NFL Week One Takeaways.
Week 1 Takeaways
I Have Done These Takeaways For Three Years Now, And Everything I Take To My “Notes” App, I Get Nervous, As If I Forget How To Write Or Maybe The Words Don’t Exude Like In Years Past. Regardless, Here We Go. In Takeaways, I preview and review the game and drop all at once partially because I have a personal word Quotation. Secondly, Because I Don’t Write Time Yet, So I Have To Manage “Burnout” A Little More by writing, Editing, And Posting All The Same Week, Twice, Because My Mind Interprets The Writings(Preview and Review) Double Work. So, As Long As I’m Solo, I’ll Do Things The Long Way. So, it will be laborious if you follow and bear with me for a long time. I Have To Preview And Review To keep Track Of matchups and Storylines Ahead Of The Week while tethering Those Storylines To The Conclusion Of Monday’s Action. Kyle Shanahan Once Said, “You Can't Turn Football Off And On,” And Neither Should I Turn MindfullMadness.com Off. The Chiefs Begin Their Title Defense Against Their New Chief Rival In The AFC, The Baltimore Ravens. Patrick Mahomes Has The Chance To Achieve The Impossible, A Three-Peat In Football. Not only Has A Three Not Happened In Major American Sports Over Two Decades, but Winning Three Championships In Football Seems increasingly Impossible. Not Only Do Winning teams suffer From Roster Turnover, but Teams Also Lose Continuity With The Coaching Staff Turnover And Injuries. Three Championships in A Row Seem All But Impossible. The Ravens Get The Chance To Set The Tune Early In The Season. Last Year, The Chiefs Lost Opening Night Against The Lions, But That Didn’t Stop Mahomes From Marching Through The AFC For Another Lombardi, Proving That A Crack Or A Blemish In September Wouldn’t Matter Come Winter. In A lot Of Ways, Week 1 Can Act As A Mulligan, Allowing Everyone To Get Their Feet Wet For The Season, Including The Writers. The Chiefs Leave Baltimore With The Familiar Taste Of Defeat In Their Mouth, Taking Down The Ravens 27-20 In Kansas City As The Chiefs Burn Their First Mark On The Trials To Repeat As Super Bowl Champs Once More.
Ravens Vs Chiefs
Lamar had a down Start To This Game, Completing Mostly Short Passes To The Flat, Absorbing A Fair Amount of Pressure, But Ultimately Finding The Pass Code to The Chiefs' Defense, Connecting With Zay Flowers Over The Middle For 19 Yards, Helping The Ravens Sustain Their First Drive. After Breaking Midfield, The Ravens Would Turn The Ball Over To Lamar And Derrick Henry On The Ground. The Two Ground Master Would Combine For 33 Yards Over Five Rushes That culminated In A Derrick Henry Six Yard Rush To Cap Off A 11 Play, 70 Yard Drive. Henry Registers His First Touchdown As A Raven in His Long-Standing Career.
Lamar would start the game on 6/7 for 58 passing yards and a passenger rating of 101.2, but his 19 yards on the ground produced the most impact on the early offensive drive.
However, Mahomes And The Chief Would Waste No Time Responding. The Chiefs' rookie wide receiver made a lot of splashes during the NFL offseason. At The Combine, He Broke The 40 Yard Dash Record Registering 4.21 Speed. The Chiefs Drafted Worthy In The First Round Exciting Fans Only To Bring Those Fans Dismay When Videos Surfaced Of Worthy Getting Pushed Around In Press Coverage. Analyst Wondered If The Lightly Build Worthy Could Sustain Pressures Of NFL Football. The Genius Of Andy Reid Would Find Ways To Use Worthy In Ways they hoped A Guy Like Kadavius Toney Would Work Out. In Five Plays, Despite The Chiefs Picking Up A Sack On Patrick Mahomes, The Chiefs' Offense Would Rally, and A 21 Yard End Around Would Stamp The First Touchdown For The Chiefs, Tying The Ball Game 7-7 In The First Quarter. For Those Wondering If The Ravens' Pass Rush Would Pack The Same Punch Without Jadeveon Clowney, The Ravens Would Quickly Dismiss Any Concerns Early. After The Initial Sack On The First Drive On The Second, The Chiefs Speed Looked Like Too Much for The Ravens As Mahomes Lead The Chiefs From The 10 Yard Line To Mid-Field On A Series Of Passes Mostly Consisting Of YAC Before A David Ojabo Sack Forced A Punt On Third Down. The Chief's Defense Would Deliver The Ball Back Off Of Their Own Sack-Fumble On Lamar Jackson. The Chiefs’ Offense Would Get a Short Distance To The Goal but Fail To Break The End Zone After A Failed 3rd And Long At The End Zone and Settle For A Field Goal. The Ravens would have Trouble converting late downs; this time, on the fourth down, the Ravens picked up just one of the three yards needed to transform, showcasing some of the limitations of the offensive personnel. The Chiefs Would Pick Up Another Field Goal, and Patrick Mahomes Would Escape To Produce A 23 23-yard play To The Baltimore 30 Before Taking The Field Goal.
