Sorry for the extremely long hiatus from this blog. I just moved out of state and was busy dealing with all the wonderful things that you get to deal with when making such a move. And its not like I'm Peter King or something....my "followers" can probably be counted on one hand (read: yes I have less than 5 followers).
Anyways, here are some random thoughts that popped into my head after somewhat digesting the Week 1 games. I'll arrange it by the matchup for the sake of organization. I will hopefully be able to do this weekly, but keep in mind that I probably won't cover every matchup as I don't usually get to watch every game every week.
Cowboys-Giants:
I had a pretty good feeling that the Cowboys were going to win. The Giants have made it a habit to start out slow in September and turn it up a notch when it's crunch time. The opposite can be said of the Cowboys. The star of the game was obviously Kevin Ogletree but we'll see how he adjusts to the game when defensive coordinators start paying attention to him.
Bills - Jets:
This team will go only as far as Fitzpatrick will - plain and simple. Week 1 was the perfect microcosm of Fitzpatrick as a QB. 1st Half he was 7 for 12 with 80 yards passing and 2 picks with a QB rating of 38.6; 2nd half he went 11 for 20 with 115 yards passing and 3 TD's and 1 INT and a QB rating of 90.6. Even that doesn't quite fully display Fitzy's inconsistencies. His QB rating by quarter was as follows:
1st - 20.8
2nd - 96.5
3rd - 62.2
4th - 118.3
When he strings together a full game, the Bills will almost assuredly win. Otherwise, they'll be on the outside looking in come January. His footwork adjustments with QB coach David Lee seem to force him to think during the game - he doesn't look as natural as he did the first half of last season. Most of his mistakes were on throws that were late. Here's hoping he'll clean it up sooner than later.
The other big area that I saw the Bills falter in: pass defense (if you even want to call it that). I'm willing to give them a break on that one (somewhat) seeing that their corners are extremely young (Gilmore, Williams) or banged up (McGee). But I'm not willing to look past the many mental errors made by the safeties - they constantly took bad angles and fell for the play fake (which the Jets totally exploited) more than a few times. Lot of work to do on both sides of the ball for this team.
The Jets, on the other hand, looked completely in control the whole game. Having Tebow in town has lit a fire under Sanchez and I saw probably the most technically sound game of his young career. He also seemed to handle the Tebow disruptions well - and for a young QB I think that is a disruption. You don't pull a guy who just went 3 for 3 on a drive with 60+ yards for a play here and then a play there. Sanchez handled it well this week, we'll see how he handles it when he doesn't have a 28 point lead in the game.
Colts - Bears:
I didn't watch much of this game but the few plays I caught I saw Andrew Luck play a little scared. I guess this is what they mean when they say "we'll see once the bullets start flying."
Falcons - Chiefs:
Julio Jones is a beast! He might challenge Megatron for the receiving title this year. And Matty Ice finally seems to have been unleashed. We've been waiting a little while for Matt Ryan to show us he's a top 5 QB and one game will not convince me, but I saw some good signs.
Jaguars - Vikings:
Jones-Drew looked hesitant when making cuts; he still needs to get his legs under him. Gabbert looked much more poised in the pocket than last year - not that it's saying much since he looked frightened for his life on every snap last year (yes even the hand-offs).
Eagles - Browns:
I heard some high ranking officer within the company that manufactured Vick's rib protectors guaranteed that the fleet-footed quarterback would not miss any games due to injury this year (or something to that effect). If I had any money in my bank account, I think I'd take his bet. No way Vick stays upright this whole season playing behind that O-line. Also, something seems to be off with him - his accuracy is off and he seems hesitant in the pocket. The Eagles were lucky to escape with a win in Cleveland. Playing against Weeden will likely guarantee a win for most teams this season. But they would do well to lean on Shady McCoy until Vick gets his mojo back.
As for Cleveland, I've always thought Weeden was overrated and now that he doesn't have perfect protection or one of college footballs' receivers to throw to, we're seeing his true colors. I truly feel bad for the Browns as an organization. There's some humor, a Bills fan feeling bad for another franchise. But they seem snake-bitten. I know its just one week and they almost beat the Eagles - but I'd be surprised if they win more than four games this year. Their defense is actually pretty good; Weeden has a long way to go before he is NFL ready and a rookie running back with multiple knee surgeries already is a bad investment for an NFL team - as talented as Richardson may be.
Redskins - Saints:
RGIII is a better passer than Vick was when he came out of Virginia Tech. But how much better is yet to be seen. His first start, for me, is somewhat clouded by that long catch and run by Pierre Garcon. Overall he showed good poise in the pocket and adjusted well to the Saints' pressure. The Saints look out of sync and Drew Brees seemed off - almost expected after that tumultuous off-season they just had.
