LOL at Florida State...  coming in to the season as a Preseason top 10 and then losing the opener to unranked Georgia Tech and then dropping the second game to Boston College.   What a faceplant.

I don't know if I can buy in yet on Green Bay.   Were they just on a heater the back half of last year or are they really good?   I need to be convinced.   

I saw an interesting take on Houston that discussed them actually regressing this year.    Even though their stars are young they had the second oldest roster weighted by snap count last season.   They added Diggs -  but it's possible he's actually lost a step and the Bills ditched him for a reason.  And they finished 10-6 last season so, if they are even a couple of games worse this year they could be 8-8.    They are a trendy pick to go deep in the post season,  but I think it might not be that easy,  especially if the Jaguars bounce back and the Titans improve.   

I'm just excited it's here.   And this week we get Thursday night game, Friday night game,  Sunday all day and then I'll be there in person on Monday night.    THAT's the way to open a season!

It was a fun week of football -  Chiefs/Ravens was exciting and came down to the last play.   Eagles/Packers was a bit sloppy - to be expected playing in a different hemisphere on a soccer pitch.    Dislike the Packers so can't say I'm sad they'll be missing their starting QB for a few weeks - though I don't wish injury on anyone.   

The Browns looked shockingly bad in their opener.   Deshaun Watson might actually just be bad now...

Carolina looked like a high school team on the field... that was an embarrassing performance against the Saints.

Man, do the Giants look bad as well.  That is not a good football team.  They made Sam Darnold look good.    It will be interesting to see how that Vikings offense looks Sunday against an actual NFL team.

Frisky performances by Pittsburgh and New England winning almost exclusively with defense.  

The Sunday Night game was a barn-burner.   Love a good overtime game in week one... but the Lions just bullied LA in overtime.   Ran it down their throats and didn't let the Rams touch it in OT.   

And of course Monday night was fun.   The Niners played a fairly sloppy, disjointed game with Aiyuk looking really rusty and the pass rush looking uninspiring - and it didn't matter.   They manhandled the Jets anyway.   Hated that they made my nephew look silly on a couple of plays (Deebo juked him on the sideline once, and the blown coverage on the deep pass to Juszczyk) but none of the Jets defenders distinguished themselves in that game.   Rodgers might not be the savior New York thought he'd be.

Now we start the new week with Dolphins/Bills tonight.   Here's my picks for the week:

Bills at Dolphins                          Bills  27 - 24

Saints at Cowboys                        Cowboys  33 - 20

Buccaneers at Lions                         Lions  29 - 21

Colts at Packers                                 Colts  19 - 13

Jets at Titans                                      Jets 24 - 10

49ers at Vikings                                 49ers  27 -  20

Seahwaks at Patriots                       Seahawks  23 - 12

Giants at Commanders                  Commanders 19 - 6        

Chargers at Panthers                       Chargers  27 - 9

Browns at Jaguars                            Jaguars  24 -  16

Raiders at Ravens                             Ravens  30 -  20

Rams at Cardinals                             Rams 24 - 21

Steelers at Broncos                          Broncos  17 - 15

Bengals at Chiefs                               Chiefs  27 - 21

Bears at Texans                                  Texans  31 -  17

Falcons at Eagles                               Eagles  29 -  16

Wow... Saints are better than anyone thought, that's for sure. 

7-8 on my predictions for the weekend -  lots of stumbles by "good" teams.    Niners should have won their game.   couldn't punch it in from inside the 5 and that cost them.   Lions fall down against the Bucs was surprising.   The Ravens dropping one to the Raiders was honestly shocking.     And the Rams getting shellacked by the Cardinals was eye-popping as well.      The poor Rams -  lost Puka Nacua in week 1 and lost Cooper Kupp in Week 2.   They limp in to week 3 with no top line receivers for Stafford to throw to and a grumpy San Francisco team to play against.   And SoFi is always packed with Niners fans for that game... so what many thought would be a Rams playoff season could start as an 0-3 disaster.

Other surprising 0-2 teams are the Ravens and Bengals.   I would say the Jaguars... but we can't actually be all that surprised.

And hey... remember when Florida State was a pre-season Top 10 team?    They are now 0-3 dropping their most recent game against Memphis (!?!).   Hilarious.

