NFL week one excitement and drama.
Look to those who win the tight games, not blowouts.
The young Spaniard is living up to the hype.
Those are the headlines.
Now, the details.
Sounds like a newscaster at the start of the nightly news.
Don’t turn your dial.
Remember that?
What dial?
I’m holding a remote.
Here goes.
The first week of the NFL regular season was marked by more down-to-the-wire close games than not.
Top story?
To me it was the gutsy gamble by first year Giants head coach Brian Daboll to roll the dice and go for the 2-point conversion after a TD with a minute-plus to play.
Make it, the Giants have the lead over the Titans on the road after a good comeback.
Miss it, the game is tied and overtime looms.
However, there was enough time for last year’s AFC top-seed to survive no matter what Daboll did.
The Giants converted and the Titans had time for the field goal to win it.
They missed. Giants won. Top story.
What impressed me was the Saints coming back from 16 down in the 4th quarter to beat the Falcons on a field goal with 23 seconds left.
More on that later.
I was also impressed with the Steelers OT win over the Bengals on a FG after they had missed one.
First game in the post-Ben Roethisberger era.
Their defense forced five turnovers.
Bad game for Cincy quarterback Joe Burrow. Three interceptions and a lost fumble in the first, finishing with four pics, with a fifth called back by penalty.
Aaron Rodgers also had a rough start as the Packers were dismantled by the revitalized Vikings.
When that happens, look out.
I feel sorry for the Cowboys and the Bears this week.
Burrow and Rodgers will come back big.
That’s what happens.
Good teams who play poorly usually respond the next game.
When I feel sorry for the Cowboys, it’s more about their loss of QB Dak Prescott who won’t be around for about two months with a broken thumb on his right hand.
That’s a killer.
I was surprised that the Colts had to settle for an overtime tie against the lowly Texans. I figured Matt Ryan would come out strong, but he and his team didn’t.
Baker Mayfield failed to get even with his former team as the Browns whipped their former quarterback and the Panthers.
It won’t even be remembered by mid season.
I don’t think the Chiefs missed Tyreek Hill in crushing the Cardinals. Patrick Mahomes fired 5 touchdown passes so it appears Kansas City have people to catch the ball.
Hill, by the way, proved the Dolphins made a good decision to acquire his services. He will be a major asset for Miami.
The opening week began with the Bills romp over the defending champ Rams on Thursday.
They looked in Super Bowl-form. See, that’s the kind of talk that will only add to the week-to-week scrutiny of the team nearly everyone thinks can’t be stopped.
Remember, it’s only week one. Nothing’s been decided.
My belief that if a team wins the close games and can get that “W” when not playing well, has never changed.
Those are the real tests.
Winning big, dominating teams and blowing out the opposition always looks impressive.
But it looks better than it is. The team on the short end is desperate and has to gamble too often.
The gambles don’t work and the margin gets bigger.
That is why I look at the Saints to play better this week and perhaps knock off Tom Brady and the Bucs.
That’s why the Titans could give the Bills a run for their money.
The 49ers, and Trey Lance to bounce back vs. Seattle.
The games that draw my first-glance interest in week 2 are the Chargers at Chiefs, the Vikings at Eagles, and, as mentioned, the Saints hosting the Bucs.
Speaking of teams winning the tight ones, how about Alabama’s final drive victory over Texas?
I don’t care how many points the Tide was favored by, they were playing a tough team, with loads of tradition on the road and on the brink of being upset, until QB Bryce Young led the decisive drive with an heroic exhibition of stellar football.
I know that ‘Bama has fallen in the rankings, I know their shortcomings were exposed, I know the nay-sayers are coming out of the woodwork.
But this game was a perfect example of a good team having an off-day on the road and still getting the win.
The rest of the season will take care of itself.
We finish with the sports story of the week.
Several weeks ago we wrote about 19-year old Carlos Alcaraz, from Spain, the next tennis superstar in my view back then, and certainly now.
Alcaraz, who had never reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam championship, captured his first title in a four-set thriller over Casper Ruud of Norway to win the US Open.
As a result he took over as the Number 1 player in the world.
In winning his last four matches in dramatic fashion, Alcaraz appears to be taking the baton from fellow-countryman Rafael Nadal in becoming a dominant world champion for the next decade, health permitting, of course.
He’s the second to Pete Sampras as the youngest ever to win a Grand Slam event, and the youngest since Nadal in 2005 to win one.
What was stunning to the tennis world was the grueling and tiresome path it took to get there.
Alcaraz had won his three previous matches, all in five sets and all lasting at least four hours.
In the final, the only question was whether those arduous matches would take its toll with fatigue becoming the ultimate factor.
It might have looked that way after Ruud appeared to take command in the third set and a chance to take a 2-1 lead in sets.
But the colorful and acrobatic Spaniard got his second wind, winning the tiebreak 7-1, and wrapping it up in the fourth.
There may be no faster player ever on a tennis court.
Even when it finally ended, Alcaraz, who had to be totally exhausted, was quick to go into the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium to hug his coaches and team.
No matter the tournament and what’s at stake, Carlos Alcaraz is worth watching.
I think we will be doing plenty of that in future years.