User Endzone: NFL Week 1 Recap and Analysis

2023-09-12 17:56:10

Here we are once more!

There is still a lot to talk regarding in the 2023 NFL season, especially following Week 1.

So it’s good that there is the “User Endzone” – the NFL format from YOU for YOU.

Two users present their expertise, opinions and views in different categories.

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions, following all, this format also needs to be further developed.

The hosts in Week 1: “FloReich1108” and “MatB”.

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MATB:

Just as the new season is back, so are we. After our two previews (NFC and AFC) and the power ranking including our predictions, we can get started and the first of 18 weeks is already over. There were once more some “interesting” results, many events and – which is unfortunately part of sport – some injuries. We want to work through all of this for you this year, week following week, and write it down here.

This year we decided to include a new area. The “Rookie in Focus”, where we would like to focus specifically on a rookie and his performance on game day. As always, we hope for many comments and discussions, always objective.

New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills 22:10 OT

The first Monday Night Game was already tough and had to be decided in overtime. Many of you probably didn’t see it, as the middle-class Austrian has to work during the week and needs his well-deserved sleep on the night the game takes place.

But what did you miss? Aaron Rodgers’ debut in the New York Jets jersey. A negative turnover festival on the Bills’ side. Two extremely strong defenses and one, even though it’s difficult for me as a Bill fan to write these words, deserved winners in green – the New York Jets. However, the signs during the first half did not seem to point towards this outcome.

The new QB hopeful in green, Aaron Rodgers, wasn’t able to demonstrate his skills for long. It took four plays for Aaron Rodgers to be sacked for the first time. Leonard Floyd brought the “old” man to the ground so badly that the game was already over for him. And not only that – his Achilles tendon is torn. That means the end of the season. What a shock!

What else happened in the first half, following which the Bills went into halftime with a 13-3 lead? Zach Wilson took command of the Jets once more and didn’t score more than one field goal and one interception. The Bills were “only” able to score a field goal from this. His counterpart, Josh Allen, did the same for Wilson and “scored” an interception following a field goal, caught by safety Jordan Whitehead (remember that name). The Bills’ last two drives resulted in a touchdown and the aforementioned field goal following Wilson’s interception.

After the break, the defensive fireworks continued at a new, even better level, especially the Jets managed to put Allen under pressure once more and once more and also cover the receivers so well that the Bills didn’t have any more drives on the first four drives achieved points. On the contrary, the turnover rate clearly went towards the Jets. Interception, punt, interception, fumble were the results of these four drives. The two other interceptions were also caught by none other than Jordan Whitehead.

On the other hand, the Jets’ offense got better and better, led by Zach Wilson, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, the Jets were able to take the lead 16:13 with 1:52 minutes left. Garret Wilson’s touchdown catch was particularly tough, but see for yourself.

However, the Bills in the form of Josh Allen were able to respond once more, with a timeout and almost 2 minutes they were able to get into FG range and Tyler Bass converted from 50 yards with the help of the upright (the ball jumped from the upright pole into the goal). .

In overtime, the Bills got the first possession, but there was no more than a 3 and out and the momentum was gone once more. The Jets needed exactly one play to end the game. The undrafted rookie receiver Xavier Gipson was ready for the punt return, you can see what followed for yourself:

New Orleans Saints (16:15 win once morest the Tennessee Titans)

Team of the Week might be a few. Cowboys, that’s the only game I didn’t see, but the stats don’t say much here, except for the score. But yards and the individual stats of the players are not necessarily exciting. The Giants may have simply made too many mistakes here and the Cowboys accepted these gifts.

I chose the New Orleans Saints. The Saints were a bit underwhelming for me before the season, they have very few on the bill. Of course, the Saints have been struggling with their cap problem for years, and of course there’s no Drew Brees or Sean Payton left. Of course Alvin Kamara is suspended. What I’m curious regarding is where would everyone see the Saints with Payton as HC?