The Panthers benched Bryce Young after 18 career starts. It doesn't get worse than that for the first overall pick. Especially one that set the franchise back several years.

My takeaway from the weekend was also the number of "good teams" who lost. Philly, Dallas, Detroit, SF, Jacksonville, Baltimore, LAR, and Cinci all had bad losses.

I simply refuse to believe that New Orleans or Atlanta are worth a damn. I'm almost certain the Saints will fall back to earth, and soon. I think they could be well below .500 by the time they play the Panthers again in week 9. I'd be shocked if they didn't lose at least four of the next six.

So,  the Saints new OC came from the Niners -  he was going to be the Niners OC if he didn't leave -  instead Shanahan just went without one.    So their offensive turnaround probably won't stay this good, but could be at least somewhat legit.  And their defense has been decent - albeit old.   They are super vulnerable to injury fall off though

Listening in on the Panthers stuff is fascinating.   It's come out that Tepper forced them to take Bryce Young over CJ Stroud last year -  and then fired the coach when it looked terrible last season.   Now Canales came in and is like -  Bryce is broken and I can't fix him and I'm not going to let him get me fired too.     It's crazy.  But I guess they can take another shot at another QB at the top of the draft next year and maybe Canales has a better eye and Tepper won't meddle?  Yeah right.

49ers are leaky right now, that's for sure.    Aiyuk has not rounded into form after his hold out.  McCaffrey is out significant time on IR.   Now Deebo is going to miss at least the next two games.    The only good news is the Rams are even more injured than them and that's who they get next.

And poor Tua -  all the headlines keep saying 3rd concussion -  but everyone knows it's at least his 5th since he's been in the league.    He's on short term IR for now,  but it's your brain man - would you really risk getting back out there and taking another blow to the dome that might damage your brain permanently?   I don't know man.  As someone who suffers from post-concussion syndrome there's a zero percent chance I would risk it.

245 yards passing for Bryce Young over two games vs. 319 in one for Andy Dalton.

352 total yards of offense with Young under center vs. 437 for Dalton.

13 points for Young vs. 36 for Dalton.

I recognize that the Raiders are worse than the Chargers and Saints, but Bryce Young sucks. He's one of the worst picks in NFL history. Last week, the Panthers said he'll start again this year. I don't know how they can possibly justify that now. People, myself included, thought the roster was close to contention when they traded the farm for Young. Between Dalton's start last year and today's game, I feel confident that no team is winning with Bryce Young.

Another weird week in the NFL. The shitty Giants beat the Browns, the surprising Vikings pounded the Texans, the banged-up Rams beat the Niners, and the bad Broncos destroyed the Bucs.

The Saints looked a lot more like who I thought they were. They managed only 219 yards against an Eagles team that isn't exactly the '76 Steelers.

Are you getting nervous about the NFC West, PC? Seattle already has a two-game lead.

Posted by: @tsi

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the banged-up Rams beat the Niners,

Are you getting nervous about the NFC West, PC? Seattle already has a two-game lead.

First, let's be fair... a banged-up Rams beat an equally, maybe even more beat-up Niners team.

If freaking Ronnie Bell's hands aren't made of stone the 49ers win that game.    Brock Purdy made a perfect pass that gets them a first down, puts them in easy field goal range to go back up 10 and bleed clock to make a come back basically impossible.    But stone hands bricks the easy catch and then Moody misses the much longer 55 yard field goal.    Rams have a short field,  one quick strike over a linebacker and it's just disaster after disaster...     I'm not terribly worried though, no.    If Kittle and Deebo's injuries aren't long term, if Aiyuk remembers how to play football again -  they can beat the Patriots and the Cardinals.    Then they get McCaffrey back.     They still have two games head to head against Seattle -  win both of those and the two game lead of the Seahawks is in the rearview.   Hufanga needs to get back into game shape as well.     And if Greenlaw can come back and be himself in the back half of the season the defense will be better.    

The 49ers are literally two plays away from being 3-0 right now.   If they get the touchdown against the Vikings when they went on 4th and goal they beat Minnesota and if Bell catches that ball they beat LA.      They've had terrible injury luck and have still been good enough to win all 3 of their games, so not worried yet.

So, I guess Jacksonville and Cincinnati aren't making the playoffs.

