"True Or False": What To Believe After NFL Week 1

The NFL regular season has finally returned and so have my Lazy Sundays (Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious). After watching a majority of the games on Sunday (as well as Wednesday and Monday) there have been a lot of abandoned bandwagons and some that are more crowded than usual. This post is intended to decipher which teams and players are for real and which are not. Here are 3 things that are true and 3 things that are false:

True:

There Are 4 Teams That Won't Make the Playoffs in the AFC - How bad did the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Cheifs, and Miami Dolphins look on Sunday?! WOW! You need a competant Quarterback to succeed in this current version of the NFL and none of these teams have one. Sadly, each of these teams owe their QB's a significant amount of money, so these problems may not go away quickly.

The NFC West is the Best Defensive Division - It's a tight race between the AFC North and the NFC West to decide which has the best collection of defenses, but I believe that the St. Louis Rams' defense is better than the Cincinnati Bengals' defense, so right now the West holds this distinction. Each of those defenses just looked impressive at times, especially San Francisco's (although that shouldn't come as a surprise). NFC West games are going to look a lot like the Seattle Seahawks - Arizona Cardinals tilt this year where it will come down to which team reaches 20 points first will get the victory.

Brandon Marshall Will Lead the League in Receptions and Receiving Yards - It looks like Jay Cutler had no problem getting reacquainted with Marshall on Sunday and this will continue throughout the season. People most likely think that Calvin Johnson will lead the NFL in these categories, but I am a fervent believer in the "Madden Curse" and I think that sooner or later something will happen to Johnson's production (Like a Stafford injury?). Marshall will have the ball thrown to him an absurd amount of times this year.

False:

Alex Smith is Not That Good - The fact that Smith outperformed Aaron Rodgers is surprising to say the least. Smith is not a Super Bowl-winning Quarterback. He will not make "the big throw" that other Quarterbacks have that win games (Most Recent Example: Eli Manning's pass in Super Bowl XLVI to Smith's new teammate Mario Manningham on the Game-Winning Drive). Smith can manage a game, but you can't tell me a Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback from the last decade that is not elite and the true offensive weapon of their team. Good luck talking yourselves into Smith leading you to a Super Bowl, 49ers' fans.

The Falcons Will Win Less Than 10 Games This Year - Just read what I wrote about Alex Smith again and infer that about Matt Ryan. Julio Jones is a beast and Roddy White can make some plays, but when defenses stop worrying about a running game that is becoming non-existant in Atlanta, people will see Ryan make silly throw after silly throw. Also, the Falcons' defense allowed 24 points to Matt Cassell... That's bad.

The Lions Will Not Have a Winning Record by Year's End - What was seen from Matthew Stafford in Detroit on Sunday was just the tip of the iceberg. He can be a little erratic and he has already been injured once this year (it was preseason, but it still counts) so it is hard to count on stellar Quarterback play from him. Plus, Kevin Smith is not a quality Running Back and there has to be at least some semblance of a running game in order to free up the passing attack. The Lions just do not seem like a team that can be trusted this year and their close win on Sunday is an example of that.

I feel very confident in this 6 facts and I think that they will come to fruition, but if you disagree, then let me know in the comments or on twitter. My handle is @renesanchez77