The first Sunday of the 2015 NFL regular season has come and gone. Some of the same old names showed up and proved why they are among the best in the business. Others, teams who have become laughingstocks around the league, showed everyone that their attempts at rebuilding likely won’t create quick fixes. And in Denver, a quarterback that’s well past his prime struggled to the same degree that we saw late last year.
A couple upsets, especially one in St. Louis, may have led to some more questions regarding the best teams in the league. Meanwhile, a former New York Jets head coach had a tremendously successful debut in Western New York.
Mainly because real football has graced us with its presence once again, it was an outstanding day around the NFL.
Here are our 10 takeaways from the first Sunday of NFL action.
New York Giants had Dallas Cowboys game in stunning loss
We could write a 5,000-word essay on how the Giants allowed Dallas to pull off a ridiculous comeback win at home on Sunday Night Football. The game in and of itself was among the most absurd in recent NFL history. Despite domingating every major statistical category in the first half, Dallas entered halftime down by six points after a Cole Beasley fumble was returned for a touchdown by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Overall, the Cowboys turned the ball over three times with two of them leading to touchdowns for the Giants.
While that was the story for a vast majority of the night, the Giants decision-making in what should have been a game-ending drive at the end of the fourth quarter was the real story here. With first down inside the Cowboys 20 and just over two minutes left, the Giants were called for an illegal formation. After seeing that decline declined, which stopped the clock, the Giants were faced with third down, at which point Manning connected with Odell Beckham Jr. inside the five for a first down with the Giants up three and less than two minutes left.
That’s where the Giants baffled the entire football world. After failing to get into the end zone on the first two plays, and forcing the Cowboys to take their final two timeouts, the coaching staff inexplicably called a passing play on third down. Even worse, Manning made the decision to throw the ball away. This led to the Cowboys getting the ball with 1:37 remaining in the fourth quarter instead of about 50 seconds left. Down by six points, Tony Romo took the Cowboys the length of the field on a drive that culminated in the underrated quarterback hitting Jason Witten for a 11-yard game-winning touchdown with seven seconds left.
Most will point to the Giants’ decision to actually pass on third down as the reason why they lost the game. And while that’s fair, Manning needed to understand the situation at hand. He should have simply taken a sack in order for the Giants to run an additional 40-plus seconds off the clock. Instead, his incomplete pass gave the Cowboys just enough time for Romo to pull off the amazing comeback win. Even though this was just Week 1, a loss of this magnitude could have a major impact on the Giants moving forward on the season. It was that bad.
Some rather large issues for the Seattle Seahawks
Not only did the watered-down Legion of Boom allow a previously downtrodden St. Louis Rams offense to put up 352 total yards and convert over half of their third-down attempts, other areas of the Seahawks looked mediocre in the team’s 34-31 season-opening loss.
Shaky would be the best term to describe a Seattle offensive line that allowed six sacks and nine quarterback hits on Russell Wilson. In fact, that impacted Seattle’s ability to get the ball down the field in the passing game. Instead, this aspect of the team’s offense was limited to short drops and intermediate routes. That was a miserable failure against an athletic Rams defense.
Outside of already being a game behind both St. Louis and the Arizona Cardinals, Pete Carroll’s squad is in no way the lock to win the division as it was last season. The holdout of Pro Bowl strong safety Kam Chancellor ended up playing a huge role on Sunday. With Seattle up by seven and less than a minute left, Nick Foles found Lance Kendricks on a 37-yard touchdown pass against Chancellor’s replacement, Dion Bailey. That has to be concerning to a team that has in the past relied a great deal on the secondary.
How’s that for a debut, Mr. Mariota?
Going up against fellow 2015 draft pick Jameis Winston, Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota did something no other first-year signal caller has accomplished in his NFL debut since Fran Tarkenton back in 1961. The No. 2 overall pick threw four touchdown passes — all in the first half — in a surprising 42-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For Mariota and the Titans, it was early validation that their relationship may go swimmingly. It was also validation for Mariota, who many pundits indicated wasn’t prepared to take the reigns of a NFL offense.
