Shakiness is often as diverse as it is comical. Whether it was afflicting Jarryd Hayne in his first NFL game or Tom Coughlin in his 305th, shakiness in its various forms defined an exciting, chaotic week one of the NFL.
Here are five key takeaways from the action:
1. Take a bow, New York Giants
It’s hard to imagine a worse play-call than the Seahawks in the Super Bowl opting to throw the ball to Ricardo Lockette instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the one yard line.
The New York Giants had to think hard, but in their 27-26 loss to Dallas they contrived a sequence that made Seattle look impressively astute in comparison.
The beauty of the Giants’ debacle is that there were three separate brain-fades which each would have been reprehensible in isolation, but taken together form a brilliant trifecta of stunning incompetence.
First is Eli Manning telling Rashad Jennings not to score because he misunderstood how many timeouts Dallas had left. That feels like something the quarterback should know. Second, and most famously, is Tom Coughlin’s incomprehensible decision not to run the ball on third down with Dallas out of timeouts. If the Giants run the ball they either score a touchdown that seals the game, or they burn the clock down to 57 seconds. Instead the Giants called a pass play, which fell hopelessly incomplete, stopping the clock and giving the Cowboys 1:29 to move down the field.
Those two errors were calamitous, but would have been escapable if not for Manning’s second brain blip.
The two-time Super Bowl MVP’s decision to throw the ball away on third down instead of taking a sack to keep the clock running is indefensible. There is no defence. The 40 seconds you burn versus the seven yards you concede for a field goal attempt is not a debate with two sides. You go with the former and the latter has no argument.
On top of all this, the Giants probably should have gone for it on fourth down anyway. There will be bad coaching decisions and inexplicable choices made by players in the coming weeks, but all those offenders can take solace in the fact that no matter what they do, they will almost assuredly not be as dumb as the New York Giants were on Sunday night in Texas.
2. Peyton Manning might be done, but it might not matter
Peyton Manning is 39 years old and beginning to look every day of it. Manning was horrible against the Ravens, getting sacked four times, picked off for a touchdown, and averaging a dismal 4.4 yards per attempt. His passes had zero zip – at times it looked more like he was pushing the ball forward than throwing it.
And yet it didn’t matter. Manning’s 4.4 yards per attempt outdid Joe Flacco’s 3.7 on the other side of the ball, as the Denver defence hounded the Baltimore quarterback all day. Baltimore’s improved running game couldn’t penetrate Denver’s brick-wall defence and Flacco found nothing in the air all day except for Aqib Talib and Darian Stewart.
It’s premature to conclude that Manning is done. It’s Week 1 and Baltimore’s defence is excellent. The lack of torque on Manning’s throws was just as troublesome at the start of the 2012 season, his first with the Broncos, and he ended up finishing second in MVP voting that year. He was 36 then though and now he’s 39, so his time may be coming to an end. If it is though, his defence, for once, looks like it might be able to prop him up.
3. Cause to be sleepless in Seattle
The Seahawks have some problems. Sans Kam Chancellor, disgruntled and holding out for a new contract, the vaunted Legion of Boom secondary looked easily combustible. Nick Foles and the Rams moved the ball through the air with ease, throwing for an incredibly efficient 297 yards on 27 passes without a turnover.
Chancellor’s nominal replacement, undrafted free agent Dion Bailey, looked overmatched and symbolically slipped on the game’s decisive play, the 37-yard game-tying touchdown to Lance Kendricks.
Chancellor will return though, and Seattle’s secondary, still incorporating new cornerback Cary Williams, will get better. Perhaps not ‘Boom’ better, but better all the same.
The real concern is the offensive line. The Seattle O-Line is a shambles, comprised largely of undrafted free agents and seventh round picks with incredibly un-intimidating names (Drew Nowak, Gary Gilliam and J.R. Sweezy, anyone?).
With all their talent elsewhere needing to be paid, the Hawks had to concede that they would have holes, and those holes have emerged in a Swiss cheese type line up front. Russell Wilson was sacked six times against the Rams and for any other quarterback in the league that could have climbed to double digits.
St Louis might have the best pass rush in the league, so time will tell whether this was a nightmare outlier or emblematic of a potentially crippling Seattle weakness.
4. It’s Week 1… Breathe
It’s important not to get carried away after one weekend’s slate of games. After all, last year’s opening round saw New England lose by double digits to Miami, and Kansas City get waxed at home by Tennessee 26-10. The Titans went 1-14 the rest of the reason while the Chiefs went 9-6.
At the same time, there are certain conclusions we can draw relatively safely. St Louis’ pass rush is going to send opposing quarterbacks into therapy all season and New England’s offence is going to be similarly soul-crushing, albeit with a bit more nuance. Detroit’s defence won’t be the same as last year’s iteration, and that’s a problem for a team that doesn’t have the offence to compensate. Oakland, Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Jacksonville are likely going to be really bad (and it feels like you could have copy pasted that sentence from any of the past five years).
On the other hand, in retrospect there will be plenty of outliers from Week 1.
Suffice to say, Marcus Mariota won’t throw for four touchdowns every week. Nor will the Jets make a habit of scoring 31 points. Buffalo could be good, but they’re not the ’85 Chicago Bears. The Bills’ defence might be be excellent all year but when you’re starting Tyrod Taylor at quarterback you’re walking with a limp before the race to the playoffs even starts.
5. The Hayne Plane stalls on the runway
As you can see in the video above, Jarryd Hayne’s opening play in the NFL was a bit of a shocker.
Well, at least his team won.
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