1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: What a way to kick off the season. They got everything they could handle from the Dallas Cowboys until they left too much time on the clock for the quarterback. Then, Brady did what he does best and put the team in the best position to win. I know they lost Sean Murphy-Bunting who’s their best cover corner to an arm injury. At times, their secondary last season was suspect. I think they will be just fine because someone else will step up in the meantime. After all those days off, the defending champs are back home today to play the Atlanta Falcons. A team that Tom Brady has never lost too.
2. New Orleans Saints: I didn’t know what to expect from them in week one. They bullied and punched the Green Bay Packers in the mouth last week. It’s Jameis Winston’s first start in almost two years and the first game of the post-Brees era. The Saints dominated both sides of the ball and made Aaron Rodgers look silly. As I’ve been saying throughout the Summer and to now: If Jameis takes care of the football, the Saints will be just fine. It’s no disrespect to Taysom Hill, but Jameis just fits more of what Sean Payton wants in his offense. Let’s see what they do next after a dominant week one win.
3. Los Angeles Rams: For the first time in his career, Matthew Stafford was featured in an offense with an offensive minded head coach. Is he the piece that the Rams were missing because the team looked more explosive on Sunday night against the Bears than they did with Jared Goff. I think he’s the perfect piece to elevate this offense for Sean McVay. Remember when I kept saying the Rams don’t have a true number one receiver? Keep watching Van Jefferson. He can emerge as that number one option for this LA offense. They’re in Indianapolis today to play Carson Wentz and the Colts.
4. Kansas City Chiefs: I said this throughout the radio waves last week and I’ll say it again here. They can’t continue to fall behind early because if they do, they will run into that one team that will put them away. A comeback won’t always happen. However, no game is ever done with Patrick Mahomes under center. That much I’ll say. They needed a big second half to overcome a deficit against the Cleveland Browns. It’s crazy to think since Mahomes became the starting quarterback, the Chiefs have never lost a game in the month of September. They’ll look to keep rolling in the month of September with a battle in Baltimore tonight.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers: All Summer long, you heard about every other team in the AFC. The Titans now have Julio Jones, of course, there’s Kansas City, Cleveland is the most complete team in the AFC, maybe the league and the Buffalo Bills have next. They’ve embraced that underdog role and you saw last weekend in Orchard Park when they played the Bills. What looked to be a long first half for the Steelers, they came back and adjusted and played great football on the road for a big win. The defense was all over Josh Allen and T.J. Watt hasn’t missed a beat.