Mariota’s overall numbers outside of the four scores might not have been stellar. He completed 13-of-16 passes for 209 yards. Hardly enough attempts to get an appropriate gauge of where he stands as a rookie. It was, however, his ability to lead the Titans to points on a consistent basis that was so impressive. The Oregon product put up three touchdown-scoring drives of 50-plus yards. That in and of itself shows us just how much he has improved after many indicated he was too green to make an immediate impact as an above-average starter in the NFL.
With above-average quarterback play, the Buffalo Bills could be a threat in the AFC
Making his first NFL start in Rex Ryan’s Bills coaching debut, Tyrod Taylor did everything that was asked of him against a favored Colts squad. The starting quarterback completed 14-of-19 passes for 195 yards with one touchdown and zero turnovers in an impressive 27-14 win for the home team. Taylor, showing excellent command of the offense, also added 41 yards on nine rush attempts in a stellar overall performance.
For Taylor and the Bills, this was just a continuation of a successful preseason performance that saw the previously inexperienced quarterback look like a veteran on the field. He was much more proficient than Andrew Luck on the other side. And in reality, this type of play under center could make Buffalo solid contenders in what appears to be a much improved AFC East. We already know the Bills boast one of the best defenses in the NFL. With the added weapons on offense, a decent passing game will go a long way in breaking a playoff drought that stretches all the way back to the 2000 season.
Kansas City Chiefs offense looks well oiled against a darn good Houston Texans defense
Alex Smith completed 15-of-20 passes for nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of Kansas City’s season-opening win over the Texans on Sunday. Two of the scores went to an up-and-coming tight end in Travis Kelce, who caught all six of the passes thrown in his direction for 106 yards with a touchdown. And while the Chiefs offense slowed down considerably in the second half, that was mainly due to the game being out of hand at the half.
The run-pass mix kept Houston’s defense off balance throughout the game, affording Smith the opportunity to throw from a clean pocket on consistent basis. With Donald Stephenson and Jah Reid as the team’s two starting tackles against the likes of J.J. Watt, that’s an amazing feat for Andy Reid’s squad. The interesting thing here is that Kansas City used the run to set up the pass, not the other way around. Led by Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs running game tallied less than 100 yards on 32 attempts. Once that area of the offense improves —a likely scenario moving forward —the overall unit will be that much better.
The Final score of 27-20 really doesn’t tell us the story here. Smith led Kansas City to a 27-9 halftime lead before attempting 13 second half passes. It’s also important to note that Kansas City held that very same 18-point halftime lead until just over four minutes remaining in the final stanza. In reality, it was domination from what is looking like a good Chiefs team.
Peyton Manning’s 2015 debut looked a lot like the end of last season
I am starting to get the feeling that the 2015 version of Peyton Manning will leave a lasting memory of a Hall of Fame quarterback that is nothing more than a shell of his former self. While Manning’s offensive line didn’t do him any favors in this game (four sacks allowed), it was clear that the veteran was not in his comfort zone in the Broncos’ narrow 19-13 win against the Baltimore Ravens.
It seems at this point that Manning’s primary issue is arm strength. In a specific play against Baltimore, Manning attempted to throw an intermediate out route to a receiver from the right hash. He did so with pressure in his face and an inability to step into the throw. The result was a pick-six for Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith. That’s a throw Manning could have made in his sleep five years ago. And now that he can’t, Manning needs to understand his limitations at this late stage in his career.
In addition to this, the Broncos need to understand that they can’t rely on the veteran quarterback the same way they could in the past. In short, there is absolutely no reason he should be tossing the rock around the stadium 25 times in a half. Overall, the future Hall of Famer completed 24-of-40 passes for just 175 yards without a touchdown.
Early-season struggles for the Indianapolis Colts?
Indianapolis headed to Orchard Park in Western New York Sunday as one of the favorites to land in Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50 in February. Unfortunately, Chuck Pagano and company left the field against Buffalo with many more questions than answers. More importantly, the team exited stage left with a 0-1 record on the season. And it wasn’t pretty.