The Last Minutes Of The First Half Would Turn Out Quite Eventful. The Ravens Would Miss A Field Goal, Only To Take Possession Back On Interception By Pro Bowl Linebacker Raquon Smith, Who Makes A Diving Grab To Pick Off Mahomes. Both Teams Showed The heights Of Their Best But Also The Veneers Or The Facade Of Their Early Season Form. The Successes And The Failure Allowed The Chiefs To Entered The Half With A 13-10, Patrick Mahomes Wrapping Up The Early 9/14 For 117 For 60.7 Passer Rating. Lamar Hooked Up A Better Passer Rating 13/18 For 105 Passing Yards And A Fairly Better Passer Rating(86.6).
Even With The Pick And The Lower rating, The Chiefs Look To Have An Easier Time With The. Offensively, theChiefs would come out in the second half and strike first, this time getting the touchdown after a long-shoving match at the goal line on a one-yard run. The Chiefs Again Relied Heavily On Catch And Runs Highlighted By A 33 Yards Rashee Rice Catch And Run. Justin Watson Also Picked Up An Explosive 25 Yard Play. The Chiefs Would Pick up A Baltimore Penalty And take in The Ravens' Red Zone, Ending With an Isaiah Pacheco Touchdown.
The Ravens Would Give The Chiefs A Taste Of Their Own Medicine, A 7 Play Drive Looked Stalled Out At 2nd And 17 Before Isaiah, Likely Tight End For The Ravens, Took a Catch For 49 Yards, 31 After The Catch, Forced A couple of Miss Tackles and Likely Scuttled In For a Touchdown Pulling The Ravens In 3 Points In The Fourth Quarter. The Ravens Lost Defensive Coordinator Mike McDonald, And The Number Of Miscues In The Secondary Showed The Ravens' Short Comings. Although The Ravens Delivering Pressure On Mahomes, The Chiefs Only Needed A Hand Of Plays, And This Time, They Got Another Big Play By Xavier Worthy. This Time, They Catch Along The Sideline On, Busted Coverage For 35 Yards, Worthy Raced Down The Sideline For 35 yards, A Lead The Chiefs Would Never Surrender. The Chiefs Take The Opening Night Victory 27-20. Lamar Jackson Made A Few Comments This Week About His Aversion To Passing The Ball; “I know if my legs were good, we would have won that s---. In A Story For The Washington Post, Jackson said,” We wouldn’t have even had to throw the ball. F--- throwing the ball.” Thai Game Versus The Chiefs, Came Down To Just That, Throwing The Ball. Jackson led the Ravens on an 11 11-play drive for 87 yards, from The Raven's 13 To The Chiefs' 10, but the drive showcased Lamar’s inconsistencies as a passenger. He Connected With Rashid Bateman To Set Up The Ravens In The Chiefs Territory.
Lamar missed two good throws, one over the middle to Zay Flowers. The Throws Jackson Didn’t Miss He Couldn’t “Layer” In A Thrown Over The In The Back Of The End Zone. Lamar’s Last Throw Landed Incomplete Thanks To A Sliver Of A Foot Of Isaiah Likely, Who Made A Brilliant Catch That Landed On The White Paint, Ruled A Touchdown but Eventually Overturned. Lamar Finished With An Impressive Game Offensively Nearly 400 Yards Of Offense(395), 273 Passing
Yards And 122 Yards Rushing. Without The Touchdown Catch, Isiah Likely Still Walked Away With 9 Catches For 111 Receiving Yards And One Touchdown.
