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.

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    • 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.

            My two big takeaways from week 1:

            The Colts suck. And not that we didn't expect them to suck early-on this season, with Luck being injured and his status being week-to-week, but nobody in their right mind would've expected them to no-show the way they did against the Rams, giving up 46 points no less.

            Dallas has picked up where they left off from last season. Although the Giants suck on offense, their defense is still very good. And the Cowboys defense isn't too shabby either. Prescott played a solid game, throwing no interceptions, and Elliot carried for 104 yards on 24 touches. They were the best team in the NFC East heading into the season, and their status hasn't changed after week 1.

            As for New England... as we've learned in the past - premature panic isn't warranted, as the Pats have 3 Super Bowl winning seasons after losing their opening game. In other words - they've been here before. But it wasn't that they lost Thursday night, but rather how they lost. They resembled nothing remotely close to the team that won the title just 8 months earlier. They need to find Brady some competent receivers, first and foremost, and that defense needs to show up and put out. This was the first time in 82 games that the Pats lost while holding a halftime lead @ Gillette Stadium, and the first time in what seems like forever that Brady failed to throw a single touchdown pass, 16 for 36 and a total of 267 passing yards. While it might be too early to panic, this was at the very least a huge wake-up call in their season opener.

            Two coaches are (imo) already feeling the pressure and in the hot seat: Marvin Lewis and Chuck Pagano. I will be surprised if either of these coaches are still with their current teams shortly after their seasons end. Cincy failed to score a single point in their opener against Baltimore, and the Colts did their best 2016 Cleveland Browns impersonation on Sunday. I can appreciate the fact that Pagana is a well-liked coach and (not to mention) it is extremely difficult to let go of a guy who went through a life-changing struggle with cancer. But I think he's running out of leeway in Indianapolis, and would be shocked if he lasts through the remaining 15 games this season, unless something dramatically changes before then.

            Most impressive QB performances in Week 1:

            Alex Smith, who completed 28/35 passes and threw for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Pats.

            Sam Bradford, the league's official "stat-padding check-down specialist" who completed 27/32 passes and threw for 346 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Saints.

            2 months later

            Spuzz Just a matter of time before Smith returns to super conservative form, imo.

            Genius right there!
            LOL

            Anybody still think Alex Smith is "under appreciated" ?

            I type this as he fails to convert yet another third down by trying to run for 6 yards after holding the ball too long, against the Buffalo Bills! hahahaha

              Spuzz

              Could be worse........you could be a Broncos fan like me. We're doomed.

              Wentz best in league. It’s the Eagles then everybody else

                Tinker Wentz best in league. It’s the Eagles then everybody else

                Not the best until you beat the best, or actually win something.
                I am sure Eagles' fans will agree.

                  The Eagles are the best team in the worst Division. They might do well in the playoffs, tho. I'm watching with interest.

                    Spuzz

                    You’re right.

                    I’d much rather be the Cincinnati Bengals. lol 😂

                    sdandrea1 for the record, I'm not a football fan really, but you don't have to be an ESPN commentator to know that those 3 teams have had all the meaningful success of the teams in the NFC East.

                      If you're not putting money on the Patriots, you're putting money on the Birds. And if you're not - you've not followed the NFL this season.

                      The Patriots and the Eagles are easily the top 2 teams in the league through 11 games. Perhaps the Eagles are a couple points favorites currently given their defense. Otherwise it would be evenly matched.

                      That means nothing going into the postseason, however. Once the playoffs start - every game is a toughie, even for the best teams.

                      It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds. There is no team in the NFC closer to the Eagles than Pittsburgh is to New England in the AFC. Yet that still matters very little, outside of home field advantage.

                      sdandrea1

                      Not sold on the head coach. The Redskins are a very good team otherwise. Surprised they're not putting enormous pressure on Philly to close out their remaining 4 games. Lots of really good players, yet they're underachievers @ 5-6. I don't see Gruden staying there much longer.

                      Then again, we are ultimately talking about Dan Snyder. Hard to be worse than Jerry Jones, but he is.

                      The Skins deserve better imo.