NFL Week 1: An exciting Sunday, for a change.

Traditionally, NFL Sundays, for me, have been about getting around and doing several of the things I should have done on Saturday but which got brushed aside by college football. Plans on the first Sunday of the NFL season were cancelled on account of rain in Houston, so I actually got to watch more football than I had originally planned.  

Like most of Houston, I was dreading getting stuck watching the Texans lose (again) to the Patriots, but as a U-Verse customer I get NFL Red Zone which is a sanity keeper. With that in mind, here are some thoughts on what we saw yesterday and last night:

Bengals 34 Colts 23. - Andrew Luck being back is not going to salvage the Colts season. This team might have one of the worst top-to-bottom rosters in the league outside of QB and WR. The Bengals might not make the playoffs, but they're going to play well enough to (probably) keep the notoriously tight ownership group from blowing up the team at the end of the season.

Bills 3 Ravens 47 - How do I put this?  Let's just rip off the band-aid.  The Bills are AWFUL. This year they only exist to assure fans of other teams that they don't have the worst team in the league. Starting Nate Peterman should be a fireable offense, and saying you need to "look at the film" before determining that he's bad even more so.

Buccaneers 48 Saints 40 - Hands down the game of the day. Congratulations to Ryan Fitzpatrick who played the game of his life and led the Bucs to an unexpected DIVISION GAME upset of the heavily favored (-10) Saints. This was the most lop-sided line of the weekend, and the Bucs won on the money line.  Remember in the pre-season when we were told the Saints defense was going to be good?  That's in doubt now.

Texans 20 Patriots 27 - As a Houston resident I'm only going to make 2 points:  1. This Texans roster is not NEAR as talented as the local media has made it out to be.  2. Bill O'Brien is not a head coach.  His statement after the game that it was "not his job" to call a timeout after the Gronk catch that wasn't a catch is ridiculous and should be a fireable offense.  The thing is, I'm not sure how good the Patriots are after this game.  They ran into a team that was playing not to lose and gave them a chance to have a chance at the end of the game, a chance they flubbed away.

Titans 20 Dolphins 27 - After over 7 hours (including 2 lightning delays of over 2 hours each) the Dolphins escaped with a win, and the Titans left town with an injured QB (Elbow) and doubt about the head coach they just hired despite his having no prior coaching success at any level. It's probable that Tennessee is in for a LONG year.

Jaguars 20 NY Giants 15 - I cannot tell you how happy I am the Jaguars pulled this out. Because if the Giants would have won the sports media would have been in a rapturous fog all week and we would have been inundated with hot takes putting them in the Super Bowl. I still think the Jaguars are the best team in the AFC South by default, I also think the Giants might have a shot in a suddenly questionable NFC East.

Steelers 21 Browns 21 - Never before has a tie invigorated so many. Not only did the Browns not lose a game for the first time since the 2016 season, but they actually, at times, looked like an honest to God football team.  The person who was the biggest loser here was holdout running back Le'Veon Bell. Not only did his backup Conner have a solid game, but the problems with the Steelers were not because he was missing.

Chiefs 38  Chargers 28 - Last year the Kansas City Chiefs started off the season shellacking projected Super Bowl contender New England with a combination of creative (college like) play-calling and a ton of aggressiveness and speed.  This year the Kansas City Chiefs started off the season shellacking projected Super Bowl contender Los Angeles (Chargers) with a combination of creative (college like) play-calling and a ton of aggressiveness and speed. The question remains though: How is Andy Reid going to mess this up.  Also, the Chargers receivers need to hit the Juggs machine immediately. Phillip Rivers deserved better than the drop-fest he faced on Sunday.

Cowboys 8 Panthers 16 - Jason Garrett is getting fired either during, or after, this season. The Cowboys offense is a hot mess with no solutions for stretching the field and little to take the pressure off of Zeke Elliot.  Their defense played OK, but Cam Newton and the Panther's offense did just enough to win.  Sad thought: Next week's Sunday Night game is (of course) the Giants vs. the Cowboys.  Must miss TV.