It's also possible that Jayden Daniels is good. I thought he was the unlikeliest QB to pan out from the top of this year's class. I'm still worried about his injury potential. He's tiny and invites big hits.

Yeah...  Daniels impressed me last night.   I didn't think he took big hits recklessly -  though I do think he needs to avoid contact more than he does.      But his accuracy down the field was nice in that game and his anticipation in throwing to spots was miles better than anything I've seen from Bryce Young... heck,  he was miles better than Trevor Lawrence looked last night and he's in what year 4 or 5 in the NFL?

The Bengals are kind of snake bit.   They have honestly played pretty well - especially the offense - in their last two games and just couldn't get stops on defense to make it work out.    Burrow isn't playing poorly - but the team can't find wins.    And being in an 0-3 hole is tough when the Steelers are 3-0 and you have to climb over the 2-1 Browns and the 1-2 Ravens ahead of you in the division...  seems like another year without the post-season.

The Jaguars look awful.    Like that team is broken.   Trevor Lawrence looked like he's never played QB a second in his life for stretches last night.   The Bills eviscerated the Jags... they humiliated them

And this is a Bills team who lost their "star" receivers to free agency and trade and lost their two best defenders for the year to injury -  and look like world beaters.    The Jaguars may have work to do to avoid being the worst team in the league.    Like even the Giants and Panthers got wins this weekend.

Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I remember when Lawrence was promised to be the surest thing since Andrew Luck. I never saw it that way.

So...  is it almost time to start grouping Clemson QB's in with Alabama QB's as a college phenomenon that doesn't translate effectively to the NFL?        Deshaun Watson looks washed... Deshaun Washed-son...  and Trevor Lawrence is looking bad-bad.   

When was the last time an Alabama QB was a legitimate star in the league Ken Stabler?  He was a little after Joe Namath and Bart Starr...       Tua is fragile and can't play in the cold,  Bryce Young - I mean...,  Mac Jones is a back up,  and I'm honestly not convinced Jalen Hurts is great... he had the one really good year - but this year has been a little shaky and he keeps turning it over.

Anyway I'm hoping it's a good weekend for my team.   Niners get the Patriots at home -  with Kittle back.   And the Seahawks are in Detroit on Monday night.   So the Seahawks could take an L. 

If that happens and SF can then take care of Arizona the following Sunday they will have a chance to go into Seattle on a Thursday night and take the division lead back with a head to head win.    Seattle will be on one of those 3 games in 11 days swings with a Monday/Sunday/Thursday sandwich.    

Other interesting games this weekend -  Falcons/Saints -  battle to see which team is for real in that division.  New Orleans looked like world beaters and then Dallas pulled the plug on their offense.  

Vikings/Packers -  Packers have surprisingly won both of Malik Willis' starts.  Jordan Love is trying to rush back.  If Love comes back for this game and Green Bay loses at home to the Vikings - are people going to start looking at that Jordan Love contract as a mistake?   Is this the week that Sam Darnold turns back into a pumpkin?

Philly/Tampa is sneaky interesting.    The Eagles are one play away from being 3-0;   but also are two plays away from being 0-3.   They legitimately could have lost each of their games.    Tampa beat them in the playoffs last year, so what does this rematch look like?   Tampa beat the Lions but then went out and got stomped by Denver and their rookie QB.   Who knows what happens in this one.

Bills/Ravens -  The Bills have looked strong -  but their schedule has been a little soft -  the Cardinals had a dominant half against them and then they took Tua out and throttled Miami and made road kill of the Jaguars.   The Ravens on the other hand lost a close one to the Chiefs (by a toenail),  lost by 3 to the Las Vegas Minshews (how?) and then looked dominant for three and a half quarters against Dallas before almost giving the game away and winning by 3.    These should be two of the better teams in the AFC.    If Buffalo is for real they blow the doors off Baltimore.   If the Ravens want to save their season they have to find a way to win.    If they lose they will drop to 1-3 and could very well be three games behind the Steelers who draw a hapless Colts team this weekend.   

The Monday night games are hilarious.    One dud and one stud.   

Dolphins with Tyler Huntley starting(?) against the Titans who might be the worst team in the league.   Tennessee has lost to the Bears when they had 97 yards passing and no offensive Touchdowns;  then to the Jets and then lost to the Malik Willis led Packers and they didn't even put up much of a fight.     Which team will suck the least?  who knows.

