a blog by La Kifo
Here comes the second slate of games.
Kansas City v. San Diego
San Diego blew the Chiefs out of a bowl filled with Andy Reid sweat gravy in the first half. I don't know why more people don't talk about how Andy Reid is a morbidly obese man. Obviously there is something to him that makes young well maintained athletes take him seriously. It's just confusing to look over at the sidelines and see a asteroid sized gobstopper calling plays into the huddle.
The Chargers put up 21 points to Chiefs 3 in the first half. Tragedy struck the Bolts when number one receiver Keenan Allen went down with apparent knee injury. Later on reports would confirm that Allen did suffer a ACL tear in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the 2016 NFL season. The second half was a different story, the Chargers threw up all over themselves as the Chiefs put up 24 points to tie the game in regulation at 27-27. In overtime, the Chiefs got the ball first and never gave it back. Completions to Travis Kelce set up the Chiefs deep in San Diego territory, which eventually led to Alex Smith running the ball in from 2 yards for the game winning touchdown.
Jets v. Bengals
The Bengals came into the game without Tyler Eifert, an important part of the Cincinnati passing attack. The Jets newest back, Matt Forte, looked good early and so did the rest of the offense as Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an early touchdown in the first quarter to make give the Jets a lead.
The Jets looked to make the score a quick 14-0 when their defense intercepted a poorly thrown ball by Andy Dalton, until some poor play from Fitz led to a short 22 yard field goal attempt by Nick Folk.
After successfully attempting a field goal of their own, Andy Dalton and the Bengals offense found themselves at mid-field.
The Jets would need to answer such a quick strike. Jalin Marshall would answer with a 67 yard kick return that would set up a 15 yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Erick Decker.
The half would end on some nifty special teams coaching as the Bengals did not waste a timeout setting up their field goal unit on the two yard line. Quick changing to the field goal team took an impressive 19 seconds. The teams would go into half 16-13, Jets lead. The Jets front seven dominated this game, sacking Andy Dalton 5 times in the first half. Leonard Williams had an impressive showing ending the game with 2.5 sacks. The second half moved slower but the end result was just as exhilarating as the rest. Mike Nugent nails a 47 yard attempt with a little more than 50 seconds left in the game to give the Bengals a late 23-22 lead. Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets had no timeouts but a chance to seal a victory at home. Deep in their own territory, Fitz on third down delivers a lazy ball out of an empty set to 15 yard out run by Erik Decker. The ball is slow and behind the receiver, as both the defender and receiver turned to look for the ball it lands perfectly in the cradle of Bengals defender Josh Shaw. The Jets have almost too much talent in their front seven, the Jets offense has some good play makers from Brandon Marshall to Matt Forte but the obvious problems in that game was the play of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Darrelle Revis. The problems that Fitzpatrick had are understandable, he missed all offseason workouts with the Jets so he is behind the pack considerably. His performance should elevate as the games go by. Revis on the other hand is a perplexing issue. Sorry for the formal speech but players like AJ Green used to get eaten up by Revis. All due respect to AJ Green, but he's not a route running technician, he doesn't create separation on underneath routes. He's been strictly an athletic, fast, deep threat and he destroyed Revis. Green ended the day with 12 catches for 180 yards and a TD, I don't know if the Jets lined Revis up against Green for all 12 catches and 180 yards but regardless it is concerning for the Jets.
Falcons v. Buccaneers
Matt Ryan and the Falcons started the game off with some fireworks.
Sanu made his presence felt in the first quarter, 3 catches for a little less than 100 yards. He would end the day with 4 catches for 80 yards. Don't ask me how I got 3 for 100, it was in my notes and I am around 100% certain I heard the broadcasters confirm it.
The Bucs had an answer for the early surge of Sanu.
Jamies and the Bucs took a 17-13 lead into half. The offensive line for the Falcons struggled in the first half, Jake Mathews had a false start penalty in the redzone for the Falcons, a large factor determining the Falcons get 3 points inside the 20 instead of 7.
The Bucs controlled the second half.
Insane. I think I missed a portion of this game because the next thing I knew the score was 31-24, the Falcons had the ball with a little over a minute to go in regulation. 4th and 10 from the Falcons own side of the field, Matt Ryan Dropped back, wound up, released and the pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by the talented Gerald McCoy. The Falcons were out of timeouts, and the Bucs came out in victory formation for their first win on the 2016 season.
Jamies Winston was impressive in first start of his second full season. He did throw an interception early in the game but he didn't let it get to him as he threw 3 touchdowns and really broke open the game in the second half. If I had money, I'd put it on the Bucs to go around 8-8, and Jamies Winston to have a 30+ touchdowns to 12 Interceptions. He should be a pro bowler but maybe that's because almost every starting QB is a pro bowler by the end of the season.
Titans v. Vikings
These two teams are awful, the Titans might be the weakest AFC team while the Vikings, with Shaun Hill at QB, are the most anemic in all of the NFC. There is not enough adjectives in the English language to describe how bad the Titans are. For some stupid reason, they traded for Demarco Murray. Why was that stupid? If we learned anything about Murrays abysmal time in Philly, it's that he is a north and south runner. Read options, triple options, speed option, shotgun sweeps, outside zone plays do not agree with Demarco Murray. What kind of offense is Tennessee running with their mobile quarterback? A read option, perimeter speed offense. Not only on paper is this dumb, but in action as well. Murray looked terrible in the opening quarter, and just a terrible opening game. 13 carries for 42 yards. Now, digging the Eagles out of the massive hole they dug themselves into was dumb enough, but even dumber is drafting Derrick Henry with one of their 3, 2nd round draft picks. Derrick Henry is a really good back, but he's another north, south runner. Also, based on his college career, Henry projects to be a starting running back maybe not immediately out of the draft but at least by year two. The Titans have invested a large base salary in an ineffective system back, and a second round pick on another likely incompatible running back.
