The NFL and all its glory is back in our lives.
The first week was by no means a letdown either. We saw some upsets (Jags fans must feel accomplished right about now), fantastic catches (Cole Beasley comes to mind), and some nail-biting finishes (was anyone else freaking out that the Falcons were about to lose?).
Here are a few things that I noticed:
- The Giants offense is anemic without Odell Beckham Jr. We all know about their struggles in terms of the run game and even being able to protect Eli Manning (which they did not do Sunday night against a below average Cowboys’ pass rush) but the performance they put out instantly made OBJ’s value skyrocket.
- Speaking of the Giants, any team who plays them the rest of the season must hope and pray that Ereck Flowers is still the Giants’ left tackle. I’m not one to pay much attention to the offensive line, but he is by far the worst left tackle I’ve ever seen. He could not even block the Shot Doctor.
- The Colts have a bad quarterback in Scott Tolzien yes, but that offensive line is 100x worse. How can you expect Andrew Luck to come back at any point this season and expect him to perform the way he is capable of? It is in the best interest of Andrew Luck, and the Colts for that matter, if Luck sits for the entire season until some sort of resemblance of an offensive line is put in front of him.
- Le’Veon Ball really hurt his value when he missed all of training camp and preseason. He was not in sync with Big Ben and it almost cost the Steelers the game. This is supposed to be a contract year for Bell and after week one, he can rap about kissing any sort of contract demands goodbye.
- I mentioned it as the upset in the beginning of this blog but I believe that the game Blake Bortles put together against the Texans was exactly what he needed to get his confidence back. He did not have any turnovers and was able to hand the ball to Leonard Fournette who rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown. Yes, he was still a bit inaccurate (11 completions to 10 incompletions/ 11-21 throwing) but he avoided the turnover that would put his defense in a tough spot and they were able to respond by only giving up one touchdown.
There is a long way to go and it is sure to be a fun season.
Twitter- @CVazquez613