WAS 23 – NE 6:
Ryan Mallett is a career backup, and as I’ve mentioned in our Fantasy Football Forecast, Robert Griffin III looks resurgant. Washington could be a dangerously good team this year. New England will be as good as always, only with a much stronger defensive unit, and especially with Garopollo being molded into the next Belichick prodigy. He went 9 of 13 passing (70%), and threw the Pats only TD of the day.
NYJ 13 – IND 10:
Chris Johnson and Michael Vick both look to make some strides this year. Given, Geno Smith only got a few snaps but he had a 75% completion rate and ran an impressive little 10 yard scramble on a read option play. Andrew Luck only played 6 downs, but looked strong. His favorite target from last year (T.Y. Hilton) played big as well
BAL 23 – SF 3:
John Harbaugh is 3/3 against his brother Jim now. This win came at the hand of Gary Kubiak’s handy-dandy new offense. Usually known for their staunch defense, San Francisco had no answers. Both Flacco and Kaepernick played only one posession. SF’s backup, Blaine Gabbert struggled immensely – going only 3-11 with an interception. Tyrod Taylor (Baltimore’s backup QB) went 13 of 21 for 116 yards and a touchdown. CJ Mosely had his first NFL sack and showed some explosion every snap. Discounting RB Eddie Lacy, Mosely could be the first TRULY impactful player to come out of Nick Saban’s SEC juggernaut.
KC 41 – CIN 39:
You didn’t misread the score. That really happened. From two teams than normally dominate defensively. The tale of the tape this week? Special Teams Win Football Games! This isn’t so much of a stretch for Kansas City. Last season they surprised the world with Alex Smith at the helm and this was largely due to a terrifying defensive squad and an explosive special teams unit that averaged a TD per game. Apparently nothing has changed. Sean Smith and Malcom Bronson both returned interceptions for TDs and De’Anthony Thomas showed off some of the Oregon Duck speed we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing. Offensively, the Chiefs struggled and had three turnovers returned for touchdowns; including one from a vastly improving Dre Kirkpatrick. A win is a win however, and Andy Reid said after the game “We want to score in all three phases of the game, and we were able to do a pretty good job of that tonight”.
DEN 21 – SEA 16:
SUPERBOWL REMATCH! Not quite. But, it made for some good pre-game, pre-season drama. To start, there was a 46 minute weather delay, that was followed by an almost impressive “festival of flags”. Did I not get the memo about another Offical’s strike? The 25 penalties made the game drag unfortunately, as well as the opening drives from both teams (Each used over 9 minutess of clock). There was some good however: Brock Osweiller looked confident and has seemed to build some solid rapport with WR Jordan Norwood. Also, Demarcus Ware looked as he did circa 2010 and got his first sack as a Bronco.
SD 27 – DAL 7:
Tony Romo sat out the entirety of the game and gave way to former Cleveland Brown, Brandon Weeden. Not a terrible performance considering the circumstances. Weeden went 13 for 17, 107 yards and a TD after weathering a massive hit. San Diego took control after the 70 yard bomb from Kellen Clemens to WR Dontrelle Inman. Additionally, San Diego’s undrafted rookie Branden Oliver showed some promise with a quick 16 yard run in the second quarter. It was made clear early that Dallas simply lacks defensive talent.
