Post 27 - Weekly Slant 16/09/2015
Hello! And welcome to my corner.
The NFL regular season is officially underway!
The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off the season in Foxborough on Thursday night with a 28-21 Patriots victory. In a game that saw Gronk do Gronk things, scoring 3 TD's, and Tom Brady begin his season of vengeance with an incredibly sharp performance, going 25/32 for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns.
The Steelers on the other hand, despite gaining more yards, missed two field goals and even left Gronkowski completely uncovered on one of his touchdowns. They certainly shot themselves in the foot several times and gave away a game they could definitely have won.
Then came Sunday, the first Sunday in 259 days with a full NFL schedule.
The best of the early games was an NFC West match-up that featured the Seattle Seahawks travelling to the St. Louis Rams. Over the last few seasons the Seahawks have struggled against the Rams and this game was no different. The Rams beat the Seahawks 34-31 to give Russell Wilson his first ever loss in overtime. The Rams won the game by brilliantly stuffing Marshawn Lynch on a 4th & 1 attempt. It had to come to pass that following the infamous goal line call in the Super Bowl, in which they didn't give Lynch the ball, that they would fail in a similar situation despite handing Lynch the ball. Oh, the irony. Perhaps, now, the Rams can be viewed as a legitimate playoff dark horse?
The second wave of games also provided several talking points.
In the battle of the top 2 picks between Marcus Mariota's Tennessee Titans and Jameis Winston's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Marcus Mariota completely stole the show. On Mariota's first drive he led a 5-play, 89-yard dive culminating in a 52-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright. He would go on to throw 3 more touchdown passes in the first half, and sat in the 4th quarter after going 13-16 for 209 yards and 4 touchdowns. Mariota looked liked he did at Oregon, with help from an adapted playbook, as he was deadly accurate and extremely composed. Titan nation must be buzzing following Mariota's hot start.
Winston's debut was not quite as smooth. On his first pass he threw a pick-6. It was a shallow out pattern which he threw late, making it an easy play for Cody Sensabaugh. He did go onto to throw 2 touchdown passes, but he also threw another pick and was sacked 4 times in the 42-14 loss. Mistakes like his first pick will happen, but with such a poor offensive line not all the blame can be placed on Winston. The Bucs are in dire need of help or Winston's career could be in danger early on. Winston has now only lost 2 competitive games since college, both against Mariota.
Quick Slants:
The NFL regular season is officially underway!
The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off the season in Foxborough on Thursday night with a 28-21 Patriots victory. In a game that saw Gronk do Gronk things, scoring 3 TD's, and Tom Brady begin his season of vengeance with an incredibly sharp performance, going 25/32 for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns.The Steelers on the other hand, despite gaining more yards, missed two field goals and even left Gronkowski completely uncovered on one of his touchdowns. They certainly shot themselves in the foot several times and gave away a game they could definitely have won.
Then came Sunday, the first Sunday in 259 days with a full NFL schedule.
The best of the early games was an NFC West match-up that featured the Seattle Seahawks travelling to the St. Louis Rams. Over the last few seasons the Seahawks have struggled against the Rams and this game was no different. The Rams beat the Seahawks 34-31 to give Russell Wilson his first ever loss in overtime. The Rams won the game by brilliantly stuffing Marshawn Lynch on a 4th & 1 attempt. It had to come to pass that following the infamous goal line call in the Super Bowl, in which they didn't give Lynch the ball, that they would fail in a similar situation despite handing Lynch the ball. Oh, the irony. Perhaps, now, the Rams can be viewed as a legitimate playoff dark horse?The second wave of games also provided several talking points.
In the battle of the top 2 picks between Marcus Mariota's Tennessee Titans and Jameis Winston's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Marcus Mariota completely stole the show. On Mariota's first drive he led a 5-play, 89-yard dive culminating in a 52-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright. He would go on to throw 3 more touchdown passes in the first half, and sat in the 4th quarter after going 13-16 for 209 yards and 4 touchdowns. Mariota looked liked he did at Oregon, with help from an adapted playbook, as he was deadly accurate and extremely composed. Titan nation must be buzzing following Mariota's hot start.Winston's debut was not quite as smooth. On his first pass he threw a pick-6. It was a shallow out pattern which he threw late, making it an easy play for Cody Sensabaugh. He did go onto to throw 2 touchdown passes, but he also threw another pick and was sacked 4 times in the 42-14 loss. Mistakes like his first pick will happen, but with such a poor offensive line not all the blame can be placed on Winston. The Bucs are in dire need of help or Winston's career could be in danger early on. Winston has now only lost 2 competitive games since college, both against Mariota.
Quick Slants:
- The Baltimore Ravens lost star outside linebacker Terrell Suggs to a torn Achilles during the Ravens 19-13 loss to the Denver Broncos, which featured no offensive touchdowns, and is out for the season. They have since signed Jason Babin to a 1-year deal.
- The Tony Romo pulled out a clutch 2-minute drill for the Dallas Cowboys to beat the New York Giants 27-26. The Cowboys did loose Dez Bryant for 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.
- Is it Johnny Football time in Cleveland (again)? Josh McCown left the Cleveland Browns game against the New York Jets with a concussion and Johnny Manziel took over. He threw a beautiful touchdown pass, a 54-yard rainbow, but it deteriorated after that. He fumbled twice and threw a pick. Though he did look better than last year. Mike Pettine said after the game that the Browns will prepare as though Manziel is the starter going into their second game.
- The Oregon Ducks lost to the Michigan State Spartans 31-28. Vernon Adams' couldn't get the offense going and Michigan State's offense had just too much for the Ducks defense.
- Texas A&M christened their refurbished Kyle Field with a dominating win over Ball State. The new stadium, which is the biggest in the SEC, looks incredible and it certainly adds to the notoriety of the Aggies 12th Man.
- The Boston College Eagles absolutely crushed the Howard Bison's 76-0. Due to a scheduling change, the Eagles had to scramble to get an opponent, leaving the Eagles to play to straight games against an FCS opponent (it would be like the Jacksonville Jaguars playing Boston College) which led to the embarrassing score line. The game even featured 10 minute quarters for the second half.
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