The 100th NFL season is upon us, so I thought it'd be fun to take a gander at some of my favorite Week 1 matchups.
*You don't need to read about this game from me, you can hear me talk about this game all week on 105.3 The Fan, 1053thefan.com, or the radio.com app.
THURSDAY NIGHT 720pm
There's been a lot of talk in Green Bay about how new Head Coach Matt LaFleur's offense will translate for Aaron Rodgers and the recently stagnant Packers offense. Health has been an issue for Rodgers, and last year in Week 1 he suffered a knee injury that ended up impacting his entire season. My concern with the Packers is the lack of established WR weapons outside of Davante Adams. Adams is a Top 5 WR in the league in my opinion, but Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdez-Scantling are far from accountable so far in their early career. The key to the offense will be UTEP running back Aaron Jones. He's explosive and effective in the passing game, but hasn't proven he can play 16 games.
As for the Bears, the big story is the kicker position. After a wild and unorthodox search for a kicker, they traded for Eddy Piniero and he has won the job somewhat by default. After the Cody Parkey double doink from 43 yards, I think the best thing we can hope for as casual fans is an early 1st quarter 43 yard attempt. The Bears are trying to defend their NFC North title, and will need another step forward from 3rd year QB Mitch Trubisky. Rookie RB David Montgomery will take over the role filled by Jordan Howard, while Tarik Cohen still does his job as a "cool toy" in the offense. They added Cordarelle Patterson which figures to be a helpful fun piece for Matt Nagy as well. Allen Robinson is the WR1 with 74 catches last year, meanwhile Anthony Miller is a high upside WR2 prospect. They lost safety Adrian Amos to the Packers, but I don't think that's some division swinging acquisition. Khalil Mack is Khalil Mack.
SUNDAY
Coming off the Jared Goff contract and a tough Super Bowl loss, the Rams head to Carolina for what could be a game played on a wet surface due to wrath of Hurricane Dorian. The Rams will look pretty similar, except they've added some veterans on defense in Eric Weddle and Clay Matthews. I liked what they did in the draft with Darrell Henderson the RB1 at Memphis ahead of Tony Pollard. He'll figure to get a fair share of touches as they go into load management mode with Todd Gurley. If they can keep the big three WRs healthy in Cooks, Woods, and Kupp, I think they'll be just as dangerous as last year. Kupp is Goff's woobie.
For the Panthers, they're kind of a strange team to evaluate. Always in the mix, but seemingly eternally inconsistent. Cam Newton's foot is already an issue, and I personally feel like I can say the same for Greg Olsen. D.J. Moore figures to be a breakout candidate, and I do like the addition of Gerald McCoy. In the end, this is one of those teams that should hover around 8-8 where a few close games determine if they sneak into the playoffs or not. As for Week 1...
I think it's a mistake to start Case Keenum over Dwayne Haskins, I mean if I were Jay Gruden, there's no chance in hell I'd let my hot seat season be determined by Case Keenum. No offense to the Keenum family. They lost Jamison Crowder, and cut Josh Doctson, but they do get Derrius Guice back from last year's injury, so it'll be interesting to see what he has to offer. Defensively they lost players like Preston Smith and Zach Brown, but added Landon Collins to go along with Josh Norman in the secondary. This truly feels like a 4-12 type of team from the outside looking in.
I hate to say it but the Eagles are perennial contenders. Carson Wentz needs to prove he can log 16 games, but I love the trade for Desean Jackson. I think he'll be such a great fit for that offense, in spite of his relatively old age. They also traded for Jordan Howard, and it'll be interesting to see who gets the carries. I was personally a huge fan of the fumble prone Miles Sanders out of Penn State who they drafted in the 2nd round. Also in the 2nd round they drafted Stanford WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside who had a great preseason. Combine that to what we know about Zack Ertz, Alshon Jeffrey, Nelson Agholor, and Dallas Goedert, and we're looking at a potentially explosive offense. Defensively, I love the Malik Jackson addition as he'll play beside Fletcher Cox. Whoa.
The Falcons offensive line is probably going to be a problem after the retirement of Andy Lavitre, but they tried to address the problem with their first two picks in the draft in Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary. They should still be a lot of fun to watch offensively with Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Calvin Ridley. They're a strange team from the outside looking in, because I could easily see them being legit contenders, or being in that 8-8 area. Their defense is nothing to sneeze at with Vic Beasley, Deion Jones, Grady Jarrett, and an ascending Takk McKinley leading the way.
