Games I saw (some of):
Cowboys 29-31 Bucs
I was impressed with Dak, thought he looked great, and I was equally unimpressed with the Bucs D, so untouchable in the playoffs last season. The Bucs had a handful of fluky turnovers that kept the Cowboys in the game, so while the score was close and I thought the Cowboys moved the ball well, one could make the argument that the Bucs were realistically the much better team. (Or perhaps not) Well, I had the Cowboys winning their division and the Bucs not making the playoffs (hot take!), this opening game, fun as it was, is not really all the meaningful for the season-long narrative. But for now: Cowboys offense looked better than the Bucs' defense.
Steelers 23-16 Bills
Very disappointing result for the Bills. First off: why did they keep going on 4th down in the 2nd half when they passed on far more better chances to do so in the 1st half? Felt like they were trying to get cute when in fact they were playing right into the Steelers' hands. The Steeler offense was pretty awful in the 1st half, but the veteran smarts took over after halftime and thanks to a nifty blocked punt for a TD and the Bills offense absolutely sputtering most all day (one good TD drive, another good drive late where they settled for an FG and that was pretty much it), the Steelers were able to steal themselves a W that they really shouldn't have been able to get. The Bills defense is clearly their Achilles' heel: no pass rush, so-so defensive backfield, unimpressive special teams, so unless Josh Allen has the MVP season some are predicting, this Bills team might be left by the wayside. (Yes, I'm a Bills fan and I am panicking) This was a winnable game and they let it get away and that's not a good way to start the season.
Vikings 24-27 (OT) Bengals
Neither team seemed well equipped to win the game. The Bengals can pass but not much else, the Vikings...well, I don't know what the Vikings can do but they did came back late to send this to OT. So are the Vikings in trouble or was this just a sloppy game? Well, I'm gonna start with column B and work my way over to Column A: a young team like the Bengals on the road is unpredictable, harder to game plan for than I think most people realize; that said, the Vikings still should've been better and they weren't, which suggests they aren't on the same page and might suck really bad--but even then, they're in with the Lions and Bears and a Packers teams that looks as bad as they have in a while, so there is still time for the Vikings to get their shit together. As for the Bengals, well, I like Burrow and Mixon and I think Higgins and Boyd can make a nice tandem, I think that offense can actually be pretty good. But no one is expecting them to actually win games and I don't reckon they will.
Browns 29-33 Chiefs
I was more impressed with the Browns than with the Chiefs. That said, the Chiefs did what they needed to do to pull out the W and, well, that's what they do. Is it going to catch up to them? You gotta figure it will eventually, but the Browns probably should've been the team to do that and they didn't get it done. I think the Browns are gonna be good, they move the ball well and that pass rush is for real. I think the Chiefs, too, will be good and this may well have been a preview of the final four in January.
Bears 14-34 Rams
The Rams are good, the Bears are not. Not sure what else there was to get out this game. The Rams are in a good division, so their goodness may go to waste, while the Bears are in a bad division and may well avoid punishment for being awful.
Ravens 27-33 (OT) Raiders
Can I say something about Derek Carr: the Raiders are still the sloppiest team in the league and make all sorts of dumb mistakes at inopportune moments but virtually none of them are Carr's fault. He's the QB, he's gonna get the blame but he really doesn't deserve it. I'm not saying he's great but I am saying he's not bad and he may look a lot better on another team (if I was Carr, I'd tell my agent to do what it takes to get to Atlanta and their all-world young TE). The Ravens are kinda lackluster, man, that vaunted D is just kinda ordinary now and as much as I love Lamar Jackson, he tries to do too much instead of figuring out how to win with less effort. The Raiders strike me as a spoiler kinda squad: they'll mostly be bad but they'll be good just often enough to fuck up some other team. The Ravens may be the same thing, now that the Raiders have delivered an L in a game they should've won.
The rest of the week's matches:
Eagles 32-6 Falcons
Wow, the Falcons look awful and the Eagles look not so bad. How much of a Week One overreaction is that?
Niners 41-33 Lions
Niners had a massive lead, then sweated it out letting the Lions close the gap. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lions do this a lot this season, the kind of team that takes a lot of losses but covers spreads anyway. I think the Niners are actually good and just kinda fell asleep against a crappy team and got away with it, ideally they won't do that any more.
Cards 38-13 Titans
I like the Cards this year but I don't think the Titans can be this bad.
Chargers 20-16 WTF
Chargers on the road is maybe a bit of an overreach but WTF does look sloppy at best.
Jets 14-19 Panthers
Jets suck--who's surprised? The Panthers missed a golden opportunity to cover a spread but they got the W, so good for them.
Jags 21-37 Texans
Hmmm....so the Jags are gonna be even worse than the Texans? Okay, I thought the Texans were going to be historically bad but perhaps Tyrod Taylor (the new Fitzmagic?) is enough to gut out a few W's. And the Jags are even further away than I thought they'd be (indeed, I thought they'd win a few games early on and then disappear).
Dolphins 17-16 Pats
This was a surprising result. I think Tua could be good but I think Mac should also be good enough to get the Pats over the hump in a division game at home. Oh well, rookie's first start and the Pats still should've won. Are the Dolphins this good? I dunno.
Packers 3-38 Saints
I like the Saints this year so I was not shocked by the 'new Jameis Winston', I think we'll see more of this throughout the year. As for the Packers, well, even if thay are this bad, they're still in a division with three even worse teams, so no big deal really.
Broncos 27-13 Giants
I dunno. I kinda think NYG is gonna be awful and I think the Denver Bridgewaters (oh wait, is he the new Fitzmagic?) should be a solid squad, so this doesn't look shocking to me.
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