As another fabulous start of the NFL season is behind us, it is time to take stock of what’s going on, and what’s coming. To start off with, the NFL has instituted some rule changes this year. The most noticeable of these has to be the new kickoff rule. Basically this is to reduce injuries on kickoffs and to increase excitement on kickoffs. This has led to some funny shenanigans like the Onside kick becoming relegated to almost impossible due to it only being able to be done in the fourth quarter and has to be announced to the enemy team. The biggest change however has to be where no player can move on either side (except for the returner) until the ball hits the ground or is caught by the returner. This has all been done to increase safety in the league, we will see if the fans like it or not.
Outside of rule changes the first week of the NFL season always brings some excitement. That excitement started out with 2 AFC powerhouses in the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens letting it rip in Kansas city Missouri. The end of the game ended up as a game of inches with Ravens tight end Isiah Likely catching what looked to be a touchdown pass to send the game to overtime, however on automatic replay review it was ruled that Isiah Likely’s gargantuan big toe was just out of bounds giving the Chiefs a thrilling victory to kickoff the NFL season.
One of the other big changes this year was the playing of a NFL game not just on a Friday night but also in South America. The game was played in Brazil and represents the first NFL game played in South America. However the game and the days leading up to it were not perfect. An example of this is the team’s colors. In Brazil green is a common gang affiliated color, just like blue with the Crips in the USA. Of course, both the teams the NFL sent to Brazil have primary colors that are green. This led to players and team members being encouraged to not set foot outside of the hotel and surrounding areas for fear of danger. In the end the game was played successfully with the Eagles beating the Packers 34-29. Additionally Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love, the highest paid man in NFL history went down with a knee sprain putting some dark thunderclouds on the rest of the Packers season.
There were two blowouts this week: Saints 47-10 over the Panthers, and the Vikings 28-6 over the Giants. Interestingly both these losers have some major questions at Quarterback with the Panthers former first overall pick Bryce Young having been the worst quarterback by a considerable margin over last season and week one. At least Young is still cheap, Daniel (Dimes) Jones is being paid 45 million dollars a year to throw passes to the defense and look awful doing it. It is likely both teams are in the running for the first overall pick at next year’s draft.
It’s a changing of the guard in both Seattle and New England with both longtime coaches being let go at the end of last season following disappointment. The early results are in and they look good. The Patriots, who prior to this year have not known a coach besides Bill Belichick in the past 25 years, knocked off the Super Bowl hopeful Bengals 16-10 in a defensive game. The Seahawks with new coach Mike Macdonald and his ravenous defense beat the new-look Broncos 26-20 who are paying 45 million dollars for the next three years for Russel Wilson to play football against them.
Four teams had rookie quarterbacks starting their first games this season. One of them, Bo Nix plays for the aforementioned Broncos. The Bears had generational prospect Caleb Williams who went number one overall in the draft last year starting his first game. It did not look good whatsoever with less than 100 yards of passing, but the Bears won the game versus the Titans 24-17. It’s worth a mention that the Bears are the only franchise without ever having a 4000 yard or 30 touchdown season from one of their quarterbacks, only time will tell if Williams is the answer to that pressing NFL trivia question. The Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis, who besides his famous mayonnaise addiction had a forgettable night where mindless mistakes gave the game to the Bears. The other rookie quarterback starting, Former Heisman winner Jayden Daniels led the Washington football team to a loss versus Baker Mayfield, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Led by the Mayfields NFL leading passing attack (who thought we would be hearing that week one?) The Bucs dismantled an electrifying Daniels performance winning 37-20.
Few teams were as active in the offseason as the Atlanta Falcons and the Buffalo Bills. The Falcons led by the new 160 million dollar man Kirk Cousins (a 36 year old coming off an Achilles tear) got embarrassed by the Pittsburgh Steelers defense 18-10. That’s not to say the Steelers played well, with Chicago outcast Justin Fields leading the ineffective offense to a win. The Bills entered into this year without almost NFL receiving experience outside of Khalil Shakir by trading Stefon Diggs a multiple-time pro bowler to the Texans, and Gabe Davis (Wide Receiver 2) to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills beat the fun looking Arizona Cardinals 34-28 on the back of some Josh Allen heroics.
Speaking of the Jaguars they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory this week playing the fellow Floridian Miami Dolphins. These two Florida teams both have Super Bowl aspirations and both figure to do so for the next 4 years by making their quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa generationally wealthy. The Jaguars led by two scores going into the fourth quarter but could do nothing to stop the Dolphins offense or get anything going against the Miami defense. This game was also highlighted by Miami receiver Tyreek Hill being arrested on the way to the game and almost not making it to the game.
One of the biggest storylines of the NFL offseason wrapped up just prior to the start of the season with Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott being extended mere hours before the game to a massive extension keeping him in Dallas for the foreseeable future. Along with receiver CeeDee Lamb being paid handsomely, Dallas has its core. This energy led to the total dismemberment of the Cleveland Browns led by noted terrible person Deshaun Watson 33-17. It was a total effort with the Cowboys defense making Watsons’s day horrible with him running for his life in the backfield being chased by Micah Parsons.
Detroit football is back and better for the first time for NFL fans under 30. The Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams 26-20 in overtime on the back of a crushing run game led by David Montgomery in overtime. This game was also notable for the return of Matthew Stafford, former Lions savior to Detroit after winning the Super Bowl in his first year outside of Detroit. The Lions have real playoff aspirations behind potential coach of the year candidate (MCDC) Dan Campbell.
Monday night the New York Jets who have been eagerly awaiting Aaron Rodgers long awaited return from darkness, faced off versus the reigning Super Bowl loser San Francisco 49ers. The game started off like every Jets fan hoped it would, with Aaron Rodgers slinging the football with authority. This all came crashing down quickly however as the niners defense stifled the Jets offense and dominated them.
Finally, for the start of week two the Buffalo Bills soundly defeated the Miami Dolphins 31-10 in a not very close game. The game wasn’t the whole part of the story however as Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had a terrifying head injury with his body immediately going into the fencing position. This is not the start of head issues for Tua or the NFL. In fact Tua almost retired after his last concussion leading him to learn mixed martial arts to better protect his body and head.
Headed over to the MLB there is some exciting stuff going on. In the American League, the Yankees have the best record but some historic stuff is occurring. Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees superstar is trying to break his own 62 home run record this season. He is also in prime position for the AL MVP race with not just him performing admirably but also the Yankees having one of the best records in baseball. In the National league the Phillies have the best record but once again some historic stuff is occurring. Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar, is on pace to have the MLB’s first-ever 50 home run, 50 stolen base season. Considering only 6 players have ever reached the 40 40 plateau this is certainly newsworthy. Add on to all of this the season only being mere weeks from completion, and the playoffs starting shortly after that, this all boils down to an exciting time in sports.
