■ Joe Thomas is a marvel for a team that is frequently not worth watching. The veteran left tackle of the Cleveland Browns, who has started in each of the 162 games of his 11-season career, extended his incredible streak to 10,062 snaps without taking a play off. Since Thomas’ rookie season, the Browns have had 29 different players attempt a pass, but only one play left tackle.

Falcons Outplay Packers Again

The Green Bay Packers put up a fight in the second half, but in a rematch of last year’s N.F.C. championship game, they once again found themselves on the losing side, falling to the Atlanta Falcons, 34-23.

Things got out of hand in the first half, when the Packers were outgained by 155 yards and outscored 24-7. It got immediately worse when the second half started. Aaron Rodgers was hit while throwing, and the ball was scooped up by Desmond Trufant, who ran it into the end zone to stretch the lead to 31-7.

From that point forward, the Packers seemed to come alive, but it was far too little and far too late.

In reaction to Atlanta’s dismantling of the team’s secondary in the playoffs, Green Bay spent the off-season rebuilding that unit, and while Kevin King proved to be a formidable addition, they still did not have enough to slow down Matt Ryan.

Ryan, who threw for 392 yards and four touchdowns against Green Bay in the playoffs, was not quite as prolific in this game, completing 18 of 28 passes for 252 yards and one touchdown. Devonta Freeman added two rushing touchdowns and the rest of the Falcons’ scoring came on the fumble return and two field goals by Matt Bryant.

In the difficult loss, Rodgers did get one highlight to remember when a 1-yard shovel pass to Montgomery gave him his 300th career passing touchdown. Rodgers accomplished the feat in 564 fewer attempts than Peyton Manning, who was the previous record-holder. But Rodgers was unlikely to celebrate on a day in which he completed 33 of 50 passes for 343 yards and two touchdowns, but also accounted for two turnovers.

More troubling than the loss was the fact that the Packers lost several key players to injuries. Mike Daniels, perhaps the team’s best defender, was lost early in the game to a hamstring injury, and Jordy Nelson sat out the bulk of the game with a an injured quadriceps. With health problems on the offensive line as well, the Packers will need to get healthy if they want to get back to winning against Cincinnati next week.

Steelers’ Defense Takes Care of Vikings

For the second consecutive week, the Pittsburgh Steelers came away with a victory while not exactly convincing anyone they are world beaters. They rode two early touchdowns to a 26-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, but the win comes with the asterisk of the Vikings having played without Sam Bradford, the team’s starting quarterback.

The issue, once again, was a lackadaisical effort from the Steelers’ offense. The unit managed just 14 points against Cleveland last week, and this week they were not much better, gaining 335 yards but settling for four field goals following a hot start in which the team scored touchdowns on two of the first three drives of the game.

Martavis Bryant, Pittsburgh’s deep threat wide receiver, was the bright spot of the game with 3 receptions for 91 yards. On Pittsburgh’s second offensive drive of the game, he caught a short pass in the middle of the field and ran it in for a 27-yard touchdown. On the next drive, he drew a 49-yard pass interference penalty that set up a second touchdown.

But just like last week, it was Pittsburgh’s defense that seemed to take care of business, while the offense mostly sputtered. Ben Roethlisberger completed 23 of 35 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the N.F.L.’s youngest player. Le’Veon Bell, the team’s superstar running back, had 27 carries for 87 yards a week after rushing for just 32 against Cleveland, and Antonio Brown had 5 catches for 62 yards.

After the game, Roethlisberger seemed a bit defensive about his offense’s performance. “We’re just winning football games,” he told reporters. “We’re 2-0, we did what we had to do, we won the football game.”

The Vikings were forced to switch to Case Keenum at quarterback after Bradford was a late scratch, and the veteran backup led the team to three field goals while throwing for 159 yards. Bradford, who is a huge key to Minnesota’s playoff hopes, is expected to be back next week for the Vikings’ game against Tampa Bay.

Brissett Throws Away Colts’ Chance

The Arizona Cardinals came away with a 16-13 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts thanks to Jacoby Brissett throwing his first career interception.

It was a strong start for Brissett, the young quarterback of the Colts who recently came over in a trade with the New England Patriots. He had his team leading 10-0 after the first quarter, and for the game completed 20 of 37 passes for 216 yards.

Arizona was able to creep back into the game and send it to overtime, but Brissett, asked to keep the Colts afloat until Andrew Luck can return, had the ball with a chance to win. Unfortunately for the Colts, Brissett, who did not throw an interception in any of his three appearances for New England last season, was picked off on his first pass of overtime by Tyrann Mathieu.

With a short field in front of them the rest was largely a formality, as the Cardinals drove the ball just 9 yards and then won on a 30-yard field goal by Phil Dawson.