Buffalo and Atlanta came up with outstanding week 1 overtime wins. Atlanta needed a late field goal to send it to overtime then capitalized on a Saints' turnover to kick yet another field goal to win the game. Both field goals were over 50 yards. While the Saints defense won't be confused with the '85 Bears anytime soon you have to love how the Falcons looked. Matt Ryan looked more like Dan Marino as he threw for 448 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. I think everyone figured the Falcons offense would be better this year but wow. The defense though took a beating giving up 34 points and 472 total yards. As long as they don't do that every week the Falcons could live up to my playoff prediction. This week Atlanta plays Cincinnati and it will be a great test as their defense is very good. Great week 1 win and love how the season is starting.
The Bills pulled off a bona fide upset as they won in overtime against the Chicago Bears. EJ Manuel was efficient - 16/22, 173 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Not great but he didn't turn over the ball too much and kept Buffalo in the game. The real hero was the running game that averaged 5 yards per carry while racking up a total of 193 yards. Fred Jackson led the way with 61 yards and it was his long run at the start of overtime that put Buffalo in position to kick the winning field goal. The defense forced four turnovers to help Buffalo with the impressive win. I love this. This is a great start for Buffalo. A win at home against Miami this week would be even better. A two and 0 start might really make me believe this team could pull out a .500 record. Exciting win and I really think me wearing my Thurman Thomas jersey Sunday was the key.
We had garbage games on TV all day Sunday due to where we live but I received an early Christmas present. The channels swapped to both the Atlanta and Buffalo games at the conclusion of the early contests. That was awesome to see the last few minutes of the Atlanta game and the overtime periods for both. You might call it excitement overload. Great day for me!
WEEK 1 NOTES: As good as Denver looked in the first half I'm real disappointed in how they played in the second half.. They need to play two halves or next time they may not be able to fend off their opponent's rally. Ditto for San Francisco... New England melted down the second half of their game as Miami took it to them with a key division win early in the season... Look I know Seattle is good but I expected some sort of hangover after their Super Bowl victory. That didn't happen and they look just as good as last year... I really liked how Detroit looked while the Giants look like they'll suffer through another tough year... Can't believe San Diego lost their game late again. This seem like a very bad habit that has plagued them for some years now... Kansas City looked lost or actually like they did down the stretch last year. I thought their playoff game last year showed promise as they once again put points on the board but they were horrible Sunday.
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