Some excitement the day before the season started was Antonio Brown being released by the team he begged to be traded to, the Oakland Raiders. Within hours of his being released the New England Patriots signed him. Before Brown ever had the chance to don the Patriots jersey, however, a civil suit was filed stating he sexually assaulted his trainer three times. Again, that's a civil suit, not a criminal charge. No police reports, no DNA samples, no interrogations at the police department. Will be interesting to see how the NFL handles this. They were really wanting a nice year to celebrate their 100th season, but AB has loused stuff up. Has to be someone, I suppose.
Big surprise in Cleveland on Sunday. The Browns, who many were picking to go to the Super Bowl (yes, the Cleveland Browns) were blindsided by the Tennessee Titans. I've never played sports on any level other than in the backyard or via a computer game, but I do know that sometimes getting knocked back to reality can be a good thing, especially for a young cocky team like the Browns were starting to be. The Titans were all over Baker Mayfield on Sunday, not allowing him to have any clean reads down field. It'll be interesting to see how he does this week against a New York Jets team that let the Buffalo Bills score the final 17-points of the game and rally to win 17-16.
The Dallas Cowboys looked like they are the team to beat in the NFC, with the exception that they played a New York Giants team in transition. The Giants couldn't get a pass rush together and their secondary was flat. Dallas had receivers open all afternoon, including Jason Witten, who decided to hang up his headphones for a helmet. Looks like he hadn't lost a step.
On Sunday night, the New England Patriots came out and completely dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger couldn't get anything going, while it seemed like Tom Brady could hit whatever he wanted to. All off-season I've talked about how I didn't think Pittsburgh would be productive this year. Based on reports I've read and heard, their locker room is divided and no one is really getting along. I hope Pittsburgh rebounds, but they host the Seattle Seahawks this week and they will not make this easy.
A barn burner in the first Monday night game with the Houston Texans visiting Bourbon Street and the New Orleans Saints. One of the most exciting games I've watched in a long time. Saints kicker Will Lutz nailed a field goal as the clock hit triple zero's, giving the Saints a 30-28 win. A fun game during week 2 is New Orleans going West to visit the Los Angeles Rams, the team that interfered with the Saints making the Super Bowl last February. This should be an interesting game.
Here are a few of the match ups to anticipate during week 2:
Dallas @ Washington - this is always a fun game, even when one of the teams is down. One of the biggest rivalries in pro-sports.
Seattle @ Pittsburgh - This is a rematch of a Super Bowl a few years ago, though the majority of the players on either side are not the ones that participated in that championship. I know Roethlisberger is...both coaches are different, with Pete Carroll in Seattle and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
New England @ Miami - I think what intrigues me the most on this game, is if the Dolphins can hold that high-octane offense of New England to under 50-points.
Jacksonville @ Houston - Nick Foles was injured early in the Jaguars game against Kansas City on Sunday, thus putting 6th round pick Gardner Minshew II, into the spot as starter until Foles is able to play again. What I saw of Minshew on Sunday impressed me a lot and I will be interested to see how he handles himself against J.J. Watt and company.
Minnesota @ Green Bay - always a good game, much like the Dallas-Washington game. It was last year playing against Minnesota that Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone and missed a huge chunk of the season.
The Sunday Night game features Philadelphia @ Atlanta - The Eagles have a quarterback in Carson Wentz that has yet to complete a season, but he's good when he plays. The Falcons have a Super Bowl quarterback that can light it up. They're playing indoors, so, theoretically, that should work to the Falcons' advantage...though it didn't help much last week against Minnesota.
Have a great week #2 and may your team win...unless they're playing my team.
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