Sanders's Week 1 Game Predictions!

Week 1 Game Predictions

Football season is here! And it’s about damn time. I was worried that I would have to keep finding things to do on Sunday. Jokes aside, after watching an NAU vs ASU beating, I thought it was time for the NFL to start and here we are!

This will be formatted differently than how normal analysts do it. I will provide a quick summary of both teams and then give the key matchup that will more than likely decide the game.

Remember folks, these are non-professional opinions and you can share your opinion with me! Twitter is @jcs436.

Happy reading!

Carolina Panthers vs Denver Broncos

This is quite a game to start with as we haven’t had a Super Bowl rematch to start the season in over 40 years. I’ll keep it short and sweet and will take the Broncos AGAIN to win. Why? Well we saw what the Denver defense can do to a disgruntled Newton.

This time the real matchup to look at is the veteran wide receivers of Denver vs the rookie secondary of Carolina. Yes, Siemian is playing but I will trust Denver’s receivers to make a play on the ball over the fresh meat that Carolina has for a secondary.

Broncos 20 Panthers 16

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are becoming the Dolphins of the NFC. So much hype around them every offseason only to show disappointment during the season. The difference is that the Falcons typically have the talent to pull of big feats but never do. Tampa Bay is young team that flashed plenty of potential last year and should continue to grow on that and eventually become a yearly contender for the weak NFC South. First, Tampa Bay’s defense has to show up.

Matchup to watch:  Julio Jones vs Tampa Bay Secondary

Buccaneers 23 Falcons 20

Baltimore Ravens vs Buffalo Bills

The Baltimore Ravens are finally back, healthy, and ready to bring the boom again. Meanwhile the Bills had a rough offseason with multiple starters suspended or sent to the injured reserve. For a team that had a lot of potential, this team really needs to step up and Rex Ryan needs to pour his heart into this team for it to succeed. Based upon talent available, Baltimore is the far superior team.

Matchup to watch: The Baltimore secondary needs to hold down the fort against Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins.

Ravens 24 Bills 13

Chicago Bears vs Houston Texans

This looks like a snooze-fest. The Bears simply aren’t that great of a team and it’s fair to wonder if Cutler will regress from last season’s improvements without Adam Gase who left for a head coaching gig with the Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Texans made a $72 million gamble on Brock Osweiler being a franchise QB. Frankly, he is in the same situation as he was last year. He has to play mistake free football and let a top-notch defense and running game win the game for him.

Matchup to watch: Texans receivers vs Bears secondary

Texans 27 Bears 13

Green Bay Packers vs Jacksonville Jaguars

Both the Packers and Jaguars are coming into the season at full force. Both offenses are loaded and ready to go. However, the Jags defense is still a huge mystery and Clay Matthews if finally going back to his natural position. Call me crazy, but I get the feeling Bortles runs for his life all game while Rodgers has the time to maintain poise and make plays on the Jaguars.

Matchup to watch: Packers receivers against the Jacksonville secondary. Look to see how Jordy Nelson rebounds from his knee injury.

Packers 31   Jaguars 20

San Diego Chargers vs Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs ended last year with a strong run into the playoffs and even gave the Texans a massive beating for one playoff win only to fall to the Patriots. The Chiefs look ready to roll again with Jamaal Charles making a return to make their offense more dynamic. Meanwhile the Chargers got bit by the injury bug early during the preseason losing WR Johnson. It also doesn’t help they lost their best defensive player in Eric Weddle to the Baltimore Ravens. It’s unfortunate, but the Chargers may be staring down at the 4^th seed of the division again and it won’t even be their fault.

Matchup to watch will be the San Diego run defense vs KC running game

Chargers  10   Chiefs 23

Oakland Raiders vs New Orleans Saints

Tough one to call here. On paper the Raiders are a much better team but the Saints have a lot of unknown specifically on their revamped (and young) defense. When it really comes down to it, I will take the Raiders loaded offense to overcome the Saints defense any day. However, Drew Breese could score just as many points as the Raiders can.

Matchup to watch: Drew Brees offense vs Derek Carr’s offense in what should be a wild west shootout.

Raiders 27   Saints 24

Cincinnati Bengals vs New York Jets

The Jets got their swagger back with Ryan Fitzpatrick connecting to the one-two punch duo of Marshall and Decker. Also, the front office brought in Matt Forte to make the Jets a threat at the running game as well. The Bengals have the opposite story. They lost much of their passing game in the offseason and Dalton’s only sure targets are now Tyler Eiffert and A.J. Green. Also, there is the question of whether  Dalton was a product of Hue Jackson or not. Overall though, the Bengals carry a little more talent than the Jets do. This game will be close.