Another team with offensive line issues has been the Vikings, but they addressed that area as well with the selection of Garrett Bradbury in the 1st round. We know all about Kirk Cousins, Kyle Rudolph, Adam Thielen, and Stefon Diggs. I love the addition of Irv Smith as a developing TE2 type, and Dalvin Cook once again gets a shot to be a healthy lead back. They can't afford to have their offense let them down again like last year. The Vikings spend the 3rd most in the league on defense, and it's been a worthy investment.
QUICKIES
This is my least favorite game of the weekend. Man, these have been some tough games to watch in recent history. Cole Beasley makes his debut for the Bills, while Sam Darnold looks to take a stride in year two.
Lamar Jackson is so fun to watch, and although I fear they'll run him too much and he will be injury prone, it's the first time the Ravens have been fun to watch since the dominating defenses of the 2000s. As for Miami, the tank job is on, so if you want to see some bad football, tune in to this game.
We know that Mahomes is can't miss television, but the matchup i'm looking forward to the most in this game is Tyreke Hill vs. Jalen Ramsey.
The Odell Beckham era coincides with a possible "winning era" for the Browns. They figure to be entertaining at the least, and after a 7-8-1 campaign, I wouldn't be surprised to see them win the division. As for the Titans, is this Marcus Mariota's last dance? It kind of feels like it. I would bet on Jameis over the long term before I would Marcus.
I'm not sure there's a less inspiring team to watch right now than the Bengals. The Clowney trade spices up this game a little bit, but in my opinion this is one of the weaker games on the Sunday slate.
This game would be a lot more exciting if Andrew Luck hadn't retired, but them's the breaks. The Colts have a great, not good, but great roster and can win games with Brissett as long as they let him be who he is. Who is he? A QB that needs to make plays with his feet. I would have him running the ball 5-10 times a game to get the most out of him. As for the Chargers, no Melvin Gordon so there's a juicy storyline, but more than anything is Phillip Rivers capable of going out there and using his old man strength to have another great season? I wouldn't doubt him, given the fact that he gets his wife pregnant seemingly annually.
The Bucs are going to launch it man. Why did I say that first sentence in Gruden voice? Can Bruce Arians fix, or at least help Jameis Winston? I'm going to bank on it. I don't think they'll win 7 games, but the Bucs will be fun to watch again. As for the 49ers, I mean at what point do we hold John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan accountable. I realize the QB got hurt last year, but they've made some very strange draft and free agent decisions over the years. They're still seen as a team on the come, but that roster reeks of 6-10 to me. I do envision a fun high scoring game though, and Deebo Samuel could be exciting to watch.
The debut of Kliff and Kyler. I'm excited, i'm pulling for them, but i'm also extremely nervous about a 3-13 garbage fire. The tools just aren't there yet, and they chose not to address the offensive line in the draft. They're going to be asking a lot out of Kyler, but if anybody can make some magic happen it'll be him. I consider it a miracle if this team wins 6 games. And wow, what to say about the Lions...well...not much. Kind of a boring team huh?
Who steps up at WR for Pittsburgh in the absence of Antonio Brown? James Washington? I think that makes sense. They don't need him to be WR1, just a solid contributor while Juju gets the lions share of the receptions. As for New England, what do you want me to say to you right now? We know who they are, what they are, why they are who they and what they are, and quite honestly I know everybody is sick of them, but I respect the hell out of it.
MONDAY QUICKIES
Well the Texans have been in the news over the last week, but I have to admit that they still have a chance to win the division. Some might even see them as the favorites. I still think Watson will be running for his life even with the addition of Laremy Tunsil. As for the Saints, I love the addition of Jared Cook at TE and I think Latavious Murray will be a perfect replacement for Mark Ingram who signed with the Ravens in free agency. I'll take this time to be mad at the Saints though, because Sean Payton is the guy responsible for the new pass interference rule that will ultimately destroy the league. Maybe i'm being a little extreme, but seriously this rule will suck and it'll only take it hurting your favorite team one time before you realize it too.
Joe Flacco vs. Derek Carr...this is what late night primetime football is all about.
Happy Football everyone!