NFL 2014 Week 1 Snap Judgments

This was supposed to be a fun and excited post.

It was supposed to be something that I was looking forward to writing, something that sets the stage for Week 2.

Instead, this Week 1 recap was laborious and quite difficult to write.  It almost felt inappropriate to put it together in light of yesterday's events.  I've already talked about Ray Rice in a previous post, but in light of the developments yesterday, I have a whole lot more to say about it.  That will be later this week.

For now, let's get into Week 1.

1. There were some pretty incredible comebacks.  The Dolphins, Falcons, and Eagles all had to dig themselves out of holes early on in their respective games.  The Eagles in particular blinked and suddenly saw a 17-0 deficit against the lowly Jaguars, only to right the ship by the second half.  Nick Foles could have found himself as the Goat of the Week had the Eagles lost the game.

Meanwhile, the Falcons were in a dogfight with the Saints, exchanging leads back and forth before the game went into overtime.  Matt Ryan had a career performance for the Falcons, throwing for 448 yards and 3 touchdowns.  It's only one game, but the Falcons may be more improved from last season than I had expected.

2. And then there were some near misses.  The Browns, Ravens, Bears, Patriots, and Saints all found themselves on the short end of the stick this weekend.  The Browns were essentially dead and buried in Pittsburgh at halftime, down 27-3.  Somehow, the Steelers' defense took their collective feet off the gas, allowing the Browns to come all the way back and tie the game up by the 4th quarter.  Brian Hoyer isn't going to lose his job to Johnny Manziel without putting up his best fight, regardless of not having Josh Gordon this season.

As for the Ravens, all I will say is Chykie Brown had no business covering A.J. Green on his own.  Either put Jimmy Smith on him, or have a safety backing Brown up.  That's the second consecutive Ravens/Bengals game in Baltimore where Green came down with a bobbled pass, so the Ravens have to be better prepared for him when they meet again in Cincinnati later this season.

3. And then there were some good ol' fashioned butt-kicking.  The Texans laid into the Redskins all day by getting their fearsome front seven in Robert Griffin III's face.  J.J. Watt showed once again why he is the premiere defensive end in the entire league by bringing constant pressure on RGIII, sacking him once and hitting him five other times.  The Texans' major liability will be their offense led by their quarterback play, but their defense will be fine.*

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, the Vikings ran backwards and forwards over the Rams.  The Vikings' defensive front brought all kinds of pressure on Shaun Hill and Austin Davis, compiling five sacks and picking off two passes. Cordarelle Patterson was a one-man offense, rushing for 102 yards and a touchdown, while also adding another 26 yards in receiving.  The Rams managed to contain Adrian Peterson, but they couldn't do a thing about Patterson.

4. *Though the Texans will be without Jadaveon Clowney for a while.  Clowney tore his meniscus Sunday, which will sideline him for 4-6 weeks.  There are always big names who go down with serious injuries in the first week of the season, so hopefully Clowney will still be effective once he returns.  The likelihood of him being Defensive Rookie of the Year is somewhere between slim and none, given the amount of time that he'll miss.  Both Clowney and the Texans have to be hoping this injury won't be a bad omen of things to come for his career, especially when taking into account he already had surgery on his shoulder after the Texans had drafted him.

5. The Seahawks still look incredibly dominant.  Solid defense and a strong running game will win just about any team at least 10 games in the NFL.  A suffocating defense and elite running game will win at least 12 games in most cases, which is precisely what the Seahawks have.  Russell Wilson can make plays with both his arm and legs, translating to the Seahawks still being the team to beat in the NFC.  They took the second half of Thursday night's game into overdrive, marching right over top the Packers, who suddenly could already be in trouble after losing Bryan Bulaga again to an MCL sprain in his knee.

6. The Cowboys' defense deserve the Goat of the Week Award.  The 49ers needed only 4 offensive plays in the first quarter Sunday to be up 21-3 over the Cowboys (albeit one touchdown was a fumble recovery returned for a score).  The sloppy tackling (particularly the missed tackle on Colin Kaepernick on Vernon Davis's first touchdown catch on the day) is something Cowboys fans will likely have to get used to for the season.  I had originally picked the Cowboys to win 6 games this year, but if their defense doesn't improve that might have been an overestimation.

7. Julius Thomas is going to be very expensive for the Broncos to lock him up long term.  Thomas has a breakout year in 2013, and he started off his 2014 season with 3 more touchdown receptions.  Denver is using him in very similar fashion to how the Saints use Jimmy Graham and the Patriots use Rob Gronkowski.  If Thomas has another year of double-digit touchdowns, he's going to face some serious demand on the free agent market when his contract is up after this season.

8. Jim Caldwell may be a better offensive mind than most people expected.  Granted, the Lions played a bad team in the Giants Monday night, but their offense actually looked stronger and more efficient than when Jim Schwartz called the shots.  During Caldwell's short time as offensive coordinator in Baltimore, he designed an offense that compiled plenty of yards and put points up on the board in 2012 with quality players on the field.  Last year, he wasn't able to do that thanks in part to a patchwork offensive line and an awful running game.  Now that he has a receiver like Calvin Johnson to use, he'll be able to make the Lions a quality football team.

9. The 49ers may be okay after all.  Between player suspensions, Ray McDonald, and Jim Harbaugh's alleged head-butting with ownership and the players, the 49ers looked prime for a fall this season.  Add in the Cardinals being better, and I almost thought they'd fail to make the playoffs for first time under Harbaugh.  Again, it's only one game, but they looked dominant over Dallas on Sunday.  They can put points on the board against anyone in the league, and that's going to keep them in a lot of football games.