But enough of that, they still have a lot of potential, we don’t need to talk regarding the defense, in my opinion it is one of the best in the NFL, but a lot has also been done on offense this year. Above all, a new QB was brought in with Derek Carr. Personally, I am a “small” fan of his. But he is definitely a reinforcement at this position for the Saints.

Furthermore, Jamaal Williams, last season’s touchdown leader, was brought in at the RB position. In addition, Michael Thomas is 100% fit once more. The chemistry between Carr and Thomas doesn’t seem to be 100% right yet, as some matches have shown, but I think it’s just a matter of time. He has a clear number 1 next to him in Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed also showed up in this game and also scored the only TD for the Saints.

For me it was a very strong team performance from the Saints that actually should have been higher, which is also what the yards say. In the end there were 351 to 285 yards.

Derek Carr had 305 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. The remaining points were scored by undrafted rookie kicker Blake Grupe, who was flawless with 3/3 on field goals and the extra point.

The real star of the Saints was the aforementioned defense. They held Derek “King” Henry to just 63 yards on 15 attempts. Titans QB Ryan Tannehill only completed 16 of his 34 attempts for 198 yards. There were 3 interceptions. All of the Titans’ points came from field goals, and the Saints didn’t allow a single touchdown. They also stood their ground on 3rd downs; the Titans were only able to convert 16 percent of them into a first down.

T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh Steelers, 5 Tackles, 1 Tackle for loss, 3 Sacks, 2 Forced Fumbles)

“I’ll be back” or actually “He is back”. TJ Watt – one of the best, if not the best, defenders in the NFL is back with a resurgence. Certainly other outstanding players might have been recognized in this section, Tyreek Hill is already recognized in this section, but a Tua Tagovailoa or an Austin Ekeler or even the opponent Watts, Brandon Aiyuk or Christian McCaffrey. But I found Watt’s performance even more outstanding.

After his injury last year, he apparently wasn’t 100 percent fit for the remaining games. He only managed 33 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception in the 9 games following his injury, although he was on the field for an average of 86 percent of the defensive snaps.

If you compare these numbers with those from the first day of the game once morest the extremely strong 49ers, you can see how good TJ Watt actually was in the game. I don’t want to extrapolate these numbers to the season. All the more impressive because the 49ers played a very strong game. Watt was always in the action, no one else managed a sack on the Steelers side, two of the three fumbles went to TJ Watt. I wish him an injury-free season and that he continues to entertain us with such great defensive plays.

Joe Burrow (Quarterback Cincinnati Bengals)

Joe Burrow and his men imagined the start of the season differently. Equipped with a new contract for 5 years and $275 million, he should actually lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl and, at best, to the ring there.

You can lose to the Cleveland Browns in the Battle of Ohio, but you can’t really go down like you did on Sunday. Of course the Browns are something of a feared opponent of the Bengals, of the 7 games since the beginning of 2020, the Bengals have only been able to win one, and the Browns have emerged victorious 6 times.

This was also the case on Sunday, but the way it came regarding was more than frightening from the Bengals’ perspective. This highly praised offense put a total of 3 points on the scoreboard and was only able to cover 142 yards the entire game. Burrow, who was so highly paid, had 82 passing yards. Simply far too little for this team and the goals. Burrow only got 14 of his 31 attempts to his teammates. WR 2 Tee Higgins failed to catch any of his 8 targets. His counterpart didn’t have to have a great day to let his team win with a strong running game in Cleveland. Watson only had 154 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception, plus one rushing touchdown.

The Browns’ receivers simply mightn’t move well enough to give Burrow the help he needed, and he mightn’t make his passing stations appear. The running game around Joe Mixon wasn’t much help either with 56 yards. Burrow was under pressure on “what felt like” every pass attempt, and the changes in the Bengals’ O-line have not yet had an impact. You should try to protect the currently highest-paid franchise QB enough. Orlando Brown or Cody Ford haven’t been able to show her what they can do yet.

