Opening Night Observations
An odd thing happened — I squinted when opening my laptop this morning so as not to see the final score, but I *thought* I read a headline saying the Ravens beat the Chiefs. Maybe it was a cached headline from the night before saying what they’d have to do to beat the Chiefs? but I shut the laptop and logged into my Apple TV account to stream the game on the TV, fully expecting the Ravens to win. I mean up until the moment they overturned the Isaiah Likely TD, I thought the Ravens would win. Funny, but not funny because I picked the Ravens in my low-stakes picking pool, and I HATE starting off the week 0-1, no matter the stakes.
In any event, it was an okay game, not great, but there were some interesting takeaways.
Derrick Henry looked fine but is going to do almost nothing in the passing game. He had two awkward targets, but Justice Hill was in the game on passing downs and during the end-of-half two-minute drill. Plus Lamar Jackson almost always takes off when he’s in trouble, so if the play isn’t a designed pass to the back, which will be rare for Henry, he’s not getting the ball except via handoff.
Jackson looked smooth to me and he’ll have a huge year for as long as he can stay healthy, especially now that Isaiah Likely looks like a real threat. But at 6-2, 205, 16 carries per game is a big ask.
Likely looked great. On his long TD, he made great moves, and even on the TD that was overturned, he showed great footwork to make it that close. I’m awfully curious to see where the near-invisible Mark Andrews slips in my NFFC Primetime tonight. (I think Round 8 or so, and I’d have to think about it.)
Rashod Bateman had five targets, four of them down the field. He’s their field stretcher, and though it was a quiet day, there should be more.
Zay Flowers got 10 targets (good), but it was dink and dunk stuff. To be honest, Likely (12 targets!) looked like the WR1, the alpha running the intermediate routes, Bateman the deep guy and Flowers the midget in the slot.
Patrick Mahomes didn’t have a big game, but that was against a top defense and he still got 10.4 YPA. And they were missing one of their field stretchers in Hollywood Brown.
Rashee Rice was the story for the Chiefs IMO. He had nine targets and made it look so easy, like Cooper Kupp schemed open on the Rams a few years ago. Xavier Worthy scored twice, but on only three targets even without Brown. He did look awfully fast, though.
Isiah Pacheco ran hard against a tough defense, but didn’t do much as a receiver. He’ll be fine — I wouldn’t move his stock much after this game.
Travis Kelce had a quiet night, but I wouldn’t read much into it. It’s not like Noah Gray is Likely to take his role.
After all these years, I finally ditched the loyal Justin Tucker for a Younghoe, and I feel like a new man. It still brought me no joy to see him miss that 53-yard FG.
You have to love Steak League IDP Roquan Smith getting a pick for you opening night.