Fans view of NFL Week 1

As has become a modern tradition, if there is such a thing, the season started with a Thursday night game involving the reigning champions. Tampa Bay hosted Dallas and were expected to get their title defence of to a winning start. It is easy to see why the Buccaneers are one of the favourites for the title this year, they became the first team in a long time to be able to keep hold of all twenty-two starters that won the Superbowl for them. Personnel wise they almost have the look of one of those star studded teams in San Francisco or Dallas in the early nineties, the days before the salary cap. Brady has three exceptional wide receivers to throw to in Evans, Brown and Goodwin, along with maybe the best tight end ever in his good friend Gronkowski, in the backfield they have an elite level running back in Fournette. Defensively they are almost as loaded with star players and importantly both lines are exceptional.

I was thinking of staying up to watch the game, or more likely going to bed and getting two hours or so of sleep before waking up to watch it. My mind was made up when I realised that Emma Raducanu’s semi-final in the US Open tennis would be on around the same time, having two things to get up for seemed like a much better reason to set my alarm for one o’clock in the morning. As it turned out Emma’s match did not start until after three o’clock, so I was able to give the first half in Tampa my full attention. Tampa looked as classy as we expected them to be, but Dallas were more surprising in the way they kept up with them and refused to be blown away. Dak Prescott performed admirably well in his first regular season game since getting injured early last season, the Dallas quarterback did not look intimidated at all about going head to head with Brady in the season opener. If he can play a full season this year he could end it being talked about in the same conversations as Mahomes, Rogers, Allen etc as the best quarterbacks in the league.

Once the tennis started, I did switch to watching that, flicking back to the American Football during each change of ends in the tennis. You might think that is strange for someone who is such a big American football fan, but us Brits had not had a female reach a final of one of the majors since 1977, I was alive back then, but only by a few months. Just when I was thinking she could not get any better, Emma got the win in time for me to switch over and catch the end of the game. The end of the first game of a new season got an ending that we had all seen so many times before. Prescott led the Cowboys into the lead late in the fourth quartre, but they left just over a hundred seconds on the clock for Brady to engineer one of those comebacks. I heard someone ask Brady in a press conference some time last season about how he keeps so calm in those type of situations. His answer was simple but so interesting from a sport psychology point of view. He mindset is that his team was already losing, so no matter what he did he could not make that any worse, so he might as well stay positive and focus on what he can do to change the outcome of the game. On this occasion that mindset helped him guide his team close enough to win the game with a field goal with two seconds left on the clock.

There were lots of eye catching match-ups in week one, but obviously the most important thing was how my Fantasy team performed. I was up against Alex, the projective points had my team getting around one hundred and thirty points, enough to beat Alex by about fifteen. My top level quarterback Ryan Tannehill did not get off to the best start, as the Titans were surprisingly soundly beaten at home by the Cardinals. Tannehill still got fourteen points, but I am expecting more than that most weeks for him. Maybe I was a little to blame for that Titans performance, as they were one of the two teams that I put a five pound bet on to win the Superbowl just before the season started. I know generally it is more prudent to wait for a least a few games before backing up predictions with cash, but I like the idea of picking a team out before the season begins and being able to follow them throughout the year and have the right to full on gloat if they do go on to win the Superbowl. The Titans are not the team I think are most likely to win the Superbowl, or even to reach it from the AFC. I do feel though at 25-1 they offered good value for my five pounds. As well as an elite quarterback, they have one of the best running backs in the league in the formidable shape of Derrick Henry. In the close season they added an elite wide receiver Julio Jones, who I figured could only help improve their already potent passing attack. Their defense was weak last season, but I have to feel that with tough ex-linebacker Mike Vrabel in charge he won’t let his team be that poor on defense again. Also I think they are possibly in the weakest division in the NFL, the Colts look like they might be decent but both the Texans and the Jaguars are well and truly in re-build mode and do not look like they will be play-off threats at all. Not the best start for my prediction, but a long way to go. s

Back to my fantasy team. My strong running backs got off to a good start, particularly Mixon who rushed for over a hundred yards and scored me twenty-five points. Edwards-Hellaire was not as productive but added another ten points to the teams total. I was a little worried that my wide receivers might be my weakness, after being my strength last season. In week one though they were my strength once again. Woods from the Rams scored me twelve points, Lockett at Seattle top scored for me with twenty-six and my late replacement, Shepard from the Giants scored over twenty four. I had brought Shepard as a free agent and dropped Beasley when I heard he had not been vaccinated and I thought that might result in him missing a few games. Even my receivers on the bench did well, the two rookies Smith at Philly and Waddle at Miami scoring nineteen and sixteen respectfully. Considering I did not draft a receiver until the fifth round that was an excellent return in week one. My first pick Travis Kelce did not let me down at all, the tight end scored over twenty five points during Kansas City’s rousing comeback win at home to the Cleveland Browns. Altogether my team scored over 156 points and that was enough to beat Alex by almost forty. Outperforming the projected score by almost twenty six points left me feeling nicely smug too. My bench players were strong too, with my other two running backs Williams of Baltimore and Drake of Las Vegas both performing well when their two teams met on the Monday night game that Las Vegas won with a touchdown in overtime. In fact they both scored more a few more points than Edwards-Helaire, so had I picked either of them, along with one of my rookie wide receivers instead of Woods for the Rams then I would have scored over one hundred and seventy points.

The other team I parted with five pounds to bet on was the LA Rams, being a big believer that Matt Stafford can be the missing piece to turn them from an excellent team into a Superbowl winning one. Last year Goff looked to have lost confidence in himself as quarterback for the Rams, looking a little gun shy and started to make high profile errors in big games. Matt Stafford meanwhile has been a bit like the quarterback version of Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, as he has looked exceptional for years playing for the Detroit Lions, without ever looking like getting a chance at a Championship. If nothing else it will be fascinating to find out how good he could be playing for a better team under the pressure to guide them to a Superbowl. Unlike the Titans, the Rams started in highly impressive fashion as the dispatched the Bears 34-14, with Stafford looking like he had already settled right in.

Another fascinating thing to watch unfold this year will be how the Saints get on without Drew Bledsoe at quarterback, after the future hall of famer retired at the end of last season. A bit like when Brady left New England, we will be watching to see whether the head coach can look as impressive without his legendary quarterback. The difference being that the Saints have an all round much strong than the Patriots were left with when Brady left. Their defence is strong and when Jameis Winston steps into Brees’ shoes, he will have plenty of offensive fire power around him. Week one turned out to be a case of Brees who? As the Saints produced one of the most impressive scores of the week by beating the Packers 38-3, with Winston throwing for five touchdowns.

My team Washington lost a close one at home to the Chargers, 20-16, the Chargers look like they could be a dangerous team this year so it’s not that bad a loss for Washington, but equally it was the sort of game they need to be winning if they are going to make the step up to having a winning record this season.

Elsewhere there were impressive wins for Pittsburgh in Buffalo and Seattle in Indianapolis. The Patriots attempt to return to former glories, with their rookie quarterback Mac Jones, got off to a tough start with a one point loss at home to division rivals Miami. One team that I think might surprise a few people by getting back to something like the same level they were at a few years ago is Philadelphia and they got off to a good start with a 32-6 in Atlanta.

It is only week one, and there is an even longer way to go than ever before as the NFL starts it’s first ever seventeen game regular season. No doubt though all those teams that won have felt better this week than those that lost. To paraphrase an old Scottish Golf saying – ‘You cannae win them all, if you dunnae win the first.’