Week 2 impact on the NFC: Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels hurt - ESPN

It's hard to say that any week of an NFL season can feel seismic, especially when it's the second week of the campaign. But I believe we're going to look back on Week 2 and say it was extraordinarily impactful in deciding and decoding the NFC.

Injuries to young quarterbacks were the biggest stories of the day, but we also saw several of the conference's top contenders reaffirm themselves with big victories, a couple of teams we're still not sure about squeak by and a preseason contender narrowly save itself from the 0-2 cliff. We even saw the NFC South get on the board with a pair of victories.

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Let's run through some of the results and events from Sunday that might really matter in the NFC's big picture and break down how they played out and how they impact the conference moving forward. I'll start with the game in Dallas, where the Commanders are facing serious short- and long-term questions about what's next.

Jump to:
WSH and Daniels' injury
CHI and Williams' injury
NO and its big win
GB and its near loss
Three teams at the top

Lost 37-20 to the Cowboys

Sunday showed why organizations were both transfixed and terrified by the idea of drafting Jayden Daniels as their quarterback of the future. For most of the first half, Daniels was single-handedly propelling the Commanders forward on offense. In addition to going 11-of-17 for 96 yards as a passer, he picked up five first downs with his legs, scrambling seven times for 69 yards. Having a QB capable of bailing the offense out and picking up explosive plays in the process gives the Commanders a floor that most other teams don't have on a weekly basis.

And then, on the final play of the first half, we saw the other side of the coin.