NFL Week 1 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

(Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

What a glorious weekend of football, wasn't it? We saw some thrilling games that came down to the wire. We saw quarterbacks make incredible plays, but more importantly we all basked in the joy over the fact that football is back at last. It seems as though that every game this weekend had quite the story to tell its fans so without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories from the field from Week 1 in the NFL.

The NFL's Concussion Protocol, needs a lot of work.
Player safety has become quite the focus ever since CTE became known to the football world, leading the NFL to put together a fancy new concussion protocol to ensure that any players who happen to suffer from one, or potentially suffer one are properly evaluated and pulled from the game so they can properly heal from such an injury and well...not make it any worse. Unless of course you're the MVP of the league and the game is on the line, then the protocol goes out the window and well, I'm a touch stunned and angry over how things were handled with Cam Newton in the season opener. He took a hell of a shot to the head (and yes, Darian Stewart deserves a hefty fine for this) had trouble getting to his feet, looked dazed on national television...and stayed in the game. The protocol calls for any player who is slow getting to his feet to be pulled and evaluated and that flat out didn't happen and that's just awful. If the league truly values player safety, fines should be levied left and right for the spotters who didn't pull him or even suspensions if necessary. I don't care if the game was on the line, it's safety first, and for the league to preach that yet not practice it...is outright embarrassing. 

Things are already looking grim for the Cleveland Browns.
After an offseason roster purge, a new head coach in Hue Jackson and a draft that revolved around depth and development over need, one would have thought that the Cleveland Browns would be looking at a different style of play when they opened the season and perhaps win against the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately...it may be business as usual for this team. The new look defense could do nothing to stop the Eagles as they ran over them for 133 yards on the ground and they also let Rookie QB Carson Wentz carve them up like a Thanksgiving Turkey as he threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns in his debut. To make matters worse, RG3 was virtually ineffective at quarterback, completing only 46% of his passes, with no touchdowns and an INT. To make matters worse, a hard hit when he was scrambling led to a fracture in his shoulder and he's now on Injured Reserve, only after one game. It was simply a disaster of a game and one has to wonder if it's only going to get worse from here.

The AFC West might be the most competitive division in football this year.
For the past few years, Denver has been ruling the roost in the AFC West and the teams left in their wake have quietly been building a roster to remove the Division Champion title from the Mile High City and Sunday we saw just how well their work is paying off. Every single team not named the Broncos in the AFC West were incredibly competitive on the field. The Raiders were able to hold on until the end in their game until a gutsy call by Head Coach Jack Del Rio won them the game and the Chargers and the Chiefs battled it out the entire game before Kansas City sealed the deal in overtime. That means we may be looking at the fiercest division in football the way these teams are playing and it should be interesting to see what these squads do for the rest of the year, especially considering that every single one of them is gunning for Denver...provided they can get past that powerhouse defense...

The Patriots will be just fine without Tom Brady. 
All eyes were on Jimmy Garoppolo Sunday in Arizona to see if he would be able to handle the top job for the Patriots and while he didn't light it up and drop four touchdowns on the Cardinals defense, he turned out to be quite the game manager. With only a fumble to his name, Jimmy led the Pats up and down the field with ease and he had help from a resurgent Patriots defense as well, meaning one thing...this team will be fine with Brady on suspension and it speaks to the system that Bill Belichick has built in New England. Every player he brings in fits it just fine and this kind of execution is proof of that and if this stout defensive play continues and Jimmy keeps it up with not turning over the ball and puts the offense in a position to score, #12 may be returning to a team that is 4-0. 

​The Jacksonville Jaguars are finally looking like a competitive squad. 
Yes the Jaguars lost against the Green Bay Packers. Yes, that is par for the course for this team...but something was different this time. This go round, the Jaguars were actually a force to be reckoned with. The defense was finding ways to get to Aaron Rodgers, even recording a sack and QB Blake Bortles was able to put points on the board. But what matters most, is that the Jaguars kept it close for a change. With a final score of 27-23 in favor of Green Bay, they should be extremely proud of the fact they hung with the Packers the entire way and quite frankly, when Rodgers can throw a 30 yard touchdown strike while being pulled to the ground, it's simply not going to be your day, but it's clear now the Jaguars are improving and will be a team to watch this season.

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