Turnaround Tuesday: Week One

TURNAROUND TUESDAY

Week one of the NFL season has officially come to a close last night, with the Seattle Seahawks upsetting the Denver Broncos and spoiling Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle / Bronco debut. There were many ups and downs in week one across the board for all thirty two teams, but the thing is, this is football and you have to have a short term memory. No matter how good or bad week one was for your team, it is Tuesday and it is week two now.

Traditionally Tuesday’s are my least favorite day of the week during football season. There are no games, all the injury news is ambiguous, and worst of all if you are coming off a loss your next game feels a million years away. There is always a feeling of hopeless and craving something more. That is why I have decided to start this new series, Turnaround Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I will go team by team talking about what every losing team this week did right/wrong last week and what the fans have to look forward to in the upcoming week about their team. Now I know articles like this are traditionally seen as a Monday morning piece, however I would rather be spending my Monday cooking up a six leg can’t lose same game parlay trying to make back all the money I lost Sunday than hearing about how hopeless my team is. 

Now if your team lost this week I know how bummed you are. You feel hopeless, beat down, and there will be no positive news about your team for you to listen to for days. And that is why I will be only talking about losers in this blog. This is for all the fans who’s team got embarrassed, beat up, and thrashed this weekend… if your team won just take a seat and let the losers have a safe space okay? Okay, here we go.

NEW ENGLAND (0-1)

Tell me if you have heard this one before, the Patriots went down to Miami and got their ass kicked by the Dolphins… In what seems to be a yearly tradition at this point, New England once again lost in South Florida this weekend. The offense looked lackluster, the defense couldn’t get off the field, and there were so many uncharacteristic mistakes from a Bill Belichick coached team that one might wonder if Rex Ryan stole Bill’s face and snuck on the sidelines at Hard Rock stadium. Oh, and the QB is hurt too. Talk about a shitty start to the season for the playoff hopeful Patriots. Everything was looking great on the first drive of the game for the Patriots until an end zone interception completely changed the trajectory of the game. From there, the defenses soft zone coverage scheme to try to neutralize Miami’s speed on the outside was out schemed by the Dolphins who took what the Patriots gave them and patiently waited for opportunities to get their playmakers in open field with zone beater routes. On the offensive side, the line was sloppy, the receivers were athletically outmatched, and penalties killed them.

 However, despite the hopelessness you may find on New England talk radio, there actually were some good things from the Patriots this week. First off, although the play calling was not perfect, the Patriots did show way more of a willingness to attack when on offense and push the field than they did a year ago. This was the biggest complaint from fans last season and although in week one it didn’t lead to many deep completions or scores this week, just showing that willingness to attack downfield shows the growing confidence in quarterback Mac Jones. Playcaller Matt Patricia may not have the offensive coaching experience that fans would hope their offensive play caller would have, but the guy is literally a rocket scientist, I am sure he can adapt and help the New England offense get back on track. The other thing that should give Patriots fans a little bit of hope is that the Patriots defense really did not play THAT bad. Aside from the collapse on fourth and seven in the second quarter that led to a touchdown, the Patriots only let up two field goals on defense despite feeling like they were on the field for hours at a time. A real bend don’t break defensive performance all things considered, however, that type of defensive play only works when you have an offense that can get in the end zone consistently, which hopefully the Patriots will figure out. Overall, losing in Miami and losing early on in the season seem to be staples in New England even during the Tom Brady era, Patriots fans need to hope that two birds were just knocked out with one stone and that they will get back on track against a TJ Watt-less Pittsburgh this weekend.

NEW YORK JETS (0-1)

After an off season filled with media hype, draft day excitement, and MILF hunting, the New York Jets are right back where they were last season, losing their opening game to the Baltimore Ravens, 24-9. Right from the start the Jets looked outmatched by the AFC North favorites, and although they kept it close in the first half the wheels fell off in the second half and the Jets looked uncompetitive yet again by the games end. Quarterback Joe Flacco nearly threw 60 passes throughout the game, and the Jets gave 16 total carries to their running back tandem, which unless you have Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen as your QB1 is simply just not a split that is going to make you competitive. I do realize that part of this is because they were down in the game and needing to try to push the ball quickly, but even in the first quarter the Jets offensive gameplan seemed to have no chance. 

