NFL Week 1's Biggest Takeaways
Sports Opinion by Josh Blatt
My three biggest takeaways from Week 1 of the NFL season:
The Miami Dolphins look VERY good:
The two teams that impressed me the most this week happened to dominate the defensive side of the ball, as well as impressed on offense. The Miami Dolphins held their first opponent and division rival, New England Patriots to 213 passing yards, 78 rushing yards, and 7 points. Now I'm fully aware that the Patriots aren't amazing by any stretch of the imagination, however the Dolphins defense is legit. They forced three turnovers, with two fumbles and safety Jevon Holland even picked off Patriots quarterback Mac Jones. I think the biggest takeaway from game would be Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looking as good as he did, 270 yards on 23/33 attempts with a touchdown. They moved the ball, even if they couldn't convert and had to come away with two field goals, the offense will continue to improve-- especially if they aren't playing against New England's staunch defensive line.
Another year of misery for the Dallas Cowboys:
The poor Dallas Cowboys are looking toward another long year, and it's only the second week of the season. Quarterback Dak Prescott has a fractured thumb, his ankle/foot still isn't at 100%, and during game one against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers it was evident that the Cowboys don't have enough weapons. This being especially true until wide receiver Michael Gallup returns. Running back Ezekiel Elliot looked okay, but after scoring only 3 points-- it's clear that there's an issue. The defense managed to hold the Bucs to just 19 points, and still couldn't manage to win the game. That's an issue, and that isn't something that Prescott's backup Cooper Rush will be able to turnaround overnight. For the Cowboys to turn around they need to get Ceedee Lamb more involved as well as make Dalton Schultz targets a little more rare-- the dependance on tight ends could be the downfall, Noah Brown having the most receiving yards is practically obscene.
The Buffalo Bills have the most complete team in the league:
Wow man.. just wow. The Buffalo Bills are all the way back. Josh Allen will remain the favorite for MVP the entire season, unless Patrick Mahomes can continue his first week dominance-- which if he can, next week's takeaways will include most definitely the Chiefs. The Bills opened up the NFL regular season with a TNF game against the defending champion Los Angeles Rams and looked dominant from start to finish. Stefon Diggs looked unguardable, and Josh Allen was picking apart the all-pro defense of the Rams while completing 26/31 passes for 297 yards and 3 passing touchdowns. Not to mention Allen picked up 56 yards with his legs on 10 rushes and recorded a touchdown. Sure, he threw 2 interceptions, but at the minimum one of them wasn't even his fault. Buffalo came out and abused Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, logging SEVEN sacks. They forced 3 interceptions, and held Los Angeles to just 10 points, with all 10 of those coming in the 2nd quarter. The Rams couldn't throw the ball consistently-- large in part because of Von Miller's two sacks, and Jordan Phillips 1.5, Buffalo was stifling the run game and only allowed 52 yards on the ground without Rams running back Cam Akers. Allen and the Bills are a freight train, let's just hope the rest of the league can see that light at the end of the tunnel.