WHAT ARE WE DOING? - Week 1 Power Rankings
My power rankings following week one break up the teams into various categories of descriptions of what their first game play tell us they are and/or were doing. Before reading each category title just ask yourself “What are we doing?” and enjoy the answer for each of the teams in that group.
Not…Messing…Around
1. Buffalo Bills 1-0
2. Kansas City Chiefs 1-0
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-0
The Bills and Chiefs came into week one and clearly communicated to the rest of the league what they expect of themselves, dominance and victory each time they take the field. After only one week of play a third playoff matchup between the two seems to be, much like Thanos, inevitable. Is there any AFC Avengers team that could intercede to prevent just that? Only time will tell. Meanwhile in the NFC, Tampa seemed to be the only team playing in the same pool as Buffalo & KC even if they are still only in the shallow end far away from diving boards. Brady spent more time on the ground than he tends to enjoy as the Cowboys defense held the Bucs to only one touchdown on six trips beyond the Dallas 35 yard line. The Bucs did not display the kind of electric light show on offense that the Bills and Chiefs did but instead showed dominant defensive performance holding Dallas to 3 points and less than 250 total yards of offense. What the Cowboys offensive potential is remains to be seen, so that could look less dominant if the Cowboys offense remains stagnant moving forward. We’ll know a bit more about the Bucs after next week’s trip to NOLA.
This is what not messing around looks like up close and personal:
Rising to the occasion
4. Minnesota Vikings 1-0
5. Los Angeles Chargers 1-0
6. Philadelphia Eagles 1-0
7. Baltimore Ravens 1-0
8. Miami Dolphins 1-0
These teams all entered the season with high expectations from the public to challenge for or outright win their respective divisions and for at least the first week they delivered performances to instill confidence around the offseason hype. The Chargers, Dolphins and Vikings dispatched division foes at home while the Eagles and Ravens made sure to handle their business trips to less imposing opponents but avoided a trip up, especially the Eagles who almost allowed the Bitin’ & Fightin’ Dan Campbells an epic comeback from trailing by three scores. Despite that the Eagles get the slight edge over Baltimore because they looked more potent on offense with more weapons and played a tougher opponent as the later part of the rankings show. The dolphins break all the way into the top ten for tearing down Belichick and the Patriots for the third consecutive time but if the wheels come off Bill’s Patty-wagon this season it will show what I fear to be true, Miami should’ve won this game by thirty, not just thirteen.
Just keep swimming and R.E.L.A.X.
9. Los Angeles Rams 0-1
10. Cincinnati Bengals 0-1
11. Green Bay Packers 0-1
12. Las Vegas Raiders 0-1
13. New Orleans Saints 1-0
14. Cleveland Browns 1-0
15. San Francisco 49ers 0-1
16. Indianapolis Colts 0-0-1
17. Pittsburgh Steelers 1-0
The motto of the winning teams in this group is “We’re better than that and plan to show it.” The motto of the losing teams in this group is “It was just one game!” This is the group of teams that lost but I would avoid hitting the panic button just yet. Oddly enough all of them had one fatal flaw exposed to different extents in week one, an underperforming to completely porous offensive line. Any of them who cannot correct that will be in for a looonnnnnggg season, especially for the older QBs on the list like Stafford, Rodgers, Carr and Ryan. We’ve seen the slow starts from Green Bay and they haven’t mattered while the Colts slumbering out of the gates has cost them playoff appearances and division crowns in the past. Granted a tie is better than a defeat but certainly a wasted winnable game for Frank Reich’s crew.
Pausing for a brief moment of reflection
18. New York Giants 1-0
19. Seattle Seahawks 1-0
20. Denver Broncos 0-1
21. Tennessee Titans 0-1
22. Arizona Cardinals 0-1
23. Washington Commanders 1-0
24. New England Patriots 0-1
25. Dallas Cowboys 0-1
The Giants and Commanders get to bask in reflection of hiring the right coach and taking a flyer of Carson Wentz respectively - for at least one week. Meanwhile, the Titans who have become so accustomed to winning one score games over the past few season and getting the favorable bounces or slips that have allowed that in many instances have to take a hard look at how they gave up a 13 point lead and later a 7 point lead to Daniel Jones, whoops I mean Saquon Barkley. However, they don’t have much time to reflect because they have to head to Buffalo as the main menu feature for the Bills home opener. The Cardinals defense had a hell of a walkthrough against Patrick Mahomes, understandable that they thought this was still the pre-season with the lack of daylight savings time Arizona’s calendar and seasons are always a bit wonky. Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins have officially sent out the invitations to the wake of the Patriots Dominance. Turns out in the NFL of 2022 you need a quality offense with some weapons and not just an above average defensive scheme with some gritty, football smart system pieces. Miss on drafting talent for the better part of five years and it catches up to even the best of coaches. Now that the invites are out I wonder who will make the first speech at the memorial service, it may be Mike Tomlin this very weekend, stay tuned. Meanwhile, in Dallas the party was over before it ever started as it was very apparent through three quarters that the Cowboys lack of concern about their lack of weapons was about as misguided as Jerry Jones’ post game pressers. Oh, and now the main weapon of that offense is missing a month, at minimum, following Dak’s hand surgery.
