Two Things Can Be True At The Same Time

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off to a 3-0 start and have been impressive in having last second scores to win all three of those games. Yet, those wins have come against no so impressive opponents. Atlanta was shutout last week against Carolina. Houston and the New York Jets are both winless to start the season. In a way Tampa Bay shouldn’t have had their wins come down to the last possession of the game. Now their next four games are against better competition in Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Detroit. After that stretch we will get a better idea of where the Buccaneers stand. QB Baker Mayfield is the real deal though and without him I don’t believe this team would be undefeated to start the season. 1-2 or 0-3 would be their record without Mayfield.

They Are Flawed

I wasn’t sold on the lone acquisition of LB Micah Parsons and wasn’t ready to say the Packers are absolutely going to a Super Bowl as a result. There were a lot of implied statements that suggested they were the best team in the NFL after the first two games. With the way the NFL is scheduled with fewer preseason games and less and less practicing in pads, ask me in October who is really a contender. Green Bay found out in the third game that this isn’t going to be given to them. They played well against Detroit in the first week, but when you play the Cleveland Browns you’re supposed to win that game. This isn’t to say the Browns are the worst team in the NFL this year. Their defense is impressive and they showed why against the Packers. Green Bay needed a wake up call and we will see if they respond accordingly.

All Right, I’m Convinced

I wasn’t going to write off the Detroit Lions after their first game. It had been a while since I had seen them play below their expectations. After their performance on Monday night in Baltimore there should be no doubt that the Lions are back on track. They ran the ball with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery having two rushing touchdowns each. Detroit’s defense sacked Ravens QB Lamar Jackson seven times. RB Derrick Henry fumbled again and the Ravens defense couldn’t get a stop to save themselves as they allowed two touchdown drives of 90+ yards to Detroit. I waited to see how the Lions would respond and they have done so in their last two games.