[PARAM]

Thursday 2024 Opening Game
Baltimore (+3) @ Kansas City

The start of a the first ever three-peat? The Chiefs are 5-1 in season openers with Mahomes under center. The Ravens are a team everybody loves to love but never quite 'get there'. 56-27 the last 5 years but very little to show for it. During that time they are 1-3 vs Mahomes and the Chiefs, with that one win being a 1 point victory via a TD with 3:18 remaining. That was week 2, 2021 a week after suffering a season opening OT loss to the Raiders. And they ended up 8-9 that season. I don't anticipate Baltimore being that bad this year and I also don't anticipate them beating the Chiefs in week 1. But it is so hard to predict the outcomes of week 1 games.

Friday (Sau Paulo, Brazil)
Green Bay @ Philadelphia
London, Germany, Mexico and now Brazil. WTF is the NFL thinking? Greedy mofos!!

"What are the oddities and risks of playing a game in South America? Other than the toilets rotating in the opposite direction, "football" being a game played with a round ball and a couple of nets, there's that problem with the color green. So what to do? Hey, let's have two teams who's liveries are green play each other!!" I couldn't help but shake my head when the evening news was at Philly airport interviewing Eagle fans boarding flights for Brazil, decked out in Eagles gear!! I guess they didn't get the memo!

The game should be pretty good, all things considered. The up and coming Packers vs the Eagles, a team last year that may have had the worse finish of any defending conference champion (yes, including the 2022 Rams). From 10-1 to 1-7, including a 32-9 loss to the Bucs, a game they weren't competitive in from the coin toss. Will this be the start of Siriani's final year in Philly? I'm gonna go with the up and coming Packers.

Sunday Early Games:

Pittsburgh at Atlanta
The Raheem Morris era in Atlanta begins, as the Kirk Cousins era does too. The Russell Wilson era in Pittsburgh begins. Mike Tomlin had a message for the Falcons Raheem Morris. "Don't sleep on Justin Fields" indicating they're going to have a package for him. I don't think any team had a head scratching move like Pittsburgh, let alone two, signing Russell Wilson then trading for Justin Fields. Tomlin may have never had a losing season but IMO, he's trying!!! I am anxious to see the Falcons offense and Bijan Robinson with a legit QB under center.

Arizona at Buffalo
This one might be a pretty good game. Or it might be a blowout. For me, this is one of the three most interesting early games along with Jacksonvile/Miami and Houston/Indianapolis. Kyler Murray seems to play well early in the season. The Bills always have a good defense but who is Josh Allen going to target in the passing game this year? Does their WR corp scare anybody? I gotta go with the home team here but again, it's week 1 and hard to predict.

Tennessee at Chicago
A lot of "new eras" beginning this week. The Caleb Can't Miss-Everybody's #1 Williams era begins. I think he's gonna do fine, though maybe not right away. Will Levis starts from day 1 this year. Brian Callahan, as Zac Taylor's OC - in the subset of the McVay/Shanahan tree gets his start. It shouldn't hurt his dad is the OL coach. This might be a very good game.

New England at Cincinnati
The Mayo era in New England begins but not the Maye era. At least not yet. Jacoby Brissett starts for the Patriots, which suggests Mayo knows what he's doing. I'm sure everybody envisions Maye being under center by midseason, if not sooner. The Bengals need a good start. because they might be in the best division in the AFC. They haven't started 2-0 since 2018 and are 1-9 in the first two weeks from 2019 to last year. I need them to have a good start since Jamar Chase is my #1 WR in RFU fantasy league!!

Houston at Indianapolis
This should be a really good game. Stroud is the real deal and Richardson looked good at the start of last year. Tough division game for both teams to start the year. I'm gonna go with the Texans.

