ode - I really agree with you on Smith. The Chiefs substantially upgraded their receiving corps due in part to cutting Jeremy Maclin (and eating many millions left on his contract) who was their #1 WR the past two years. The wide receivers have been SO BAD that 2 years ago the Chiefs (Smith) did not have one touchdown pass to a wide out the entire season.

Last night the strength of the running game shocked New England (3rd round draft pick/rookie starting that a year ago was dazzling the alumni at powerhouse Toledo) due to an injury to #1. It was a perfect storm, an efficient offense that New England didn't game plan against correctly due to all the new faces of receivers and running backs (except TE Travis Kelce and he had one catch right before halftime) and a much improved defense that added speed in the off season.

  • ode likes this.

    The Chiefs eliminated me from my survivor pool with that upset. I suck at picking games.........and other stuff.

    Smith is a fine QB with a good arm that is reluctant to throw it down field for some reason. I don't have enough info to know if it is him or the play caller that is tentative (or perhaps the play caller knowing the limitations of the Q😎. (Just found out if you follow a capital B with close parenthesis the software inserts an emoji). Same with Tannehill in Miami. Both have, and have had receivers very capable of stretching the field, but almost never pull the trigger on long throws more than once a game, if that. After seeing some of the Raven's game yesterday, I can tell Maclin is not going to have to endure the decoy role there as he has for his time in KC. Wish he didn't show boat his way into the end zone though.

    I will personally drive to GB and kick Mike McCarthy in the gonads if he calls one more stupid 😯ing timeout at the end of the first half....this guy just doesn't get it....he cost his team 3 pts. Last year he did this and cost the team pts vs. Dallas in the regular season game, that time it was 7. Essentially there is 45 secs on the clock, GB has two timeouts, he calls them at the end of the half to make the other team punt, where the punt would be the last play or there would be one play left. But he has been burned by the other team getting the first down on 3rd, using their own timeout, and then going down the field. It's plain silliness as in both instances they are just trying to run out the clock!

    Granted there were some questionable calls in the game....but that game should not have been in reach for Seattle. Wise up Mike!

      ode

      He seems to have the Andy Reid syndrome... Reid tortured us in Philly with his inability to get the play calling in before the clock would wind down to nothing.

      Just really bad time management by the head coach imo.

      • ode likes this.

        Who are your best 6 teams in the NFL after the first week of the 2017-2018 NFL season?

        Hard to tell from this Cowboys fan, but I will go:

        New England
        Green Bay
        Atlanta
        Dallas
        Minnesota
        Oakland/Las Vegas and Seattle- Tie

        • No team really played well in week 1

        KC
        Raiders
        Atlanta
        Dallas
        GB
        NE, just because I need a 6th, but I would put Honorable mention-

        ViQueens, Ravens, Broncos, and Eagles....Panthers not far behind, and don't rule out the Lions!

        Random thoughts from the Pats loss to the Chiefs.

        1. The Patriots defense was awful / horrendous.
        2. Brady misses Edleman.
        3. May not have this exactly right, but either 2 or 3 of their Super Bowl wins started with a loss in game 1 of that season. I do remember when Buffalo beat them 30 to 0 in their season opener one year they won the Super bowl.
        4. Glad this 16 and 0 crap can come to end (early).
        5. What was it 3 years ago when the Chiefs spanked the Pats in September and everyone was calling to an end to the Brady and Belichick era. Trent Dilfer was one of those that made an ass of himself as I remember. That was the game that Belichick famously said after (that) "we're on to Cincinnati." I believe they won the Super Bowl that year as well.
        6. Even if the Pats aren't as good as last year, their AFC opponents haven't improved to the extent that I don't see anyone challenging them.
        7. It's only one game and with all the new personal and the Patriots having a very complicated playbook, it's way too early to say whether this game was a bellwether game or a sign of things to come. History points to the latter. In a good way for Pats fans............... Time will tell...........

          Is the Vikings offense really that much better or was the Saints defense just terrible?

          Same question about the Rams and the Colts.

          Was the Giants offensive line so bad that it hid how mediocre the Cowboys defense is?

          Are Houston fans cursed into continually seeing the worst QB performances?

          How many INTs will Cutler throw in his Miami debut?

          • ode likes this.

