Fitz-Magic Destroys Faith in Saints, Rodgers a Man of Miracles - NFL Week 1
- Sep 12, 2018
- 4 min read
Before we delve deeper into a few games from Week One of the NFL Season, here's a few quick points to note:
Matthew Stafford threw five interceptions against the Jets, which really, for someone who just signed a $100+ million deal, is quite funny, unless you’re part of the Detroit Lions management or fanbase.
Oakland coach, John Gruden is going to “take a look,” at why the Raiders didn’t seem to have a very good pass rush against the Rams. . . Maybe they’ll look at acquiring an elite pass rusher like Khalil Mack in the off season or something.
Shaquill Griffin was impressive enough in his week one debut, racking up six tackles against the Broncos. Griffin really is the feel-good story everyone wants to see continue.
They probably weren’t contenders anyway, but the Falcons season has essentially ended after week one, losing two of their best defenders in Keanu Neal to a torn ACL and Deion Jones being placed on the injured reserve list.
Aaron Rodgers’ performance against the Chicago Bears was one for the ages. It was some kind of love child between Paul Pierce leaving the court in the 2008 NBA Finals and Tom Brady’s Super Bowl performance a couple of years ago. Throwing 20-30 for over 200 yards, primarily in the second half, and coming back from a 20-0 deficit is, to put it simply, impressive. Really, an all-time performance from a guy who has supplied no shortage of miracles in his career.
The Bears have a lot of work to do on offense, after a fast start, Trubisky really died off, and in the end, the Bears defence (and by Bears defence, I mean Khalil Mack) stretched out the lead that the offense had got themselves. Although the defence let the Packers take back the lead, there’s only so much you can do if the offence goes multiple possessions without getting more than a field goal in a half.
Khalil Mack has already proved to be a huge pick up for the Bears, he managed to get a sack, force and recover a fumble as well as pick off a pass and return it for a touchdown. Mack was only traded from the Oakland Raiders to the Bears on the 1st of September, and for someone who hasn’t been on the roster long, his performance was phenomenal.
The Cowboys and Panthers game wasn’t exactly pretty, but we did learn Cam Newton can still play while the Cowboys offense has a lot of work to do.
Newton threw 17-26 for 161 yards and picked up another 58 yards running the ball. Not his best performance, but enough to show that he can sling the ball around and remain a physical running force. McCaffrey is another force teams will have to be aware of, both rushing and as a receiver. McCaffrey ended up with 50 rushing, and another 45 receiving.
The Panthers defence shut down Ezekiel Elliot, keeping him to 69 yards and only an average of 4.6 per carry, and as we have seen before, Dak Prescott without a running game to back him up, really struggles. Prescott threw 170 yards on 19-29 and fumbled the ball on their final drive to try and tie the game.
It was a rough start for the Cowboys, and there’s no doubt they already miss Travis Frederick at Centre.
The New Orleans Saints were one of the better defences in the league last year and if you had told me that Tampa Bay were going to go and put up 48 points with OR without Jameis Winston I would have laughed. But alas, the Saints gave up 48 points to Ryan Fitzpatrick who has had seven seasons where he has thrown double-digit interceptions including one year where he threw 23. Last season in six games he threw for seven touchdowns, and so far, he has thrown four through one week and already has more than a third of the total yards he had last season. I think the Saints defence will be having a good hard look at themselves in the mirror after ‘Fitz-Magic’ made them disappear as part of his act in week 1.
Finally, the Browns didn’t manage to get a win, but they also didn’t lose. Instead they tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are almost a staple playoff team at this stage
I don’t want to say I was right, but, to this point, I was right, the Browns looks mediocre, potentially good. Tyrod Taylor wasn’t great throwing the ball, but he can definitely still run. I expect he will get better throwing as the season goes on, especially with Jarvis Landry and Josh Gordon (who can still play) lining up as receivers.
The Browns defence can also make plays. Denzel Ward, the #4 pick in the draft debuted with two interceptions and last year’s #1 pick Myles Garrett forced a fumble that lead to a game tying score for the offence.
Had it not been for blocked field goal by TJ Watt (who had a very good game with 11 tackles and four sacks) the Browns would have won in overtime. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Browns take it to the Saints in week two.
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