Through all of the criticism that Wade Phillips has received while he’s been the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, he’s always been reprieved in one area: His defense.

Even though the Cowboys faded down the stretch last year, they still owned the eighth best defense in the NFL thanks in large part to Phillips. Dallas ranked fifth in passing yards allowed and 12th in rushing yards allowed, which helped Phillips retain his job over the offseason.

But in two games so far this season, Dallas has surrendered 54 points. In their 33-31 loss to the Giants on Sunday night, the Cowboys were routinely beat through the air as Eli Manning threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns on 25 of 38 passing. And in case you’ve forgotten, he doesn’t have Plaxico Burress at his disposal anymore, nor has Amani Toomer found the fountain of youth and returned to New York to give Eli a solid possession receiver.

Instead, it was the future Hall of Fame duo of Mario Manningham (10 catches, 150 yards, 1 TD) and Steve Smith (10 catches, 134 yards, 1 TD) that torched the Cowboys for four quarters on Sunday night. Granted, the Giants did a great job of protecting Eli and giving him ample time to throw, but New York’s offensive line had nothing to do with Dallas defenders missing tackles, blowing assignments and allowing receivers to run free in their secondary.

Overall, it was a brutal effort by Phillip’s defense in a game that quite frankly, the Cowboys should have won. For as good as Eli was, the Giants were aided by three bone-headed interceptions thrown by Tony Romo. (Well actually, two were bone-headed, while one was just a flat out fluke as Jason Witten accidentally kicked the ball straight into Kenny Phillips’ arms.)

Romo was careless with the ball throughout the night, which is inexcusable given how good the Dallas running game was. The Cowboys racked up 251 yards on the ground, essentially did whatever it wanted to the Giants’ front seven and still found a way to lose.

Jerry Jones can’t be happy that he opened up his brand new, gazillion dollar stadium by losing to a division rival in the final seconds.

Remember this offseason when Ray Lewis put up a small stink about being disrespected as he attempted to coax a long-term deal out the Ravens? Due to his age (34), Lewis was criticized for demanding too much money and not settling for his market value.

When the dust settled, Lewis agreed to a three-year, $22 million contract that was incentive laden. He then reportedly lost 15 pounds from his last season’s playing weight and looked leaner and quicker in preseason.

In the Ravens’ 31-26 win over the Chargers in San Diego on Sunday, Lewis once again proved that he could still play at an elite level in the NFL. He racked up 12 tackles (10 solo), one QB hit and three tackles for loss. He also saved his best play for his last.

With the Ravens nursing a 31-26 lead with 37 seconds remaining, the Chargers faced a 4th and 2 from Baltimore’s 15-yard line. If they picked up the first down, they would have four cracks at the end zone and have the opportunity to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.

With a hand injury limiting Philip Rivers’ passing ability, San Diego decided to pull its guards and run to the right side with Darren Sproles in efforts to pick up the first down. But Lewis blitzed on the play, slid past the Chargers’ guards and dropped Sproles for a five-yard loss. The San Diego offensive linemen must have figured that Lewis would be chasing Sproles on the play as they moved past him. But he damn near took the handoff for Sproles in the backfield as he read the play perfectly from the start.

This isn’t the same Baltimore defense without Rex Ryan and Bart Scott. But you’d be insane to think that Lewis will allow his team to take a step back now that Ryan is in New York.

Kurt Warner set the single-game mark for completion percentage in the Cardinals’ defeated the Jaguars 31-17 on Sunday. Warner completed 24 of his 26 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, breaking Vinny Testaverde’s completion rating of 91.30, which he set with the Browns in 1993.

Warner was excellent on Sunday, throwing passes to nine different passes and finding Jason Wright and Larry Fitzgerald on touchdown passes of 5-and 22-yards, respectively. Warner also set a team record by completing his first 15 passes in a row, which was set by Jake Plummer on November 8 of 1998.

I hate to crap on Warner’s day but I’m going to do it anyway because I’m a jerk. While his completion percentage of 92% was impressive, he was facing one of the worst defensive backfields in the AFC. The Jaguars couldn’t generate any kind of a pass rush and Warner had a day and a half to throw the ball every time he dropped back.

Remember when the Jaguars used to give teams fits by living in the opponents’ backfields? What happened to Jacksonville’s defense? Oh yeah, it’s in Atlanta with Mike Smith and Mike Peterson…and Buffalo with Marcus Stroud…

Even though Jacksonville’s defense isn’t what it used to be, the record set by Warner couldn’t have happened to a better person. Warner remains one of the classiest players in the league and he needed this performance after last week’s disappointing loss to San Francisco. In fact, the entire Arizona team did.

I didn’t think the Eagles would win on Sunday without Donovan McNabb, I just didn’t think they would get embarrassed on their home turf by the greatest offensive team known to man.

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little with that last statement, although the Saints are playing like a video game version of itself set on the “rookie” level.

New Orleans improved to 2-0 on the young season thanks to another outstanding day by quarterback Drew Brees, who threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns on 25 of 34 passing. He found Marques Colston (8 receptions, 98 yards, 2 TDs) early and often as the Saints routed the Eagles 48-22 at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Saints are playing like they’re angry at the scoreboard. And it’s not like they hung 40-plus points on a hapless Detroit team today either – they made a pretty good Philadelphia defense look like a flag football squad. Perhaps what’s most surprising about the Saints’ start is that their running game is featuring Mike Bell. Mike Bell! On 45 carries so far this season, Bell’s rushed for 229 yards and one touchdown. That’s 5.0 YPC for you math majors. Mike Bell!

It’s only been two games, but I’m having a tough time believing that any defense will be able to slow down the Saints this season, or at least not in a dome or in good weather. If opposing teams don’t start generating a pass rush, Brees is going to continue his MVP-like season and the Saints are going to roll throughout the year.