I’d be remiss without mentioning the spectacularly stupendous slip up by Nathaniel Hackett and company in the Seattle Seahawks home opener against Denver last night. Here is a quick recap if you missed it. Russell Wilson and the Broncos have the ball with 1:11 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, 3rd and 14 from the Denver 45. Javonte Williams catches a pass at the Denver 43, in the flat, and wiggles for a 9 yard gain to the Seattle 46. It’s now 4th & 5 and there’s 59 seconds on the clock when the ball is spotted for 4th down. Russ breaks the messy non-huddle huddle at 45 seconds they start to line up. He redirects a couple players and then stands behind the line not moving or making any motions from 39 seconds until 20 seconds, just allowing time to tick down and then takes a timeout. He had the better part of 25 seconds where he didn’t even try to get Seattle to jump offsides for the automatic first down!
McManus comes on the field lines up and kicks the ball long enough but at least seven yards to the left but Pete Carroll had taken a time out right before the snap, typical desperate clown coach move, doing his best to outshine Nathaniel Hacketts idiocy in the moment because surely now with the reprieve Hackett would realize oh I should be going for the first down with how badly he missed that attempt. However, if you thought that, then just like so many of the 90’s styles coming back you would be WRONG. Hackett doubles down and has McManus line up again. He boots it and again, long enough and this time only two yards to the left. Russ and Denver lose. RUSS is pissed 😡 as chants of “GENO, GENO” rain down from the twelfth man crowd.
Post game Geno is asked about having this opportunity and how he feels and what he wants to say to his doubters and he says: “They all wrote me off, problem is I didn’t write back.” He tries a mic drop exit with that line but Lisa Salters had more questions, so it ended up just being goofy.
I know it's a tired narrative but it still holds true most twelve year olds with a year of Madden gaming experience can out game manage half of the NFL head coaches getting paid millions of dollars to do just that and manage the game in critical situations. Here are the current NFL head coaches I would trust to properly manage the clock and game decisions in critical moments correctly at least 95% of the time:
Bill Belichick
Mike Tomlin
John Harbaugh
Mike Vrabel
THAT’S IT…and even they are not without mismanagement moments at times.
In addition to me, my brother and several cousins and friends, here’s the list of Madden Gamers I trust to do the same: https://battlefy.com/madden-championship-series-2022/winners
Growing
26. Chicago Bears 1-0
27. Detroit Lions 0-1
28. Jacksonville Jaguars 0-1
29. Carolina Panthers 0-1
30. Houston Texans 0-0-1
The Bears won in a monsoon - mostly impressive because they waited to score most of their points until the worst part of the weather on Sunday. On a neutral weather field I think SF may hold out for a 10-7 victory or may have even been able to generate more offense sans the splash pad of a field on which they played but you cannot deny the progress shown by the Bears and their ultimate victory in the game. The Lions gave the Philly Hypetrain all it wanted after it raced out to a three score lead. Detroit needs to find the energy they have when down by 17 or more when the game starts - that would make them dangerous. The Panthers pissed away a win and Bakers shot at revenge and I can't imagine that sits well with the former number one pick let alone cooled Matt Rhule's seat at all. The only sadder situation was Lovie Smith conceding a tie rather than risking a loss for a team that's unlikely to have many shots at wins this season.
Being Our Authentic Selves…Jetting and Falconing expertly
31. Atlanta Falcons 0-1 (but man it feels like 0 and 4 right now)
32. New York Jets 0-1 (but man it feels like 0 and here we go again right now)
If no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills, can it also be true that no one crashes and burns like the NY Jets? Well the Falcons would like a word because they too have a knack for Hindenburging whenever victory seems almost assured. At least the Jets defense seems stout and made getting to 24 quite the arduous task for Lamar and company but man did their offense suck. Whoops I used a mean word about the Jets guess I’m on Robert Salahs no fly list now, that’s ok I’d rather be on Oceanic Flight 815 than any NY Jets fan vehicle. The Falcons get the slight edge over the Jets here because for three and a half quarters they looked competent and a little bit confident. As soon as they let that confidence turn to a little cocky they quickly reminded their fans why they are the dirty birds…cuz damn did they do those poor home spectators dirty. With twelve minutes and forty one seconds left in the fourth quarter the Falcons kicked a field goal to go up 26-10 over the Saints. At that moment in time the Saints had generated only 177 yards of total offense less than 85 of which was through passing. They went on to allow the Saints to generate 208 yards of offense in 5:25 seconds of possession from the remaining 12:41. The Falcons controlled the ball for seven of the last 12 minutes starting with a 16 point lead AND LOST! THAT…is hard to do and yet they falcon did it. Despite all that Arthur Smith still had the gaul to get in front of the Press and not only refuse to admit everything they wrote in the offseason was correct but sarcastically dare them to bury them again. At this point I think it's fair to admit the Falcons have vastly out contributed to digging their own grave more than anyone else has. First step is admitting there is a problem - just ask Dan Campbell he’s in the midst of unteaching a millennium of Lions losing culture before he can start teaching them how to be a winning culture.
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