The new NFL season is not even two days old yet and I am already looking at the teams and the season with admiration. We journalists and experts have analyzed and predicted everything – but only reality knows the truth.
+++a comment by Dirk Kaiser+++
You look back on this game day – yes, we still have one game to go – and you are overwhelmed by stories, storylines and overreactions and their relativization. After two games, the highly praised Baltimore Ravens are 0-2. In the process, they suffered a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that was seen as a top-five pick with Gardner Minshew as quarterback. The Cincinnati Bengals? Also 0-2 – with one of the two losses to New England, who were predicted to be the worst team in the league before the season.
On the other hand, the New Orleans Saints have two wins from two games. After thinking in week one, “well, that was just the Carolina Panthers,” the ambitious Dallas Cowboys were next to fall. Nobody would have blamed the Minnesota Vikings if they had written off the season prematurely after losing rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy to injury. Instead, they are now 2-0 and have just knocked off the San Francisco 49ers, the top team in the NFC.
There are so many questions that are waiting to be answered as the season progresses. Is Bryce Young already out of the running as an NFL player? Will he go down as one of the biggest draft busts in recent NFL history after the season? Will Deshaun Watson survive the Cleveland Browns’ season as their starter? Or will backup Jameis Winston take over at some point? And anyway, who are the favorites for the Super Bowl?
Of course, the first team that springs to mind is the Kansas City Chiefs. They have a flawless 2-0 record and everything looks like “business as usual.” But they haven’t dominated in either of their victories. In the season opener, the Ravens were just an inch away from winning with a two-point conversion that had already been called. In week two, the Chiefs only beat the Bengals with a field goal by kicker Harrison Butker as the clock ran out. The Chiefs are still undefeated, but they look anything but invincible.
Ravens? Bengals? That brings us full circle. Neither team has won a game in the AFC North, and both teams still had the reigning champions on the brink of defeat. That is pure excitement that only the NFL can provide. This balance, this competition where you can really predict so little – much to the chagrin of experts and journalists. But what you can say is: “Thank you NFL for being back.”
About the author
Dirk Kaiser
Dirk Kaiser has been active in the field of American football for over 20 years at various levels. In addition to the NFL, he also covers the ELF and GFL for TOUCHDOWN24.