Definitely not the performance that New York fans wanted to see in what many had expected could be a year of forward progress in the Jets rebuild, but despite looking completely outmatched on the field there are still some positives to take away and get Jets fans excited for the season. First off, with quarterback Zach Wilson injured, I don’t think you can write the Jets off as uncompetitive just yet. This is a team that realistically has almost no shot to make the playoffs, so the goal for the season is to see vast improvement from a season ago and to feel confident in their young core moving forward. You can’t have a realistic view of that until you see Zach Wilson play with the offense. Wilson will be throwing with the offense in practice this week, bringing him another week closer to returning to game action. Everything before Wilson returns is house money for the Jets this year, best scenario you steal a couple of wins and find yourselves with a chance to make a Cinderella run, and worst scenario you are improving your draft position to go and draft another young piece for the improving core of the team. On top of that, rookie WR Garrett Wilson looked impressive in week one, and although the numbers aren’t eye popping, Wilson was second on the team in receiving yards this week and ran some pretty tight routes, look for him to grow in this offense over the next few weeks and to be in a rhythm by the time Zach Wilson returns. This week the Jets play against Cleveland and it honestly should be a good game. Cleveland’s dynamic running duo of Chubb and Hunt will test the Jets front seven, but overall this should be a game even without their starting QB that Jets fans can get excited for and hope to steal a win on the road.

CINCY (0-1)

The high that Bengals fans have been riding all off season came crashing down this week when the Bengals lost at home in their opener to the Pittsburgh Steelers, despite being a 6.5 point favorite in the game. Joe Burrow turned the ball over 5 times, there were multiple special teams fiascos, and a team that many people see as being uncompetitive for a playoff spot came into Cincinnati and beat you. Worse than that, despite the game going to OT, the Steelers may have controlled the game a lot more than the score indicated. Just a brutal loss for a team trying to get back to the Super Bowl in a stacked AFC. And on top of all of that WR Tee Higgins suffered a concussion and is out for next weeks game.

Now I know a lot of people in Cincy are feeling down right now and worried about their team, but it is turnaround Tuesday and out of all the teams that lost this week the Bengals make a case for having the most to look forward to next week. To start, Joe Burrow will not have a first half like that again. Five turnovers in a game is extremely uncharacteristic for Burrow who traditionally does a great job taking care of the football, and despite having five turnovers still came back in the second half to help lead the Bengals an extra point away from a win. Burrow doubled his passer rating in the second half and did a great job getting Jamar Chase and Joe Mixon heavily involved in the attack to bring the Bengals back into the game. If the Bengals play the way they played in that second half consistently, Cincy will find themselves right back in the playoffs this year, and if you looked at the Bengals first half vs second half performances and asked me which I think is more likely to be the team we see throughout the season, I am confident it will be the team we saw in the second half of the game Sunday that mounted an impressive comeback despite falling short to Pittsburgh. Also as far as special teams go, the Bengals did not have a long snapper after theirs got injured which makes extra points and field goals a lot more difficult. Expect everything to be hammered out now with the signing of a rookie from the practice squad and expect the Bengals to be the team they were in the second half of their game this week against the Cowboys this Sunday in Dallas.

JAGUARS (0-1)

This season the young Jacksonville Jaguars squad hope to take the next step forward in their rebuild. They have a coach who has won before, plenty of playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, and the past two number one selections in the NFL Draft. Last season with Urban Meyer is in the rear view mirror and is a season that the organization and the fans can look at as a hiccup of having an incompetent leader and not reflective of their young players. This year, with coach Doug Pederson, the goal for the Jags is to see promise in their once labeled “generational talent” quarterback, and progress with the rest of their young team. The first game of the Doug Pederson era in Jacksonville this Sunday was a competitive game in which the Jaguars battled back from a deficit to take an eight point lead in the fourth quarter, but then give up two touchdown drives to lose the lead and the game. Everything about the game was messy from a Jacksonville perspective, overthrows from quarterback Trevor Lawrence on open touchdowns, not converting on fourth downs, and being out schemed on the defensive side of the ball. A lot of self inflicted wounds from a team that hasn’t been a competitive football team since the 2017 season.

