NFL Sunday Observations

[greediron]

An interesting day of football, led really with inconsistent QB play. I think some rust needed to be knocked off for Week 1. Saw some good QBs throw some very bad passes. Not a ton of yards thrown for in wins and losses. 

• Green Bay basically dominated Detroit. That interior O-line is going to be a problem for the Lions. Goff got some garbage yards on a final drive or he'd have been under 200 yards thrown. Love had all day to throw, where was Aidan Hutchinson? The pass rush? Meathead looked lost.
  
• Cleveland outgains the Bengals 2 to 1 in yardage, first downs and time of possession: and loses. Joe Burrow threw for a 113 yards. Didn't see any juggernaut in Cincinnati. 
  
• Bo Nix had a bad game, threw 2 INTS but should have had 2 more. Only reason Denver won is because they played a rookie in Cam Ward, who didn't look horrible. 
  
• New England had the same problems in their loss yesterday that they had all last year. Vrabel had Maye throw 46 times in their loss to the Raiders and his team isn't helping him. Not enough talent on that team by any stretch.
  
• Not sure what Seattle was doing but they acted like Uncle Sammy was a new Iphone fresh out of the package: gently used. He was pedestrian for the most part and until one nice 40 yard throw on the last drive where he ultimately fumbled, he had 110 yards passing (finished with 150). The 49ers were there to be beaten with Purdy's really inconsistent game, throwing 2 horrible INTs and should have had another. 
  
• Atlanta snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, blowing what was a pretty nice game from Michael Penix. Mayfield was just ok until being clutch toward the end.
  
• If I'm Houston, I have to be a little concerned about CJ Stroud. The Texans aren't clutch at all and a critical turnover toward the end allowed Stafford to be Stafford and hold on for the win.
  
• Jaxson Dart will be starting for the Giants by the beginning of October.
  
• Bryce Young: I just don't see it with him. If Carolina has a shit year IMO they take a QB in round 1. The media crowned him a 'comeback' player last year and that was just mediocre. 2 INTs and 154 yards passing with a 20.1 QBR rating yesterday....against Jacksonville. Gross.
  
• ...which leads me to Trevor Lawrence. Not sure what to make of this guy. He was a 'generational' QB coming out, they said. Etienne had a killer game yesterday and Lawrence still looked 'meh'.
  
• Josh Allen is amazing. He's come into his own. He's at the peak of his talent and abilities....and Buffalo put up with a LOT of inconsistencies the first 3 years of his career to get to this place because he was RAW.
  
• Before anyone crowns Aaron Rodgers (too late), this take from ESPN I agree with: "I mean ... really? Yes, 34 points is great. But this was a long way from a playoff game, and the Steelers took advantage of some serious gifts. The Jets outgained them 394 yards to 271, committed seven penalties and produced the game's only turnover at a pivotal time. And the Steelers still needed a 60-yard field goal to win. Play that game in Buffalo, Baltimore or Kansas City in January, and you ain't winning it."
  

Jets were running all over the Steelers but couldn't put them away.  Ramsey made a huge play to seal it for the Steelers.

Buffalo, what a comeback. Wasn't the biggest deficit, but that team was beat, everyone knew it.  Couldn't stop Henry let alone Jackson.  But they didn't quit and Oliver made a huge play ripping that ball out of Henry's hands.  After that it was all done but the fat lady singing.  Baltimore couldn't stop them and Henry looked done.

GB didn't look good, Love made some throws and some throws were awful.  Pretty much his byline by now.  But yeah, as you say, Detroit's trenches were beat and beat badly.  GB couldn't run the ball, but there was NO pass rush by Detroit.

[hogjowlsjohnny]

Green Bay got up early against Detroit and had an easy time against a team that frankly looked like the old Lions.
Packers will have a much bigger challenge against the Commanders.
Rodgers looked better but still had his moments. He played small ball with short passes and got away with a couple of dropped picks.
I was an idiot for turning off the Bills/Ravens game at the end of the third quarter!

[MaroonBells]

Thought it was funny that Cam Robinson's last game as a Viking was when he was repeatedly brutalized by Jared Verse. He signs with Houston and first up is Jared Verse and the Rams.

[comet52]

Nice write-up Sticky.  

Watched a bit of the Jets game and Justin Fields was clearly pumped up against his former team.  The Steelers D was surprisingly bad imo.  The other thing that was surprisingly bad was Miami.  That could be a 3 win team if they keep looking like they did yesterday.  

Also saw some Broncos Titans.  Cam Ward has a cannon arm but no touch whatsoever.  Broncos D is beastly, which should help overcome Bo Nix's propensity to fuck up.

Finally I gotta thank Atlanta's kicker for bailing me out of what could have been a bad opening day in the betting department.

[purplefaithful]

McDaniel is definitely on the hot seat....

[JR44]

Really interesting dynamic in Bills game, Bills made a bonehead move of taking extra point of board and going for 2 after a penalty and then had to chase that point the rest of the game. It looked like the move cost them the game after they had to go for two to tie it and then missed it and trailed by 2 with less than two minutes, however I think it ended up being a factor in them winning, because when the Ravens got the ball instead of the score being tied and them going into attack mode, which Bills could not stop them in the 2nd half, they ended up sitting on the ball and making the Bills burn their timeouts which got the Bills the ball back and led to the game winning FG.