ROOKIE IM FOKUS: Zay Flowers (Baltimore Ravens)

This year we want to introduce you to a new section of rookies who are worth paying attention to, regardless of whether they are positive, they are already doing more or doing what is expected. Or negatively, they simply don’t live up to their early praise or their draft pick. For our new fans, rookies are players in their first year in the NFL.

I chose Zay Flowers in Week 1. Already in preparation we only heard good things regarding him and that he seemed to have worked his way up to WR 1 for the Ravens. That’s why I was particularly excited regarding him in Week 1 (of course also with regard to fantasy football). One thing can be said, he more than lived up to it. The Ravens may have turned their weakness into a strength. Flowers, Beckham, Bateman doesn’t look so bad now, plus Andrews, who is currently injured.

But let’s get back to Flowers, two receivers went before him in the draft. He had a significant contribution to winning the game, even if he mightn’t score a touchdown (yet). He initiated the first touchdown with a 21-yard catch. He caught passes for 20 yards and 19 yards on the Ravens’ second touchdown. All in all, a very good performance from Flowers, we probably won’t wait long for his first touchdown.

Puka Nacua, Jordan Addison or Bijan Robinson might have fit in this category, but none of the many highly praised quarterbacks have convinced me yet.

FLOREICH1108:

Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers 20:38

This game managed to become the first “Game of the Week” for a variety of reasons: Firstly, the rivalry between Bears and Packers is the oldest in NFL history and this is reflected once more and once more in heated game situations. Secondly, contrary to my expectations, this duel turned into offensive fireworks. And thirdly, Jordan Love, Aaron Rodgers’ successor, started for the first time.

Now to the game. The Bears around Fields started the game well and moved the ball almost to the halfway line. There, a 4th-down conversion failed, causing the Packers to start their offense directly in the Bears’ half. The good field position was taken advantage of and Love delivered a nice TD pass to Romeo Doubs. The Bears were only able to counter this touchdown drive with a long field goal. After the Packers offense had to quickly end their next drive, the Bears quickly marched into the Packers redzone. However, Fields failed to get the ball into the end zone and so they were forced to convert the field goal.

Thanks to a field goal by the Packers, the score was 10:6. In the second half, the Packers quickly took control and extended their lead to 24:6 with two touchdowns. The Bears countered with a wonderful touchdown pass from Fields to Mooney, which shortened the score to 24:14, but the Packers offense, and especially the Packers defense, kept finding answers. As a result, this game ended quite clearly with 38:20. Certainly a very satisfying start to the “post-Rodgers” era for Love and the Packers.

Los Angeles Rams (30:13 win once morest the Seattle Seahawks)

The Rams entered this game and this season as total underdogs, but immediately proved that they cannot be written off entirely. Thanks to excellent playcalling from Sean McVay, Stafford was able to continually find his young receivers and carry the ball down the field supported by a solid run game. In the absence of star receiver Kupp, rookie Nacua (119 yds) and Atwell (119 yds) stepped into the breach and almost made Kupp forgotten.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Rams also managed to keep the Seahawks in check time and time once more. This combination ultimately led to a well-deserved victory. Especially because of the Rams’ circumstances (very young team, difficult cap situation, lack of Kupp,…) they more than deserve the title “Team of the Week” this week.

Tyreek Hill (WR – Miami Dolphins – 11 Catches, 215 Yards, 2 TDs)

Tyreek Hill started the season perfectly in the Dolphins’ 36:34 win once morest the Chargers. With his agility and speed, he destroyed the Chargers secondary time and time once more and deservedly secured the title of Player of the Week. Of course, if you go by the stats (446 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT), you might also crown your QB Tagovaiola with this title. But if you look at various game situations, you have to say that Hill achieves such performances despite, and not because of, Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa lacks precision in depth and also arm strength, so he often subordinates his speed stars and is therefore unable to fully exploit their potential.

Wide Receiver der Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs went into the season opener once morest the Detroit Lions extremely weakened by the absences of Chris Jones and Travis Kelce. While they were able to score continuously in the first half, this rhythm broke in the second half. The main reason for this was the “fat fingers” of the receivers on the Chiefs side.

