By Brandon Simmons
Jameis Winston’s Strong Debut
Jameis Winston made his debut as the starting quarterback for the New Orleans, Sunday, in an impressive fashion. The former number one overall pick led the Saints to a 38-3 rout of the Green Bay Packers. Winston finished the game throwing 14/20 for 148 yards and a staggering 5 touchdowns.
Jameis Winston put on a performance that might have given Saints fans huge hopes for the immediate future. He still exhibited the same arm strength by making some key throws on each of his scoring drives. Winston looked comfortable running the playbook and making smart choices with the football. The 5 touchdowns are what’s going to jump out with this stat line, but 4 of those were in the red zone, on goal-to-go situations, while the 5th was a 55 yarder in the 4th quarter. It’s probably even more exceptional that he did this on just 148 yards passing. All of this means that Winston’s 1 year backup internship has paid off for now. He also did this “on the road”, since the Saints had to play their home game in Jacksonville, due to the damage left by the recent hurricane in New Orleans. Overall, the team did amazing, but all eyes were on Winston, who is in the first year of succeeding Drew Brees. It is just one game, at the beginning of the year but things can really take off Winston and the Saints if he builds from this performance.
Is it Time to Trade Zeke?
The first overreaction to the season has arrived: Is it time to trade Ezekiel Elliot? This is in the wake of Elliot rushing only 11 carries for 33 yards, as well as ESPN college football analyst, Robert Griffin III. It sounds crazy to think about getting rid of one of the top running backs in the league, but we all know how RB’s are viewed in recent years. Besides, in this league – and other sports as well – when your time is near, teams usually push you out the door with no hesitation.
There could be many ways to reach this conclusion. As mentioned earlier, the NFL running back is not viewed as having a long lifespan, career-wise. Just last week, fans were balking at the fact that players such as Le’Veon Bell (before being signed to the Ravens practice squad) and Todd Gurley were not even in the league at the age of 27, two players who were once at the top of the league in terms of rushing. Elliot is 26 right now, and fans wonder if he will hit some sort of decline sooner, or in a couple of years at 30. Also, Zeke is being talked about as being in the best shape of his life, so there’s no signal for him to slowed down by injuries or age anytime soon. Also, with the Cowboys putting their assets behind their QB, that salary cap is going to be shrinking soon and some decisions will have to be made.
As of right now, trading Ezekiel Elliot sounds like the most outlandish thing to do, until it’s time to do so. Lots of players go from beloved to trade bait in a matter of moments. Granted, RGIII made this tweet when the Baltimore Ravens were losing a few of their running backs to injuries, but that doesn’t mean the thought of this would not be revisited in the future.
What Will Baltimore’s Depleted RB Group Reveal About Lamar Jackson?
The Baltimore Ravens had the worse luck of the injury bug hit their running backs heading into Week 1 and it might help QB Lamar Jackson reach the next level. For the past few seasons, Jackson has been nothing short of spectacular, especially when it comes to scrambling. But now that he is entering his 4th season – a contract year at that – he might have to up his passing skillset to make this offense more productive. In Monday night’ game against the Oakland Raiders, he looked good throwing the ball and getting it to receivers that were not a tight end, but they still lost the game as Baltimore gave up 435 passing yards to Raiders QB Derek Carr. Baltimore’s secondary has their own injury problems and it might affect them long term. It’s really going to fall on the shoulders of Jackson. The former MVP has shown that he can improve each year but and this year should be no different.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs for overcoming double-digit deficits on their way to winning. The Steelers overcame a 10 point halftime deficit to beat the Buffalo Bills, while the Chiefs overcame a 22-10 halftime deficit to beat the Cleveland Browns.
Shut out to the Browns and Bills for blowing those leads, especially Cleveland, who wasted a 300 yard passing game with QB Baker Mayfield. But he kind of helped with his 1 pick and 2 sacks.
Shout out to Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks who made a catch between 2 defenders Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Shut out to the rest of the AFC South, who all took the L this past weekend, including the Tennessee Titans who got demolished by the Arizona Cardinals 38-13. All the fireworks of Week 1 have passed so it’s time to pick things up. The game that stands out the most is the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. Both teams played some close games in Week 1 with the Chiefs being one of these to take the win. Baltimore is coming into their home opener after a tough, close loss to the Raiders. Both teams led by 2 electrifying quarterbacks, with the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes. But until then…I’ll holla.