Patrick Mahomes 20/28 291 Passing Yards, 10.4 Average, 101.9 Passer Rating. After A Tumultuous Offseason Highlighted By Legal Drama, Rashee Rice Answered The Call Of His Rookie Season 7 Catches For 103 Receiving Yards. Xavier Worthy Produced 68 Yards Of Total Offense.
Lamar Jackson Still Has A Lot To Prove As A Passer, and Even Off The Scale Offensive Yardage Output Like Last Night’s Bout with The Chiefs Can’t Cover Up The Lack of “Nuanced” Throws In His Game. Some Ravens players Claim They Didn’t Play Their Best Ball Last Night, And They Surely Haven’t, But They’ll Face those who Play Contain And Force Lamar To Play Over The Top Late, And That’s Something He Hasn’t Proven He Can Achieve Just Yet. The Chiefs Follow A Similar Formula That Has Pervaded This Era Of Chiefs Football: Achieve Enough and Score Enough Big Plays To Win, Not Dominate But Win. Despite officially earning fewer yards of total offense (353 to 452), the chief registered 7.1 yards per play.
Packers Vs. Eagles
In A Continued Effort To Make The NFL and Football Game Global And Potentially Compete With The NBA And Soccer On The International Stage, The City of Sao Paolo, Brazil, Hosted The Week One Matchup Between The Philadelphia Eagles and The Green Bay Packers. Hailed As The First Game In Southern Hemisphere Two NFL Team traveled Some 9 Plus Hours With Entourages and Equipment To Take An Imperialist South American Exploration Carving Out New Ground For A Mostly American Based Sport(The NFL Logo Has The US Flag Ascribed to it) And The NFL Only Other International Marks For League Happened In Europe(England And Germany REspectively), Now The NFL Wants To Embark Over uncharted Territory.
If the NFL Game Can Win Anywhere, It Can Win Everywhere. Roger Goodell Reportedly Wants 16 International Games Per Season to Ramp up The League’s Intent For Global and Not Just American Dominance.
Economically, The Move Works For The League. The NFL, of course, Has Watched Revenue Skyrocket. What economic concerns should the league consider? The NFL wants To Diversify Its Audience. America Will Remain The League’s Strongest Market, but Controversy( Health, Legal Drama, Protest, Etc.) Has All Embroiled The NFL And Even Gambling Revenue, So In Decimating Its Audience, the NFL All But Ensures The NFL Survives.
The International Move Save The NBA In The Past and the NFL Can Only Grow So Much On US Soil. However, The NFL can Risk Spurning One Of America’s Major Cities By Striping The City Of A Major Game At Home. After Last Season, The Eagles and The Pack Seemed In Opposite Directions.
Two Years Ago, After Fielding Questions About Their Future At Quarterback, The Eagles Traded For AJ Brown And Told Jalen Hurts To Prove He’s The Guy For Philly To Place Their Trust In Long Term. In response, Philly took over the NFC, going undefeated for a stretch of the season before making the Superbowl and eventually losing to the Champs Chiefs in overtime. Philly returned, Perhaps Improved With Vaunted additions To Their Pass Rush In Rookies Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, But The Eagles, Having Suffered A Brain Drain On Coaching Eagles, Making The Playoffs. Still, there was Inconsistent Play And Dysfunction Offense. The Packers moved on from Aaron Rodgers, handed the Reigns over to Jordan Love, and unexpectedly made the playoffs. They also defeated the Cowboys before falling to the 49ers in the divisional round in a close game. The Packers look like a team on the rise while the Eagles search For A new wind. Offensively, neither team took off to a great start; the Eagles, again, were working with turnovers along the offense and suffered two early turnovers.