Jacksonville at Miami
The AFC battle for Florida. These two should both be in the postseason this year. But one is going to have to overcome an early loss. The Jags had a helluva collapse last year going 1-5 down the stretch. The Dolphins lost 4 of their last 6 including the playoff loss to the Chiefs. Odell Beckham (PUP) trying to get back to the Super Bowl with yet another team. Something tells me he should have just stayed with the Rams.

Carolina at New Orleans
This one just doesn't excite me.

Minnesota at NY Giants
Neither does this one.

Sunday Late Games:

Las Vegas at LA Chargers
Justin Herbert might be in the same boat as Josh Allen. Who to throw to? He's got a couple of promising rookies (Brenden Rice and Ladd McConkey) and a couple of guys who haven't quite lived up to expectations (Quentin Johnson and Josh Palmer) but with Harbaugh in charge, they are going to run the ball a lot. The Raiders are not the old Raiders. Davante Adams, Zamir White and not much else. Gardner Minshew is on his 4th team in 6 years and might eventually catch Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Denver at Seattle
Another one that doesn't excite me, save for the possibility of the Seahawks starting 0-1. If they win, then Payton starts 0-1 which almost as good.

Dallas at Cleveland
This is probably the most interesting late game. What's the betting line for CeeDee Lamb pulling a hammy?

Washington at Tampa Bay
The Dan Quinn/Jayden Daniels era begins in DC. The forecast is 88 with a chance of rain. Humidity will be around 80%. Welcome to Florida in September! Will Tampa remain the class of the NFC South?

MNF

NY Jets at San Francisco
I look at this the same way I look at Denver/Seattle. A SF loss would be great. A Rodgers loss almost as good. And a betting line on Brandin Aiyuk's hammy. The Jets have a great defense too.

So we can enjoyably watch all the games from Thursday through 7 pm Sunday(4 pm for you guys in Cali), watch the Rams beat the Lions on SNF, then settle in for a potential SF loss on Monday Night. It doesn't get much better than that!!!

[Elvis]

The sweet smell of another NFL season, love it!

[BrooklynRam74]

Bengals have no idea if the great Ja Marr Chase will play Sunday.

[Elvis]

Bengals have no idea if the great Ja Marr Chase will play Sunday.

And they're the biggest favorite on the board, a likely suicide pick for a lot of people...

[PARAM]

Coming up on 59 hours before the real shit starts!!!

[Indrid Cold]

I appreciate you doing this and like your assessments. We think similarly.

I don't know what to be interested in other than first evidence whether the Rams are good and my RFU FFL team is good. Always want SF to lose, but I don't really get the love of the Jets right now. Feel the same way about Cincy and Atlanta. I can see it...but don't oversell me before any games.

[PARAM]

I appreciate you doing this and like your assessments. We think similarly.

I don't know what to be interested in other than first evidence whether the Rams are good and my RFU FFL team is good. Always want SF to lose, but I don't really get the love of the Jets right now. Feel the same way about Cincy and Atlanta. I can see it...but don't oversell me before any games.

The Jets are hyped because they were hyped last year due to the Rodgers acquisition and solid defense. Since he didn't do anything to fook up the hype, it simply carries over to this year.

Cincinnati is another animal. Always a decent defense with that coordinator. Always a chance for a good offense with Burrow and Jamar Chase. But, yeah, let's see them do something other than lose the first two games of the season!

Atlanta. For the last couple of years it's been "great young talent, no QB". Well now they have a decent QB. And a HC who coached a SB defense. Still gotta see them do something.

Hype for any team? Everybody is 0-0 so there's a little bit for almost all of them.

[PARAM]

35 hours to go until NFL kickoff. Is it me or did the off season fly by?

[Elvis]

This offseason dragged for me, can't believe we're finally gonna get to watch some real football...

[PARAM]

Well, football is back and it started out with a pretty good game. Note to O lineman......don't line up in the backfield.....or will this be like a lot of rules that are emphasized early and then not so often as the season progresses? Worthy looks like the real deal. Likely looks like he's ready to be a weapon.