Sunday (and Thursday) Surprises
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.
The first week of the NFL season never ceases to surprise. I have always felt (and am, obviously, not alone) that pre-season games “wins and losses” mean absolutely nothing. As you can see when you get to the results of “Gary’s Guesses” that it is very difficult to get a true handle on a team until they play a real game.
Here are some things I (and maybe you) just did not know going into the regular season:
- That the Eagles defense could be even better this year than last year.
- That Nick Foles always seems to look like a back-up quarterback.
- That the Saints offense may not be able to overcome the weakness of their defense.
- That QB Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bucs could still look amazing (417 yards passing and 4 TD’s). AND he rushed for a TD. What do the Bucs do now with Jameis
Winston when he comes back from suspension? The Eagles will help answer that question this week.
- Why the Chiefs traded Alex Smith to Washington – because Patrick Mahomes looks like he really fits as the Chiefs new starting QB.
- That the Steelers running game could look the same WITHOUT Le’Veon Bell. James Conner had a Le’Veon game (192 total yards), despite not having anywhere close to what will be a Le’Veon contract.
- That the Bills are AWFUL (sorry, I guess you knew that already).
- That Ryan Tannehill of the Dolphins would miss two years of football and look like he hadn’t missed two weeks.
- That the Browns might win a game this year.
- That the Giants offensive line would be so bad (when everyone was talking about Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr., they should have been talking about the O-line).
- That Denver might be good again.
- That Dallas can’t score more than 20 points (at least they haven’t done it in the last four games), including Sunday when they piled up eight!
- That Alex Smith would play better in a Redskins uniform than in a Chiefs uniform.
- That the dispute over which QB is better (Brady or Rodgers?) still goes on.
- That the Vikings might have the total package to win it all. That, by now, you would be sick of me telling you what you might not have known.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- I now find myself having to watch the Giants games because of Saquon Barkley. He did not disappoint yesterday when he ran for a 68-yard touchdown. It was an electrifying run, just like in high school at Whitehall and in college at Penn State. He rushed for over 100 yards and, for a while, looked like that run might catapult the Giants to a win. It did not.
- Which baseball team is better – the Red Sox (98-46) or the Astros (89-54)? It’s the Cubs (83-59) in the National League, for sure. Baltimore (41-102) is certainly the worst.
- Remember when the Phillies were 15 games over .500 on August 5? They are 10-20 since – they have lost seven series in a row, nine of the last 10.
- It’s bad enough not to have won a football game this year, even though the season is still very young, but not to have scored a touchdown? That’s the predicament the Lafayette Leopards are facing. They’ll get a chance to change that this Saturday at 6:00pm against the Monmouth Hawks. The game is LIVE on RCN-TV.
- RCN-TV will present two interesting high school match-ups this Friday night. Live at 7:00pm, Mike Joseph, John Bowman and I will call the Bethlehem Catholic–Parkland game. Chris Michael and John Leone will have the Easton at Liberty game at 9:30pm. As always, you’re invited.
Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks (Last week: 9-6-1) (Overall: 9-6-1 60% )
Week TWO
CINCINNATI
WASHINGTON
ATLANTA
MINNESOTA
CHARGERS
HOUSTON
PITTSBURGH
JETS
PHILADELPHIA
NEW ORLEANS
RAMS
SAN FRANCISCO
NEW ENGLAND
DENVER
DALLAS
CHICAGO
