(Photo Credit: neworleanssaints.com)

The NFL is quickly dividing into two tiers

Nine teams, the Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Rams, the New England Patriots, the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks all pushed their records to to 2-0 on Sunday, the first me since 2015 at least nine teams have opened 2-0.

A surprising 0-2 — the Pittsburgh Steelers. Worse, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered an elbow injury and will have an MRI.
The New Orleans Saints, victimized again by the officials in their loss to the Rams, lost QB Drew Brees (thumb) for a half but he should be okay.

The Miami Dolphins find themselves in a special class of awful and carving out the third tier. They fell 43-10 to the Patriots at home to go 0-2. They have been outscored 112-10 this season.

NASCAR:
Martin Truex Jr. Won the Monster Energy Cup Series playoff opener on Sunday at Las Vegas. Kevin Harvick was second and Brad Keselowski third.

College football:
No big upsets among the national powers. The team in deep yogurt is UCLA after its 48-14 loss at home to No. 5 Oklahoma. The Bruins are 0-3 and 3-9 overall in their second season under Chip Kelly.

Elsewhere:
The Atlanta Braves clinched a National League playoff berth. … Heavyweight Tyson Fury won a 12-round decision over Otto Wallin but needed 47 stitches and the facial damage could cause a postponement of his Feb. 22 about with champion Deontay Wilder.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman