Bandwagon jumping has such a negative connotation, but we don’t subscribe to that. It’s fun to root for unexpected successes, and when it’s this early in the NFL season, who can be sure how things will play out anyway.
There were lots of candidates for early-season applause coming out of Week 1, but Week 2 is often a course corrector and it was no different here. The optimism that surrounded Justin Fields and the Jets offense after it took a 60-yard field goal to beat New York in a shootout with the Steelers was put on pause as soon as the Buffalo Bills got on the field Sunday.
For the purpose of this exercise, we’re going to focus on the true eye-openers of the first two weeks of the season, the bandwagons we didn’t see coming this quickly when the season began and are now picking up speed. The Green Bay Packers may be the most impressive looking team so far this season, but that’s hardly a surprise, especially after they acquired Micah Parsons in a preseason trade. So, forecasting the Packers to be contenders in the NFC doesn’t qualify as jumping on a bandwagon – it’s merely stating the obvious.
These early games, though, have provided plenty of new discoveries — people and trends — to follow and cheer for. They may not last all season, but that’s part of the joy of bandwagoning. There’s always another one to jump on just around the corner.