2017-18 NFL (Week 1)

Games I watched (some of):
Chiefs 42-27 Patriots
Wow, did not see that coming. The Pats stumble from time to time (I seem to recall they got punked pretty hard at home by the Bills just last year), so this doesn't mean the dynasty is over. Belichick makes improvements by gauging what is wrong, this game will go a long way to winning games later in the season, I have no doubt. I gotta say the Chiefs looked more dynamic, more fun, more scary than any time I can remember. I always think of the best Chiefs teams as gritty grind-it-out, rely on RBs on one side and LBs on the other, Memphis Grizzlie kinda football, but Alex Smith was kinda Brady-ish in this game. Not sure what to make of it, the Pats may not make it to 12 W's this year, maybe the Chiefs can snag themselves a home game in the post-season.

Ravens 20-0 Bengals
Ravens D looked old-timey good (then again, the Bengals OL was non-existent and the Bengal attack looked pretty rickety) and the Ravens offense looked good enough to keep games close. Coming into this season I went with an every-other-year theory: the Bengals were underappreciated 2 years ago, hot garbage last year with the same roster, I felt like they could get the magic back....I do not think that after this game. Combined with the Browns kinda hanging with the Steelers, feels like the Bengals could be mailing it in this year. The Ravens looked better than I thought they would on both sides of the ball, wouldn't be surprised them in a dogfight in the 4th quarter every single week, they're not getting blown out much this year.

Falcons 23-17 Bears
The Falcons looked...fine....on both sides. The offense had flashes of killer but mostly just kinda slunked along; Bears D-line looked pretty good to me. For the Bears, Tarik Cohen was everywhere and Mike Glennon seemed...serviceable at QB. I'm not ready to say the Bears could be good, but I suddenly think they won't be a laughingstock kinda squad this year. They've got a good pass rush and an exciting RB, if they can figure out how to win they'll be an okay team. With the Falcons this game is hard to tell: they looked fine on grass, outdoors, against a good-but-not-great defense. The Bears had their chances at the end, but the Falcons were in control by halftime, they were the better team. I had the Panthers and Saints leapfrogging the Falcons this year, its early, we'll see.

Seahawks 9-17 Packers
Impressed by the Packer D and by the fact that Aaron Rodgers looks capable of scoring every time he has the ball in his hands (the NFL's James Harden?). The Seahawk D wasn't bad but without any support from the offense it was only a matter of time before Rodgers get it in the end zone. Last year the Seahawks offense took a while to come together, as I recall, a lot of games where Russell Wilson was running around getting just lucky enough to will a W. Looks like they may be starting out stagnant all over again. The Packer D was good though, perhaps Wilson and co. will look better against they next opponent. I had these two in the conference final, I saw nothing to make me change my mind about that.

Giants 3-19 Cowboys
Both D-lines played really well. Thought the Cowboys were clearly the better team though. The Giants offense had one good drive out of halftime and otherwise looked terrible. The Cowboys on the other hand missed a lot of chances (thought Dak sailed a lot of passes in the 1st half), and still controlled the game pretty convincingly from the gitty. I had the Eagles and Redskins leapfrogging the Cowboys and Giants; after one week I feel pretty good about my predictions for the Giants and Eagles, not so much about the Cowboys or Redskins. This division is always good and this year looks to be one of the even gooder years.


Other results (surprising):
Jags 29-7 Texans
So...uh....what the fuck happened here? I knew the Texans were gonna have QB problems, I couldn't even remember their starting QB when thinking ahead to this game, but I didn't figure the D would have any trouble against a one-dimensional Jag squad. Hey, those Houston guys have had an emotional lead up to this--oh wait, those Jax guys did too! Not sure means anything really, this is probably a throwaway game.

Eagles 30-17 Redskins
I thought both of these teams would take a leap this season. Looks like I was right about one of them. Redskins could looking at a long hard season, I know its early but you need to get results in home division games. Eagles might be really good, like really really good, that's not crazy, that could happen.

Colts 9-46 Rams
Yeah, I knew the Colts would be bad, really bad. But this result jumped out at me. Curious to see how many games it takes the Rams to score 46 more points.

Other results (not terribly surprising):
Steelers 21-18 Browns
Steelers didn't cover but what do they care? Division W on the road, they got the result, they're not out to win a fashion show. I had the Steelers in the conference finals, I'm still good with that. The takeaway could be that the Browns might actually be not bad, not like making the playoffs good but they might have a couple upsets in them, curious to see if they can keep covering.

Cards 23-35 Lions
Yeah, I figured these two would score some points on each other, looks like it was a turnover battle. I thought the Cards would be pretty rickety this year and they are looking it. Lions...who knows? Maybe they're good but can't tell from this.

Raiders 26-16 Titans
Everybody's two favorite AFC darlings. I saw none of this game, got no feel for it, not sure what it tells us about either team. Good win for the Raiders to come east and get a result. (Incidentally this is the game I would've preferred to watch instead of Bengals getting torched at home)

Jets 12-21 Bills
I think NYJ are gonna be awful, like really awful, like man, they are awful kinda awful. That said, it looks like they mostly hung with Buffalo--who might also be awful. I thought the Bills would be mediocre, not sure what this result portends. Still convinced the Jets will be continue to be awful.

Panthers 23-3 Niners
I thought the Panthers would be good this year, seems like the offense struggled against a Niner squad that has no business being any good. The Panthers could be the kinda team that needs some time to really get going. This game doesn't mean much because it was too predictable.

Saints 19-29 Vikings
Saw none of it. I had both of these teams getting better this year, sounds like that could be what happened here.

Chargers 21-24 Broncos
Saw none of this either. Division game, long time rivals, tough way for both of them to start the season.

Won (covered): Chiefs, Ravens, Lions, Raiders, Eagles, Jags, Rams, Packers, Panthers, Cowboys, Vikings
Won (didn't cover): Bills, Falcons, Steelers
Push: Broncos-Chargers
Lost (covered): Jet,s Bears, Browns
Lost (didn't cover): Pats, Bengals, Cards, Titans, Redskins, Texans, Colts, Seahawks, Niners, Giants, Saints