Monday Hangover: Week 1 Analysis

Written by Sam DeCoste

The NFL is back. Sundays are once again for football. After 214 days since the last professional game, Super Bowl LI, we can enjoy regular season football and watch NFL Red Zone again. I hope you all enjoyed the games as much as I did.

We will have a segment every week called the Monday Hangover, which recaps the top stories of the NFL weekend. I hope you enjoy.


Falcons Hold On For Dear Life

The game of the week has to be the Falcons-Bears game. I predicted this to be a Falcons win by a score of 24-16 in my Week 1 Predix, and the final score was 23-17 Falcons. Not bad, huh? Neither was the game.
If you started Austin Hooper in your fantasy league, you're loving it. I played Devonta Freeman and he did just enough for me.
In terms of real football, the league's highest scoring offense last season got off to a slow start in Chicago. It took time for them to get back into the clockwork-like rhythm they are capable of reaching.
I am not going to lie, this was not the game I was paying most attention to. I watched it on RedZone along with all of the other games. But it was an entertaining contest. Instead of tuning into the final seconds of Jets-Bills, I tuned in to the dying seconds of the Falcons-Bears. Chicago had the chance to win the game with a touchdown from inside the five yard line. Both Joshua Bellamy and Jordan Howard dropped passes that would have earned the Bears six points, and tied the game. While the Bears shot themselves in the foot, the Falcons got out of jail with this result.
The Falcons did not play the best of games, but in the end they are 1-0. Their defense held the Glennon-led Bears to only 17 points. The offense exploded when Austin Hooper caught a bomb from Matt Ryan, and stiff armed his way into the end zone. The Falcons should be fine once they get into a groove offensively. It is week one, after all.
As for the Bears, it can't get much worse than this. They had not one, but TWO critical drops in or close to the end zone which would've put them on top. The Bears let the opportunity to beat the reigning NFC Champions get away, and they will have to live with this defeat and move on to Tampa.



Sacksonville Spoils the Texans Home Opener

You can't always be right. And I wasn't when I predicted the Texans to beat the Jaguars. But come on, who saw this coming? The Doug Marrone era began in #Sacksonville with a bang. Yes, I said Sacksonville. The Jaguars renamed their Twitter account to this, as their team sacked Texans quarterbacks TEN times! Yes, ten times! That is two shy of the NFL record. The Jags defense dominated Houston all day with sacks and four turnovers, and two defensive touchdowns!
If you buy into week 1, then you have to believe the Jags defense is going to be one of the league's best this season. They have not beaten the Texans in quite some time, and they did on Sunday in style. And if you're wondering, it was not a defensive performance in spite of Blake Bortles. He played competently, and did enough for the Jags offense.
As for Houston, they are in trouble. Their defense welcomed back JJ Watt, and they still lost. They are in quarterback purgatory. The Texans have never had a franchise quarterback in their short franchise history (established in 2002), and they certainly haven't found one fifteen years later. Tom Savage was terrible. When Deshaun Watson came on in the third quarter in relief for Savage, he provided somewhat of a spark. He led them down the field and threw a touchdown pass to fellow former Clemson Tiger, Deshaun Watson to narrow the gap. But then Jacksonville ran away with it, through their defense. It will be interesting to see what Bill O'Brien wants to do at the quarterback position for this week, on a short week at Cincinnati. They need to figure it out quickly, otherwise there will be new AFC South winners this year.



UnLucky Colts Get Rammed in the Coliseum



If not for the Rams defense, I may have lost my fantasy matchup this week. All hail Wade Phillips.

Now before we all preach the Rams for a spectacular performance, let's just remember that the Colts were without Andrew Luck. With Luck, the Colts are a subpar football team. Without him, forget about it. Scott Tolzien may be a viable backup, but he is an incapable starter in this league. He showed it Sunday in LA, throwing two pick sixes. Or maybe Brissett threw one of them? I don't even remember anymore, that's how bad the Colts were. As long as Luck is out, they are doomed. They may not win a game without him. Arizona will be happy to have them next on the schedule.

As bad as Indianapolis played, we must not forget that the Rams dominated the game. The defense was the story of the game, but Jared Goff played a great game. He won his first game as a starter in the NFL, after losing all seven of his career starts in 2016. They used Sammy Watkins from the Bills plenty, and unleashed Cooper Kupp. Even Todd Gurley looked better than last season, or maybe that's just the offensive line finally opening holes for him. There is plenty of reason to be excited about the Rams this year. I'm interested to see if the Rams can replicate a great performance from one Sunday to the next under new head coach, Sean McCoy. Part of Jeff Fisher's undoing was his teams' inconsistency. They struggled to replicate high level performances from one game to the next.

The Champs Drop the Banner and Their Opening Game

Now I know that this is old news, but remember when the Patriots lost on opening night just a few days ago? 

Nobody saw this coming. The reigning champions created buzz around the league that there was potential for an undefeated season. If not undefeated, they were certainly big favorites going into the season to repeat as champs. Well, they got off to a bad start. 

The Chiefs, the number two seed in the AFC from last year, came in as heavy underdogs to New England, and upset the Patriots rather comfortably, by a score of 42-27. Now what does this mean going forward?

The Patriots played a very uncharacteristic game, giving up over 500 yards and 40 points in one game, and getting torched by Alex Smith. Are you kidding? Alex Smith! He looked like an MVP on Thursday night. And his playmakers showed up as well. Kareem Hunt stepped in for the injured Spencer Ware, and Tyreek Hill stepped up and burned recent new acquisition, Stephon Gilmore, for a 75-yard touchdown. The Patriots defense made the 20th ranked offense from 2016 look like world beaters. 

As for the Patriots offense, they looked lost for ideas. Their offense struggled to find a rhythm. Brady and Gronk didn't look like they were on the same page most of the time. And with Edelman out for the year, it became a great opportunity for players like White, Gillislee, Burkhead, Hogan, and Amendola to shine. But Mitchell is now on IR, and may not play for a long time this season. But the Edelman-less Patriots seemed lost for ideas on Thursday night. 

Now this does not mean the Patriots will fall off a cliff this year. But they had a bad night. They better pick it right back up soon. They have a great matchup against the Saints next Sunday in New Orleans.

As Week 1 comes to a close, Week 2 is on the horizon. The Saints welcome the Pats, the Broncos host the Cowboys, and the Falcons open their brand new stadium against the Green Bay Packers to headline the premier matchups next week. Stay tuned for Week 2 Predix!

Picture credit: https://www.patspulpit.com/2017/9/9/16278972/advanced-stats-report-patriots-vs-chiefs