          Sneakylong

          Brady's out two of the receivers he knows now, but will start to work with the new receivers and should be clicking after a few games. Can't really afford to lose anyone else though. Glad to hear your house made it through the storm.

          Top 6 teams:

          Atlanta
          Carolina
          Kansas City
          Denver
          Pittsburg
          Baltimore

          I believe New England will definitely be powerful if they aren't plagued by more key injuries. I also believe, and hope I'm wrong, that Watson will start to make plays with Houston soon and they will be nasty if that happens. Tampa looks great on paper, but we'll have to wait until week 2 to get a look at them in action.

            Top 3 NFC
            Atlanta
            Dallas
            Green Bay

            Top 3 AFC
            KC
            New England
            Denver
            (Honorable mention Pittsburgh)

            Offensive line weakness looked like a big issue for Houston, Seattle, and the NYG. All three have good defenses but their offenses look to be in trouble. O-line also looked bad for both Washington and Philly in their game.

              Both Dallas and GB looked good, but it's worth noting in both instances that their opponents failed to generate any meaningful offense.

              I think New England will struggle this year without viable receivers. They need to make some moves to get someone in there that can create some means of separation and be an option for Brady. I suspect that this is management's most pressing issue at the moment. A huge part of their defense is fueled by offense, much more so than any other team in the league imo.

              KC looked good, or better yet - Alex Smith looked great. I don't know where they will stand come December, but they kicked off their season on a great note, beating up on New England the way they did. But (imo) they're not as good as NE made them out to be. New England couldn't have played worse.

              There's talk that Andrew Luck might be out of Indianapolis very soon, and if so - I find that bad for the organization. The Colts have morphed into a 4-12 team under Pagano's leadership, so maybe they should keep Luck and get rid of Pagano. GM Chris Ballard just walked into the job back in January, so it's too early to tell if he knows what he's doing. Judging by the personnel moves made in the off season however, there's not much to be excited about there. Then again, Irsay is as much a problem as anyone else. There not gonna fix that, not as long as he's writing the checks.

              Officiating has already been absolutely dreadful in just the first week this season. Not a Seahawks fan by any means, but there were at least 4 mind-boggling bad calls in that game alone. Might be time for the league to develop full-time officials, me thinks. Some of these refs are just clueless.

              • ode replied to this.
              • ode likes this.

                MidwayJ

                The O-line for Philly continues to be an issue. And aging vets with ongoing injury issues continue to plague them. Jason Peters has been a warrior for the Eagles during his time there, but 35 years behind him aren't helping matters.

                If Wentz has to continue running for his life, this team will continue to struggle doing better than 8-8.

                Way too early to be throwing in the towel, but this team stands no chance to win the division with such a porous front line.

                    PA-PLAYA NFL should go to replay like CFB does on ejections, as they have the right to reverse the call entirely if the ref missed it, in the Sea/GB game they could have reversed that call per no punch thrown or at very least stopped.the ejection.

                        PA-PLAYA Their O-line looked great compared with the Redskins' O-line, which was truly dreadful.

                        Redskins are going to miss McVeigh a TON. I don't think Gruden should be play-calling.

                            rsvman

                            I've mostly been unimpressed with Gruden since taking over. Their defense, typically, has made them competitive, much more so than their offense in recent years.

                            As a Philly fan (and a sentiment that is probably appreciated by Redskins fans as well) I am growing very weary of the easy 2-3 yard completed check-down pass.

                            Both Wentz and Cousins have good arms. Why these QB's continue to do the check-down plays on 3rd and long is simply beyond my understanding. It was a common theme last season and I hope that it doesn't carry over to this season. Of course - when your team's best deep-threat receiver is Nelson Agholor, it's kinda hard to expect much of him.

                            Talent development is needed in the receiving corps, for sure.

                              ode

                              I agree. That was simply mind boggling. The officiating has been directed to cut down on aggressive hits and taunting, but there was nothing there to warrant a penalty, much less an ejection.

                              Not to mention the pass interference no-call against GB that was clearly pass interference. That said, Richard Sherman has a history of playing a similar brand of defense, of which an official could throw a flag every other play on him. Not sure how much of that played a role, but it was nevertheless clearly pass interference on that one particular play by GB that went uncalled. Pete Carroll would've been well within his right to make a call to Goodell Monday morning asking him WTF is going on with the officiating.