NFL Takeaways: Week 1
Photo from 9 News
It’s been 7 months since we had NFL football, with the Seattle Seahawks defeating the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday, but now we are finally back.
Who do we start with???
Seahawks defeat Patriots 13-10
Oh. We’re running it back, huh?
Alright.
But this was a fitting rematch, because it reminded me of how Mike Macdonald coached the Super Bowl.
He saw early on that the Patriots offense was not moving the ball at all, so all he needed the offense to do was get yards, waste time, and get some points, whether they be field goals or touchdowns.
Just don’t. Make. Mistakes.
It’s a strategy Mike Vrabel should have noticed himself.
Once Sam Darnold left the game with an injury, the Seahawks offense wasn’t doing much at all. Bad penalties, not getting the play in on time. Just a mess.
All the Pats needed to do was take care of the football, and maybe add another field goal.
Instead, Drake Maye threw 3 4th quarter interceptions, including a horrendous one in field goal range with under a minute left, and the Seahawks came back and won.
Last year ended with Mike Macdonald plainly outcoaching Mike Vrabel.
This year? More of the same.
49ers defeat Rams 27-7
There are three possible takeaways from this game.
A. The Rams offense, which returns every single starter, the reigning league MVP, and still has Sean McVay as head coach, is now suddenly terrible. I doubt that.
B. The 49ers defense, with Nick Bosa and Fred Warner healthy under new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, is absolutely excellent. That’s definitely possible!
C. The Rams showing up to Australia the day of the game when the Niners had been there for an entire week to that point was a really, really dumb decision.
I’ll go with C.
Bengals defeat Buccaneers 33-27
I’m not sure I’d feel great about this game if I was a fan of either team.
Bucs fans will be unhappy their supposed high power offense turned the ball over 4 times, and Bengals fans will be unhappy they still had to eke out a win despite those 4 turnovers.
We’ll see how the Bucs offense and Bengals defense looks going forward.
Lions defeat Saints 31-30
This was a tale of two Tyler Shough’s.
There was the first half Tyler Shough, who was absolutely horrendous, and had this game teetering towards a Lions blowout.
And then there was second half Tyler Shough, who absolutely balled out and gave the Saints a chance to win in overtime if they converted the two point conversion.
The NFC South is a very winnable division.
If the Saints get more of the 2nd half Tyler Shough, they could run away with it.
Jets defeat Titans 23-10
People will clown on the Titans, and that might be fair. They looked awful.
But the Jets have weapons, and say what you want about Geno last year in Las Vegas, but he was a good QB for three years in Seattle.
The Jets might be sneaky ok this year.
Not a playoff team.
But ok.
Ravens defeat Colts 41-23
I get why Lamar spent the offseason raving about new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
This Ravens offense was absolutely incredible all game long.
If they can play like that with new head coach Jesse Minter’s improved defense, they’re going to be dominant this year.
Steelers defeat Falcons 20-13
The Falcons wanted to start Michael Penix Jr., but he wasn’t ready to return from injury.
They then turned to Tua Tagovailoa, a QB the Falcons flat out did not want to play, but had no other choice.
And then HE got hurt, so they had to turn to Cooper Rush, who got hurt himself before the game, but still powered through to play.
Long story short, it’s not a surprise the Falcons offense was horrendous.
The Steelers, on the other hand?
THAT offensive performance was concerning, to say the least.
Keep an eye out for that one.
Bears defeat Panthers 59-37
I was rightfully worried about the Bears defense.
I mean, Bryce Young just absolutely carved them up.
But if the offense is going to play like that and put up almost 60 points, I think they’ll deal with the bad defense.
Caleb Williams and that running game Ben Johnson schemed up was absolutely unstoppable.
Jaguars defeat Browns 34-10
Still not sure what we’re doing with the Deshaun Watson thing, Cleveland.
Bills defeat Texans 36-31
People are ranting and raving about Josh Allen’s performance, which is fair. He was fantastic. And usually he struggles against Houston.
But his new head coach has been his offensive coordinator for 3 years, so it’s not exactly a stunner that he looks very good.
The concern is the defense, who didn’t look great against a Texans offense that had their fair share of struggles last year.
Now, I did think CJ Stroud would be better this year than last year, but that’s the best game CJ Stroud has played in a long while.
That doesn’t bode incredibly well for Buffalo.
Raiders defeat Dolphins 27-13
The Dolphins defense, under new head coach and former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, looked pretty good.
The offense, which is just Malik Willis, Devon Achane, and then a bunch of warm bodies, looked really bad.
But we had a feeling they would.
The defense looking good is a good sign for the future of the Dolphins.
Remember, this is a slow burn in Miami.
Find wins where you can.
Vikings defeat Packers 39-22
The Vikings got the lead in this game thanks to some questionable calls, including the famous “body weight roughing the passer”, and an interception taken off the board for a ticky tacky holding call.
But that touchdown made it 25-22 with 6 and a half minutes left.
It did not mean the Packers offense had to completely fall apart for the rest of the game.
But that’s what they did, turning the ball over two times and giving up two more touchdowns to lose 39-22 and get outscored 22-0 in the 4th quarter.
Bad calls are going to happen in every single game. It’s the nature of the sport.
The Packers just never recovered from it, and that falls on the coaching.
Eagles defeat Commanders 24-22
It’s week 1.
There’s plenty of football left.
But if you’re an Eagles fan who watched last years offense struggle heavily down the stretch, Sunday didn’t give you a ton of optimism.
It was definitely better than it was last year, but it still wasn’t up to the standard Eagles fans came to expect from the Hurts-Barkley tandem as it was two years ago.
It’s something to keep an eye on.
Cardinals defeat Chargers 26-14
I stated my worries in the offseason.
Was Mike McDaniel the offensive genius to take the Chargers offense to the next step considering what he did with Tua at QB, or was the Dolphins offense so successful because they used motion to get Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, two of the fastest players in the league, into space so they could take care of the rest, which is something the Chargers don’t have?
Again, it’s only week 1, but that Chargers offensive performance was horrible.
The Chargers only have one good receiver. I can see this offense really struggling to make noise this year.
Giants defeat Cowboys 28-20
My belief in the Cowboys this year was based around me believing their defense would be better.
After watching them get walked down the field when they needed a stop by the Giants running the same play over and over again, I realized that they might not be better.
It’s still early! I’m not losing faith in my belief in improvement.
But seeing them fall to the same strategy I use when I play CFB 27 and am in a pinch isn’t exactly a sign of good things to come.
Chiefs defeat Broncos 31-10
This was Patrick Mahomes first game after returning from a torn ACL last year, and it was against a very good defense, so I don’t think many were expecting a superstar performance.
And we were right not to.
In fact, I’m inclined to say that Mahomes wasn’t even really good in this game.
He was the only quarterback all weekend to not complete a pass 10 yards downfield or further.
But that didn’t matter, because Kenneth Walker III was absolutely electric in his first game with Kansas City, but also because Broncos QB Bo Nix was absolutely horrible.
If I’m a Chiefs fan, and that’s the performance they put in with Mahomes not playing well, I am very, very happy.
If I’m a Broncos fan……….
Yikes.
