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With rumors swirling about Raiders coach Lane Kiffin's job security, rookie RB Darren McFadden helped his coach's cause with a breakthrough performance. McFadden rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown to power the Raiders to a 23-8 victory over the Chiefs. ZOOM GALLERY: Best performances

Week 2 analysis: Conservative ways, red zone woes costing teams

By John Clayton, ESPN.com

The lesson learned in Week 2 was that the game may be called football, but it's not always wise to overuse the foot.

Too many coaches settle for field goals nowadays in the NFL. Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell made five field goals on Sunday, but the Vikings blew a 15-point lead and lost to the Colts 18-15. The Jaguars tried to be aggressive at the beginning of the second half by executing a successful onside kick sandwiched between two field goals. Although the second field goal gave the Jaguars a 13-10 lead, their failure to score a fourth-quarter touchdown was a contributing factor in a 20-16 loss to the Bills. The Bears blew a 17-3 lead by being too conservative with short passes and failed runs, allowing the Panthers to rally for a 20-17 win.

Sure, it's easy to kick instead of taking a risk on fourth down. Kickers are better than ever. In Week 1, field-goal kickers made 58 of 65 attempts. In Week 2, they made 34 of 39. That's an average of six misses a week. The field goal is becoming almost as automatic as the extra point, but the failure to score touchdowns is costing teams games.

The Vikings were the classic example. Minnesota's Adrian Peterson was the player of the day. He had 160 yards on 29 carries and four catches for 20 yards. He accounted for 180 of the Vikings' 299 yards and touched the ball on 33 of the team's 62 plays. He was a one-man show, but quarterback Tarvaris Jackson (130 passing yards on 14 completions) -- with the help of some key drops by Vikings pass-catchers -- failed to complete drives, playing into the hands of a veteran Colts team.

"Because we held them to field goals, we had the chance to make a couple of plays and win it at the end,'' Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "That's what you have to do when things don't go perfectly.''

The Colts were reeling. Left tackle Tony Ugoh was out in the second half with a groin injury. Safety Bob Sanders was carted to the locker room in the second half with an ankle injury. Center Jeff Saturday and tight end Dallas Clark didn't suit up because of knee injuries.

Down 15-0 with 3:31 left in the third quarter, Colts WR Anthony Gonzalez got behind Cedric Griffin on a post pattern for 58 yards and then made what he called the stupidest play of his career, pitching the ball to teammate Reggie Wayne while he was being tackled. Wayne caught the ball and took it to the 1-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by Joseph Addai. All of a sudden, the Colts were down one score (15-7), and they later tied the game with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Wayne and a Dominic Rhodes two-point conversion.

Colts general manager Bill Polian called this the most courageous game of Peyton Manning's career. It's hard to argue. By the end of the game, Manning was playing with a rookie center (Jamey Richard), a rookie guard (Steve Justice) and two raw tight ends (Tom Santi and Gijon Robinson). The Colts had to use regular personnel instead of three tight ends on the goal line because Ugoh and Clark were out and Justice, slated to be the emergency third tight end, was playing guard. Manning got the Colts to the Vikings' 29 and set up Adam Vinatieri's game-winning 47-yard field goal.

On the flip side, the Vikings made six trips inside the Colts' 35 and went 5-for-6 on field goals. Jackson was booed continuously for his red zone failures.

Maybe everyone needs to learn from Mike Shanahan. Down by one in the final seconds against San Diego, the Broncos went for a two-point conversion, and now they have a two-game lead over the Chargers. Now that's a gutsy move.

Five things I learned in Week 2

By John Clayton, ESPN.com

The Saints' Sean Payton may have received the five-year contract extension Sunday, but Carolina's John Fox may have been the coach who saved his job and has an upper hand in the NFC South, which really shouldn't be much of a surprise. Fox did take the Panthers to the Super Bowl once, and we saw a trend develop last season, when coaches on the hot seat bounced back and received contract extensions. Jack Del Rio of the Jaguars, Jon Gruden of the Bucs and Tom Coughlin of the Giants did some of their best coaching under severe job pressure .

I don't know if Panthers owner Jerry Richardson will extend Fox's contract. He's signed for two more years. But the 2-0 start and the team's ability to come back for victories over the Chargers and Bears without wide receiver Steve Smith should put a little scare into Payton and the Saints, who are reeling with injuries. Eight players, including linebacker Mark Simoneau (who's out for the season), missed the Saints' loss to the Redskins.

