The first weekend of football is always pretty strange; no one really knows why, but there are certain teams everyone thinks will be good, and teams everyone thinks will be terrible. Without having played a single snap of regular season football. So we enter the season with this preconceived notion of how things should be. The Colts should be good. The 49ers look like they're a potential division winner. The Cardinals are doomed. Kevin Kolb can step in for the Eagles! It's like we've played out the season before it's even started. And that's why its crazy to actually watch what happens. The world where all these things are true comes crumbling down one by one, until we're left with this jumbled mass of teams. We still can't even get a definitive read on every team- one team that looked impressive could've just been playing a bad team. Or that team that didn't look great could've been playing a definite playoff team. Still, there are somethings that can be taken from this week. I'll save the Bills for last.
-Could this be the year the Colts are just merely decent? Or are the Texans that good? The Colts defense, which was supposed to be improved against the run, got completely destroyed by Arian Foster to the tune of 231 yards and 3 touchdowns rushing. Even though Peyton Manning had a ridiculous day passing, the offense couldn't keep up with what the defense gave up. Perhaps the Colts will become a shoot out team, but you can't really win a Super Bowl with such a suspect defense. We'll see how they respond next week vs. the Giants, who have some quality backs.
-The 49ers really shit the bed. The supposed new "champs" of the NFC West, worst division in Football, were dominated by the Seahawks 31-6. The Alex Smith led offense could get nothing going, and the teams supposed great defense, their backbone, let them down. A game against the Saints next week spells trouble for the 49ers. Like the Raiders, this is another pre season sleeper/ media darling that looks like it will fail. How many times are NFL experts gonna pick these dumb sleeper teams and just absolutely fall on their face?
- The Patriots, who many thought might break down with old age, made a pretty big statement against the Bengals (and Tawmmy fahckin Brady made a pretty big statement fantasy wise). The Jets, contrary to popular belief, haven't quite won the division yet.
- Mike Vick kinda went Beast Mode today. That scramble for a near touchdown was pretty sweet. Sure, he's still not a great decision maker, but he's exciting. I'm glad I'm not rooting for him, though. Kevin Kolb will be welcomed back with open arms I'm sure... unless those great Philly fans turn on him.
-The Cardinals showed what a different team they are with their narrow win over one of the worst teams in the NFL. Have fun this season returning to complete irrelevancy. It's too bad- they were a pretty exciting team.
-The Calvin Johnson situation. Can the NFL change this rule now? You know a rule is bad when the only defense is "yeah, it should've been a touchdown, but that's the way the rule is written". Plus those fantasy points would've been nice. Speaking of fantasy and the Bears-Lions game, Matt Forte decided to be a good player this season. I swear to God that guy is my mortal enemy. I hope he gets a good amount of venereal diseases. Also, the Bears are going to be somewhere around 6-10 this year. They could only beat the Lions (with their backup QB) off of a terrible rule.
-The Cowboys. Uh oh. Maybe those home Super Bowl projections were a little early.
- Aaron Rodgers called his team's performance 'terrible'. They are going to violate the Bills next week.
- So, the Bills. Since the DirecTV box in the house didn't work (DAMN YOU DIRECTV!!!), I was only able to listen to the game on the radio and watch highlights later. It was typical Bills. They played decently enough to stay in the game for most of it, and ended up losing. I'll be honest, I had some youthful naivete about this team before the game started. It has quickly been pushed out. The defense was merely decent, and seemed almost to back into stops. There were barely any three and outs and gave up a lot of field position in letting the Dolphins move down the field before actually stopping them. On offense, the Bills could do nothing besides 2 drives. The running game was literally non existent. If CJ Spiller is the biggest weapon on the team, I have no idea why he's getting 7 carries. He also tried a little too hard and ended up only getting 6 yards because of his backwards style. It will lead to big plays, but it will also back up the Bills a good amount. Trent Edwards was his normal decent self. He couldn't do much on third downs, had a good gain negated by a penalty (CLASSIC BILLS), and couldn't get it done in crunch time. Still, his touchdown throw to Roscoe Parrish was a thing of beauty. If he has time, something the offensive line was not providing, he can make plays. He also needs some help from his wide outs, but maybe he'll gain more chemistry with those guys. All together, the Dolphins are not that great (contrary to what I was thinking earlier), and the Bills squandered a chance for a win, which could be pretty scarce this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment