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From House Enterprise, and inspired by Rich Eisen, I’m introducing “Overreaction Tuesday.” Every Tuesday throughout the NFL season, I will overreact to what I deem the biggest storyline to come from the prior weekend’s games across the league, that includes Thursday, Sunday, and Monday.
It's a week-to-week league, meaning that in the NFL, the stories and narratives change every single week. The bottom line is that it’s a long season (five months from Week 1 to the Super Bowl to be exact) and we don’t know how it’s going to end. All we can do is overreact to the most recent data, so let’s do that.
Week 1 - September 7-11, 2023
Detroit Lions 21 (1-0) @ Kansas City Chiefs 20 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Lion hype is real and this is not an overreaction. In 2017, the Chiefs went to Foxborough on the Patriots banner-raising night and knocked out Tom Brady and New England 42-27. You know who went to the Super Bowl that year? It wasn’t the Chiefs, but KC did finish second in the AFC in the last year before Mahomes took over at QB. A road win against the defending champs on opening night can catapult a team for an entire season and Head Coach Dan Campbell has his Lions off and running in 2023.
Carolina Panthers 10 (0-1) @ Atlanta Falcons 24 (1-0)
Overreaction: Bijan Robinson is going to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Did you see that touchdown he had? Well, in case you didn’t here it is. Robinson touched the ball 16 times in the game, including 10 rushes, racking up 83 yards along the way. I imagine his workload is only going to increase as the season wears on.
Cincinnati Bengals 3 (0-1) @ Cleveland Browns 24 (1-0)
Overreaction: This is just a fact…Joe Burrow just played the worst game of his career a day after signing the largest contract in NFL history. On Saturday, Burrow signed a five-year extension worth $275 million. On Sunday, he threw for 82 yards and his team scored 3 points. Last year, Cincinnati started 0-2 and ended up in the AFC Championship game, so the slow start isn’t surprising, but even the 2022 Bengals put up touchdowns in the first two weeks.
Jacksonville Jaguars 31 (1-0) @ Indianapolis Colts 21 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Colts have found their franchise quarterback. In his first start, the rookie out of Florida, Anthony Richardson, threw for 223 yards and a touchdown and an interception while rushing for 40 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Outside of receiver Michael Pittman, there are zero recognizable weapons on the Indianapolis offense. If the Jonathan Taylor saga gets resolved, Richardson’s numbers should only get better.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 (1-0) @ Minnesota Vikings 17 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Kirk Cousins era in Minnesota is crumbling to an end. The Vikings quarterback turned it over three times in the first half on Sunday and the team never recovered, eventually falling to the Buc’s as heavy favorites, 20-17. The good news for Minnesota? Cousins is in the final year of his contract, so if the team decides that another direction is needed, they have the option to move on.
Tennessee Titans 15 (0-1) @ New Orleans Saints 16 (1-0)
Overreaction: Tennessee, it’s time for a new quarterback. Ryan Tannehill was abysmal on Sunday in the Titans 16-15 loss to New Orleans, throwing for 198 yards on 16 completions with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions. In fact, the Tennessee offense never found the endzone in the game, stalling in the redzone and settling for field goals three times along the way. Luckily, Head Coach Mike Vrabal has two quarterbacks behind Tannehill in Malik Willis and rookie Will Levis. Should the woes for Tannehill continue, we’ll surely see one or both of those QB’s sooner rather than later.
San Francisco 49ers 30 (1-0) @ Pittsburgh Steelers 7 (0-1)
Overreaction: The 49ers are the NFL’s best team. The Steelers were pegged as many people’s ‘preseason champs’ which counts for nothing. Nonetheless, the 49ers dominating performance is the most impressive of Week 1 (besides Dallas of course). Christian McCaffrey looks like the Offensive Player of the Year, Brandon Aiyuk is the focal point of the pass game and if Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are offensive complements, look out for SF.
Arizona Cardinals 16 (0-1) @ Washington Commanders 20 (1-0)
Overreaction: The Cardinals are on their way to being the NFL’s worst team. In Sunday’s loss to the Commanders, Arizona 210 yards of offense and three field goals with zero touchdowns. Quarterback Josh Dobbs was signed on August 24 and looks like the solution to the Cardinals desire to select first in the 2024 NFL Draft. Washington has a good defense but the only reason this game was at all close was due to three Commanders turnovers. Could be the long season that everyone expects for Arizona.