The number one thing Jaguar fans should take away from this is that although the Jags took a loss on Sunday, for the first time in a few years they actually looked like a competitive football team. Trevor Lawrence looked a lot better than the stat sheet will reflect, and aside from the late game pick and a couple overthrows to open targets, Lawrence looked dialed in, and a much more complete version of himself, closer to his elite collegiate form rather than what we saw last season from the number one pick. Also, much like the Patriots, the Jags looked a lot more willing to attack on offense this season which is something that should excite fans. Lawrence threw the ball over forty times on Sunday, involving seven different receivers, and off season signing Christian Kirk looked fantastic in his Jacksonville debut catching six passes for 117 yards. Equipping Lawrence with a playmaker is huge for the young QB’s development and gives the Jags a dynamic attack that the offense lacked last season. Furthermore, another thing for Jags fans to look forward to this Sunday is that rookie Travon Walker looks like a DAWG. He was the first rookie since TJ Watt to have a sack and an interception in his first game and has the makings of a future defensive centerpiece in Jacksonville. On top of all of that, the AFC South looks horrible. I’m not saying that Jacksonville is coming out of the gates for a playoff spot, but if the team keeps improving week to week and the offense starts to take the next step this week against the Colts on Sunday, a win could make things very interesting in the AFC South.

TENNESSEE (0-1)

The Titans faithful has to be one of the most distraught and in need of a pick me up here on this turnaround Tuesday. Last season the Titans won the AFC South and were the number one seed in the AFC playoffs. Sounds like there should be a lot of optimism about this season, right? Wrong. Pundits are almost all picking Tennessee to outright miss the playoffs this year despite their success last season, and Sunday was not a great start to prove them wrong. Tennessee lost a 13 point lead to the lowly New York Giants this weekend letting up a backbreaking two point conversion to give the Giants the lead with a minute left, then the Titans drove down the field at the end of the game just to miss the game winning field goal. On top of that, the Titans were out gained 394-359 by the Giants, but maybe more importantly let up a staggering 238 rushing yards, while only rushing for 93 yards themselves. Derrick Henry could not get going coming back from injury averaging only 3.9 yards per carry and another big favorite losing outright leaves fans desperately needing some optimism on this turnaround Tuesday. 

Well, Titans fans I got some for you! This whole off season, the number one thing that I have heard about the Titans is that “yeah they’re good, but they need a quarterback to put them over the edge, and Ryan Tannehill is not that guy.” Well, you know what the biggest bright spot in the Titans offense this week was? Yup you guessed it Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill put together a formidable stat line this week of 266 yards, a 2/0 TD/INT ratio, and a passer rating of 106.4, but in my opinion the performance from Tannehill is much more impressive than the stat sheet for two reasons. First off, Tannehill is in an offense that does not have a great receiving attack. His top target AJ Brown was traded to the Eagles in the offseason, and marquee off season signing Robert Woods is still recovering from a torn ACL, limiting his snap count in week one. Tannehill put up this stat line and played a very impressive game with two rookies as his top two targets, and the lack of a solid run game to open the field up for him. This should excite Titans fans, and scare the shit out of everybody else. Furthermore, in a one minute drill Tannehill led the offense right down the field with great poise and not a lot of help. This leads me to believe that as chemistry builds, the Titans could have a much better passing game than many expect. Now as for Derrick Henry, I know having a pedestrian game (by his standards) coming off a big injury is concerning to a lot of fans, but people forget Henry had a similar stat line in week one last year, only to explode in the weeks to come before getting injured. As long as Henry can stay healthy he will be okay and the Titans should start rolling. This Monday will be an immediate test for them as they travel to Buffalo in a game where they will be heavy underdogs against the Bills.

LAS VEGAS (0-1)

The Raiders opened their season with a very tough divisional tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers this week, losing 24-19. Although it was a one possession game at the end, the Raiders did not look too competitive with LA, as quarterback Derek Carr threw three interceptions and Josh McDaniels lost his first game as the head coach of the Raiders. I know that the Chargers are a great team, but for a playoff hopeful team like the Raiders in the gauntlet that is the AFC West, every divisional matchup is going to be a war and they simply have to come out of the gates stronger than what they did Sunday to have any sort of chance to make noise this season. Their defensive backfield looked completely outmatched by the Chargers athleticism and the caution to the wind passing attack that Josh McDaniels used was not only uncharacteristic to his style of coaching, but resulted in turnovers and an inability to get the running game going, only rushing the ball 13 times.

