By Brandon Simmons
Are the Rams Even Prepared for this Season?
The Los Angeles Rams went from being a Super Bowl favorite to questioning how serious they are as a playoff participant. The Rams were thumped by the San Francisco 49ers 27-7, then followed it up with announcing defensive end Myles Garrett, their prize free agent defensive end, will be on injured reserve to undergo knee surgery. A potential championship team now has a longer road to get back in that conversation.
Even though it’s Week 1, the Rams were expected to put on a show like it was Week 10, and in some ways they did that, but not the way people think. Playing their season opener in Melbourne, Australia the team fought until the 4th quarter where they got gashed and gave up 3 touchdowns. Garrett was in and out the game, and spent most of it getting manhandled by 49ers left tackle Trent Williams. Many people point out that Los Angeles arriving to Los Angeles the week of the game coat them in this matchup, compared to San Francisco who arrived almost a week and a half earlier.
All that being said, the Rams are in a perceivably worst place than where everyone thought they were before the season started. Before the season, it was shouts of how unfair it was that they had Garrett and brought defensive powerhouse Aaron Donald out of retirement. Garrett is out until Week 6 and Donald still has to readjust to the speed of the game. The 49ers and Seattle Seahawks both had positive starts to their seasons, as well as the Arizona Cardinals, but it’s still early in the regular season and plenty of time to play catch up.
ATL vs. Minnesota: Most Troubled QB Situation
He Rams have their issues but the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings already have their own levels of QB dysfunction. The Falcons currently have QB’s in Michael Penix, newly signed Tua Tagaviioa and now relying on the services of journeyman QB Cooper Rush. The Vikings are currently led by QB’s Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy, which is a whole room full of former first round picks. Atlanta anticipated that Penix would be out with a knee injury while Tua went down with a hip injury, so that left them with the services of Rush when headed into Sunday’s loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Minnesota started Murray but he suffered a concussion and left the game Sunday, but Wentz carried the team to an opening victory over the Green Bay Packers.
Both of these teams have less-than -ideal situations in their QB rooms in eerily similar ways. In addition to the former first round picks that are there, both teams also have former first round picks that they actually drafted. /The difference is that Penix – drafted by the Falcons in 2024 – is recovering from injury from last season while McCarthy – drafted by the Vikings in 2024 also – is healthy a the moment and is borderline about what his future may be. Granted, their QB rooms might be more stacked than other teams with no franchise QB at the helm, bthe uncertainty makes them just as vulnerable. The flip side is that he quality of their room also gives them the potential to go farther than many expect them to.
This is particularly true for the Vikings, who have he more proven oom of these two teams. Murray has 9 years experience, with 1 postseason appearance while Wentz was instrumental in leading the Philadelphia Eagles to their Super Bowl title in 2017. Wentz already helped deliver a win for Minnesota against a Green Bay team that was at least better on paper. Depending on how the Vikings ultimately feel about McCarthy, they might not want too many more wins from Wentz, or Murray for that matter,
Defenses Got Washed
The biggest standout from this weekend was that a couple of last season’s elite defenses were completely washed off in Week 1. The Los Angeles Rams gave up 27 , the Houston Texans gave up 36 points and the Denver broncos finished Week 1 giving up 31 points, in addition to over 200 rushing yards. Nin last year’s playoffs , these defenses had everyone on notice some of the more fearful units , but that has not been the case in Week 1. Despite them giving up these numbers against quality opponents, it was still mind blowing to see them put such an effortless fight. The Rams and Texans might have been the biggest surprise of these four teams. L.A. had a stacked defensive line before adding Myles Garett in their mix, in addition to adding cornerback Trent McDuffie. Houston didn’t add any major pieces to the defenses but it was still off-putting of how they performed n their loss against then Buffalo bills.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to the Bears offense running up the score for history. Sunday, the Chicago Bears dropped 59 points in their win against the Carolina Panthers, giving them the record for the most points scored in franchise history, but also contributing to the NFL’s highest scoring Week 1 ever.
Shut out to Houston Texans cornerback Kamari Lassiter for dropping the game. Sunday, Lassiter missed an opportunity to seal a win against the Buffalo Bills. Up 31-30, he was on the field when Bills QB Josh Allen heaved a wild pass in the end zone to.Bills receiver Joshua Palmer. The pass sailed into Lassiter’s arms, who dropped it. On the next play, Allen went back to Palmer for the game winning touchdown. A huge opportunity missed led to a more costly mistake.
Week 1 isndone and now on to kore action in Week 2. The Buffalo Bills will have their first ever home opener in their new stadium when they host the Detroit Lions. The Lions shpuld have enough energy from their exciting overtime win over the New Orleans Saints. Thd Jacksonville Jaguars will visit the Denver Broncos in a very interesting matchup. The Jaguars are coming off a blowout win while the Broncos are coming off a blowout loss. Two teams coming from 2 different directions and trying to go in the same one. But until then…I’ll holla.
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