I think this might be the most astute general summary of week 1. It's hard right now to say much of anything about anyone, we're going to have to see who settles down and improves and who really is a dumpster fire. History says we know who will rise above, but there are surprises each year. As for the Dolphins, let's hope they don't need much time to be game ready, because if so, they could be lagging the other teams for a little while...
Plain and simple, the Pats came out flat. Brady looked hesitant in the pocket and their defense was getting bulldozed at all three levels. They were simply outplayed...not sure why people need to try and make more out of it than what it was. This doesn't signal the end of New England's legacy- it just means they had a lousy week and not as prepared as they thought for 2017. I have a feeling that they will be more of an average team this season based on (1) Brady's age and (2) the lack of quality talent on offense since they believe Brady is superman. If he has an average season then they're an 8-8 team....but that's been true for the past dozen years as well. I think that we will beat the crap out of them this season though and Buffalo will as well.
Week 1 was a bit sloppy I agree and the stats bear it out. Score differential was bigger than average at 13.6 points (NFL average is closer to 11 points) with only 3 games where the score differential was 7 points or less. Points scored per game was less than NFL average: 20.2 ppg for week 1 when NFL average for the last several years is 22.6-22.8 ppg. I think it's a combination of two things: 1) more bad QB's just happened to start week 1, and 2) random chance that several established veterans all had poor outings in the same week. Indy tried out Tolzien and Brissett, and Houston tried out Savage and Watson. Both games were blowouts. Josh McCown for the "all but officially tanking" Jets and Brian Hoyer for the 49ers also aren't that good QB's. Both those games were blowouts. Compare this to week 1 in 2016 where you had 32 starting QB's play 16 games (week 1 in 2017: 33 QB's played 15 games). At least Indy should be fine once Luck comes back. Then of course you had Brady, Wilson, Palmer, Flacco all underperforming, but none doing something they haven't done before and come back from. Just random chance it all occurred week 1 IMO.
Over the last 30 years or so the emphasis of the preseason has changed. Preseason used to be only about drillinwg players to be ready for week 1. Nowadays avoiding injuries is a very high concern, so practices aren't as intense and preseason games are played at an even lower level. I have nondata to back it up and it maybe nostalgia, but I feel that the quality of play in the fitst week or two of the season is relatively lower now compared to 30 years ago.
I blame it on the next Ice Age (70's)...errr...Global Warming!(90's)...errr...Climate Change!!!(Present-2018). That's it! By George I think we've got it! We can call it Climate Change and tax everybody no matter WHAT the weather does!
I suspect a few more flat weeks. Starters only played a half it seemed in game 3 of the preseason, NFL wide. And if they did play more, they didn't show much. This and the fact there have been so many injuries to star players
As my stepson and i were watching the game, when they introduced the Pats defense, i said, "if the Dolphins had those players, id be mortified." So i think there is a talent deficiency on their defense.now, BB is the best coach in the history of the NFL...he'll be able to make them serviceable. Offensively, they have talent...its just not cohesive. By the time we play them, i expect theyll have Cook and Dorsett churning. They are still a playoff team. Depends on how well we can perform as to who wins the division.
