Roaring success in Detroit, Buffalo

Look who’s 2-0.

Detroit and Buffalo are. The Lions are one win away from their best start since 1980. The Bills are already halfway to last season’s win total.

Look who’s 0-2.

Kansas City and Indianapolis are. The Chiefs, defending AFC West champions, have now lost two of their best players. The Colts haven’t been 0-2 since 1998, Peyton Manning’s rookie season.

Look who’s 0-2 but feels a little like 2-0.

Carolina does. A week after throwing for 422 yards in a loss at Arizona, rookie Cam Newton threw for 432 against Green Bay, giving the Packers a scare but failing to complete the comeback.

“I knew he would be good, but if I told you I knew he’d be this good this early, I’d be lying to you,” Packers nose tackle B.J. Raji said of Newton, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the 30-23 defeat. “He doesn’t get frustrated. We threw a lot of stuff at him today and he was able to sit back there and make some of the plays they needed.”

Newton made his share of rookie mistakes. Three of his passes were intercepted and he was sacked four times. But the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner made matters interesting for a franchise that was 2-14 last season.

Others might be impressed. Newton is impatient.

“We’ve got to get it right,” he told reporters after the game. “We’re going to get it right. But I’m not the person to just sit up here and say, ‘Well, we have next time.’ I’m not that type of person. I want it right now, and I want to get it right now.”

Patience, Cam, patience. Consider how long the Lions have waited. For years, they have been the picture of incompetence and heartbreak. Sunday, it was as if Detroit unleashed all of that frustration on Kansas City, delivering a 48-3 pounding of the Chiefs for the most lopsided regular-season victory in franchise history. That included going for touchdowns on fourth down twice in the second half, when the game had long since been decided.

The Lions have won six in a row dating to last season, but they have seen enough to know the NFL is a week-to-week league. You should never feel too good about yourself.

In 2007, for instance, Detroit throttled Denver, 44-7, to improve to 6-2, then collapsed in the second half of the season, winning only one of eight.

“We thought we had arrived,” center Dominic Raiola recalled. “And look what happened.”

This season, the Lions may have arrived — and the Colts and Chiefs are among the dearly departed.

Manning’s replacement, Kerry Collins, has fumbled four times in two games, and couldn’t reach the end zone against Cleveland until there were 24 seconds on the clock (and a steady stream of discouraged Colts fans streaming for the exits). It won’t get better: Pittsburgh comes to town next.

The Colts are on “Sunday Night Football” three times this season. Don’t be surprised if NBC flexes out of the Colts-Patriots game in Week 13 in favor of a more interesting matchup.

“We don’t have much time left,” Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said. “We’ve got to figure it out fast, even though it’s just the second game. We have to figure out a way to win the close ones. I feel like that’s what it’s going to be from here on out.”

Not only were the Chiefs embarrassed by Detroit, but they also lost star tailback Jamaal Charles to a freak accident in the first quarter. While running out of bounds, he slipped on the first-down marker, came down awkwardly, and suffered a torn knee ligament. A week earlier in a home loss to Buffalo, the Chiefs lost Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry, also to a knee injury.

Grim as things look, Chiefs Coach Todd Haley isn’t ready to concede anything.

“The season will not be canceled as far as I know,” he said.

That’s right. There will be no premature cancellation of the season. For Los Angeles viewers, however, there was an abrupt end to the Raiders-Bills game. Because of contractual obligations to show the San Diego-New England game, CBS cut away from the Raiders game with less than 30 seconds to play and Buffalo trailing, 35-31, but driving in Oakland territory.

Local viewers missed watching it live, but the Bills scored on a six-yard fourth-down pass with 14 seconds left to take the lead, then clinched the 38-35 victory moments later by intercepting a Hail Mary pass in the end zone.

It just goes to show that we don’t miss having an NFL team in L.A., because we get to watch the best games on TV.

Or 59 minutes of the best games, at least.

No place like home . . .

At least Miami hopes that’s the case. Counting their 23-13 loss to Houston on Sunday, the Dolphins have lost their last six home games.

Blue zone

Three times in their game at New England, the Chargers drove inside the 20 and came away with no points. That won’t get it done, especially at a tough place like Gillette Stadium.

Hurt locker

Two star quarterbacks were injured Sunday but weren’t knocked out of their games and wound up winning. A third, however, was not so fortunate, and neither was his team.

Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger was hit in the right knee against Seattle and it looked bad. He was able to finish the game, though, and the Steelers won, 24-0.

Dallas’ Tony Romo suffered a cracked rib at San Francisco. He too was able to finish, and connected with Jesse Holley on a 77-yard completion that set up the winning field goal in the Cowboys’ 27-24 overtime victory.

In the night game, Philadelphia’s Michael Vick left in the third quarter after sustaining a concussion. He was replaced by Mike Kafka, who played well, but the Eagles blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost, 35-31.

Free to speak

Plaxico Burress wasn’t a factor for the New York Jets in their victory over Jacksonville. He was targeted only twice and finished without a catch. Then again, consider the alternative.

“Four months ago, I was still hoping to play football again,” said Burress, who spent 20 months in prison on a gun charge. “I have nothing to complain about.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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