OPENING NIGHT DUD
C-Note Begins On A Sour Note
Packers Celebrate 100 Years Of NFL With Lackluster10-3 Win Over Bears
When Packer defensive back Adrian Amos picked off Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky to seal a 10-3 opening night victory for Green Bay at Soldiers Field in Chicago last night a collective sigh of relief was exhaled by the football watching world; “Ahhhh, thank god that’s over.”
It was, to say the least, not the NFL’s most shining moment, nor was it the debut Roger Goodell and his goodfella mobsters had in mind for its celebration of 100 years of NFL football. Trubisky – one of the league’s bright young stars – was matched up against the old warhorse Aaron Rodgers and the revamped Pack. Neither QB lit the world on fire and the end result was a low-scoring bore fest that had Big Electric in and out of sleep during his cross-country trek aboard Jetblue flight 620. Trubisky threw for a meager 228 yards and was harassed, hounded, and forced out of the pocket all night. Rodgers didn’t fare much better with 223 yards in the air but his one touchdown pass to the well-traveled Jimmy Graham was the difference maker in this debacle.
For Green Bay it was a terrific defensive performance, but new head coach Matt Lafleur openly questioned the direction his team’s offense needs to go in while at the post game podium. Hmmm. Head-scratching over his team’s offense with a guy nearly every football fan outside of New England says is the greatest QB of all time. It’s early in the season, yes. But Green Bay fans have to be wondering if Rodgers’ bickering and blacklisting his former coach and former teammates is creating some bad juju for their beloved squad.
We’ll find out 2019 rolls along.
Speaking of rolling, two NFL/bizlax members jumpstarted their season with a pair of wins. How fitting that in the Pool’s double feature to kick off the season (GOTW 1A right around the corner when Pittsburgh takes on NE in Foxboro Sunday night) would feature a pair of players getting double hits right out of the chute. “Pincref” and “Bluto” are now playing with house money by collecting $200 each on what was not so bad a game as far as they’re concerned.
No overtime, so the kitty bumps up to $100 for the Sunday night tilt. Your Week 1 winners:
Week 1 winners
|
Q |
GB |
CHI |
WINNER |
|
1 |
0 |
3 |
Pincref |
|
2 |
7 |
3 |
Bluto |
|
3 |
7 |
3 |
Bluto |
|
4 |
10 |
3 |
Pincref |
PITTSBURGH GETS GODSMACKED
Banner Night For The Patriots
NE Unfurls Sixth Title Flag, Destroys Pittsburgh As Encore
From Godsmack to gobsmacked, opening night in Foxboro was chock full of celebration past, present, and if the home team’s performance is any indication, possibly the future too. Gillette Stadium was the location for New England’s opening night gala that featured local rockers (Godsmack), former Patriots stars, and team owner Robert Kraft raising a freshly-buffed sixth Lombardi Trophy before the home team took the field and thoroughly dismantled the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, 33-3, on Football Night In America.
Much of the weekend preceding the game centered about the hullabaloo that is la affaire Antonio Brown – the saga of the highly-talented, mercurial wide receiver that finagled himself out of Oakland and into a one-year deal with New England. Brown was not in the lineup for the opener, but from the performances of the current pass catchers on the roster one has to wonder if he and his theatrical ways would even be necessary. After he shook off some early rust, Pats HOF-bound QB, Tom Brady (341 yards passing, 3 TDs) looked like a kid in a candy store with the variety of options he had to chose from in the passing game.
Brady opened up the scoring with a strike to big target Josh Gordon (3 catches, 73 yds, 1 TD) who hauled it in at the Pittsburgh 10, shook loose from an attempted ankle tackle, and then bowling pinned himself past the pylon to set the mode. A pair of TD passes to underrated (and speedy) Philip Dorsett (95 yds, 2 TDs) dispelled the notion that at 42-years old that Brady can’t throw the deep ball. His 58-yard bomb in the third quarter to a wide open Dorsett was long, deep, and on the money. And while Julian Edelman was kept out of the end zone, the trusty slot receiver contributed with 6 grabs for 83 yards, an 8-yard run, and even a 32-yard pass on a flea flicker throwback play to James White that put the Pittsburgh defense on its heels early in the game.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, appeared to be a disheveled team with lots of improvement to be made. The recent departures of star players (the aforementioned Brown and RB Le’Veon Bell to the Jets) left the Steelers bereft of offensive talent and it showed. QB Ben Roethlisberger (271 yds, 0 TDs, 1 INT) remained upright for the most part (sacked once), but was badgered often and had little success on his deep throws (intercepted in 4th quarter in the NE end zone by Devin McCourty), and with little support from his receivers when he was on target (several drops) or the Pittsburgh run game (32 total rushing yds), Big Ben skedaddled out of Foxboro with more questions than answers.
The decision-making of his head coach Mike Tomlin was even more of a head-scratcher particularly when Tomlin chose to kick a field goal from the NE 1-yard line while down three scores, on the road, vs. the defending Super Bowl champs. It was a white flag moment for a team renowned for its golden Terrible Towel.
On the Poolside of the game four (4) separate NFL/Bizlaxians connected on the night. Not a sniff of overtime, so we roll up to $150 when the Saints and the Rams square off in a rematch of last season’s controversial NFC championship game. That will be a 4:25 (ET) matinee game from L.A. On to the winners board for Week 1A
Week 1A winners
|
Q |
PIT |
NE |
WINNER |
|
1 |
0 |
7 |
Whitemeat |
|
2 |
0 |
20 |
Moa Iki |
|
3 |
3 |
30 |
Dobbs |
|
4 |
3 |
33 |
White Mamba |
|
OT |
N/A |
N/A |
No OT, Week 2 Kitty = $150 |
Week 2 GOTW Squares
Delivered fresh to your door by Big Electric!!!
Week 2 Numbers were drawn by "Keller Bees" at the Bahh using the old-fashioned cahhhhds method.
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