The First An Interception That Gave The Packers Excellent Field Position and a Fumble On Botch Snap. The Eagles First Two Drives Produced 6 Plays, -7 Two Turnovers. Despite Excellent Field Position, The Packers Could Muster Two Field Goals Thanks To The Eagles Secondary Making Things Difficult in Tight Quarters. Both Offense Get Going by The Second Quarter. The Eagles Would Strike First On The Touchdown when Jalen Hurt the Caps Off An 11 11-play drive With An 18 18-yard touchdown Pass To Saquon Barkley Taking The Lead 7-6. The Packers Would Respond On The Ground, On a Drive Of Five Plays The Pack Rush The ball Four Times, Jayden Reed Picking Up A 33 Yard Run And Score On An End Around. Both Offenses Would Play This Out Like A Boxing Match, Feeling Each Other Out Through The Early Rounds Before Landing HayMakers. The Eagles' Offense Would Respond. This Time, Saquon Gets The Ball Rolling On The Ground, an 11-yard run, Escaping Packers Tacklers, And Picking His First Rushing Touchdown as An eagle. The Eagles' Offense Showed Much More Sustainability On This Drive, Picking Up Chunk Play After Chunk Play To sustain The Drive. The Packer And Jordan Love Struggled To That Point and Struggled To Complete Passes—Multiple Near Interceptions—Most Of The Game Would Author A Response. Just Like Saquon, Jayden Reed Would Strike Through The Air For 70 Yards And His Second Touchdown Of The Game. The Eagles would Tackle a field goal, and the Packers would take a 19-17 lead into the half despite some inconsistent offense. Love’s Inability With The Way He Throws, Balanced and Off One Foot He Doesn’t Follow Through On Passes Leads To Putting The Ball In Danger, And This Form Of Throwing Would Come Back To Punish Love In The Second Half.
The Eagles Get The Second Half Started With a Big Splash Play Of 67 Yards Connection Between Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown And Take A 24-17 Lead. The Pack Would Get Back Ahead After The Two Team Split Two Punts The Pack would Get Back On The Board, A Six Play 70 Yard Touchdown Drive Capped Off By A Touchdown Pass From Jordan Love To A Leaping Christian Watson. Watson hasn’t shown the Polish of a developed receiver most hopeful by his third year, but he’s a big athletic frame for love to target. Love’s Miscues With His Passing, His Inaccuracies, As An Errant Throw Over The Middle Targeting Tight End Luke Musgrave Ends Up In The Hands Of DB Reed Blankenship. The Love interception would Lead To Saquon Barkley’s Third Touchdown Of The Game and A lead Of 31-26, A Lead The Eagles Will Never Surrender. The Eagles Will Pick The Week One Win, Overcoming The Packers And A Slow Start, 34-29. Jalen Hurts Finished 20/34 For 278 Two Touchdowns and Two Picks. Saquon Barkley Starred For The Eagles' Offense with 24 Rushes, 109 Rushing yards, and touchdowns on The Ground While Adding Two Catches And 23 Yards Through The Air. Between Devonta Smith and AJ Brown, The Eagles Packed Up A lot Of YAC, Five Catches For 119 Yards Receiving, And 7 Catches For 84 Receiving Yards. According To Next Gen, Hurts Excelled When He Allowed His Play Makers To Make Plays For Him, Converting 18/22 For 193 Yards And Passer Rating Of 103.2 On Passes Of 15 Air Yards Or Less.
The First Threshold Of The NFL Season Has Just Torn, We Can’t Make Nothing Of Either Team.
Outside Of The Splash Play From Reed, Matt Lafleur and The Packers Struggled To complement Jordan Love With A Run Game Until The Second Half. After a Slow Start To The Game, Josh Jacobs Got Going In The Second Half. Two Explosive Runs From Jacobs, One Of 32 Yards And Another Of 22 Yards, To Pick Up Slack For The Packers Passing Game In The Second Half, But The Packs Come Up Short. Jacobs Finished With 16 Carries For 84 Yards Rushing. Jordan Love Finished 17/34 For 260 Passing Yards and Two Touchdowns. Love Suffered An Apparent ACL/Knee Injury At The End Of The Contest. Jayden Reeds Finished With A Monster 171 Combined Scrimmage Yards And Two Touchdowns. Lafleur’s Play Calling Will Have To Take On A More Creative Nature If The Packers win on The Back End of Coverage, But also, He’s Not Out For The Season; Has To Complete Throws When The Opportunity Opens Up.
