Marcus Mariota, St. Louis Rams & Peyton Manning feature in six NFL stories
Wednesday 28 October 2015 17:39, UK
The NFL returned on Sunday evening with the first full slate of games taking place across America. And Week 1 did not disappoint, as it was filled with outstanding displays, blown leads, spirited comebacks and spectacular touchdowns.
There were also enough storylines to keep us talking until next week's games get under way, so let's not hang about… let's get right into the six big stories and headlines that caught my eye as we kicked off our first triple-header of the 2015 campaign.
The rampaging Rams
If the St. Louis Rams could play the Seattle Seahawks at home every week, we'd be talking about Jeff Fisher's club as a potential championship contender. The Rams knocked off last year's NFC Super Bowl finalists 34-31 in overtime and, in the irony of all ironies, they won the game by stuffing star running back Marshawn Lynch for a loss on a key fourth and one play in the extra period.
Maybe now we know why Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll chose to throw down near the goal-line in last season's dramatic Super Bowl loss to New England.
The Rams showed enough flashes of brilliance in all three phases of the game. They scored touchdowns on offense and special teams, and they sacked Russell Wilson six times. The Seahawks have lost on three of their last four visits to the Edward Jones Dome and Wilson has been sacked 16 times in his last three road games in St. Louis.
The Rams have a fearsome defense that is not going away any time soon - now they need to find consistency as a team, especially on offense, and not just spring the occasional upset against quality opposition (as they did last year). But Sunday night certainly represented a good start for the Rams.
A tale of two quarterbacks
It was certainly a tale of two quarterbacks in Tampa Bay as the top two picks in this year's NFL Draft went head-to-head. The second overall pick most definitely got the upper hand on the No 1 selection as Marcus Mariota, of the Tennessee Titans, outplayed the Buccaneers' Jameis Winston.
Mariota looked sharp, poised and NFL-ready from the start of a contest that the Titans won at a canter by a 42-14 scoreline. Winston looked like a young work in progress who needs more time to develop, but he did show some toughness to stick at the job behind a porous offensive line.
The pattern of the day emerged early on as Mariota fired a 52-yard touchdown pass to Kendall Wright. By contrast, Winston's first pass as a professional was intercepted by Coty Sensabaugh and returned for a touchdown.
Mariota and the Titans never looked back and, frankly, had head coach Ken Whisenhunt not called off the dogs, Tennessee could have scored 60 or more. It was a very positive start for the Titans, but yet another embarrassment in front of their own fans for the Buccaneers.
Denver lean on defense
Our second game on Sky Sports on Sunday night was a very enjoyable one even though the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens failed to score an offensive touchdown. It was defense all the way as the Broncos emerged as 19-13 winners and I think Denver need to lean on that unit for the foreseeable future.
I still have genuine concerns over 39-year-old quarterback Peyton Manning. Remember last year's playoff loss to Indianapolis? The Colts dared Peyton to beat them deep and the banged-up passer couldn't get the job done. Well, on Sunday, and with fresh legs, Peyton still couldn't get the job done and he was also under constant pressure behind a new offensive line.
That doesn't bode well for Peyton's longevity but I am feeling very positive about Denver's defense under long-time coaching guru Wade Phillips. They are tough to run against and boast tremendous team speed. And in the secondary, they are fierce, aggressive and fast to the football.
The Broncos defense is fun to watch and they will need to be while the offense catches up. Of course, we really don't know just how much catching up this offense is currently able to do with that offensive line and Manning's declining physical skills.
Injury bug bites the Ravens
The Ravens not only suffered a tough loss in Denver, they also lost their key defensive player for the remainder of the 2015 campaign as Terrell Suggs suffered an Achilles' injury.
The NFL likes to operate a 'next man up' approach to dealing with injuries and, to be fair, that is the best way for a coach to approach the loss of a key player. There is no pointing moping around and crying about the loss - it won't bring the player back and will only heap more misery on your season as the losses pile up.
But it should also be noted that not every NFL player can be easily replaced. And Suggs will be a huge loss for the Ravens, not only in terms of his production as a fierce pass rusher, but also as a leader on the field and in the locker room. I cannot state enough how big a blow this is to Baltimore as they set out on their 2015 season journey.
The Rex Effect
While I picked the Indianapolis Colts to win in Buffalo on Sunday, I was not all that surprised to see the hometown Bills play with great emotion on their way to a 27-14 victory under new head coach Rex Ryan, who remains one of the best man motivators in the NFL.
It was one of those games where I was wishing I had picked in the other direction, even though I rarely pick against Colts quarterback Andrew Luck! The Bills played great defense and Tyrod Taylor eased his way into life as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
And I think there is more to come from the Bills. The defense will play at a high level all through this season with Ryan at the helm and the offense can expect more production from the likes of wide receiver Sammy Watkins and running back LeSean McCoy in future weeks.
New rule makes its mark
The big rule change of the NFL off-season saw extra point attempts move back from the two-yard line to the 15. So each basic extra point kick after a touchdown is now the equivalent of a 33-yard field goal instead of a 19 or 20-yard kick. The thinking behind the rule was to spice up a play that had pretty much become automatic around the league.
And it worked.
On Sunday night, there were four missed extra points with San Diego's Josh Lambo, Cincinnati's Mike Nugent, Houston's Randy Bullock and Jacksonville's Jason Myers falling foul of the new rule. In 2014, there were a total of five missed extra points for the entire year.
What was once a boring and automatic play could become one of the more intriguing aspects of this season and, for that reason, I really like the rule and cannot wait to see what kind of impact it has on games, especially late in the year when the weather turns.