Houston Texans 9 (0-1) @ Baltimore Ravens 25 (1-0)
Overreaction: The Texans have to find a way to protect C.J. Stroud otherwise he will not last the season. The rookie QB out of Ohio State was sacked 5 times for a total loss of 46 yards in the loss to Baltimore, but showed flashes of excellence, passing for 242 yards in the game. Yes, he absolutely needs to get rid of the ball quicker, but if the protection up front does not improve, we could be looking at a very similar situation that both Joe Burrow and Andrew Luck endured their rookie seasons. Luck retired a few years later after enduring too many hits and Burrow was knocked out midway through the year with a season ending injury.
Green Bay Packers 38 (1-0) @ Chicago Bears 20 (0-1)
Overreaction: Jordan Love is the next great Packers quarterback. After NFC North rivals have endured 30 years of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, the last thing the Vikings, Lions, and especially Bears wanted to see was what Love did on Sunday. He threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns in what was an emphatic Green Bay victory. The division may run green for another 15 years with Love in command.
Las Vegas Raiders 17 (1-0) @ Denver Broncos 16 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Broncos are bound for last place in the AFC West. For the second straight year, Denver lost its Week 1 game 17-16 in heartbreaking fashion. In the first game under Head Coach Sean Payton, the offense looked much-improved, but 2022 problems reared their head in the second half as Denver only put up 3 points in the final 30 minutes of the game.
Philadelphia Eagles 25 (1-0) @ New England Patriots 20 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Eagles Super Bowl hangover is going to hit hard in 2023. Make no mistake, a Week 1 game at New England, against Bill Belichick, and on Tom Brady day is no easy draw. And yet, the Eagles were handed 16 points in the opening 13 minutes of the game due to multiple early Patriots turnovers and the game still came down to the final drive. Fortunately for Philly, Jake Elliott made two field goals from over 50 yards in the second half, which proved to be the difference in a gutty win on the road.
Miami Dolphins 36 (1-0) @ Los Angeles Chargers 34 (0-1)
Overreaction: Tua Tagovailoa is the MVP and Tyreek Hill is the Offensive Player of the Year…through one week of course. The Miami QB threw for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win over the Chargers, including 215 yards and 2 touchdown passes to Hill, who was unguardable all day. In Week 2, Miami takes on Bill Belichick’s Patriot defense on Sunday Night Football, so we’ll get a very early look at just how real the Dolphins offense might be in 2023.
Los Angeles Rams 30 (1-0) @ Seattle Seahawks 13 (0-1)
Overreaction: The Rams are going to be the team that nobody predicted would make the playoffs this year. Sean McVay pulled a rabbit out of the hat on Sunday, going on the road to Seattle and knocking off a divisional opponent by 17. The Rams defense allowed less than 10 yards in the second half while receivers Tutu Atwell and Puka Nacua both had 119 yards receiving. There were no turnovers in the game, it was just Los Angeles imposing its will on Seattle in very impressive fashion.
Dallas Cowboys 40 (1-0) @ New York Giants 0 (0-1)
Overreaction: Speaking of imposing will, the most impressive performance of the week belongs to the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas defense is the best in the NFL and is the reason the Cowboys will finally get over the hump and make the NFC Championship game this year. They scored on special teams and defense before the Dallas offense had even run ten plays. They sacked Daniel Jones 7 times while allowing just 63 passing yards all night, and of course they pitched a shutout. Up next, Dallas has Zach Wilson and the Jets coming to their building for the home opener.
Buffalo Bills 16 (0-1) @ New York Jets 22 (1-0) OT
Overreaction: Two things can be true…Josh Allen cannot be trusted with the football and the Jets season is over. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers ruptured his left achilles tendon on the fourth offensive play of the night, ending his season and potentially career. If Rodgers was anything like the player he’s been the last few years, the Jets had a legitimate shot to win the Super Bowl, which became clear after seeing the New York defense. Which brings us to Josh Allen. The Bills QB had 4 turnovers on Monday, including 3 interceptions to the same guy and it wasn’t Sauce Gardner. Allen has more turnovers than anyone in the NFL since he entered the league and it 100% cost them the game against a team who should’ve been steamrolled once they lost their leader in the opening minutes.
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