Game one of the NFL season has gone final, and the Detroit Lions despite being 5 point underdogs (Via the Barstool Sportsbook) eeked out a close win against the Kansas City Chiefs with the final score being 20-21. And all of a sudden the Lions have in one offseason transformed themselves from a team that often times struggled to run the ball, with one of the most porous defenses in the league. To a team that is going to run the damn ball down your throat, and play some damn good defense. The Lions rushing attacked was spearheaded by offseason additions David Montgomery (1TD, 74 yards on 21 Attempts, 3.5 YPC) and Jahmyr Gibbs (42 yards on 7 Attempts, 6 YPC) , who took over for a stagnant Lions rushing attack who finished 20th last year and lost all 3 of its top rushers. Montgomery and Gibbs put on a display Thursday showing that they can become the smash and dash combo the Lions have been looking for. With Gibbs also showing off his receiving upside catching 2 passes for 18 yards, and while I can sit and talk about stats until the cows come home. These two were phenomenal, with Gibbs making defenders look absurd trying to tackle him in the open field and Montgomery churning out yards and wearing down the defense. This was put on center stage when Montgomery and Lions marched down the field ending in an impressive 8 yard touchdown run in which Montgomery showed impressive balance and power breaking several KC tackles on his way to the promised land. And it wasn't just these additions that played a part, Detroit had offseason additions making plays on what felt like every play. Safety C.J. Gardener-Johnson was the veteran voice of reason the Lions have been looking for in their secondary recording 5 tackles and 2 passes defensed. But his play goes far beyond the stat sheet, on every play it felt like he was around the ball, and after every play he was talking and chirping with the Chiefs both on and off the field, bringing a gritty "Fuck You" attitude to the defense. Rookie defenders Brian Branch and Jack Campbell were also key contributors, with Branch recording a pick-six off a Kadarius Toney drop and Campbell nearly intercepting a ball also intended for Toney in 3rd quarter. Overall the Lions were impressive, showing they are going to be a factor in the NFC this year.
Kansas City... This team disappointed, and say what you want about KC missing Kelce and Chris Jones. Those are two incredible players who would have impacted this game and could have been the factors too give the Chiefs a win. But they were not on the field today and that is a fact, and it showed. I do not know what the Chiefs are going to do on offense this year, They lost two of their top 3 receivers last year and have seemingly replaced them with no one. And I no Mahomes is incredible and can throw receivers open all over the field, but facts are facts tonight it was incredibly hard for the Chiefs receivers to create any type of separation and when they did they had drops galore. To the tune of 8 drops as a team, and yes Kadarius Toney had more than anyone else with 4 all of them atrocious. So what happens now, and the answer is "Im not sure", it used to be that the Chiefs had tons of speed and at least some weapons who could compliment the best Tight End in the game. But what happens now that defenses no longer have to be afraid of someone else making a play, they focus on Kelce and the rest falls apart. And in games like tonight without Kelce the Chiefs had no answer other than "Hey Patrick go run around until you either have chuck it downfield or run for 7-12 yards" and yes that works sometimes. But against quality defenses like Detroit it is not going to fly and the Chiefs are going to fall flat. So Chiefs fan Im sorry... "NOT!" but unless someone emerges as a reliable weapon this is not a team that can win a Super Bowl so get ready to stay home in February.
I Suck At Gambling
Well for those of you who follow me on Tik Tok or Twitter, you all saw my picks headed into this game and i would like to extend my deepest apologies. There is no easy way to say this but I went 0/3 tonight, and this one stings. First I would like to address Jared Goff over 258.5 passing yards, GOOD LORD was Goff close! Goff finished with 253 passing yards and all I can think of right now is two overthrows he had that would surely have surely pushed this into a win. Now onto over 3.5 made field goals, I thought with the defenses being pretty good and hoping both these offenses needed some time to shake the rust off that this would be a field goal fest. Boy was I wrong instead it was a punt fest with offenses taking turns burning out. And finally Chiefs -5, now this one bothers me because when I put out my picks it was rumored that Kelce was going to play. Had I known he was not going to play which we found out 10 hours later I would have never picked them. But alas I did, and I stink. But its ok, its week one for gamblers too. Time to shake the rust off and go into the weekend ready to prove myself wrong.
Comments