The Good Men Project Sports weekly review of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the slate of NFL games. What we learned and what we were wowed by in Week 1:
The Good:
- Patrick Mahomes is extremely good at the game of football. Because of that, the KC Chiefs offense is going to be a juggernaut again this year.
- ‘The Lamar Jackson Experience, Year Two’ is going to be quite a ride for Baltimore Ravens fans. The “running QB” was 17-of-20 passing for 324 yards and FIVE touchdowns for a perfect QB Rating of 158.3 en route to hanging 59 points on the hapless Miami Dolphins. He appears to enjoy throwing to rookie speedster “Hollywood” Brown.
Reporter: “Do you think this performance proves to everyone that you can throw the football?”
Jackson (smiling): “Well, probably not. But not bad for a Running Back, eh?”
Lamar Jackson walking by everybody who said he should change positions or wasn’t good enough to play QB
pic.twitter.com/AB8cE91Vuw
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 8, 2019
- New England. Facing their rival, Pittsburgh Steelers, old man QB, Tom ’20SZN’ Brady, didn’t miss a beat. With new toy, Antonio Brown (the best receiver in football who just fell into their lap over the weekend) ineligible for the game and watching at home, Brady found a resurgent Josh Gordon for a first TD and then threaded two beauties to Philip Dorsett, en route to a dismantling of the Steelers D. They were prepared. They were efficient. And they’re going to get better. When does Coach Belichick’s Deal With The Devil expire again?
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The Bad:
- Saquon Barkley is an absolute electric talent, and the Giants coaching staff has a lot of unanswerable questions to answer, as to how he only carried the ball 11 times in the game against Dallas.
Saquon Barkley after getting blown out while averaging 10+ yards per carry and being ignored for the majority the game pic.twitter.com/XBHHkXQCQ7
— SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) September 8, 2019
- The J-E-T-S JEST JEST JEST. Blowing a 16-0 halftime lead in the Home opening against the Buffalo Bills to lose 17-16 to Josh Allen, Devin Singletary, John Brown and Company has the Jet fans out shopping for paper bags to wear over their heads.
- Ties are always bad, because they’re so unsatisfying and because we have to use that extra column in the win-loss standings all year. But there were some bright signs out of Arizona in this one. After looking atrocious for three quarters, rookie number one draft choice, Kyler Murray showed moxie and talent in bringing his team back.
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The Ugly:
- Miami Dolphins: “Hold My Beer.” They didn’t even show up a little bit against Baltimore, getting drubbed 59-10. The Miami Dolphins are such a cesspool, that the players are already abandoning ship. There were reports of multiple players contacting their agents to ask for trades immediately following the game.
- Next up on Ugly, will the NY Giants “defense” please come on down. The Dallas Cowboys rolled up massive numbers. The Giant pass rush continues to be nowhere to be found. The secondary was torched. Dak Prescott had a perfect QB rating. ‘Nuff said. It wasn’t pretty for fans of Big Blue.
- Maybe the Cleveland Browns and their brash young quarterback and star wide receiver should ease up a little and focus on getting it done on the field. The apparently premature Superbowl aspirations of Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham, Jr. hit a speed bump in Week 1. Or rather, the Tennessee Titans hit them, drubbing Cleveland by a score of 43-13. Out of favor Titans QB Marcus Mariota threw for 3 TDs and big Derrick Henry found pay dirt twice for the visitors. Baker Mayfield was sacked five times, caught for a safety, and threw 3 INTs to kick of his season.
Delanie Walker channeled his inner Dennis Green when asked about the Browns after their big win. pic.twitter.com/ugv6w7MiXA
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) September 8, 2019
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Photo Credit: YouTube; NFL 100 Logo (Bill Feig / Associated Press)