Matchup to watch: Darelle Revis vs AJ Green and the Bengal secondary vs Decker and Marshall. Overall, this will be a pass oriented game complimented by two solid running games.

Bengals 17   Jets 16

Cleveland Browns vs Philadelphia Eagles

Rookie Carson Wentz vs veteran Robert Griffin III. While this game will mostly be focused on Wentz and RG3, this game will come down to the trenches. Can the Browns O-line hold up against the Eagles monstrous D-line? And can the Eagles weak O-line hold up to a Cleveland Defense full of potential? Hard to decide who wins this game but I think the Browns offense has more big play potential than the Eagles offense does.

Matchup to watch: The trenches on both sides. O-lines vs D-lines

Browns 14  Eagles 10

Minnesota Vikings vs Tennessee Titans

Bridgewater might be gone but he was never the centerpiece to this Vikings team. The biggest thing the Vikings lost in Bridgewater was his role as a leader for the Vikings. If Adrian Peterson can step up in that role and Bradford can just not make mistakes, the Vikings are headed for the same successful season they were going to have in the first place. As for the Titans, this squad looks like it will have hot and cold moments in the season. Unfortunately, their opponent has a top 10 defense and is really good against the rush which is Tennessee strengths. Thus my conclusion is that the Titans will start their season cold

Matchup to watch: Vikings D-line vs Demarco Murray and Derrick Henry

Vikings 20 Titans 10

Miami Dolphins vs Seattle Seahwaks

Every year the Dolphins are hyped up as a team to watch out for and then they disappoint. Until they prove otherwise, they are a mediocre team. The Seahawks are continuously elite team every year. Give me the elite team every time.

Matchup to watch: Seahawks O-line vs Dolphins Pass Rush

Dolphins 14   Seahawks 27

New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys

You can call me crazy again. But even with Ezekiel Elliot in the game, I think Dak Prescott will be tested right out of the gate and thrust into a shootout with Eli Manning. Why? The Giants have the offensive firepower to get ahead early against a talent poor Cowboys defense. This game could go either way but the Giants have advantage at defense and a superior offense talent wise.

Matchup to watch: Ezekiel Elliot vs Giants run defense

Giants 30 Cowboys 17

Detroit Lions vs Indianapolis Colts

This is probably the toughest game to call of them all. The Colts are so talent poor but Andrew Luck raises them up on another level. Meanwhile, the Detriot Lions are an overall better team but are prone to starting their seasons off rather slow. This game will be a shootout between Andrew Luck and Matthew Stafford and if I had to take a guess, Andrew Luck wins that shootout. However, the Lions have the better defense as well than the Colts do. If it comes down to the wire, the last team with the ball wins the game.

Matchup to watch: Andrew Luck vs Matthew Stafford

Lions 24  Colts 27

New England Patriots vs Arizona Cardinals

Personally, it’s against my religion to count out a Patriots team led by Bill Bellichick. Now with that being said, I also believe the Cardinals defense will bury Garoppolo alive. Nothing against him, it’s just that the Cardinals have a top 3 defense in the NFL and the Cardinals also have arguably the best roster in the NFL from man No.1 to man No. 53. Oh, and Gronkowski is questionable for Sunday? Yeah, give it to the Cardinals. Did I forget to mention that the Cardinals offense always produces fireworks? Because that’s something to think about as well.

Matchup to watch: Jimmy Garoppolo vs Every Man on the Cardinals defense

Patriots 21  Cardinals 35

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Washington Redskins

The Steelers are not at full power with both Martavis Bryant suspended for the entire season and Le’Veon Bell missing the first 3 games. Still they have the Roethlisberger to Brown connection and the Steelers defense needs to reach the next step after suffering growing pains last year. As for the Redskins, Cousins needs to continue to be one of the better quarterbacks like he was in the last half of the 2015 season and the defense needs to be better than mediocre like it was last year.

Matchup to watch: Josh Norman vs Antonio Brown

Steelers 21   Redskins 20

Los Angeles Rams vs San Francisco 49ers

Talk about a snoozer for a Monday night game. I understand it’s a double header and the previous game mentioned is a Monday night game too, but Blaine Gabbert vs Case Keenum is how the NFL schedulers wanted to end the first week of real football back?!? All rants aside, this could be exciting to watch simply to see how well Todd Gurley rushes in his second year and to see if Carlos Hyde finally lives up to his hype. Both runners will have tough matchups against solid front sevens.

Matchup to watch: Todd Gurley/Carlos Hyde vs 49ers front seven/ Rams front seven

Rams 17   49ers 10