49ers - Packers:
Aaron Rodgers seems out of sync with his receivers. And Jermichael Finley needs to start holding in to the catchable balls coming his way (no pun intended). 49ers might be the most balanced team top-to-bottom in this league. They just play good, solid football. The defenders cover their assignments, tackle well. The offensive line handles their assignments and Alex Smith is the perfect bootleg QB for their offense. They were a Kyle Williams muffed punt away from the Superbowl last year and they're showing they weren't a fluke.
Seahawks - Cardinals:
I was expecting more out of Russell Wilson in this game - he was rather pedestrian. But its not like he has great weapons to throw to and as I said before, things change once the games start to mean something. He's got plenty of time to show us he can be a franchise QB. Kolb, on the other hand, almost seems to do his best work coming off the bench. He rallied the Cardinals to a victory and will likely start the next couple of weeks. This might be the spark he needed to turn his career around.......we shall see.
Panthers - Buccaneers:
Rookie head coach Greg Schiano will play what many of today's fans will refer to as "boring football." He'll run the ball a lot, make Freeman check-down, and focus on tight coverage and aggressive defense. I think it's exactly what the doctor ordered for the young Buccaneers. The Panthers sorely missed Jonathan Stewart in the run game but give the Bucs some credit. Their run defense seems to be looking up.
Steelers - Broncos:
Peyton Manning looked about 90% - which is probably about 10 times better than Tim Tebow as a passer. And, just for the record, I'm not a Tebow-basher by any stretch. Manning was back to his old ways, spreading the ball around without bias and consistently getting first downs. The Steelers really seemed to miss their running game. Jonathan Dwyer came on a little too late for them.
Ravens - Bengals:
The toughest thing about the no-huddle offense for an offensive coordinator is knowing when to say "no". Say what you want about Cam Cameron, he called this game perfectly. The pace kept the Bengals on their heels most of the game, and just when they caught up to the Ravens mentally, Cam slowed the game down while the Bengals defense became over-aggressive. The no-huddle is a great tool for any offense, especially in today's passing NFL. But it's also its biggest enemy. It's kinda like life..everything in moderation. You need players with a very unique skill set to be able to run the no-huddle as your base offense (aka majority of the plays).
Anyways, I know everyone will tout Joe Flacco for "mastering" the no-huddle offense but the truth is Cam called a great game and they used no-huddle roughly a third of the plays. Don't get me wrong, Flacco played really well. He made some big boy throws under pressure placing the ball out of danger only where his receivers can catch it. But he will take his lumps because Cam Cameron is not going to call the perfect no-huddle game every time. Flacco and Matt Ryan seem to have taken the next step towards the top 5. We'll see if they continue on this path this season.
That's it for week 1. Enjoy Week 2 everyone!
Anyways, here are some random thoughts that popped into my head after somewhat digesting the Week 1 games. I'll arrange it by the matchup for the sake of organization. I will hopefully be able to do this weekly, but keep in mind that I probably won't cover every matchup as I don't usually get to watch every game every week.
Cowboys-Giants:
I had a pretty good feeling that the Cowboys were going to win. The Giants have made it a habit to start out slow in September and turn it up a notch when it's crunch time. The opposite can be said of the Cowboys. The star of the game was obviously Kevin Ogletree but we'll see how he adjusts to the game when defensive coordinators start paying attention to him.
Bills - Jets:
This team will go only as far as Fitzpatrick will - plain and simple. Week 1 was the perfect microcosm of Fitzpatrick as a QB. 1st Half he was 7 for 12 with 80 yards passing and 2 picks with a QB rating of 38.6; 2nd half he went 11 for 20 with 115 yards passing and 3 TD's and 1 INT and a QB rating of 90.6. Even that doesn't quite fully display Fitzy's inconsistencies. His QB rating by quarter was as follows:
1st - 20.8
2nd - 96.5
3rd - 62.2
4th - 118.3
When he strings together a full game, the Bills will almost assuredly win. Otherwise, they'll be on the outside looking in come January. His footwork adjustments with QB coach David Lee seem to force him to think during the game - he doesn't look as natural as he did the first half of last season. Most of his mistakes were on throws that were late. Here's hoping he'll clean it up sooner than later.
The other big area that I saw the Bills falter in: pass defense (if you even want to call it that). I'm willing to give them a break on that one (somewhat) seeing that their corners are extremely young (Gilmore, Williams) or banged up (McGee). But I'm not willing to look past the many mental errors made by the safeties - they constantly took bad angles and fell for the play fake (which the Jets totally exploited) more than a few times. Lot of work to do on both sides of the ball for this team.
The Jets, on the other hand, looked completely in control the whole game. Having Tebow in town has lit a fire under Sanchez and I saw probably the most technically sound game of his young career. He also seemed to handle the Tebow disruptions well - and for a young QB I think that is a disruption. You don't pull a guy who just went 3 for 3 on a drive with 60+ yards for a play here and then a play there. Sanchez handled it well this week, we'll see how he handles it when he doesn't have a 28 point lead in the game.
