The 5 NFL units with best chances to improve in Week 2: Steelers run game, Jets offense and more

After a victorious debut as the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who knows a thing or two about team building, told his squad: “You won’t make as much progress in the entire season as you will from Week 1 to Week 2, I’m telling you this.”

Of course, this applies more to the teams with a good coaching staff and the tools to make the necessary fixes after learning exactly where they need to improve. For teams that don’t have the resources to fix multiple issues, learning about themselves won’t matter. Sixteen teams lost in Week 1, but they don’t all have to panic. Here are five units that underperformed but have the means to greatly improve.

The Ravens went into one of the league’s loudest stadiums against the champion Kansas City Chiefs — who were led by their defense last season — and were a toenail away from scoring 26 points and possibly winning on a 2-point attempt. Issues Baltimore will have to figure out were certainly exposed, but no one should panic about this offense.

This is Lamar Jackson’s second year in coordinator Todd Monken’s system, Zay Flowers is in his second NFL season, and Isaiah Likely has developed into a consistent weapon. Not to mention, they have Derrick Henry. Henry’s Ravens debut wasn’t great — 13 carries for 46 yards (3.5 yards per carry) — but he didn’t have much of an opportunity to get to the open field. Henry has always been a back who needs space to build up speed. He can be stopped for short gain after short gain and suddenly hit a 50-yard run. He didn’t have the chance in Week 1 because the Ravens fell behind.

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The concern is the right side of the offensive line. Guard Daniel Faalele switched from tackle, and coach John Harbaugh has raved about his athleticism, but it will be a process. I trust the Ravens’ ability to evaluate and fix issues. They’ll have to improve quickly, however, because the Las Vegas Raiders have an elite defensive line. When Jackson had time, Flowers was getting open against an elite secondary, but the Ravens threw a ton of screens because they didn’t trust the line to hold up.

Tight end Mark Andrews has been a stalwart, but his two-catch performance against the Chiefs has some concerned he might not be fully recovered from a season-ending ankle injury and car accident in August. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made taking away Andrews a focal point. According to Pro Football Focus, Andrews was double covered at a higher rate than in any of his games from 2021 to 2023. He saw a combination of true bracket coverage and multiple defenders crowding him in the zone.

Jackson led the team in carries and took several hits against the Chiefs; he had to rest Tuesday because of soreness. That can’t continue, but it was the first week, against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs; they were emptying their chamber. Barring a major injury, the Ravens will be a top-10 offense this season.

Jets fans are panicking. A team seen as a playoff contender was pummeled by the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers on the road. I get it. The final numbers aren’t great. The starting offense scored just 13 points, Breece Hall had 16 rushes for 54 yards, and Aaron Rodgers passed for only 167 yards.

The Jets are an outside zone team and tried to attack the 49ers outside. San Francisco was vulnerable on the outside last season but has worked on shoring up that weakness in the offseason and looked great chasing down perimeter runs. Also, the Jets’ offensive line hasn’t played together, so testing their communication and chemistry against an attacking front like the 49ers’ is difficult. The Jets have the talent to improve and open running lanes for Hall if they can stay healthy.

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Rodgers doesn’t look fully recovered from the Achilles injury that took him out for the season. His mobility is compromised. He didn’t scramble and tried to break the pocket only once, but his arm looked great. He was throwing with zip and made a few signature throws, including a one-step fade to Allen Lazard down the sideline that was perfect. On that same drive, he got the defense to jump, got a free play and threw a dime for a touchdown to Lazard.

First quarter, 7:34 remaining, third-and-7

On third-and-7, the Jets lined up in empty. Rodgers saw two deep safeties and signaled to the weak side with Garrett Wilson lined up in the slot to presumably change the route combo into a “drive” concept, which is good against Cover 2.

The underneath defender bit on the shallow route, leaving Wilson open behind him. Rodgers started his throwing motion before Wilson got inside.

The throw was perfect and allowed Wilson to run after the catch.

Rodgers was stellar on money downs. He was 4-of-7 on third and fourth downs with two drops that had enough yardage to convert. His fourth-down throw to Wilson was behind him but catchable.

Rodgers should gain some mobility as the season progresses, but even confined to the pocket, he’s better than any Jets quarterback in a long time. The offense needs to run the ball better to support Rodgers, but he’s still a high-level quarterback in the pocket. This might not be one of the league’s top offenses, but the Jets have won games on the backs of their defense. They just need the offense to be middle of the pack, and Rodgers has shown enough to make me believe he could make them a little better than that.