If there is a positive to take out of this game for Raiders fans, it is Davante Adams, and Josh McDaniels willingness to use him. The offseason buzz around Raiders nation was the excitement to team up former college teammates Derek Carr and Davonte Adams. Adams is one of the games best players and was widely seen as the missing piece to take the Raiders from good to great. There were questions about how often McDaniels would try to get him the ball as all of his offenses in New England were more set around spreading the ball around the field rather than getting the ball consistently to his top playmaker. However on Sunday Adams was targeted 17 times by Derek Carr and put up an amazing 10/141/1 stat line because of it. It is definitely exciting for Raiders fans to see that they are going to be putting the ball in Adams hands often, which should create beneficial matchups for other receivers like Renfrow and Waller to take advantage of. If Carr and McDaniels can control their aggression to not turn the ball over, the Raiders offense could be dangerous down the stretch.

DENVER (0-1)

The Russell Wilson era in Denver could not have gotten off to a worse start on Monday Night. The Broncos lost as heavy favorites to the Seattle Seahawks in Wilson’s return to Seattle, and were out schemed, coached, and played in every facet of the game. Denver came out slow in the first half letting the Geno Smith led Hawks offense light them up for two touchdowns, and struggled to finish off drives, having two field goals that both felt like they should have been TD drives. On offense, Wilson looked good but in the redzone and the area just outside of it, Denver struggled. The Broncos fumbled twice on the goal line and settled for three field goals in the game, leaving 26 points on the board for the taking, 14 that they were mere inches away from. But the worst part of the game for Denver, was the Broncos clock management at the end. When their two minute drill started to stall thanks to penalties (which were a problem all night), Denver was faced with a 4th and 5 from just over midfield with 1:00 ish remaining in the game, and three timeouts. Instead of calling a timeout right away to give themselves options, the Broncos went up to the line wasting the game clock all the way down to just under 25 seconds remaining before calling their first timeout. They then brought out Brandon McManus to attempt a low probability 64 yard field goal (longer than his career high), rather than letting their offense try to convert and give themselves a realistic shot at the game. Just mind bogglingly dumb from a team who through clock management, turnovers, and penalties, lost themselves the game last night.

The good for Broncos fans? This can all be fixed and had nothing to do with the players on the field. In fact, the Broncos playmakers actually looked great last night. Jerry Jeudy in particular was a bright spot for Denver, looking more like the talent he was at Alabama than he has looked in any of his years in the league thus far. On top of that, playing in Seattle is a different animal than anywhere else. The crowd noise forces teams to go on a silent count which if not prepared well enough will naturally lead to more false starts and slow jumps from the offense. I expect the Broncos to be a lot more cleaned up in the penalty department next week, and for Nathaniel Hackett to use his offensive background to string together a good group of plays to finish drives off. Look for a big win against Houston this week in Denver to get the Broncos back on track.

DALLAS (0-1)

Dallas Cowboys fans may be the most hopeless group of fans on the planet right now. QB injured again, star WR did nothing, and looked terrible on both sides of the ball this week. Dallas got killed against a good Tampa team, and lost Dak Prescott for 6-8 weeks with an injury in the process. The game was brutal and there isn’t much to say about it besides that. Cooper Rush looked awful and there does not seem to be any indicator that Jerry is going to go out and trade for Jimmy G

The good for the Cowboys? Micah Parsons and the third down defense. Despite letting the Bucs get down the field time and time again, the Cowboys kept coming up big on third down and holding Tampa to field goals. Parsons looked great and will be a bright spot the whole year. Zeke also ran the ball well and looked a lot more healthy than he has in the past, both Zeke and Pollard need to be great if Dallas wants to stay afloat until their starting QB gets back.

CAROLINA / ATLANTA (0-1)

To be honest, I did not watch either of these games… just forgot.

SAN FRANCISCO (0-1)

The Trey Lance era did not start well for San Fran in Chicago, but to be fair it was a monsoon. I don’t think anyone would play well in that weather nevermind a young QB who has the whole media world talking about him. There is honestly not much I want to say about this game because I think you can’t take anything away from it. They lost their starting RB Elijah Mitchell to injury which is bad but besides that, as far as actual game goes there is not much to say about this game.

The good news for Niners fans is that week one is basically next week. Don’t be too down on your team yet because in the elements anything could happen. Should you beat Chicago? Yes. But, when the weather is like that and it is week one you have to chalk that one up to a “what are you gonna do about it?” And move on. Still got a great defense, and this week should be the real initial test on how good this team is.

