Jets 17 – Bills 27: The Jets are going to suck
This game looks fairly close but if you watched the game at all it’s obvious that it wasn’t really that close with the Bills going up 21-0 early and then letting up eventually. Josh Allen looked like the same high potential quarterback who couldn’t stop making mistakes but my biggest takeaway is that the Jets are going to be really bad. The offensive line while improved is still gonna be bottom half in the league, Bell in his six touches looked like the same inefficient back from last year, and the receiver core lacks talent. This puts all the pressure on Darnold and when he’s forced to play hero ball his decision making hasn’t been great. And that’s just the offense. The defense is severely missing Jamal Adams and CJ Mosley and they’re also going to struggle this year. Look for the Jets to be a bottom 5 team in the league this year.
Packers 43 – Vikings 3: The Packers are still a great team
After the Packers went 13-3 last year people were quick to doubt them stating that they got lucky last year. Even if they were lucky they would still be an 11-5 team which is great. Their team is relatively unchanged and should play just as well as they did last year.
I don’t think that there will be some kind of Aaron Rodgers resurgence because of just one week because he did a similar thing last year having crazy good and bad weeks throughout the season. All I’m saying is that everyone saying the NFC North was wide open was stupid for thinking that the Packers would not even be close to repeating what they did last year.
Eagles 17 – Football Team 27: Washington’s Pass Rush is Gonna be Really Good
I know that the Eagles were severely depleted on the offensive line but just look at all the names that are going to be going after the quarterback for Washington. Ryan Kerrigan is a stud pass rusher who in his 10th season is still playing at a high level. Matt Ioannidis who has quietly had 16 sacks in the last two years started off well with a sack and a half vs the Eagles.
Jonathan Allen has also been quietly productive for the last two years and he gets great interior pressure. Da’Ron Payne can get pressure at times and he’s also a black hole up the middle in the run game. Chase Young has also already shown signs of being a stud. Washington’s defensive line is absolutely stacked and even if they don’t win a lot of games they’re going to give offensive lines fits.
Ravens 38 – Browns 6: The Ravens are Amazing
Self Explanatory, Next!
Colts 20 – Jaguars 27: Minshew isn’t gonna let the Jaguars Tank
Whether the Jaguars like it or not Gardner Minshew is going to will this team to victories. I honestly feel bad for Minshew because it’s obvious his team is trying to replace him even though he’s clearly a star quarterback. If you look at their 2019 season’s carefully, Minshew arguably outplayed number one pick, Kyler Murray.
Because of their situations and where they were drafted Murray gets all the hype but Minshew has quietly been much more than the meme and has actually been a great young quarterback. He should be the future of some an NFL franchise and even if the Jags think it’s not going to be them Minshew is still going to will them to victories.
Raiders 34 – Panthers 30: Neither of these teams are going to be good
Coming into the season both of these teams were a bit below average and this week I was looking forward to one of these teams showing me something that they haven’t yet in the past and coming out and dominating the other team.
That didn’t happen though as both teams let the other team hang around in the game and both defenses looked terrible. Neither team showed anything proving that they were really too much different from last year and I don’t expect either team to do much this year.
Bears 27 – Lions 23: Matt Patricia isn’t a good coach
The Lions were missing Kenny Golladay, Jeff Okudah, and Jamie Collins (for most of the game at least) but there’s still no excuse to blow a 23-6 lead with all the momentum for the 2nd year in a row (last year it was 24-6 vs the Cardinals). The play calling in that last quarter was terrible and Gase and Patricia in my mind are two candidates to get fired in season.
I know that D’Andre Swift dropped a pass that should’ve won them the game, but the fact that a rookie in his first-ever NFL game, with no preseason, in a shortened offseason, was even in that position after the lead they had is mind-boggling. Patricia needs to go eventually.
Seahawks 38 – Falcons 25: The Seahawks are not different from last year
As a Seahawks fan, I should be pleased as the Seahawks put together a pretty quality game and beat a solid but still uninspiring team. After the Seahawks came out guns blazing on the first two drives letting Russ cook. Soon after, however, they went back to their ways and laid an egg in the second quarter letting the Falcons right back in it when they could’ve put it away early.
They got bailed out early in the 3rd quarter with Dan Quinn showing he’s still loyal to Seattle leaving DK one on one on a crucial 4th and 5. Later the Falcons would fumble while trying a fake punt and from there it was kind of over. As a Seahawks fan, I saw this tale last year with the Seahawks coming out throwing Week 2 vs the Steelers before returning to their ways. I doubt this kind of aggressive play-calling sticks and sooner rather than later they’ll be relying on Russ to bail them out in the 4th.
Dolphins 11 – Patriots 21: Nothing
I truly have no takeaways from this game. The Patriots and Dolphins both did exactly what I expected and I can’t really draw any conclusions about either team. Cam didn’t throw it great but he was solid on the ground so I can’t really say that New England is going to be fine or not fine without Brady.
The Patriots defense looked solid even with the opt-outs but then again they were playing the Dolphins, and the Dolphins didn’t move the ball terribly either. Exactly what I expected to happen, happened, and I have no takeaways from this game.
Chargers 16 – Bengals 13: The Chargers are nothing special
Before the season many cited the Chargers as a team that could be vastly improved considering the additions they made, especially on defense however, this game just showed that that’s clearly not the case. In his first NFL game, Burrow didn’t look terrible against their defense and was able to rush it pretty well.
Some bad plays like the Burrow flip to Melvin Ingram, the Mixon fumble, and the shanked field goal let the Chargers win the game. If the Chargers have to rely on these types of mistakes to barely eke out a win vs the lowly Bengals they definitely won’t be beating any quality opponents.
Cardinals 24 – 49ers 20: The Cardinals are THAT team
Every year there’s a team that vastly improves in the offseason and ends up improving a lot and becoming a legit contender. This year it’s definitely the Cardinals. They added Hopkins making this offense with Murray dangerous and the defense also looked improved with the additions of Isaiah Simmons, Devon Kennard, and Jordan Phillips. The team as a whole played extremely well against a quality opponent in the NFC Champion 49ers, and the Cardinals are going to be up there with the top teams in the NFC this year.
Bucs 23 – Saints 34: Brady is going to take time to get used to Arians’ system
I have no idea why many people were expecting the Bucs to put it all together immediately and start dominating teams from the start. It’s a good team on paper but the players still have to get acclimated to playing with each other and being on the same page. A few miscommunications cost the Bucs but that was to be expected in their first game playing together. There’s no reason to write off the Bucs just yet but there was no reason to expect them to play well out of the gate either.
Cowboys 17 – Rams 20: Everyone that predicted a Cowboys NFC Championship or Dak MVP is a clown
The amount of press that the Cowboys got this offseason was insane and although that’s to be expected because they are America’s team but there were a surprising number of analysts picking them to make a deep run, or for Dak to win MVP. Mike McCarthy looked like Jason Garrett without the clapping yesterday and a coaching change isn’t going to fix this team woes.
I know that a pass interference shouldn’t have been called on Gallup however, there was a blatant facemask just a bit earlier on Goff’s interception. I doubt that the Cowboys will be a top-seven team in the NFC but because of the NFC East they still have a shot to make the playoffs and get all these idiotic Cowboys supporters riled up again.
Photo: Yahoo Sports
