The
first week of the regular season has come and gone, and boy was it exciting.
Upsets were had, comebacks were made, and crazy games happened. I personally
enjoyed every second of this past week and hope that this season can keep up
with what we saw week one. That being said, there is plenty to talk about,
let's dive into it!
- - Let’s
start off with the Cardinals. What looked to be a pretty easy win turned into a
nightmare. The Patriots were missing tons of key pieces and Jimmy Garoppolo had
his first career start against a solid defense. The Cardinals looked lost and
struggled mightily against a solid Patriots defense. Should the Cardinals be
worried about this season? The short answer is a little bit. They should have
an easy time righting the ship, but the last two games dating back to the NFC
Championship game have not been promising. It has me wondering if this team is
truly a contender or just a pretender…
- - Rewind
to last Thursday. The Super Bowl 50 rematch. Panthers in Denver. Many people,
including yours truly, wrote off the Broncos due to what should be a bad
offense with a good defense. The Panthers, meanwhile, rolled out what should be
a dominant offense (with Kelvin Benjamin returning from injury) and a good
defense. What we got was mostly the same as the Super Bowl in the sense that
Cam struggled against a good defense and the Broncos offense, led by C.J.
Anderson, did just enough to win the game. For what it’s worth, I still don’t
buy into Trevor Siemian, but he managed the game well enough to win, and that
may be all the Broncos need this season to win games.
- - On
a related note, the controversy behind Cam Newton not getting any Roughing the
Passer penalties is serious. I am of the belief that it’s ridiculous what the
Broncos got away with. The NFL preaches about making the game safer and
protecting the players (especially the quarterbacks), yet Cam was beat up like
a rag doll consistently. I will agree that cam’s mobility does make it tough to
call consistently, but he took these shots inside the pocket. There is no
excuse for the NFL on how they handled Newton. Thank goodness he doesn’t have a
concussion.
- - The
Steelers took Washington behind the woodshed Monday night and beat them
soundly. Without Markus Wheaton, Eli Rogers stepped up and made plays for the
Steelers offense. DeAngelo Williams leads the NFL in rushing at the ripe age of
33. And the Steelers defense forced two turnovers. The biggest controversy from
this game comes from the Washington “system” on defense. Washington elected to
leave Josh Norman on one side of the field, exposing Bashaud Breeland to
Antonio Brown, who promptly destroyed Breeland in coverage (and then twerked
for the fans). If Washington wants to win games and get their money’s worth on
Norman, they need to be flexible and allow him to cover the team’s number one
guy. They still have to take on Odell Beckham and Dez Bryant twice, as well as
plenty of top quality receivers. I am not saying abandon the system completely,
but be flexible…
- - Carson
Wentz came out guns blazing. Against the Browns, a team who could’ve taken
Wentz but elected to trade the pick away, Wentz went 22/37 for 278 yards and
two touchdowns. Wentz showed a gunslinger mentality and the ability to extend
plays with his legs while delivering strikes to Jordan Matthews and company. This
is definitely a great sigh of relief for Philadelphia fans who were worried
about Wentz as a year one starter. In Doug Pederson’s offense, I look forward
to him competing for OROY.
- - The
Cowboys struggled against a revamped Giants defense offensively, but did keep
the game close enough to almost win it (curse you, Terrance Williams!). Number
one pick Ezekiel Elliott grabbed a healthy 20 carries, but only managed 51
yards against the Giants stout defensive line. He did manage a touchdown,
however. Dak Prescott posted a 25/45 for 227 yards stat line, but with no
touchdowns. Overall, the Cowboys look ready to have a ton of close games. The offense
won’t face a great defense every week and could easily start rolling, but Dez
Bryant (one reception for eight yards) needs to get his act together or this
team is doomed to be one-dimensional and lose close games.
- - A.J.
Green is the MAN! Against Darrelle Revis, a future Hall of Famer, Green was a
perfect 10 receptions on 10 targets for 158 yards and a touchdown. Green finished
the day nabbing 12 receptions for 180 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals do
miss Tyler Eifert, but Green will certainly continue to ease the pain in the
meantime.
- - Jameis
Winston also came to play this season. The poor Falcons’ defense never stood a
chance against the former Heisman winner, as Winston posted a 23/33 for 281
yards and a staggering four touchdowns stat line. Winston did throw an
interception, but he completely took over the game and helped the Buccaneers to
their first win of the season. The Buccaneers will travel to Arizona this week
to take on a Cardinals team that was just embarrassed by the Patriots at home. This
game isn’t impossible to win, but Winston will need another strong showing if
the Buccaneers want a chance to win against a Cardinals team looking for redemption.
- - Aaron
Rodgers is arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time and still has a ton of
gas left in the tank. Against a young and up-incoming Jaguars defense went
20/34 for 199 yards and two touchdowns while making plays that simply looked
like Madden highlights. The Jaguars, meanwhile, showed that they can keep up
with some of the best teams the NFL has to offer. The Jaguars offense
struggled, but the defense kept them in the game when it mattered most, losing
by only four points. The Jaguars offense will get clicking again after facing a
good Packers defense, and matched with this young defense, the Jaguars are on
the up-swing. Look out, NFL, the Jaguars are for real.
- - We
got a nice treat this week in the form of Andrew Luck and the Colts versus
Matthew Stafford and the Lions. The Lions won the shootout 39-35 after an
incredible game-winning drive by Stafford (right after Andrew Luck had what
appeared to be the game-winning drive). Stafford went 31/39 for 340 yards and
three touchdowns compared to Luck’s 31/47 for 385 yards and four touchdowns. Both
of these teams look to have strong passing offenses with defenses that will get
them into plenty of shootouts (especially the Colts).
- - The
gutsiest call of the week goes to Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio, and it’s not
even close. Down by seven to the Saints, the Raiders drove down the field and
scored a touchdown. Pending the extra point, the game would be tied and likely
sent to overtime. Instead, Del Rio went for the win and elected to go for two. This
absolutely insane call would prove to be the right one, as the Raiders
converted and went up by a single point. A missed 61-yard field goal later, the
Raiders emerged victorious. Del Rio certainly won’t make calls like that every
week (hopefully), but in this case it went exactly how he wanted it to go. Good
for him.
- - Last
point for this week, the Rams look awful. On a Monday night “game” against the
struggling 49ers, the Rams came out flat and lost 0-28. For their first game as
the Los Angeles Rams since 1994, they certainly put out a stinker. Hopefully this
isn’t a sign of things to come (unless you’re a Titans fan), because if it is
then there will be some massive changes coming this offseason. Don’t be fooled,
49ers’ fans, your team sucks, the Rams just suck more, apparently.
Richard Bradshaw is available to
follow on Twitter @RichieBradz36. Thank you for the read.
No comments:
Post a Comment