After the conclusion of an interesting Bills vs Jets matchup, week one of the NFL season has officially come to a close. It wasn’t the most exciting weekend of football these baby blues have ever seen, but man did I miss sitting on a couch for eight and a half hours straight with nothing else on my mind. So, let’s briefly recap each game, and then I’ll give you an update on how my picks went this weekend.
FALCONS BEAT PANTHERS 24-10
This was a battle of high first round draft picks, and Bijan Robinson, who was selected eighth by the Falcons, far outshined Bryce Young, who was Carolina’s selection with the first pick. Bijan had 83 yards from scrimmage, including an early TD and a monster run for 21 yards. Bryce, on the other hand, went 20/38 for 146 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and didn’t have a pass longer than 14 yards.
BROWNS SHOCK THE BENGALS, WINNING 24-3
Not many people, including myself, thought that the Browns would come out and beat the Bengals by three scores. I had the Bengals -1.5 spread as a mortal lock (more info on this at the end of the article), but it ended up being my worst bet of the day. Joe Burrow had one of the sorriest performances of his young career, going 14/31 for 82 yards and picking up two sacks along the way. However, Burrow wasn’t the only Bengals player who couldn’t get it going. Ja’Marr Chase had five receptions for just 39 yards, and Joe Mixon rushed for 56 yards on 13 carries. For Cleveland, Deshaun Watson went 16/29 for 154 yards, along with a touchdown and an interception, and he also rushed for 45 yards and another touchdown. Nick Chubb also had a respectable day, rushing for 106 and catching four passes for 21 yards. Overall, the Browns didn’t play outstanding or anything, the Bengals just played terribly and gave Cleveland an easy win.
JAGUARS THWART COLTS 31-21
Colt’s rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson looked very good for the first three quarters of this game, but then it all fell apart. A late interception led to a game winning touchdown by Travis Etienne, in the final minutes of the game, Richardson left the game with an apparent leg injury. On a more positive note, Calvin Ridley is back from his season long gambling suspension, and one thing’s for sure: he’s really good at football. Trevor Lawrence seems to have found a new favorite receiver in Ridley, completing eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown to the former Atlanta Falcon. At the end of the day, T-Law went 24/32 for 262 total yards, with one TD and one interception.
BUCCANEERS STUN VIKING 20-17
A few of my roommates are Vikings fans, so I witnessed them stress through most of their games last season. However, unlike this past Sunday, they won every close game last year. To be exact, the Vikings went 11-0 in one score games last season, but after the game one loss to the Falcons, that statistic is off to a 0-1 start for 2023. Star wideout Justin Jefferson put up an absurd 138 yards with seven catches in the first half, but only caught two passes for twelve yards in the second, which left him visibly upset after the game. Kirk still put up 344 yards on 33/44 passing with two touchdowns, but it was Minnesota’s turnovers that killed them. All three of them came in the first half (2 fumbles and one pick all from Kirk), so with Tampa Bay having a clean 0 on the turnover sheet all game, this loss really just boils down to the Vikings shooting themselves in the foot.
SAINTS START OFF HOT, BEATING TITANS 16-15
While it wasn’t a scoring heavy game, the Saints were able to pull out a win in Derek Carr’s debut with the team. Carr threw for 305 yards and a touchdown, but it was how he persevered through an interception and four sacks that showed promise for the Saints’ organization. Chris Olave seems to like his new quarterback as well after catching eight passes for 112 yards. On the other side of the ball, Derrick Henry had a quiet game with only 63 yards and no touchdowns, and new Titan Deandre Hopkins also had an underwhelming performance with seven catches for 65 yards. The Tennessee offense could not get the ball moving all game, and were unable to score a single touchdown. Next week they face the Chargers which is an even taller task, so it’ll be interesting to see how they bounce back.
