2022-23 NFL (Week 1)

Games I saw (some of):

Bills 31-10 Rams

As a Bills fan, I was a little nervous early on, where I thought Buffalo was the far superior team but could only muster a draw at halftime. But I was pleased to watch the Rams sputter into nothingness while the Bills moved the ball at will. Whew! The Rams looked rusty, not bad but not quite ready to play, though I assume they will pick up as the season goes on. The Bills looked good, that pass rush looked better than last year and even the running game looked to be improving (though I'm already done with watching Josh Allen stretch out for a 3 yard gain when they're up by three TD's with four minutes left--pick your spots, Josh!).  

Niners 10-19 Bears

Wow, what a slopfest of a game. Torrential rains pretty much through out that really picked up after halftime made it hard to judge the quality of the squads. Trey Lance was making his first start and the 1st half was....fine...but the 2nd half was kinda nothing. The Bears was able to scramble around and make two plays and that was the ball game. The Niners D was mostly fine but let the game get away from them while the Bears D was good enough to fustigate a rookie QB in the rain. Weird game, good W for the Bears.

Steelers 23-20 (OT) Bengals

Reminded me of last year's match when the Packers came to Cincy and the missed FGs were plentiful. Here the Bengals long snapper was injured which made for an adventure that led to a missed PAT (that would've won the game) and an OT FG (that also would've won the game). Instead, the Bengals played as bad as they've played in years and the Steelers were still insanely lucky to even be close to a W. Disappointing L for the Bengals, fluke of the year for the Steelers (who lost TJ Watt for the season, so pyrrhic victory at best). The Bengals O-line still has trouble keeping Burrow upright (which is kinda half his own fault) and the Steelers are not likely to win a lot of games this year.

Giants 21-20 Titans

Fun game! NYG going for the 2-point conversion to steal the W was a thing of beauty. The Giants might not be awful, I like that pass rush and the running game is legit, so if they can avoid turnovers, they might be better than you think. The Titans, I think, overachieved last year and that might not happen again this season (though their division is weak). 

Chiefs 44-21 Cards

The Chiefs offense was humming throughout, the Cards D was flatly overmatched. I'm not yet ready to crown the Chiefs (is it rude to point out that they've only won 1 Super Bowl though appearing in four straight final fours? If they're so unbeatable then why did they get beaten three of the last four years?) but they definitely can still move the ball. As for the Cards, I dunno, man, this game got away from them so early that it's kinda meaningless. Chiefs are still good, Cards are still kinda sputtering. 

Bucs 19-3 Cowboys

Bo-ring! Neither team moved the ball effectively, partly because these are two good defenses but also partly because these are two not so excited offenses. The Bucs D is legit but Brady doesn't quite seem like Brady yet ("Stepford Brady"?) and the Cowboys have a nice D but I think they're offense might be terrible (oh, and Dak Prescott broke his thumb and will be out for 6-8 weeks). 

Broncos 16-17 Seahawks

Just kept waiting for the Broncos to get going and they just never did. I was more impressed with the Seahawks on both sides of the ball than I expected to be (though I'm not yet ready to say they're in the mix in the NFC West). The Broncos just kinda...meh.

The rest of the slate:

Saints 27-26 Falcons. Falcons led throughout, blew it in the 4th quarter (we'll see if that is a running theme in Atlanta this year). 

Eagles 38-35 Lions. Eagles had a big lead throughout, Lions came back and made it look close. Are the Lions a backdoor cover team again this season?

Pats 7-20 Dolphins. Feels like the Dolphins didn't even play well and still dominated the Pats. (This is the year--RIGHT?--when the Pats finally suck?)

Ravens 24-9 Jets. Yeah, sounds about right. 

Jags 22-28 Commanders. I really thought the Jags were gonna take this but the Commanders stole this one late. So the takeaway is the Jags are good but young, the Commanders are veterans but not deep on talent....yes?

Browns 26-24 Panthers. Seems like the Browns stole it late, nice W.

Colts 20-20 Texans. Yeah, feels like the Colts might be truly awful. The Texans clearly aren't good but they're gonna bust ass (the kinda team that's gonna cover spreads). 

Packers 7-23 Vikings. Early on, Rodgers hit one of his rookie WR's in the hands with a gonna-be-a-TD pass...and the dude dropped it. If he makes that catch this might've been an entirely different ball game. That said, the Vikings are probably the better team and definitely look better right now. 

Raiders 19-24 Chargers. Chargers would seem to be the better team.