Washington 24 Cardinals 6 - Alex Smith is still good, the Cardinals are pretty bad. Also, Adrian Peterson had a good game and the Washington season will go as his health holds up. Larry Fitzgerald deserves better than a team that can't seem to get out of it's own way.  Arizona fans booed the head coach and QB Sam Bradford in yesterday's season opener. The Cardinals and the Bills might be worth watching this year just to see who out-sucks who in the Ed Oliver sweepstakes.

Seahawks 24 Broncos 27 - This was a game of "Meh". Both teams played OK, but neither team looked like a world beater. Broncos new QB Case Keenum did throw 3 touchdowns, but also 3 INTs to go with them.  the Seahawks are such a program in decline that the Legion of Boom is now the Legion of "Meh". Russell Wilson is still good and showed flashes, and Von Miller can totally dominate a game. But both of these teams have gaping holes in their rosters that offset most the good.

Bears 23 Packers 24 - Let's take just a minute and appreciate the greatness that is Aaron Rodgers. What he did last night was improbable. The Packers were down 17-0 at halftime, and then 20-0 in the 3rd quarter before kicking what, at the time, seemed like a sad field goal to bring the score to 20-3. Rodgers went out of the game early with a knee injury, and it looked like all was lost.  Even when he came back into the game he was basically a one-legged quarterback, unable to put pressure on the knee, or pivot while throwing the football. It was amazing and wonderful and reminded us all why we enjoy watching this dumb sport. Khalil Mack was other-worldly for the Bears in the fist half, and probably made Raiders fans head to the liquor cabinet thinking about what their dolt front-office traded away.  But he's not yet in game-shape which showed in the 2nd half. Right now I'm ready to hang the dreaded "game-manager" tab on Mitchell Trubisky. But this night was about Aaron Rodgers and his magnificence at the quarterback position. Let's just hope that knee is OK going forward.

The game in which I had a rooting interest:

49ers 16 Vikings 24 - The game itself was not as close as the score makes it seem. As I feared, the 49ers were very one-handed on offense and you cannot hope to be that way against a Vikings defense that is the real deal.  Quarterback Kirk Cousins was competent, but not spectacular, and Jimmy Garoppolo lost his first football game as a starter. I realize that there was a lot of buzz surrounding my Niners this pre-season, talk of playoffs and great things to come, but I think the roster has too many holes (especially on defense and O-line) to truly make a playoff push this season. IF they draft properly and handle player development correctly I believe that the future is bright. I saw enough flashes from Jimmy G to have hope for the future. That's more than I can say about this team in recent years.  The Vikings are legitimate Superbowl contenders in the NFC, but we really need to do something to silence that infernal horn.

Bonus:  The two Monday Night Games.

New York Jets @ Detroit (-7) [44.5] - I like Detroit here quite a bit, but not enough to include them in my 3 and out for the week.  That said, IF the number stays at 7 (or moves toward the Jets) I'll probably take a stab at it. I also might take a peek at the UNDER in this game although it needs to increase a little for me to feel really confident. I'm planning on watching this game for no other reason than to see Sam Darnold's NFL debut.

LA Rams (-4) @ Oakland [49.5]

Pick: LA Rams to cover -4

After the Khalil Mack trade, the Martavius Bryant cut, and the trade for AJ McCarron the Raiders are a team in turmoil. They also have the oldest roster in the NFL.  The Rams have tons of youth, talent and speed and should put everyone in the Black hole in a dark mood.  This Gruden experiment is going to end in Raider tears.  This is a pick from my 3 and out, which I'm reproducing here.

Tonight is one of the worst nights on the NFL calendar. ESPN continues to try and shoe-horn two games into a one game window.  What they ensure is that significant portions of the country miss part of at least one.  It's time to end this fiasco and go back to one Monday night game.  The NFL shouldn't stand for this.