49ers CRUSH STEELERS 30-7
The 49ers 2022 season ended in the worst way possible. Brock Purdy tore his UCL in his elbow during the NFC Championship against the Eagles, destroying any chances the team had at winning the Super Bowl. Coming into this season, many were unsure whether Purdy and the Niners would be able to recapture the magic they had at the end of last season, but this dominant win against the Steelers silenced all doubters. Purdy went an efficient 19/29 for 220 yards and two TDs, and Christian McCaffrey had a huge rushing day with 22 for 152 and one TD. The surprise performers of the day for the Niners were Drake Jackson and Brandon Aiyuk. Jackson recorded three sacks, while Aiyuk caught all eight of his targets for a total of 129 yards and two TDs. On the other sideline, nobody on the Steelers could get the ball moving. Pickett threw two picks, and no receiver or running back had more than 65 yards from scrimmage. In short, the Niners are who we feared they’d be.
COMMANDERS OUTLAST CARDINALS 20-16
I don’t know what was going on in my brain when I picked the Commanders -7 spread as one of my locks this week. They almost covered it, but yikes. Both defenses played better than expected this game, but the Commanders came out on top after Montez Sweat’s late strip-sack which led to Sam Howell’s game winning rushing TD. Howell also threw a touchdown and went 19/31 for 202 yards to offset a terrible early interception. Defenses dominated this game, so I’m glad I picked the under, but after that mortal lock I’ll need to regroup and come back stronger next week.
RAVENS SHAKILY MAKE IT BY TEXANS 25-9
We witnessed the first season ending injury of the year when JK Dobbins tore his achilles in this matchup. Dobbins had missed the entire 2021 season and 10 games of last season with knee injuries, so there are questions about whether he’ll don the pads ever again. Sad stuff, but his exit didn’t stop the Ravens from covering the spread. Lamar Jackson had no touchdowns and looked shaky at times, yet he was still able to surpass 200 yards from the line of scrimmage to push the Ravens to a 25 point week one performance. Texans’ rookie CJ Stroud had no picks and threw for 242 yards, but nobody on Houston was able to put scores in for six, and the three field goals weren’t enough to win over Baltimore.
PACKERS SILENCE BEARS’ HYPE AFTER 38-20 WIN
The hype surrounding Justin Fields and the Bears was the loudest I’ve ever heard surrounding a three win team. The Packers, on the other hand, were many people’s sleeper pick to win the NFC North over the Bears, Vikings, and Lions. Jordan Love ended up having the better performance of the QBs, with 257 yards and three touchdowns compared to Fields’ 275 with one TD and one interception. This stellar performance by Love, coupled with four sacks and a pick six by the Green Bay defense were enough to put the Packers over the Bears in their first of two matchups this season.
RAIDERS TRAVEL TO DENVER AND PULL OUT A 17-16 VICTORY
Sean Payton’s debut coaching outing with the Broncos didn’t end up the way they hoped it would. Russell Wilson actually had a solid game with zero turnovers, two touchdowns, and 177 yards, but the Raiders’ new duo of former Patriots Jimmy Garoppolo and Jakobi Meyers proved efficacious after they connected for two touchdowns, catapulting Vegas to victory. Raiders’ star receiver Davante Adams summed up the game best as he walked off of the field, saying “It ain’t got to be pretty, you’ve just got to get it done”.
DOLPHINS WIN THE GAME OF THE WEEKEND WITH 36-34 WIN OVER THE CHARGERS
Aside from the Thursday night matchup between the Chiefs and Lions, this Dolphins vs Chargers game had the highest point total for the over/under of all the games this week, and they still blew that 50.5 line out of the water. Both of these offenses can be electrifying, but the Dolphins seem to have caught lightning in a bottle twice with Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa. Hill went off for 215 yards and two TDs on 11 catches, and Tua passed for 466(!) yards and three TDs to outweigh his one fumble and one interception. For the Chargers, Austin Ekeler was up to his old tricks, rushing for 117 yards and a tuddy while catching four passes for 47 yards. Justin Herbert played well, throwing for 228 yards and one touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to match the Dolphins onslaught from Tua and Tyreek.