One of the major questions for the Rams heading into the season was how their defense would look without future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald. They were gashed on the ground in Week 1 by the Detroit Lions, who rushed for 163 yards with the league’s highest rushing success rate (73.3 percent) on designed runs. But it took Detroit overtime to score 26 points on the young Rams defense.

Fourth quarter, 9:15 remaining, second-and-8

Here, the Rams played Cover 8 against the Lions’ two-by-two formation with the back offset to the right. Cover 8 means they are playing Cover 2 zone to the strong side (three-receiver side) and Cover 4 to the weak side (two-receiver side).

The underneath defenders converged on the underneath routes Jared Goff looked to first and forced him to get to his next read, which was Amon-Ra St. Brown on a dig. Playing Cover 4 to the weak side creates the possibility that the weakside safety could help on crossers coming from the strong side, which is exactly what happened here.

Goff didn’t see safety John Johnson III come from the weak side to help on St. Brown, and Goff threw the ball right to him.

The defensive line pressured Goff on 55.6 percent of third-down dropbacks. First-round pick Jared Verse had six pressures and a quality sack against left tackle Taylor Decker. A coverage bust led to a big play, but overall, the secondary looked good passing off routes and communicating. Corner Tre’Davious White, coming back from an Achilles tear, looked slow, but the hope is he improves as the season progresses.

The defense doesn’t have to be a top-10 unit when the Rams offense is healthy, but the offense might be one of the most injured units in the league right now. The defense had an encouraging debut, and it’ll need to make a Week 2 leap to keep the team afloat while it gets healthy.

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The run game will be the Steelers’ catalyst no matter who plays quarterback. Pittsburgh is switching to offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s outside zone scheme. It takes time for an offensive line to jell in that scheme. It’s a relatively simple one in terms of play volume but requires a lot of communication to execute properly, and the running backs have to get adept at consistently making the right reads and cuts.

Against the Atlanta Falcons, who finished second in defensive rushing success rate last season, the Steelers had 106 yards but averaged only 2.9 yards and had a 38.9 percent rushing success rate on designed rushes (QB scrambles not included). Watching the tape, they were close to breaking some runs but couldn’t because of a missed assignment, a bad read by the running back or a block wasn’t held long enough.

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Running back Najee Harris also looked a bit indecisive in this new scheme. Jaylen Warren is coming back from injury and his snaps were limited, but he might be a better fit in this offense than Harris. I’d expect the running game to look better with more carries for Warren. Also, it appears the total option package for Justin Fields hasn’t been installed yet. Smith’s QB run game was much more expansive when he was the Falcons’ head coach.

Second quarter, 8:36 remaining, second-and-2

Here, the Steelers are running a variant of outside zone called Zorro. Tight end Pat Freiermuth was responsible for blocking the safety in the alley.

However, Freiermuth blocked the inside linebacker, whom the play-side guard and tackle were responsible for, leaving safety Jessie Bates III unblocked.

Harris looked to have the opportunity to cut vertically and bang inside for 4 or more yards or cut all the way back and try to run through the backside pursuit player. He instead kept pressing outside, right into Bates, for a gain of only 2.

Cleaning up these issues will take some time, but they are correctable. The run game should also be bolstered when All-Pro guard Isaac Seumalo returns from a pectoral injury he suffered in camp. This run game has a chance to be one of the better ones in the league with the threat of Fields keeping the ball.

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Whichever side you were on in the great Anthony Richardson debate, last Sunday didn’t sway you either way. Richardson had a few spectacular throws, including maybe one of the best passes of all time, but also was off-target on 15.8 percent of his passes. However, there were several instances when receivers slipped on the freshly installed turf in Lucas Oil Stadium. Tight end Kylen Granson slipped while running a crosser on Richardson’s lone interception. And Adonai Mitchell appeared to improvise a deep route on one play, which caught Richardson by surprise.

Effortless.

📺 #INDvsGB | 9/15 on FOX pic.twitter.com/elzjLF1KNt

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 9, 2024

What is important is Richardson is making the correct read, and his process is relatively clean, considering he’s still extremely green. His Week 2 matchup with the Green Bay Packers will be his 18th start since high school. He’ll have his misses, but it’s mostly due to footwork, which is correctable.

Mitchell looks like the legitimate deep threat this offense needs, and slot receiver Josh Downs, who was having a great camp before injuring his ankle, will return soon. Even with the misses, the young Colts played well against the Houston Texans, who will have one of the better defenses in the league. They’ll have a juicy matchup with a weak Packers run defense. Green Bay will likely load the box with the corners playing soft and force Richardson to beat them underneath.

(Top photo of Najee Harris: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)