Week 1 Reaction Rankings
By Al Stahl
Looking at the best teams in the league and reviewing some of the stand-out performances in an effort to try and wrangle these teams into an order of some sort. Very scientific.
Week 1 is in the books and with it, half the teams in the NFL are bound for greatness while the other half is in perfect position for the first draft pick next April.
The Patriots managed to win on the road without Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Rob Ninkovich. As much as most are wont to pat the Pats on the back, the story should be about Bruce Arians dropping the ball. The Cardinals are good enough to lose 23-21 to a fully stocked New England team in Gillette Stadium. There’s no way they should have dropped this game. This is just like the Lions/Colts game except if the Lions were the team with all the injuries.
The Cards are still going to rip off some wins and should make the playoffs, but when they look back at their schedule in December, this game will be the one they look at when they don’t win the division.
Something else that has been lost in all the craze of Week 1, the Seahawks managed only 12 points at home. Against the Dolphins. Russ will have to knock off the rust as Seattle heads to LA to face the Rams on the road in Week 2.
Don’t look now, but Tampa Bay leads the NFC South after beating the Falcons. The Saints and Panthers both lost in devastating fashion, and Jameis Winston threw four touchdown passes and looked really good. I expect the division lead to be short lived though, as the Bucs travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals while the Panthers host the 49ers in Week 2.
The Packers and Vikings face off this week for first place in the NFC North and neither team looked very good in Week 1. The Vikings relied on two defensive touchdowns to defeat a bad Tennessee team and the Packers needed a late fourth down stop to keep the Jaguars at bay. Elsewhere in the North, the Lions look to make it to 2-0 for the first time since 2011. The Chicago Bears, reeling after a loss to the Texans, get to host the Eagles on Monday Night Football.
That Eagles team surprised many with their ability to score against the Browns. With all the injuries and unknowns, the NFC East will be a tough division to predict. I still think it’s the Giants’ division to lose.
Week 1 was exciting in the AFC West. As the Broncos and Raiders spoiled the season openers for half of the NFC South, the Chargers went out and flipped the script on their 2015 season opener. Last year, the Lions jumped out to a 21-10 halftime lead against San Diego only to blow it in the second half. The Chargers came back by scoring 23 unanswered points en route to a 33-28 victory. This year, the Chargers were up 21-3 at halftime. Early in the fourth quarter, the Chargers led 27-10. Guess how many points Kansas City went on to score unanswered? 23. Poor Chargers.
Some other notes:
The Steelers looked great on Monday night.
The Bengals eeked out a road victory against the Jets.
Blaine Gabbert looked surprisingly competent against the Rams defense.
Here is my attempt to rank the best 9 teams.
45. Question: Who is Trevor Seimian? Answer: Undefeated NFL quarterback who is so unknown, you didn’t even realize I spelled Siemian wrong. The Broncos could march a stuffed animal out at QB and they’d still be favored thanks to Von Miller. That’s unfair to Siemian though, who actually played well enough to win.. (21-20). Previous: . Denver Broncos. 1. team
team. 47. When you can beat a top 5 team without the best quarterback in football and without the best tight end in football, you have a pretty good thing going.. (23-21). Previous: . New England Patriots. 2
Despite the loss, the Panthers defense played well and Cam Newton and Jonathan Stewart shone as bright spots on the offense.. (21-20). Previous: . Carolina Panthers. 3. team. 87
36. Seattle didn’t look very good but a win is a win and this team has proven over the past three years that the defense can win them games and the offense can produce when it matters.. (12-10). Previous: . Seattle Seahawks. 4. team
team. 32. Despite a lost opportunity in their first game of 2016, this team still has plenty of opportunities ahead to win 10+ games.. (23-21). Previous: . Arizona Cardinals. 5
124. Kansas City mounted an impressive second half comeback victory against a division rival. Remember, this team railed off 11 straight wins last year before being bounced from the playoffs by the Patriots.. (33-27). Previous: . Kansas City Chiefs. 6. team
31. Eli Manning had three passing touchdowns in Week 1 without a single one going to Odell Beckham Jr.<p>Who would’ve predicted that? It has only happened twice since OBJ entered the league. Once on October 4th, 2015 and again in Beckham Jr.’s rookie year when he was out with a hamstring injury. That’s a good sign for an offense that has solely relied on him for production recently.</p>. (20-19). Previous: . New York Giants. 7. team
Pittsburgh Steelers. 8. team. 55. The Steelers made mince meat out of Washington as Roethlisberger threw three touchdown passes, including two to Antonio Brown, and DeAngelo Williams ran for 143 yards and a pair of scores. Pittsburgh should be fun to watch all season.. (38-16). Previous:
9. team. 49. Struggling against Jacksonville is usually a good way to find yourself outside of any top 10s, but the Jaguars might have a decent team for the first time in decades. Green Bay still managed to escape with a win in a game that saw on-field temperatures well over 100 degrees for the majority of the contest.<p>Plus Aaron Rodgers had a pair of passing touchdowns and ran for another. As he goes, so go the Packers.</p>. (27-23). Previous: . Green Bay Packers
And I figured we should also take a look at this week’s bottom dwellers.
They are:
RGIII is hurt, the offense couldn’t muster 300 yards and the defense gave up over 400 yards to a rookie QB from North Dakota St.<p>That is less than ideal.</p>. (29-10). Previous: . Cleveland Browns. 30. team. 53
16. Pros: The Buffalo defense looked good (or did the Ravens offense look bad?) outside of the one deep ball touchdown they gave up.<p>The Buffalo offense managed a 75 yard touchdown drive.</p><p>Cons: Outside of that one touchdown drive, the offense only gained 85 more yards on the day.</p><p>They punted 7 times.</p>. (13-7). Previous: . Buffalo Bills. 31. team
team. 51. The Rams got shut out by the 49ers, gave up four touchdowns, and made Blaine Gabbert look good. If that isn’t 7-9 BS, I don’t know what is.. (28-0). Previous: . Los Angeles Rams. 32