What a great weekend! College football was back (mostly), the NFL was back, the Braves continue to play good baseball, and the NBA is down to their final 5 teams.
Another season opening loss for the Atlanta Falcons, this time 38-25 to the Seattle Seahawks. The Falcons once again had no answers for Russell Wilson who shredded the defense to the tune of 31-35 322 yards and 4TDs. The Falcons did sack him 3 times in the 1st half, but Wilson was cooking in the 2nd half when Seattle outscored Atlanta 24-13. Matt Ryan had good numbers, but once again some questionable coaching decisions and lack of execution did in the Falcons.
Atlanta was 0-4 on 4th down conversions and allowed the biggest play of the game on 4th and 5 when Wilson hit DK Metcalf for a long TD to put Seattle up 21-12. The Falcons would subsequently fake a punt on 4th down, but Sherrod Neasman would fumble, and the Falcons never threatened again. Defensively the secondary struggled all game long as Seattle had people running free pretty much the entire game. Atlanta must do a better job sticking to receivers if they want any chance to have a better season. Unfortunately, this was a carbon copy of the first eight games of 2019 when the birds started 1-7. Dan Quinn must fix things fast before the conversation of job security is brought up again.
Big Day for Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech got a signature win 16-13 to start the season against FSU. Geoff Collins turned to true freshman Jeff Sims to lead the Yellow Jackets to the upset victory in ACC play. Collins is starting to get his kids in place, and none is more important than Sims who was an FSU commit until Willie Taggart was fired. The Jackets battled back from 10-0 down, and if it wasn’t for a few blocked FGs and red zone turnovers the game would not have been as close. For three quarters GT dictated pace and gameplay to FSU and just looked like the better team. GT has a tough one this weekend against UCF, but a nice opening win should give the Jackets plenty of confidence going forward.
Quick NFL Notes
Tom Brady looked old, and the Saints once again look like the class of the NFC South.
What was Mike McCarthy thinking late eschewing what would have been the game tying FG in what ended up being a three-point Cowboys loss? Not the ideal start in Big D.
It is Tua time…. like right now. The Dolphins are not contenders anyways, so why waste the number five overall pick on the bench? Let’s see if the kid can play or not.
Browns stink, or the Ravens are extremely good. Both may be true, but the gap between the two teams seems immense.
How bad must the Eagles feel? Up 17-0 against Washington only to see the lead evaporate after a couple of Carson Wentz interceptions. Chase Young can play!
Jacksonville said tank this to Indianapolis.
And the Lions did Lion things in an opening day loss to the Bears.
John Michaels