The Opening – Here we are for another season of NFL football. That means weekly recaps regularly trying to get back in the flow of writing as life has taken over lately. Minus Week 2 because Disney World and shit. Things are going to be a little more condensed as time is constricted. Power Rankings will be included in each of my Weekly recaps with a little less flavor. The last two years I have done themed rankings, which have been so much fun to write. Again, saving time here. Maybe I will do a couple of those of those throughout the season.
Hotard Huddle Podcast RETURNS. Starting Week 3, I will be doing a weekly episode mainly focused on the NFL with perhaps some major topics sprinkled in. I will be joined by one, possibly more guests regularly to ignite some fun, informative and little to no mouth breathing banter.
As per usual, start this off with the Weekly Picks.
- Bills (-6.5)
- Jags (-3)
- Packers (-3.5)
- Bears (+7.5)
- Chiefs (-5.5)
Season Record: 0-5…STARTING STRONG! Get absolutely bent Mike. Woof.
Jameis Freaking Winston
Now isn’t the time to say I told you so because it is only week1. But for the past 4 years, I have claimed that Drew Brees has crippled the offense at times because of his inability to throw the ball beyond 10 yards. In fact, Jameis Winston did something Drew Brees hadn’t accomplished since 2018, complete a pass that traveled 35 yards in the air or more when he completed a 59 yarder to Deonte Harris. Boy, what a beauty it was. Winston had himself a day throwing 5 TDs and going 14/20. The yardage didn’t rack up, but the Saints had two drives back to back of 15 plays.
Four fucking years, I have been saying how dominant this roster could be. That was on full display Sunday. Control the ball. Control the clock. Let the defense rest and capitalize on mistakes and watch the goddamn show.
The reason I am so adamant about this is because of the blinders on Brees and the undoubted stupidity of anyone who thinks Taysom Hill might have been the answer. Kindly, go drink bleach.
If you want the full thoughts on Jameis Winston, they remain unchanged from April 2020 when I wrote this: TAYSOM HILL IS THE NOT THE ANSWER BUT JAMEIS WINSTON COULD BE
The Las Vegas Opening was Absolutely Filthy
What an opening game for Monday Night Football. While I was underwhelmed with a Ravens / Raiders showdown, it was anything but underwhelming. What a game. What an event.
Last year, the Raiders inaugural season in the spaceship looking home was spoiled due to Covid. They went all out for the 2021 opener. As soon as they introduced Steve Aoki and Bruce Buffer, I got goosebumps. If this were professional wrestling, that easily gets the “this is awesome” chant.
On top of the intro was the exciting game that took place and the memorable finish. Raiders got off to a slow start finding themselves down 14-0 early on. They climbed back in and it became a back and forth leading to a crazy OT capped off by this walk off bomb…
Tom Brady v Dak Prescott
The NFL just continues to get better and better across the board at the quarterback position. What better way to start the season than with two of the Top 5-6 guys in Tom and Dak. It was fun watching these two just drop back and sling the rock.
Neither team seemed to give a shit about getting a run game going as they let their two gunslingers just air it out week one and it didn’t disappoint. Both racked up the yards (782) and touchdowns (7). It of course came down to Brady getting the ball with enough time for yet another game winning drive.
Neither of these quarterbacks are lacking weapons to play with either. Dak got his two number one receivers (let’s not kid ourselves there) Ceedee Lamb and Amari Cooper going as the two combined for 20 catches, 243 yards and 3 TDs. Have a day.
On the other ends, the most impressive was Brady’s favorite go to guy, GRONK. I am probably saying this out of shock because he looked like Gronk of 2010-2015. I don’t know if that kind of performance will be sustainable for him. If it is, holy shit. Then you still have to worry about the three headed monster of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown. Evans being left playing 4th fiddle in week 1.
Week 2 Power Rankings
Since I did not do a Week 1 Power Ranking, the week 2 will be predicated off where my week 1 would have been. I wanted to state that before releasing the first round of rankings because you know, fallout and disagreement. Full disclosure, the top 5 most impressive teams in Week 1 (no particular order) were Saints, Bucs, Cowboys, Rams and Chiefs. However, the rankings won’t reflect that because again, they are predicated on where I would have put these teams prior to the season. Two of them were not in my top 10.
If someone even attempts to say something about them without reading this, then bless your heart because I am going to bury you.
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0)
- Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)
- Los Angeles Rams (1-0)
- Seattle Seahawks (1-0)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
- New Orleans Saints (1-0)
- San Francisco 49ers (1-0)
- Buffalo Bills (0-1)
- Cleveland Browns (0-1)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1-0)
- Arizona Cardinals (1-0)
- Green Bay Packers (0-1)
- Miami Dolphins (1-0)
- Dallas Cowboys (0-1)
- Baltimore Ravens (0-1)
- Indianapolis Colts (0-1)
- New England Patriots (0-1)
- Las Vegas Raiders (1-0)
- Tennessee Titans (0-1)
- Carolina Panthers (1-0)
- Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)
- Denver Broncos (1-0)
- Washington Football Team (0-1)
- Minnesota Vikings (0-1)
- Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)
- Chicago Bears (0-1)
- New York Jets (0-1)
- Atlanta Falcons (0-1)
- New York Giants (0-1)
- Houston Texans (1-0)
- Detroit Lions (0-1)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
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