Welcome back IDP fans! Week 1 went exactly as planned right…?
This is a simple article – I point out the weird, wild, wacky stuff from week 1 and place it on the WTF scale.
Scale:
- Pretty weird, but its football
- Crazy, even for football
- Mind blowing
- Jumping out of my seat as I’m watching
- Historic level of WTF?!
James Conner‘s Hair
2 – Crazy, even for football
This is bad, but there a lot of eccentric personalities and fashion choices in sports. We will continue to see bad haircuts.
New Rules – Mixed Results
Calling the results mixed may be putting it lightly. Still a lot of ambiguity, missed calls, and impossible decisions for players, but if it makes our beautiful game safer and preserves the longevity of the sport and our favorite athletes I think we will take it.
Helmet Rule
1 – Pretty weird, but its football
The helmet rule was the one we feared would change our game the most. There were a lot of helmet rule penalties in the preseason including a lot of very bad and confusing calls. Obviously this was a point of emphasis for the NFL in the preseason and we only had one called in the opening week.
Bengals’ safety Shawn Williams took a late shot on a sliding Andrew Luck. This dirty hit would have been a penalty under the old rules anyway but now resulted in an ejection. And that ejection created our first unlikely hero of the season, one Clayton Fejedelem!
Clayton Fejedelem filled in admirably for Shawn Williams with 10 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and the game sealing touchdown.
If the helmet rule helps remove this sort of hit and is not being overly applied to questionable, unintentional hits then I am all for it. My biggest gripe remains with ball carriers lowering their heads and initiating contact with no call. This is putting defensive players in a bad position, especially smaller defensive backs trying to take down bigger running backs and tight ends. Note: I played on the offensive side of the football in college and still take issue with this part of the rule.
Roughing the Passer
2 – Crazy, even for football
The new point of emphasis here is to prevent driving the quarterback into the ground. This is not a new rule but is now being enforced to prevent quarterbacks from injuries like the one Aaron Rodger sustained last season. Five of these penalties were called in Week 1. Some players remain concerned with how they are supposed to prevent this from happening while also trying not to contact the quarterback’s helmet or hit the quarterback below the waist.
The good news here is that quarterback injuries from Week 1 appear to be at a minimum. Marcus Mariota and Aaron Rodgers both sustained injuries but should be able to play in Week 2.
The bad news here was the one missed call. Myles Garrett was flagged for driving Ben Roethlisberger into the ground, a penalty the NFL would later admit was an error. This fourth down penalty sustained a drive that ended up in a Steelers’ touchdown and impacted the outcome of the game.
Seven more roughing the passer penalties of the “normal variety” also occurred. This included another missed call on Marcus Davenport for a phantom hit to the head of Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Tie Games
4 – Jumping out of my seat as I’m watching
Speaking of the missed call on Myles Garrett impacting the game, another weird NFL rule that we were reminded of this weekend was the infamous tie. A lot of casual fans are not even aware of the possibility of a tie due because it does not happen often. This was the first opening day tie since 1971!
Catch Rule – WTF is a catch?
5 – Historic level of WTF!?
The NFL attempted to simplify the catch rule to help fix the confusion. It was clear on opening night on the Julio Jones catch that we still have no idea what a catch is. Throughout the weekend we were continually reminded that we have no idea what a catch is. It remains confusing and inconsistent, but we still love this beautiful game.
Blow Outs – Bills and Lions Absolutely Demolished
2 – Crazy, even for football
The Bills are switching quarterbacks after one game, going with Josh Allen in Week 2. They will continue to be one of the worst teams in the league despite the quarterback change. I think we can expect a few more blow outs of the Bills this year but 47-3 is brutal.
The Lions collapse was more surprising. Sometimes matchups do not work out and sometimes the ball just does not bounce your way. [Editors Note: Don’t remind me… smh. (Lions Fan)]
Aaron Rodgers Walking on Water
5 -Historic Level of WTF?!
Rodgers took a beating in the first half and left with an injury. The Packers trailed 20-0 at the beginning of the third quarter and people were questioning why Rodgers was even in the game risking further injury. This was an incredible performance and comeback to watch. One that took one of the most talented players we’ve ever seen and probably some poor decisions from Bears’ play calling.
Vikings’ coach Mike Zimmer probably summed up Rodgers best when he said, “He walks on water, so I’m sure he’s going to play.”
Injuries
3 – Mind blowing
- Keanu Neal
- Deion Jones
- Joey Bosa
- Bobby Wagner
- Christian Kirksey
- Preston Brown
- Devonta Freeman
- Greg Olsen
- Marquise Goodwin
- Delanie Walker
- Joe Haden
- Doug Baldwin
This is nowhere near the full list of injuries. Football is brutal and we know injuries are going to happen but we do not usually lose this number of stars in Week 1. Teams and fantasy owners are scrambling to replace these guys. Hopefully we get a Week 2 slate without the big injuries.
Fitzmagic!
4 – Jumping out of my seat as I’m watching
We have seen good quarterback play from Fitzmagic before so on one hand we should not be completely surprised. On the other hand, nobody expected Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers to compete with the Saints in this game, especially not in shootout fashion. Fitzmagic and company put up a staggering 48 points to win a high powered 48-40 shootout. It would not be surprising to see more competent QB play from Fitzmagic, but we shouldn’t expect many more 48 point outbursts.
Browns Give up on Josh Gordon
5 – Historic Level of WTF?!
We do not seem to have the full story here and we may never truly understand everything that has happened between the Browns and Josh Gordon. We do know the Browns have stuck by Gordon through a lot and have given him seemingly endless chances. Reports are that Gordon was late to report to the team facility on Friday and was not quite himself, which was possibly a sobriety issue.
He also seemed to tweak his hamstring at a promotional event that was not a team function and was not going to be able to play in Week 2. It seems weird for it to all come to an end now but it seems inevitable that his time in Cleveland is done. Rumor is he is drawing a significant trade market as other teams are willing to take a chance on the other worldly talent.
Check back for Tyler’s week 2 review next week on who he is buying and selling in IDP Fantasy Football. Follow him on twitter (@ONUtyjo).
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