Colts - Bears:
I didn't watch much of this game but the few plays I caught I saw Andrew Luck play a little scared. I guess this is what they mean when they say "we'll see once the bullets start flying."
Falcons - Chiefs:
Julio Jones is a beast! He might challenge Megatron for the receiving title this year. And Matty Ice finally seems to have been unleashed. We've been waiting a little while for Matt Ryan to show us he's a top 5 QB and one game will not convince me, but I saw some good signs.
Jaguars - Vikings:
Jones-Drew looked hesitant when making cuts; he still needs to get his legs under him. Gabbert looked much more poised in the pocket than last year - not that it's saying much since he looked frightened for his life on every snap last year (yes even the hand-offs).
Eagles - Browns:
I heard some high ranking officer within the company that manufactured Vick's rib protectors guaranteed that the fleet-footed quarterback would not miss any games due to injury this year (or something to that effect). If I had any money in my bank account, I think I'd take his bet. No way Vick stays upright this whole season playing behind that O-line. Also, something seems to be off with him - his accuracy is off and he seems hesitant in the pocket. The Eagles were lucky to escape with a win in Cleveland. Playing against Weeden will likely guarantee a win for most teams this season. But they would do well to lean on Shady McCoy until Vick gets his mojo back.
As for Cleveland, I've always thought Weeden was overrated and now that he doesn't have perfect protection or one of college footballs' receivers to throw to, we're seeing his true colors. I truly feel bad for the Browns as an organization. There's some humor, a Bills fan feeling bad for another franchise. But they seem snake-bitten. I know its just one week and they almost beat the Eagles - but I'd be surprised if they win more than four games this year. Their defense is actually pretty good; Weeden has a long way to go before he is NFL ready and a rookie running back with multiple knee surgeries already is a bad investment for an NFL team - as talented as Richardson may be.
Redskins - Saints:
RGIII is a better passer than Vick was when he came out of Virginia Tech. But how much better is yet to be seen. His first start, for me, is somewhat clouded by that long catch and run by Pierre Garcon. Overall he showed good poise in the pocket and adjusted well to the Saints' pressure. The Saints look out of sync and Drew Brees seemed off - almost expected after that tumultuous off-season they just had.
49ers - Packers:
Aaron Rodgers seems out of sync with his receivers. And Jermichael Finley needs to start holding in to the catchable balls coming his way (no pun intended). 49ers might be the most balanced team top-to-bottom in this league. They just play good, solid football. The defenders cover their assignments, tackle well. The offensive line handles their assignments and Alex Smith is the perfect bootleg QB for their offense. They were a Kyle Williams muffed punt away from the Superbowl last year and they're showing they weren't a fluke.
Seahawks - Cardinals:
I was expecting more out of Russell Wilson in this game - he was rather pedestrian. But its not like he has great weapons to throw to and as I said before, things change once the games start to mean something. He's got plenty of time to show us he can be a franchise QB. Kolb, on the other hand, almost seems to do his best work coming off the bench. He rallied the Cardinals to a victory and will likely start the next couple of weeks. This might be the spark he needed to turn his career around.......we shall see.
Panthers - Buccaneers:
Rookie head coach Greg Schiano will play what many of today's fans will refer to as "boring football." He'll run the ball a lot, make Freeman check-down, and focus on tight coverage and aggressive defense. I think it's exactly what the doctor ordered for the young Buccaneers. The Panthers sorely missed Jonathan Stewart in the run game but give the Bucs some credit. Their run defense seems to be looking up.
Steelers - Broncos:
Peyton Manning looked about 90% - which is probably about 10 times better than Tim Tebow as a passer. And, just for the record, I'm not a Tebow-basher by any stretch. Manning was back to his old ways, spreading the ball around without bias and consistently getting first downs. The Steelers really seemed to miss their running game. Jonathan Dwyer came on a little too late for them.
Ravens - Bengals:
The toughest thing about the no-huddle offense for an offensive coordinator is knowing when to say "no". Say what you want about Cam Cameron, he called this game perfectly. The pace kept the Bengals on their heels most of the game, and just when they caught up to the Ravens mentally, Cam slowed the game down while the Bengals defense became over-aggressive. The no-huddle is a great tool for any offense, especially in today's passing NFL. But it's also its biggest enemy. It's kinda like life..everything in moderation. You need players with a very unique skill set to be able to run the no-huddle as your base offense (aka majority of the plays).
Anyways, I know everyone will tout Joe Flacco for "mastering" the no-huddle offense but the truth is Cam called a great game and they used no-huddle roughly a third of the plays. Don't get me wrong, Flacco played really well. He made some big boy throws under pressure placing the ball out of danger only where his receivers can catch it. But he will take his lumps because Cam Cameron is not going to call the perfect no-huddle game every time. Flacco and Matt Ryan seem to have taken the next step towards the top 5. We'll see if they continue on this path this season.
That's it for week 1. Enjoy Week 2 everyone!
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