Opening week of the National Football League is now over, and that means we know exactly how the rest of the season will play out. At least, that's how everyone acts. Here are 5 big over-reactions, and how true they may be.
Over-reaction 1: The Browns are terrible, Baker is a bust, this team is going to flame out. After a season of run-away hype, the Browns came out incredibly flat against Tennessee, getting blown out 43-13. The defense was powerless to stop Henry and Mariota, and Baker threw 3 picks, including one that was returned for a touchdown. The offensive line for the Browns was especially poor, as Baker was sacked 5 times and was under duress for his interceptions.
Reality: The Browns will be better than this. The hype they had during the off-season was too much. Lets not forget they have a first year head coach, a 2nd year QB and were coming off still a losing season last year. Too many people expected to walk over this division, and were assured a playoff appearance. Nothing is guaranteed. But they are also better than they played in week 1. The offense is too talented to be held to only 13 points. Baker threw all his picks in desperation catch up mode in the 4th quarter, and lets not forget the Titans were only a game away from making the playoffs last year. The offensive line is a troubling reality, and may limit the ceiling of this team, but they are still going to win a lot of games this year.
Over-reaction 2: Lamar Jackson is an MVP candidate, possible GOAT in the making and any questions about this throwing should be silenced. He led an absolute thrashing of the Dolphins in a record breaking performance. He threw 5 touchdowns and was 17/20 overall, with a perfect passer rating.
Reality: The Dolphins are almost definitely the worst team in the league right now, by quite a large margin. And they couldn't stop anything the Ravens were doing, through the air, on the ground, and it didn't really seem to matter who the Ravens were trotting out there. Robert Griffin in mop duty also had a near perfect passer rating, going 6/6 and a touchdown, and the team had a combined 265 rushing yards. All that being said, Lamar looked good. His 2nd and 3rd touchdown passes, especially the deep one to Marquise Brown, were gorgeous throws. And the Dolphins are still an NFL team, that probably will win a game or two in the season. They actually looked pretty okay on offense a couple of times against what should be another strong Baltimore defense. I think the notion that Lamar is a running back playing QB should be dead, but this may be the best game statistically he may have in his career.
Over-reaction 3: Dak deserves to be paid 35-40 million dollars a year. Prescott dismantled the Giants to the tune of 405 yards and 4 touchdowns, posting the second perfect passer rating of the day. In a game where most of the eyes were on Zeke, it was one of the few times Dak really carried the team over his compatriot, with Zeke only chipping in a pedestrian 53 rushing yards.
Reality: Dak did it all this game. He hit tight windows, hit people in stride, connected on a couple deep throws, and showed a touch on quite a few passes that maybe we hadn't seen before. Dak still had some of his old bad habits, staring down receivers, a couple of weird accuracy issues, and a couple times where he waited for a receiver to be wide open before throwing it, when an earlier throw anticipating an open man would've been better. But if the question was, can Dak win a game on his own, I think that has been answered. I wouldn't pay a game manager that much, but Dak may have just proved he's more than that. The Giants are another bad team, but Dak proved he can make all the throws. Am I convinced he can be a top 5 QB in the league? Not yet, but a proven QB that can go out and win you games is worth that much in today's climate.
Over-reaction 4: Desean Jackson will pass Jerry Rice in 50+ yard touchdowns this year and cement his status as the greatest deep threat in the game. Desean caught two 50+ yard touchdowns vs. the Redskins, moving him to 31, just 5 behind Jerry Rice. Considering it was in week 1, we can extrapolate that to 32 50+ yard touchdowns this year for Jackson.
Reality: As much as I want this to be true, Desean probably won't get many more 50+ yard touchdowns this season. He's had a 12 year career with 31 touchdowns, good for around 2.5 per year. The most he's ever had was 5 in 2009, a full ten years ago. For him to get another 5 this year would definitely be pushing it. But he has a very real chance to hit his career high of 5 this year. He looked just as fast as he has been (he recorded 2 of the top 10 fastest offensive plays that week) and still has that incredible deep ball tracking. He also seems to have a really good chemistry with Wentz, and Wentz has the arm to do the work needed.
Over-reaction 5: The Patriots have another Super Bowl trip locked and loaded. The Patriots swiftly dismantled what many people thought was a playoff team in the Pittsburgh Steelers, having the biggest non-Miami blowout of week 1. If you were hoping that Tom Brady maybe lost a step after a pretty poor super bowl performance, you were wrong. He threw for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns. And all this was done without Antonio Brown, who for all his trouble-making last year still had 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Reality: Yeah honestly this one isn't a over-reaction. The Patriots are darn good already, and adding a healthy motivated Brown sounds like game over. Of course, Brown may never play for the Patriots. And I never bought into the Pittsburgh hype, a team that wasn't in the playoffs last year and lost arguably their best player didn't scream contender to me. But the fact is they have offensive weapons and were held to three points, which is impressive no matter who you are against in today's NFL. As has been the case for two decades, until we see differently, it's the Patriots world and we are just living in it.