Falling down 24-0 in the third quarter, Andrew Luck and company simply could match up against what was a dominating Bills defense. The former top pick completed 26-of-49 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the 27-14 loss. Furthering the Colts struggles on offense, their running backs picked up a total of 44 yards on 13 attempts. Without any type of balance on offense, this is going to be a major issue for Indianapolis on offense. As we have seen in the past, a lack of balance on that side of the ball has led to Luck showing a tendency to throw interceptions. That’s one of the reasons the team signed Frank Gore in the offseason.
Defensively, it wasn’t a whole heck of a lot better. Tyrod Taylor was not hit a single time in the game, enabling the inexperienced quarterback to throw from a clean pocket. That’s one of the primary reasons he started the game 13-of-15 passing, including a 51-yard touchdown strike to Percy Harvin in the first quarter. Without any resemblance of a pass rush, the Colts pass defense will leave a whole heck of a lot to be desired. More so than the team’s sluggish offensive performance on Sunday, that has to be a larger concern.
The New Orleans Saints defense is a hot mess
Most experts expected the Arizona Cardinals to have a field day against a talent-stricken and injury-plagued Saints defense on Sunday. And in reality, that’s pretty much what happened. While Arizona entered the fourth quarter with just 17 points, the difference in talent between Bruce Arian’s offense and Rob Ryan’s defense was readily apparent.
Carson Palmer completed 19-of-32 passes for 307 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks in a stellar return to action after last season’s torn ACL. A much-maligned Cardinals offensive line also did a great job in pass protection, limiting a struggling Saints pass-rushing group to zero sacks and just one quarterback hit. Overall, Palmer hit on passes of 55, 48 and 29 in the 31-19 Cardinals victory.
New Orleans has overcome less-than-stellar defenses in the past, but the team’s offense just doesn’t seem to be up to the task this season. Drew Brees completed 30-of-48 passes for 355 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Though, the Saints top-three pass catchers on the afternoon were not from the wide receiver position. Unless the Saints find a way to somehow play at a much higher level on defense, their offense won’t be able to lead them to wins on a consistent basis this season.
Matthew Stafford’s road struggles continue
Following Sunday’s 33-28 loss to the San Diego Chargers, the Detroit Lions are now 14-25 on the road with Stafford under center in his career. And while a potential arm injury on a hard hit in the second half might have played a role this week, it’s readily apparent that the former No. 1 pick is nowhere near the same quarterback on the road as he is at home.
Overall, Stafford is 0-18 on the road against winning teams in his career. And while the Chargers win on Sunday didn’t add to that horrific stat, it still tells us a story of a quarterback that struggles against above-average competition. This will continue to be the albatross around Stafford’s neck until he proves the skeptics wrong. It’s also something we will continue to drive into the conversation until he stems the tide and starts performing at a higher clip against good teams. Throwing two interceptions in a road game after starting out the afternoon on solid footing is bad enough. Not finding a way to rebound makes the situation that much more bleak at this point.
Johnny Football replaces an injured John McCown with mixed results
In my look at 10 ridiculous predictions for the 2015 NFL season, I joked that Johnny Manziel would replace Josh McCown as the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback, eventually leading his team to the playoffs. Well, at least one half of that prediction came true about an hour after kickoff between the Browns and the New York Jets.
After McCown suffered a first half concussion, Manziel was inserted in the lineup. And within just three pass attempts, the former Heisman winner had completed his first touchdown pass of his career, a 54-yard strike to Travis Benjamin. After that, it was all downhill for the Browns. They would be outscored 24-0 by the New York Jets to close the game. In addition to throwing an interception, Manziel lost two fumbles in what seemed to be nothing less than an audition for the starting job.
With the Browns 0-1 on the season, McCown will now enter the league’s concussion protocol. While it remains to be seen whether the veteran will be able to return next week against the Tennessee Titans, Manziel really didn’t do enough to help head coach Mike Pettine and Co. make the decision to start him should McCown be cleared.