Week 1 Six-Pack: Six Surprises From Football's Return
Well that was a lot of football. Going from zero to 1,000 was teetering on overbearing, but as the Monday Night Football game wrapped up I was still sad that there won't be a game to watch until Thursday.
Week 1 is always a crap shoot. Any predictions are total guesses, especially now a days when no starters see the field in preseason. As usual, there was a myriad of surprises in the first week. Several of them will seem much less surprising as the season plays out, while others will seem even more. Here's a few that I was most taken aback by.
Surprise No. 1: The Ravens Chose Mark Andrews Over Isaiah Likely
The story of Sunday night was Isaiah Likely. In his first game as "the guy", Likely put up a team/game-high 8 receptions, a team/game-high 78 yards, and a team/game-high 2 TDs to be the biggest X factor in the Giants win.
In every big spot, including both third downs on the G-men's final drive to ice the game, Dart looked for and found Likely. He was unstoppable, and is the biggest reason I'm already questioning my season outlook for the Giants. He's fast, shifty, 6'4"/240, and catches everything.
So it begs the question: why did the Ravens let this guy go?
I know how great Mark Andrews is and how much he means to that franchise, but after watching his performance in Indy yesterday, where he and Lamar were on different wavelengths several times in the first half (I stopped watching at halftime), I had to wonder if the Ravens spent Sunday night second guessing their decision to extend him last December instead of moving on to Likely who was also on the roster.
My first thought went to "Well, Likely must love Harbaugh and wanted to follow him". But how much could he love the coach that never started him in Baltimore? Mark Andrews hasn't been the Mark Andrews many of us know in quite some time, not posting more than 55 catches in a season since 2022, so I have a hard time believing over the last couple years Harbs couldn't see the upside of Likely being higher than Andrews at this point in his career.
Andrews looked old yesterday, while Likely looked like one of the biggest weapons in the NFL. It's only one week, but I left last night surprised that Baltimore chose Andrews over Likely.
Surprise No. 2: I Guess I Don't Know What A Fumble Is
This play snuck by me Sunday afternoon, as I didn't see it until I was watching highlights later that night. But this needs more attention.
Lol what?? On what planet is that a fumble?
The arm was definitely not moving forward, the ball went five yards backwards, yet they called it incomplete.
I guess "what constitutes the start of the throwing motion" is the new "what's a catch". The age old catch question that decades later no one still knows, this is right up there. The arm starts to go up, sure, but since when does up = forward?
Beyond that, we've seen dozens of RB screen passes that go lateral to slightly backward ruled live balls, so if the ball went 120 degrees backward, whether or not his arm is moving forward shouldn't matter.
Even farther beyond that, since when does intent to throw matter for anything? If I intended to do my homework in grade school but didn't hand it in, can I get retroactive credit? If I intended to work out yesterday but didn't, can I still get a six pack?
That's the stupidest shit I've ever heard. I didn't know this happened, but I kinda wish the Lions lost now. This plus blowing a 21-point lead? They really didn't deserve to. I can't wait for the same thing to happen next week and it's called a fumble.
Surprise No. 3: Packers 4th Quarter Implosion
Including last season, the Packers have now lost six games in a row, and four of those losses have come with the Packers holding a two-score second half lead.
After a horrifically sour taste in their mouth for how last season ended, they added fuel to the "are Matt Lafleur/Jordan Love the guys" fire yesterday.
Dominating the game for three quarters, the game flipped when LaFleur took points off the board to make the lead 8 points and elected to go for 4th and 1. They didn't get it, and from there it was a Viking avalanche (skip to 2:06 mark of the video).
Vibes can't possibly be lower in Green Bay. They haven't been higher than a 7-seed in the playoffs since the 7-seed was invented, lost five straight to end last year, and imploded Sunday after holding a 12-point lead against a division rival playing their backup QB.
I've had my doubts about Jordan Love, and although I think LaFleur is a very good coach, I predicted last week a change in scenery may be good for both sides if they stay flat lined again this year.
The fact they lost wasn't surprising, but how they did certainly was. What a gut punch to start the year.
Surprise No. 4: The Fact I'm Surprised The Chargers Let Me Down
This is on me more than anyone else. I can't even blame the Chargers more than myself.
I'm trying to be a more positive person. You know, see the good in life. Lift people up, believe in them when they don't believe in themselves type of thing. And I got in my own way.
I know this team better than anyone. I know Herbert better than anyone. It's when people expect literally anything from them that they perform their worst. I know that. I've always known it.
I'm surprised I let myself be surprised by the Chargers.
The Cardinals beat them at their own game. They were more physical, more opportunistic, and more disciplined. They outgained LA by 125 yards, were three times as good on third down, and out possessed them by an entire quarter (37 min to 22).
This wasn't a fluke upset - this was a beatdown. And despite all the shit I love to talk about the Chargers, and rightfully so, I would've never guessed that. Not just from the Cardinals, but really anyone in the league.
But especially the Cardinals. I'm such an idiot for thinking this year would be any different.
Surprise No. 5: Record-Setting Scoring Week 1
I'm loud about my feelings on sitting starters all preseason. I'm not stomping my foot saying they should play full, halves, or even quarters of games. But I do think one or two drives, where they get real action before the season, has to be treated as a good thing.
With the rest, usually we see sloppy week 1's, where offenses struggle to click since the only chemistry they built was on the practice field. Jim Harbaugh said it today when trying to swallow his team's letdown loss.
But other than the Chargers, offenses reigned supreme in week 1. In fact, this was the highest scoring week 1 since JFK was the sitting President.
The Bears are currently on pace to do exactly what Ben Johnson wanted to do this year.
The Panthers were the fourth highest scoring team of the week and lost by 20.
Lamar and the Ravens 40-pieced the Colts, while the Carson Wentz led Vikings were one point shy of 40-piecing Green Bay.
In all, 11 teams scored more than 30 points in week 1.
45 total turnovers - 10 higher than the weekly average of last year - certainly helped, as many teams were given short fields (and a couple TDs in Cincinnati). But the total offensive output was way higher than I was expecting.
Maybe defensive starters need to play preseason.
Surprise No. 6: The Patriots Loss Feels Like A Year Ago
I know I told everyone to relax last week, but after seeing performances like Baker Mayfield, Justin Herbert, Bo Nix, and Jordan Love (in the second half) this weekend, I feel so much better about the Patriots.
These are QBs making $55 million a year - top of the market money - that were complete liabilities to their teams week 1.
Baker must've got some paper cuts counting his money, as he fumbled three times to give away his first game after receiving his mega contract. Justin Herbert made the Cardinals defense look like the 2000 Ravens. Bo Nix had two turnovers and put the ball on the ground an additional two times. And Jordan Love had two turnovers in the fourth quarter immediately after the Vikings took their first lead.
This isn't to absolve Drake Maye from his fourth quarter from hell last Wednesday, but rather give a poor week one some context and grace.
Lots of good players and teams struggle week 1 - it's the first time they've all played a full contact football game in 9 months. But despite having question marks for the Patriots, Sunday was a beautiful reminder that things could always be worse. Much, much worse.
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