It’s always nice when the football gods can add a little insult to injury.

Such was the case on Sunday when the Seahawks fell to the now 2-0 49ers 23-10 in San Francisco. Seattle signal caller Matt Hasselbeck was knocked out of the game after taking a blow to the back from linebacker Patrick Willis while trying to scramble into the end zone at the end of the first half. The team is calling it a rib injury, although there has to be major concern that Hasselbeck took the hit in the back after he virtually missed the entire 2008 season due to back problems.

The insult to Hasselbeck’s injury came when Seneca Wallace entered the game and couldn’t generate any second half points. He did throw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Julius Jones after Hasselbeck left the field, but that’s about where Wallace’s contributions to Seattle stopped as he often settled for check down and underneath passes.

Of course, even if he did attempt to throw the ball vertically, Niners’ cornerback Nate Clements was blanketing the field like a freaking tarp. Clements was all over the field on Sunday, racking up six tackles (five solo) and four pass breakups. This was Clemens’ second solid game and it looks like he’s setting himself up for a stellar year.

Frank Gore also had a monster day for San Fran, churning out 207 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. He limped off the field late in the game and didn’t return, but apparently he didn’t re-enter for precautionary reasons and at least at this point, it doesn’t appear that he’ll miss any time.

San Fran was aided by Hasselbeck’s injury today, but that doesn’t mean that Mike Singletary’s group didn’t play a fine game. The young defensive players flew to the football and the secondary once again proved that it could hang with most offenses in the NFL. It’s a little early to say that the Niners are for real, but after two weeks they have sole possession of first place in the NFC West.

If there’s one thing I can’t stand in football, it’s when a kicker can’t make a field goal (or two field goals) in the fourth quarter and it costs his team a chance to win.

Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed missed field goals of 38 and 43 yards in the fourth quarter of the Steelers’ 17-14 loss to the Bears, the second of which gave Chicago a chance to win. The field was slick and the turf at Solider Field didn’t do Reed any favors, but Chicago kicker Robbie Gould didn’t have any problem with the conditions as he booted the game-winning 44-yard field goal with just 15 seconds remaining.

Reed choked, plain and simple. That said, I would be doing the Bear faithful a disservice if I didn’t give credit where credit is due. Coming off his brutal four interception night in Green Bay last week, Jay Cutler was excellent against the Steelers on Sunday, throwing for 236 yards and two touchdowns on 27 of 38 passing. He was also 3 for 3 on Chicago’s final scoring drive.

On a day where Pittsburgh took away Matt Forte and the Bears’ rushing attack, Cutler played a near-flawless game while rookie receiver Johnny Knox (6 rec., 70 yards, 1 TD) stepped up in the passing game. If Cutler and Knox can continue to develop chemistry, the Bears’ receiving corps won’t be as bad off as everyone thought.

While the Bears’ defense was certainly aided by Reed’s failures, Chicago did a nice job bottling up Willie Parker (14 carries, 47 yards) and keeping the Steelers out of the end zone in the fourth quarter. They still have some issues in the secondary and they didn’t generate the same pass rush as they did last week in Green Bay, but this is the second week in a row that the Bears’ defense gave the offense an opportunity to win the game.

Even though it’s early, this was a huge win for Lovie Smith’s Bears.

After hauling in five passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in Atlanta’s 19-7 win over Miami in Week 1, Gonzo followed up that performance with a seven-catch, 71-yard effort in the Falcons’ 28-20 victory over the Panthers on Sunday. He also caught his second touchdown pass of the year after Ryan found him on a 24-yard completion late in the first quarter to give Atlanta a 7-3 lead.

It’s still early, but Gonzalez is turning out to be one of he best offseason acquisitions of the year. He’s such a mismatch on safeties and linebackers that it’s almost unfair that the Falcons can use him in the red zone. And when he’s not catching passes, he frees up Roddy White (6 receptions, 53 yards, 1 TD) and other receivers to make plays in the passing game.

For the second consecutive week, the Falcons’ opponent sold out to stop the run. Atlanta’s 151 rushing yards today were hard earned, because Carolina did a nice job bottling up Michael Turner (28 carries, 105 yards, 1 TD) for most of the game. It wasn’t until the Panthers started to wear down (they were on the field for virtually the entire third quarter thanks to a DeAngelo Williams fumble) late in the second half that Turner popped off a couple decent runs.

But because Carolina stuffed the box in order to stop Turner, Ryan beat them consistently throughout the game. He finished with 220 yards and three touchdowns, although he did throw a bad interception in the first half, which was his first of the year.

Switching to the Panthers, you can’t blame Jake Delhomme for this loss. He finished with 308 yards on 25 of 41 passing and connected with Dante Rosario on an 11-yard touchdown to cut Atlanta’s lead to 28-20 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game. Although his interception late in the fourth quarter killed a chance to potentially tie the game (the Panthers would have needed a 2 point conversion too), he played with a lot of confidence today and certainly wasn’t the reason the Panthers lost.

Carolina’s defense just couldn’t stop Gonzalez and Ryan. Every time Atlanta needed to pick up a third down, they moved the chains with relative ease through the air. The pass protection for Ryan was also outstanding, as the Falcons’ offensive line didn’t give up a sack all day.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Falcons do next week in New England. The Patriots are going to be motivated after losing to the Jets today and if Atlanta can get to 3-0, they’ll be in great shape to start the year.

Injury Front: Atlanta running back Jerious Norwood left the game early in the first half with a head injury. He did not return. First round pick Peria Jerry was also hurt for the Falcons, as he was carted off the field late in the game with an apparent knee injury.