With a New Seasons Comes New Topics: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 1

The first week of the 2017 NFL season wasn’t a pretty one. Only a pair of teams won with a margin of 7 points or less. The defending Super Bowl Champions got embarrassed to open the season. Adrian Peterson had a homecoming before he had even played away from home. Injures and calls by the refs impacted games. Yet, two things stand out to me and I’d like to go over them.

Lions D Exposes Carson Palmer’s Age with three Interceptions 

In what was a surprise to me, the Detroit Lions defense came out of the gates strong and pumped the Arizona Cardinals offense. Forget the fact that David Johnson got injured in the third quarter, the Cardinals running game was atrocious to begin with. They only amassed 42 yards on the ground. Not to mention the fact that Johnson managed to fumble on almost 20% of his carries, losing one of his two fumbles on only 11 carries Combine this with the fact that they self-imploded in the fourth quarter after leading 17-15, they needed to throw the ball. So, when 38 year old quarterback Carson Palmer did that, it only figures that Father Time was able to catch up with him and once again remain undefeated. He threw three interceptions, and the third was a pick-six that sealed the loss.

Beyond Palmer and Johnson’s turnover woes, the former was hit 11 times and sacked once by the Lions defense.

While it can’t be ignored that the Lions missed on several special teams opportunities (punts and missed field goals), two point conversions, and that the game was ugly in its entirety, the way Carson Palmer and the Lions defense played put them both on my radar.

Steelers Edge out Browns in a Game that Differs from their History

In what was a surprise to many, the Pittsburgh Steelers were fighting while visiting the Dawg Pound in Cleveland. The fact that the Steel Curtain only won by three with a score of 21 to 18 wasn’t the only surprise of the game.

Historically, both these teams have had great runners: Jim Brown, Franco Harris, and Jerome Bettis just to name a few. But, over the weekend neither team could run the ball. Period. Le’Veon Bell and Isaiah Crowell combined to only rush for 65 yards. Bell is the best back in the league and Cowell is a rising runner who is the Browns workhorse. For some perspective: in the Seahawks vs. Packers game, Russell Wilson rushed for 40 yards (more their either back) and Aaron Rodgers scampered for 21, bringing their total to 61 yards. So, a pair of top 5 quarterbacks rushed for almost the same amount as a pair of top running backs.

Events that Sparked My Interest is a series that I’m starting with the new NFL Season. It will contain 2-3 thoughts, notes, or other events that sparked interest during the week and will be posted on Tuesday’s. 

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