The Panthers benefit from a schedule that, based on 2007 records, is significantly easier than last season, going from an opponents' winning percentage of .523 to .465. The combination of QB Jake Delhomme's return and the easy schedule should allow for a three-game improvement on Carolina's 7-9 finish last year. Fox remodeled the offense with bigger offensive linemen, and the Panthers have shown against the Bears and Chargers that they can run on anyone. The Saints may have been the sexy pick to win the NFC South, but Fox's Panthers could be the surprise winner.

It looks as though we might have been wrong in our evaluation of the Broncos. Sure, their defense is challenged. The Broncos gave up 456 yards and 8.8 yards a play to the Chargers. San Diego QB Philip Rivers was sacked only once and threw for 377 yards. Denver coach Mike Shanahan was telling his friends before the season he has a playoff team. Clearly, he has a playoff offense, even though there are still questions about the running attack.

Jay Cutler is sensational. Though his red zone interception in the fourth quarter could have cost Denver the game, Cutler brought the team back for one more touchdown drive and a two-point conversation. The receiving combo of Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal looks unstoppable with Cutler at the helm. They combined for 23 catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. Cutler completed 36 of 50 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns.

All that being said, the Broncos should have lost. Replay rules are totally messed up if you can't overturn a bad call. With 1:14 left in the fourth quarter, Cutler fumbled. The ball clearly slipped out of his hands, but officials made a bad call, ruling it an incomplete pass. Here's referee Ed Hochuli's mumbo-jumbo explanation of the call: "It should have been ruled a fumble. By rule, by the instant replay rules, on that particular play where there's a pass/fumble -- a quarterback pass/fumble -- the rules do not permit you to give the ball to the other team.'' What?

Despite a dominating 23-8 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, Raiders coach Lane Kiffin is still going day-to-day with his job. Al Davis is ready to fire him and this win isn't going to heal this team's wounds. Kiffin could still be fired as early as Tuesday. To his credit, though, Kiffin coached a smart game despite the limitation of his passing offense. Halfback Darren McFadden rushed for 164 yards on 21 carries and the Raiders rushed for 300 yards overall.

Based on last year's records, the Raiders play a .395 schedule during their first 12 games, which should give them a chance to post a winning record going into December. But that's not going to happen if Oakland's passing offense performs like it did on Sunday. JaMarcus Russell completed only six passes for 55 yards and got only one to a wide receiver, Ashley Lelie.

What we learned is that the Raiders have half an offense, and Kiffin is probably out after the next bad practice, bad game, bad news conference or the Oct. 5 bye week. Just winning, baby, won't be enough for Kiffin.

The Patriots are still the team to beat in the AFC East, but boy, do they look beatable. Matt Cassel did exactly what everyone expected. He helped the Pats score 19 points, far from the Tom Brady level of 36.8 points a game. Cassel's presence turned a shotgun, passing offense into a run-to-set-up-the-pass offense. The Patriots ran 33 times and passed 26 times, netting only 156 yards.

But Cassel didn't screw it up. He didn't have a turnover and the Patriots beat the Jets 19-10. The Patriots won with defense, which shouldn't be a surprise because defense is Bill Belichick's specialty.

The Jets must feel deflated after Brett Favre and his offense produced only 10 points. Belichick took away most of Favre's ability to throw the long pass and limited him to 10.1 yards per completion.

So in the big picture, it appears little has changed in the AFC East. The Patriots still have 10- or 11-win potential without Brady.

This could be the Cardinals' year in the NFC West. The Seahawks have the best homefield advantage in the NFC West, but they lacked healthy receivers in Sunday's 33-30 overtime loss to the 49ers. They tried to use backup quarterback Seneca Wallace at receiver, and he got hurt in pregame warmups.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt made the best quarterbacking decision since Jack Del Rio dumped Byron Leftwich and rode David Garrard's abilities to the 2007 playoffs. Kurt Warner was almost perfect against the Dolphins. He had a 158.3 quarterback rating, completing 19 of 24 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. In the second half of last season, only Brady threw for more touchdowns than Warner.

The Cardinals have a two-game lead over the Seahawks. Tough road games are coming up against the Redskins and Jets, so the Cardinals need to make sure they at least split them. The key to the season now seems to be keeping Warner healthy.