Lance’s Week 1 Takeaways
I enjoyed every second of my relaxing Sunday watching the return of football. My picks for the week were a little up and down, but I expect that with any week 1 slate, especially one without any preseason games to go off of. I haven’t decided how often I will do a takeaways article, week 1 seemed appropriate, but I may not do another one until week 8. Here are my quick takes from week 1 of the 2020 season:
1) Washington’s front seven was as good as expected, but the bigger surprise was watching Dwayne Haskins in the second half. Seeing him in the pocket, sliding around, getting the ball out and even running with it, he looked way more comfortable than he did last season (or even in the first half of this game).
2) Minnesota is going to need their young Cornerbacks to grow up quickly if they want to make the playoffs. We knew they were young, and we knew they were going to have struggles this year but being picked apart by Rodgers wasn’t all due to Rodgers. They just weren’t able to compete with Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, or Allen Lazard. That will need to change or else they’re going to miss the playoffs and I don’t even want to discuss their current outlook for the NFC North.
3) Gardner Minshew is for real. I can already hear the comments: “it was just Indy,” “it’s only one game,” “the Jags will find a way to mess it up.” Indianapolis was my pick to take the AFC South and I wasn’t alone in that prediction, so no, it wasn’t just a bad team that they were playing. It’s also not just one game. Minshew went 6-6 last year, giving the jags their only six wins of the season, while throwing for 3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions. Against the Colts he was 19/20(!!!) for 173 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He was efficient, he was consistent, he was poised, and most importantly he kept Jacksonville in it!
4) I may be alone in this view, but Josh Allen just wasn’t that impressive. He was playing what figures to be a bottom five defense that has no superstar, so he was always expected to post big stats. But here are the numbers that stuck out to me: for a guy with such a big arm he averaged just 6.8 YPA against a terrible secondary, he fumbled twice, both of his passing touchdowns were on dump offs, and he overthrew two wide-open players in the endzone on would be touchdowns. He’s just not what everyone seems to think he is and when he plays good teams that will be exploited.
5) Russell Wilson has once again thrust himself into the early conversations for MVP. It happens basically every year and he ultimately falls behind someone who has a magnificent season, but I have a feeling that this year he is that someone. I’ll try and temper my expectations though as he did just play Atlanta, who’s secondary was a question mark coming in, but man did Wilson look good.
6) The discipline the Bengals showed on their final drive was amazing to see. With no preseason we were fully expecting to see stupid penalties and bonehead mistakes, but that wasn’t the case at the end of the Chargers v Bengals game (not entirely). A.J. Green did push off on the would be game winning touchdown and Bullock did miss the Field Goal and potentially hurt himself in the process, but what I’m referring to is what happened before all of that. Down by 3, on their own 18 with 3:08 left in the game, the Bengals marched downfield with their young signal caller under Center and were in position to win or tie the game. Every receiver that caught the ball in-bounds sprinted over to hand the ball to their Center, though Tyler Boyd did forget for a split second after one of his catches before realizing what needed to be done. And when the Bengals earned a first down at the Chargers 13 with 19 seconds left, they got on the ball in a hurry and were completely set so Burrow could spike it. They were well disciplined, fully prepared, and clearly trusted their rookie passer to get them where they needed to be. This could be an exciting season for Cincinnati as Burrow continues to grow.
7) Arizona is moving up and the Niners are moving down. Seems like an obvious statement with the Cardinals winning in San Fran, but it’s the deeper part of the statement that matters. The Cardinals, two years removed from having the #10 pick and taking a Quarterback, a year removed from having the #1 pick and taking a Quarterbackagain, just upset the 49ers who made the Super Bowl last year. Kyler Murray, in his second season, was in full command of his offense, he kept them alive with his arm and his legs and he led his team to victory over Garoppolo, a veteran who seemed to struggle for most of the game. The NFC West was always going to be the most exciting division to watch this season; this game helped build up thedrama we should certainly see toward the end of the year.
8) For all the hype the Bucs have been receiving, the Saints soundly reminded everyone who is the actual team to beat in the NFC South. There’s a reason why I picked New Orleans to make the Super Bowl this year. I’m also impressed with how good their defense already looks. Itseemed inevitable that defenses were going to need a few weeks to get in the groove (and it still looks that way), but the Saints defense looked fully prepared.
9) There’s a big question mark that hangs over the Cowboys v Rams game: Are the Rams a legit threat this season, or are these the same hyped up Cowboys that end up disappearingin the regular season that we’ve become accustomed to? I honestly don’t know the answer to that question. I expected more out of the Cowboys offense, but I also expected Goff to be able to have his way against Dallas’ questionable secondary. What I viewed as two not great defenses is what ultimately led the way in this one. I’m looking forward to seeing if that continues to be the case over the next couple weeks.
10) The Steelers defense is good enough to get them into the playoffs. Having Big Ben back will do wonders for Pitt over the season, but if something were to happen to him, I think they still get in. I know their interceptions were against Daniel Jones, so nothing to write home about, but they shutdown Barkley in the run game. They took away New York’s best offensive asset and forced them to go to the air to try and win. We’ll know for sure if they’re ready when they play Baltimore’s dual threat attack toward the end of October.
