todd Bowles said after the game, according to the New York Daily News. “He was getting the tough grind-it-out yards…. He can run, he can catch, he can block. Just having somebody back there like that who’s going to keep grinding… helps us out a lot.”
It was more than just a fantasy gem for Forte. His 32-touch, three-touchdown night came with a lot of punishing hits and grind-em-out yards and proved without a shadow of a doubt that he can still be the same back he was in Chicago. That’s a big deal for the Jets.
Final line: 30 carries for 100 yards and three touchdowns, two receptions for nine yards
1. Von Miller (linebacker, Denver Broncos)
Von Miller is a man among boys. Or at least it looked that way on Sunday during a 34-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Miller was all over the field, terrorizing offensive linemen and quarterback Andrew Luck, whom he brought down on three separate occasions, including on the final play of the game.
“He obviously got the better of me today,” right tackle Joe Reitz said via FOX Sports after the game. “I’m disappointed in myself, especially that last play in a critical situation. He got a good jump and got around the edge, got to Andrew. The rest is history.”
With fellow linebacker DeMarus Ware out 4-5 weeks after suffering a fractured forearm, the Broncos will likely need a lot more of this from Miller. But at least early on, that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a problem. Miller is still in Super Bowl 50 form and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.
Who needs a quarterback when you have a dominating defense led by one of the most dominant pass rushers in football?
Final line: 7 tackle (5 solo), one tackle for a loss, three sacks, 20 sack yards, one pass defensed and three QB hits
