WHAT WE LEARNED: NFL WEEK 1

BY ADAM GREENE

It’s that time again when we take a breath after the Monday Night Football game, (and since the battle between the Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders was an epic overtime affair we might need a minute) and then reflect on what happened over the weekend. We mull it over and see if the events that transpired have somehow altered the NFL landscape.

Here’s what I’m seeing;

COULD THE COWBOYS ACTUALLY BE GOOD?

Yes, they lost and there are no participation trophies in the NFL, at least until the end of the year when the individual awards are given out. But Dallas came out strong against the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to open the season and, as often happens when good quarterbacks face off, the team that had the ball last won.

The frustrating thing about the Mike McCarthy hire for the Cowboys was that they were obviously a talented team. I’ve often said this is a playoff roster and, if QB Dak Prescott gets hot in the playoffs, this is a potential Super Bowl roster. With that, owner Jerry Jones has saddled them with a guy who should be managing a Waffle House outside of Boise. It’s frustrating.

McCarthy should not have gotten this job. I still feel the same way. But, he might have accidentally hired a couple of really good assistant coaches, keeping Kellen Moore as the offensive coordinator and bringing in Dan Quinn to run the defense. McCarthy, famous for his low football IQ and inability to concoct NFL level play designs, has turned that all over to Moore. And last Thursday, Moore did an incredible job, at least in the passing game. The run game remains a work in progress.

We’ll know more when Dallas travels to SoFi to take on the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, but it might be premature to line out America’s Former Team just yet.

AARON RODGERS WAS HISTORICALLY BAD

Pro Football Focus put it succinctly in a tweet Sunday. Aaron Rodgers finished the game against the New Orleans Saints, a 38-3 loss, with a 32.8 passer rating. If he had dropped back and intentionally thrown every pass directly into the ground, he would have finished with a 39.6 passer rating. Sunday, Aaron Rodgers was worse than dirt.

It was the worst passer rating for a reigning MVP opening a new season and the Pack posted the lowest point total for a team with a reigning MVP in its opening game of a new season. When I said Rodgers made history, I wasn’t kidding. This should be its own 30 for 30. Rodgers wanted to make a Last Dance style run in Green Bay with Devante Adams, but this looks like Elaine Benes taking the floor at the J. Peterman Party. Thumbs, head jerks, kicks and all.

Rodgers is right about one thing, it is a long season. In fact, it’s the longest season in NFL history, but he better get his dance moves straightened out before Vince Fontaine gives him the old shoulder tap and Cha Cha DiGregorio drags Jordan Love onto the floor.

BILL BELICHICK’S PROBLEMS WITH HIS PUPILS CONTINUE

As much success as Bill Belichick has had in the NFL, and it’s a lot, one thing continues to show up as a consistent obstacle; facing off against his former assistants and players as head coaches. Coming into Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, coached by former Belichick defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the Super Genius was just .500 all time facing his former pupils (15-15). That’s not true anymore.

Miami, with their second year Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took control early and held on at the end against the Pats and their first year Alabama QB, Mac Jones. That makes Belichick 15-16 against his former players/coaches with two more of these match ups (the Tennessee Titans led byMike Vrabel on Nov. 28 and the Dolphins again on Jan. 9 in the season finale) coming.

You can blame it on starting a rookie QB against a team that went 10-6 last year and nearly made the playoffs, but that’s not been the case in the rest of those losses. In fact, Belichick had Tom Brady for most of those and they were against the likes of Bill O’Brien, Romeo Crennel, Al Groh and Eric Mangini. It’s a veritable Who’s Who of Who’s No Longer Coaching in the NFL?

The irony is, with the exception of Vrabel, none of his former coaches have put their own solid career together as a head coach. Flores remains an unknown, as this is just his second season. The rest have all been deservedly fired and returned to assistant jobs or, in some cases, remain un-hirable and show up as talking heads on ESPN.

It’s a thing. Even Matt Patricia knocked off Belichick’s Pats with Brady at the helm in 2018 and it wasn’t even close, 28-10. And that was the year New England won its last Super Bowl. The only bowl Patricia had anything to do with that season was full of Rocky Mountain Chili and he soundly defeated it as well.

SEAN MCVAY AND MATTHEW STAFFORD AS ADVERTISED

Hype is a funny thing in the NFL and it has a way of biting hyped up teams and players in the ass almost immediately. Aaron Rodgers wants a last dance? How about a face plant in Jacksonville instead? The Cleveland Browns ready to usurp the Kansas City Chiefs as the best team in the AFC? Not while the game clock’s running. The Buffalo Bills proving they belong amongst the NFL’s elite? Maybe block T.J. Watt before you mark that down in your book. And how about that new Tennessee Titans explosive offense that produced all of 13 points against a team that finished .500 a year ago?

Reality is a harsh mistress and she’s got your wife on speed dial.

But when it came to Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford, everything went off without a hitch. The deep passing attack missing under Jared Goff, exploded in a 34-14 route of the Chicago Bears. Stafford went 20 of 26 for 321 yards, three touchdowns and no picks for a passer rating of 156.1. It was the highest rating in NFL history for a QB making his first start for a new team.

Again, it’s a long season. But only one hyped up team answered the bell last Sunday and they did it in style. It bears watching.

The NFL season is underway and the Week 2 Schedule is up and taking bets at BetOnline.AG.

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