The other one though -  Lions/Seahawks, that could be fun.   Jared Goff has looked a little shaky so far and they haven't dominated,  but they are already 2-0 against the NFC West.     The Seahawks are undefeated but might have had the easiest slate of games in the NFL thus far.   They got the Broncos in Bo Nix's first ever NFL game and still only won by six.   Then they got the Patriots - (a team that just got embarrassed by the Jets) - and had to go to overtime to win that by a field goal.  Then they got the Dolphins led by Skyler Thompson who threw for 100 yards..    I mean, you only get to play the teams in front of you, but it's not an impressive resume.   So this game against the Lions will be their first actual test against decent NFL competition this year.

I don't love the idea of writing off whole schools. You could've said the same of Ohio State before CJ Stroud. Saying nothing of the monster he is, I can't pretend that Watson wasn't good, either. He was a top-five QB for a few years.

Sam Darnold is Baker Mayfield. Or Jared Goff. Or Brock Purdy. In the right environment, he can emulate a great QB. For some (Goff, Purdy), that can get you through a season. Just don't bet on them to beat the likes of Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes when it counts. If you need them to make a play to win a game, keep your expectations low. I know we're due for one of these subpar QBs to win a Super Bowl and make me seem foolish, but nine times out of 10, they won't get you across the finish line against real greatness.

Detroit/Seattle will be a lot of fun. Sneakily, the Lions haven't been able to score this year. I'm still convinced Seattle is a lot better than people think, but they have a ton of injuries right now.

I mean... I get it you live in Seattle, it seeps in via osmosis,  but I remain unconvinced.  Like I said - schedule thus far is a cupcake fest.    And I don't want to hear about the Seahawks "ton of injuries"   please... worlds tiniest violin from down here in northern california where virtually every single star on the team has been on the injury report and missed practice if not missed games.  We lost Hargrave for the year,  who knows when McCaffrey comes back,  Kittle and Deebo both came back after missing games but aren't all they way healthy,  Hufanga still not back... man it's a mash unit in the Bay.

The Vikings continue to get it done which is interesting.   I think offenses will catch up to Flores' scheme as the season wears on though, so they better hope Darnold doesn't turn back into a pumpkin.

Holding that Super Bowl loss against Brock Purdy as evidence he can't play against "the best" is tough and lumping him in with Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold...  By that logic Brock Purdy is on the same level as Josh Allen -  since Allen can't beat Mahomes either...   anyway.

Another rough one for Rodgers and the Jets... that offense looked putrid putting up 9 points against the Broncos.   It's not like the Broncos offense was even good.   They scored 10 points.    If your defense holds an NFL team to 10 you should win the game, especially when you have a Hall of Fame QB...

Purdy probably deserves to be held in higher regard than Darnold and Mayfield. I think I'd have him 12 now.

1. Mahomes
2. Allen (1B, honestly)
3. Herbert
4. Stafford
5. Jackson
6. Burrow
7. Stroud
8. Smith
9. Prescott
10. Love
11. Goff
12. Purdy

Whatever happened to passing offense over the last few years is crazy. We had multiple guys throw for double-digit passing yards this week. It's disgusting.

Things are starting to fall into place in my head. The only really surprising results were Minnesota over GB and Indy over Pittsburgh.

I guess the Vikings are for real? I don't really understand this drastic improvement.

I saw a statistic that showed that Purdy has the highest QB rating for any quarterback over his first 25 games of any quarterback of all time -  he is one tenth of a point higher than #2 all time,  Patrick Mahomes and those two are nearly 10 points higher than #3 all time, Kurt Warner.

That's pretty good company to be keeping I would say.   

To have Purdy ranked 12th on your list behind Jordan Love is frankly ridiculous and is that freaking Geno Smith there at #8???    Please man touch some grass or something.     I won't argue with your top 6 -  they are all excellent.   It remains to be seen if Herbert will be allowed to have an actual career or not, but can't deny the talent.    Stroud looks the part and certainly has shown tremendous poise but it's 20 games so far but I get it and won't fight about it.   

The idea though that you think Geno Smith is better than Kirk Cousins,  let alone Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott is outright delusional.     

And man... we are one Jaquaski Tartt dropped interception from Matthew Stafford not being validated with a Super Bowl ring and people questioning where he belongs on this list.