Marcus Mariota played well on the opening couple of drives for the Titans. The Titans did not look as bad as they truly are in the opening quarter. It took awhile for points to get on the board, but this play late in the third quarter opened the gates from hell.
Truly awful play in so many different aspects by Mariota. He sees the pressure coming from the middle so he panics, retreats backwards a step or two, plants his feet perpendicular to the line of scrimmage and uncorks what Peyton Manning calls a fastball to a covered receiver in the flat. Mariota didn't look at his receiver, he just threw it hot without any zip or real idea what was happening down the field.
The Titans need to clean house. The GM has made some awful moves, like signing Brian Orakpo. The coach clearly knows as much about coaching as I know letters in his name.
Seattle v. Miami
Many may have not thought twice about this game after quickly looking at the score. For real football fans though, this was one of the better games of Sunday afternoon. Low scoring yes but there was some great defense in this game from both teams.
The offenses didn't get going until #17 got his feet moving.
The Seahawks needed an answer and Russell Wilson gave them one.
A couple of important plays determined the outcome of this game in Seattle. The first was a inadvertent foot stomp by Ndamukong Suh on Russell Wilson. The ankle of Wilson really affected him in the second half as his footwork became stiff and the threat of the scramble was no longer there. The second play, a blocked 20 yard field goal by the Seahawks kept the Dolphins from tying the game early in the 4th quarter.
The blocked field goal was perpetuated by none other, my #1 enemy, the twinkle of hate in my eyes, LaRemy Tunsil. That fucking dumbass failed essentially the one job lineman have on field goals, that job, checking your splits. (Splits are the amount of space in between each of the offensive lineman's feet. Splits are important because they can allow your line to shift down the line faster and among other things). Tunsils splits were way too wide, allowing the defender to squeeze his way through Tunsil and the lineman next to him. Blocked a PAT in high school the same exact way, if you fuck up the splits on a field goal then 9/10 it's going to be blocked. Russell Wilson showed a lot of guts pulling out the win late in the 4th quarter with an injured ankle. That being said, I am flabbergasted the man was not on his knees crying like the perm haired bitch he is.
Cowboys v. Giants
The Romoless Cowboys took on their division rival, the Giants in back and forth affair in Dallas.
I didn't have much of an opinion on Ezekiel Elliot coming out of the draft. #4 is a bit too high to draft a running back, I honestly think if the Cowboys passed on him at #4, he could have fallen to mid teens which would have been better value for him. Elliot looked pretty average against the Giants. Statistically, he was on par with Demarco Murrays performance, 20 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. If there was any game in which Elliott could break out, it would have been against the Giants due to there decimated defense. They lost quite a few players to free agency in the offseason and they weren't even a good defense before that. I mean we all love Mark Herzlich here in Boston but not enough to call him anything but a special teamer. Victor Cruz had a good come back party.
I hate the Giants, but you can't fully hate a Umass guy, dance on Victor, dance on.
Dak had a chance to take the lead after the Cruz touchdown, but the Dallas receivers let the team down.
Bad football, plain and simple. It must hurt for Cowboy fans considering Terrance Williams is somewhat of a veteran player, he's been in the Cowboys system, under their coaches, but for some reason fought for 4 extra yards to end the game.
Lions v. Colts
The last of the competitive games ended on Sunday with the Lions against the Colts. Matt Stafford needs to do something this year or his time in Detroit might be cut short. Andrew Luck is looking to bounce back after an injury riddled season.
The Lions offense is deep. They have two good backs in Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick. Good tight end in Eric Ebron, along with good receivers Golden Tate, Anquan Boldin still has a little left in the tank, and Marvin Jones. The only real question on there offense is there line. If those guys can improve, I expect this team to be over .500 and a top ten offense. The Lions got going early.
Both defenses are poor but you didn't need to tell Andrew Luck that.
Another Luck filled drive was needed for the Colts to try and hang on to the win.
Down by one late, the Lions needed yards to get the opening week win.
The Colts lost another member of their secondary on Sunday, which is unfortunate. Patrick Robinson and TJ Green went down, adding to the list of injured defensive backs the Colts already have, Vontae Davis, Darius Bulter, and Clayton Geathers. The Colts defense was already bad without injuries to their starting corners, but now if these injuries are determined serious, the Colts will be in major trouble.
If I am being totally honest, the next two games were total horseshit. I would have rather taste tested manure than rewatch either the Steelers v. Redskins or the Rams v. 49ers. Niners against the Rams was especially bad, and that might have something to do with their starting quarterback being Case Keenum. Case Keenum is bad, and it makes me wonder why he's playing instead of Jared Goff or some other QB not on the current roster but who was being shopped around like Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, or Ryan Fitzpatrick. All three of those players were available at some point during the offseason up until a week ago. You never know with Jeff Fischer, just when you think he's heading in the right direction, his team shits out a goose egg against an almost equally bad Niners team. The Steelers dominated the Redskins, as Antonio Brown and DeAngelo Williams were too much for Ryan Kerrigan and the Redskins defense. Just so you know I know, I figured out the youtube videos won't work unless they are played on youtube but it took me up until the very end of the blog to realize. We had a great week of games to open the season, not to mention the AFC East is looking like a shit show with a few teams choking the life out of themselves. It should be a fun season, maybe I'll do some draftkings picks or something along that line. Football is back tomorrow, I don't know whose playing but it will be on CBS and it will be probably be shitty game, but I'll still be watching. Comments are closed.
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