RAMS SURPRISE SEAHAWKS WITH 30-13 WIN
The Seahawks were the overperforming team of last year, and after drafting Jaxon Smith-Njigba, many thought that they’d take further steps into the postseason. Matthew Stanford thought otherwise. Without his favorite target, Cooper Kupp, Stafford still threw for 334 yards and had two receivers, Tutu Atwell and Puka Nacua, breach the 100 yard mark (119 each). Geno Smith had an underwhelming game with only 112 yards and one TD, and Kenneth Walker was unable to pick up the slack, only recording 64 yards on the day. If the Rams keep playing this well when Kupp returns, they could be a serious sleeper for the NFC bid to the Super Bowl.
EAGLES CRUSH BRADY’S CELEBRATION WITH 25-20 WIN OVER THE PATRIOTS
The Patriots honored the G.O.A.T. in their season’s home opener, but the Eagles crashed the party and walked out with a W. New England had about the worst start you could think of, with a pick six thrown by Mac Jones and then a fumble by Ezekiel Elliott on the very next play. That being said, as a Pats fan, I think that we played better than expected. Our defense looked great, except for some struggles at the line, and even without Devante Parker, Mac Jones was able to throw for 316 yards and three touchdowns. If you had told me before the game that Mac would outperform Jaylen Hurts by a long shot, I wouldn’t have believed you, but that’s exactly what happened. Hurts had 207 yards from scrimmage with one passing touchdown and one fumble, and no wideout or running back had more than 80 yards from scrimmage for Philly. The game came down to the final drive, where the Pats needed to score six to take a one point lead, but unfortunately they ran out of juice at the last minute. If they had just not thrown up on themselves in the first quarter, the Patriots would probably be 1-0.
COWBOYS DESTROY GIANTS 40-0
This game was gross to watch. The Giants looked absolutely terrible, and the Cowboys, especially their defense, looked really good. All you need to look at is the score of the game to know how much of a whooping this was.
BILLS EMBARRASS THEMSELVES WITH 16-22 OVERTIME LOSS TO THE JETS
The story of this game was Aaron Rodgers tearing his achilles on the Jets’ fourth offensive snap of the game. Rodgers, who was thought to be the savior of the historically troubled Jets franchise, is now out for the season. This means that Zach Wilson is back behind center, and with his terrible performances in the past, I thought that there was no way the Bills were losing. That was, until Josh Allen played the worst game of his career, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble while only passing for 236 yards. The game wasn’t pretty, but a highlight was watching Breece Hall in his return from his torn ACL to rush for 127 yards on 10 attempts. Undeniably the best play of the game came in overtime, when undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson had a walk off punt return, taking it 42 yards back to the crib.
In all seriousness, I hope Aaron recovers and doesn’t retire. I can’t accept that game as being the last of his career.
NFL PICK ‘EM UPDATE:
With the first week in the books, the results of my point total and spread picks for each game are here. If you missed it, here are my picks that I posted to twitter on Saturday:
So, after doing the math, I am currently 21-11-1, 2-2 in mortal locks, and up 9.05 units on the season. Not to amp myself up too much, but that is a terrific start. However, there will be good weeks, and there will be bad weeks, this is just one of the good ones. Follow us on twitter @a2zsportstakes to see my picks for this week’s slate of games.
My younger brother also sent me his picks at the buzzer on Sunday, so I was unable to post them, but here are the results. He is 13-15-1 and down 3.1 units after week one. Since he sent me his picks on Sunday, he missed the Thursday night game, and he also forgot to make a pick for the Bills/Jets spread, so that’s why his numbers are lower than mine. You will see his picks on our twitter for the remaining weeks.
That’s it for today, let us know your thoughts in the comments, and expect an article from Jack soon!