With Week 1 in the books, there’s a lot to talk about. So let’s get talkin’
Poor Judgement
Who would’ve thought that Week 1 would be end-capped by devastating defeats for two AFC heavyweights? Clearly, the Chiefs missed having Travis Kelce out on the field, and even though the tight end production was serviceable, Kansas City’s trio of WR3s (that’s being generous) were absolutely abysmal. Gotta give credit to Detroit for going into Arrowhead on opening night and coming out with the dub. Early contender for team you don’t want to see in the playoffs.
As for the Bills, I mean, yikes. This game looked like it would be about 50/50 going into it, but with Aaron Rodgers going down early, the odds had definitely shifted into Buffalo’s favor. Josh Allen was giving away the football like Oprah giving out cars. You get a football! You get a football! You get a football! Sheesh. On the back of deadly punt return TD, the Jets win the battle. With Aaron Rodgers potentially slated to miss the season, unfortunately, they are unlikely to win the war.
In other news, I think the answers to my questions about the Niners and Steelers became known very quickly Sunday afternoon. The Niners are a machine. Brock Purdy looks purdy good, dicing up the Steelers secondary with the help of Brandon Aiyuk. The defense, of course, is insane. How much of that synopsis is due to the level of play of San Fran versus the abysmal execution of Pittsburgh I am unsure. I am sure of one thing: I can’t believe I actually believed that the Steeler’s offense would be competent. Ugh. Moving on.
I know that the Bengals are usually not too good when they play Cleveland, but I hadn’t pictured just how poorly they would play. I’ve got Joe Brrrr on one of my fantasy teams, so I guess you could say I was a little upset with how this one went. Oh well, live and learn.
If you recall what I said regarding the Vikings and their tendency to play in close games, well, we got a prime example of how inconsistent that can be on Sunday. Usually, Kirk Cousins in a noon game is an easy dub. But things may be more like the 2021 season rather than the 2022 season for the Vikes this year. And hey, maybe the Buccaneers aren’t as pitiful as I thought they would be? Time will tell.
Look, I’m not exactly on the Jordan Love hype train just yet, but I have to admit that he’s much better than I had given him credit for. Along side a tough defense, this Packers team looks like they’ll continue to beat up on Chicago for the foreseeable future.
One of the biggest shocks to me was the Rams going into Seattle and giving ‘em a good whoopin’. I was not high at all on this Rams squad but it turns out they may not be as bad as anticipated. As for Seattle, I’m thinking this could just be a little Week 1 rust, but we’ll have to see how it all plays out.
Everything Else
I don’t really feel like getting into most of the games that I got correct, mostly because I feel like they’re a lot of low-intrigue games. For me at least. Outside of Dolphins-Chargers which was the shootout that everyone expected. I’d rather just talk about my awful bets. Let’s do that.
Money Line: Steelers (+112) ❌
Spread: Vikings -5.5 (-115) ❌
Point Total: Lions/Chiefs O53.5 (-105) ❌
It doesn’t really get much worse than 0/3. Obviously the Steelers ML bet was stupid. I should probably know better than to count on the Vikings to cover a spread. As for the point total, I guess I should’ve went with the Dolphins/Chargers but I don’t think Kelce had been ruled out at that time so how was I supposed to know the Chiefs would stink it up on offense? Anyway, whatever. 9-7 on my picks is a solid launching point for Week 1 as it does tend to trend towards .500 with no sample to work with.
Power Rankings out tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Strong Side Sports 