Week 1 Recap

After all the fiddling and waiting with the line on the Saints game, it was all for naught anyway.  The Saints couldn't keep it close enough in the end, even though they had some good looks and chances to win it late.  Settling for those two field goals was their undoing, as well as a particularly untimely penalty.  Carson Palmer looked great-- you got to hand it to him, after all the injuries and all these years, the guy is playing some really good football. 

A closer call than I expected on the Eagles - Falcons total.  I still cashed the under, but it was played a little too closely for my liking.  Since I at time felt very uneasy at the prospect of starting a new season 0-2, I'll be glad for the split, 1-1 in Week 1.

We started out with a push on Thursday night; the Steelers got the backdoor push late (though, some backing the Steelers late on Thursday were able to get that all-important half point to cash the ticket at +7.5).  I especially appreciated Al Michaels' not-so-subtle "ooohs and ahhs" comment when he realize the Steelers had just hit the push.  Of course, the big story was another Pats controversy with the headset malfunctions.  Any other team and it would have been a non-story, but coming off of more than a decade of Spygate and Deflategate-type shenanigans, it certainly adds fuel to the Pats-hating fire.

Kansas City looked great for the first half; they were pretty much offensively dead in the second half, but had built up a big enough lead to outlast the Texans in the second half.  Alex Smith makes good decisions, if not explosive plays.  KC could be one of those teams that hangs around and has a chance in about any game, and might just be the best of that division.  San Diego looked pretty good at times, but the Chargers will stumble at some point, if history is any guide.

My call to stay off the Washington game was the right one.  Even as Washington was pretty competitive for most of the game, they blew the cover late.  This had more to do with the usual kind of poor decisions and bad plays we have come to expect from them than anything stellar happening with the Dolphins.  I'm still not convinced Tannehill is a QB they can make the playoffs with-- beating the bottom feeder of the NFC East isn't doing much to convince me otherwise.

Oakland, which had made strides in the latter half of last year and is now helmed by the competent Jack del Rio, just looked like the Raiders of the last decade.  Cincinnati was the only AFC North team to get a win, but it was likely more about Oakland than the Bengals.  

Kudos to Marcus Mariota for making the Bucs look really, really stupid.  They took Jameis Winston over him, and Mariota shined bright while Winston threw a pick-6.  Mariota could have some early success before there is a lot of tape on him in an NFL context; the sorry defense of the Colts especially could have some trouble there.

Speaking of the Colts, for a team with aspirations to a Super Bowl, they have some serious problems.  There has been a shift in how the franchise operates; for years, they were among the best at developing their drafted talent and not making a lot of huge trades and free agent signings.  That has changed, and I'm not sure it has had the desired effect.  The trade last year for Mark Ingram was a bust, and additions of Frank Gore and Andre Johnson seem dubious at the moment.  Frank Gore is a great back, but you have to have an O-line that can rip open some holes.  This is one place where Dallas made the smart move-- banking on the idea that their stellar line could make holes and not needed a pricey back to make it work.  But the real problem with the Colts is-- and really, always has been-- the defense.  It has to get better for them to be competitive.

And speaking of defense, Rex Ryan can certainly coach a defense.  I'll be very interested to see if he can still keep games close with New England with his new team, as he generally always did with his (often less talented) Jets teams the last few years.  Bufflo is used to get manhandled by the Pats, but Coach Ryan has a track record of playing them tight. I'm not fooled by the Buffalo offense, though-- putting up points on the Colts D is not that hard by any stretch. 

It's odd that Peyton Manning didn't look like his unstoppable usual regular-season self, yet the Broncos look like a team better suited for the playoffs this year.  The defense looked much-improved, and the running game gained a little more traction.  A little less flash and a little more grit-- that was a gutsy, grinder of a win against Baltimore.  The Thursday match-up with the Chiefs could be an interesting one. 

The Giants - Cowboys game was, well, sort of a weird yet true-to-form tilt in this series.  Dallas really, really tried to give this one away, and the Giants just didn't seem to want to really take it.  The throw on 3rd down will be debated all week (perhaps as much as the baffling decision-making in the Seahawks - Rams game), but props to Romo and Dunbar for getting down the field so fast to give Witten a chance at the game winner.  Dallas was lucky in a way they usually aren't; the Giants once again start the season with a sour taste in their mouths.

NFL 2015 Week 1: 1-1
NFL 2015 Season Total: 1-1