Everything felt right about September 10th, 2017. Many people across the nation woke up with utter excitement as football season has finally arrived! The countdown had finalized reached its last numeral as CBS Sports, ESPN and other sports networks began to broadcast their coverage of the day's events. Headlines began to filter across the bottom of most screens as analysts began to make predictions on each game based on pre-season performances. When all the games came to an end and the first NFL Sunday of the year was finally over many fans began to study the final results.
Could the NFL season go in a different direction this year? Who proved to be the best team in during their week one gridiron battle?
Shocking debut
The NFL season started on Thursday night when the New England Patriots hosted the Kansas City Chiefs. When most people looked at this matchup on paper, they believed Tom Brady would come to assert his dominance while Alex Smith played catch up for four quarters of football. The Chiefs are one of those teams this season that can be dangerous when they play a sound game of football. The scoring throughout the Thursday night matchup was consistent. Both teams traded blows until the fourth quarter, it was here where we saw the flaws in the 2017 New England Patriots.
Kansas City was able to score 21 unanswered points against the Patriots, leaving both New England's offense and defense responsible for their 42 to 27 loss at home. Although Tom Brady was able to throw for 267 yards, he was unable to reach the end zone. Rob Gronkowski was held to only 2 catches for thirty-three yards as Danny Amendola led the team with 6 catches for 100 yards.
The New England Patriot's receiving core has always been compiled of decent route runners that are usually undersized.
When a team takes away the underneath routes as well as Tom's favorite target Rob, their chances of winning increases. The real story of the night was centered around rookie running back Kareem Hunt from The University of Toledo.
Hunt finished the night with 246 total yards and three touchdowns. Alex Smith channeled his inner "Brady" as he threw for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Chiefs were able to knock off the defending champions in a convincing fashion. Did Thursday night reveal some of the defending champion's flaws?
On the heels!
Week one was a defensive week around the National Football League. Only five other teams in the league on Sunday was able to score a greater or equal amount of points than the Patriots did on Thursday. This brings us to the brunt of the good and bad news. The good news is that if the Patriots can fix their defense, they can very well stay level during this 2017 Super Bowl race.
The bad news is that multiple teams across the league have been showing great defensive performances.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who many believe is the second best AFC team, were able to show the league its explosive pass rush during their exhibition game against the Cleveland Browns. The Baltimore Ravens were able to shut out the highly anticipated offense of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jaguars were able to hold the newly equipped Texans to just seven points. Although it is just the first week one thing is clear, the chase for the championship has begun!