Kadarius Toney, who only caught one ball for 1 yard on 5 targets in the entire game, can be used as a symbol of this. In addition, he caused an interception with an easy-to-catch ball and thus became the nail in the coffin in the Chiefs’ opening game. A massive improvement will be needed from the entire receiver group in week two, or Travis Kelce will be fit once more.

ROOKIE IM FOKUS: ANTHONY RICHARDSON (Indianapolis Colts)

The Colts selected a physical monster in Anthony Richardson at No. 4 in this year’s draft, but he showed weaknesses in the passing game in college. He started immediately in Week 1 once morest last year’s playoff participants from Jacksonville, who promised an uncomfortable debut. But Richardson immediately showed himself NFL-ready and played with great confidence.

At the end of the game it wasn’t enough to win, but they were able to keep up with the Jaguars and Richardson was able to show what they brought him in for. Of course, coach Frank Reich tried to integrate Richardson into the running game and enable him to make easy completions in the passing game and this worked very well. Richardson completed 24 of 37 passes for 223 yards and threw for a touchdown and an interception. He also ran for 40 yards and a touchdown.

As the season progresses, it will be exciting to see how Richardson continues to develop and whether he can take a step forward, especially in the passing game, but the debut was certainly promising from the Colts’ perspective.

PETER ALTMANN:

1.) Tuesday morning, waking up in the hotel in Stockholm, picking up my cell phone, opening an app. The following events are presented chronologically:

1.) Aha, victory for the New York Jets – first thought: Hah, as expected, the old dog will do it! I’ve been telling this for weeks to everyone who may or may not want to hear it. I watch the video of the game-winning interception return. Robert Saleh cheers like a little child. Congratulations! Directly below is an interview snippet with Zach Wilson. Huh?! The preseason was already over, dear colleagues. The shock. I’m starting to realize that something has happened that just shouldn’t happen. That can’t be! The certainty: it actually happened. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t even warmed up seriously as the new quarterback of the New York Jets before everything is over once more given his ruptured Achilles tendon. Of all the reactions to this that my trusted social networks throw at me almost every second, the following is the most apt: “This is the most Jets-like thing that has ever happened to the Jets.” And that’s saying something.

I hope this doesn’t mean the end of Aaron Rodgers’ great career. In the past few weeks, one might get the credible impression that the Green Bay Packers legend is enjoying his job once more following his life-long franchise has recently become rather arduous. It doesn’t take much imagination to imagine what might be possible with Rodgers and the Jets so talented on both sides of the ball. So much fun and joy everyone. And now?

It’s the brutal end of a summer love.

2.) A note for all those who still have their best years ahead of them, but are entering them relatively soon: This was the first Week 1 of the NFL since 1997 in which neither Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Tom Brady was on the field stood. The official end of an incredible era – and following Aaron Rodgers’ injury, the generational change seems to have finally taken place.

3.) With Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson, it was the first appearance of three other members of an exciting, new QB generation. All three of them mightn’t deny that they were rookies – but hey: it’s not that easy… It’s the NFL!

Exciting from a red-white-red perspective: Richardson will be protected by Bernhard Raimann in the future. And I would say that you might clearly see why there is such a hype regarding the young star who is so strong. This might of course be very interesting, especially from a fantasy perspective.

The question of the week then refers to the three newcomers. Which do you think will have the best career?

4.) Two little things first. How funny is Sean Payton that he started his era with the Denver Broncos with an onside kick? A nice throwback to his Saints days when he chose this move in the Super Bowl. Even if it didn’t work out for the Broncos, this call will be remembered.

5.) I owe my Super Bowl pick primarily to our user writers because I didn’t include it in their season predictions. It’s probably just a matter of explaining to myself at the end of the season that I was wrong :-). I didn’t touch the tip even following the events of the weekend, “MatB” is my witness.

The Bills are still finding their feet, so I think there are a lot of good memories from the early 90s:

Dallas Cowboys – Buffalo Bills


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