DETROIT (0-1)

The Detroit Lions are a competitive football team. They got hot at the end of last season and have picked back up from where they were… losing close games. This game wasn’t super close the whole way through, but Detroit’s offense came alive for a backdoor cover against Philadelphia this week. However, scoring 35 points and losing has to be something that is very much concerning to MCDC and the boys. The defense was getting absolutely torched by the Eagles and made many sloppy plays when it came to the basics of tackling and pursuit. 

Going into next week the Lions have to build on the positives, this offense is good. Jared Goff in my opinion is a very undervalued QB, who has to show what he can do this year or CJ Stroud / Bryce Young will be coming into the facilities come April. I think Goff knows this and will be playing for his livelihood this season. Furthermore, the offense has weapons with Swift, St Brown, Hock, and Williams, it is just a matter of consistency on the offensive side of the ball and Detroit will be a much more competitive team than they were last season. Next week is a very winnable game hosting Washington that Detroit needs to tighten up its defense in, and if they do they will give their fans a lot more to cheer about.

GREEN BAY (0-1)

Another year, another week one blowout for the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay looked terrible in this game. In the 23-7 loss the Packers offense looked dead at times, receivers unable to create spacing from defensive backs (and when they did having large drops), only getting Aaron Jones 5 carries, and uncharacteristic mistakes by Aaron Rodgers. On defense, the Packers had no match for the vikings passing game schemes. When they ran man they got beat, when they ran zone the vikings found the soft spots then got YAC, there was almost no life for the injured Packers in week one.

Obviously there is a lot to be optimistic about in Green Bay as they have seen this story before. First off, they were missing key players on the offensive side of the ball on a team that does not have much experience. You need your leaders out there and Green Bay was missing many of them. Furthermore, although it was a small sample size, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon looked amazing. Jones ran for 9.8 yards a carry despite only touching the ball five times, while Dillon led the team in receptions and yards through the air. Without Davante Adams this year, the Packers will have to run through their two headed running back tandem just as much as they run through Rodgers, they didn’t do that last game and it hurt them. The potential is there to get the run game going, and in turn open up play action passes for the best thrower of footballs the game has ever seen, but it is a matter of realizing who you are as a team and your identity, something the Green Bay coaching staff has not came to terms with yet. A Sunday Night showdown with the Bears this week is upcoming, a matchup that the Packers traditionally have their way in, and should be a great way to get themselves back on schedule.

CARDINALS (0-1) 

Things did not look good in Arizona this weekend, which is surprising considering the new Call Of Duty game is not out yet. The Cardinals got blown out against the Chiefs in humiliating fashion letting up 44 points including FIVE touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes. The Cardinals were outgained by over 200 yards and had half the amount of first downs the Chiefs got. With a struggling defense, the Cardinals could not find a way to keep their offense on the field for extended periods of time. 

The positive for Cardinals fans is that they got kicked in the mouth by a good team. They didn’t blow a game they were supposed to win, they just got attacked by a quarterback and team that have been pretty damn hard to beat. Kansas City looks like the best team in the league, and you aren’t gonna see a better team in my opinion the rest of the year, so learn from it, and move on. All things considered, Kyler Murray did not play a terrible game. He completed 64.7% of his passes, and got two touchdowns, the Cardinals just lacked a sense of explosiveness that they usually have. But with every game gone is another game closer to the return of DeAndre Hopkins.

Los Angeles RAMS (0-1)

Okay, last one. The Rams got embarrassed on national TV this week. Just humiliated. On the night they raised the banner no less. Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs made the LA defense their bitch, while Matt Stafford struggled immensely, turning the ball over in similar fashion to how he did when he played through his slump last season. On a night that was supposed to celebrate the raising of a banner, the Rams were embarrassed in similar fashion to the time when Alex Smith and company came into Foxboro and beat the Patriots soundly on banner night a few years ago.

What should Rams fans be excited about? You know what happened after the Patriots got their teeth kicked in on opening night? They regrouped, got composed, cleaned it up, and went back to the Super Bowl. The Rams can do exactly that. This is a very similar group as the one that raised the trophy back seven months ago and there is no reason they can’t do it again. Stafford needs to hold onto the ball better and control his aggression, and McVay needs to get running back Cam Akers involved, but there is no reason for Rams fans to have any concern, and they should get back on track against a lowly Falcons team this week.

Alright that is it for turnaround Tuesday, now for how I will end this blog every week, giving the four teams I expect to have the best chance to turn it around this week:

• Rams
• Packers
• Broncos
• Patriots