Fresh Start_2.16: Football is back but it means NOTHING

Joseph Leo
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

This is a reminder to myself to not take stock in anything from the opening month of the season. These first four games of the year mean NOTHING. Tonight’s opening night game was an utter mess. Penalty flags were a flying, offenses were on different pages due to players not playing in the preseason, and the entire game seemed to be played in two feet of mud.

Watching the opening game every year is always a moment of excitement and often a moment of over analyzation. Since we’ve been without football for the entire summer, just having something to talk about, we go crazy over the little things that will be surely ironed out by the second week in October.

Matt Ryan didn’t look 100%, the Philly offense was flat for most of the game, Atlanta seemed to forget Julio Jones played for their team, and where was former Alabama star Calvin Ridley? Does it matter? No, it doesn’t. It’s that simple. The first half was a classic case of coma toast with a preseason score of “6–3”. It’s just a joy to have football back in our lives. However, there is still a winner and loser and plays still had to be made. Philadelphia just made more plays. Maybe aided by a drunk and ruckus home crowd the Eagles rang up the play famously called “Philly Philly” to jump start the scoring in the second half.

In the old-style penalty filled “slugfest” running backs are always important. Atlanta ran the ball just 18 times for 74 yards. Julio Jones however did all he could with 10 catches and 169 yards. Jones needed the endzone to be extended by two feet on the final play, but there is not much more Jones could’ve done. On the other hand, in any football game that is not an ideal number for a football team, but on the road not establishing the tempo is a death sentence in the NFL. Philly ran the ball 27 times for 113 yards. The oldest adage in the National Football League is “if you run the ball well, and play good defense, you will win the game more times than not.” That’s exactly what the Eagles did.

For the first game ball of the year it will go to one of the beneficiaries of that Eagle running game. Jay Ajayi was the difference in this game. Ajayi had 62 of those 113 yards and scored both of Philadelphia’s touchdowns. The “J-Train” was a big x-factor when Philly traded for him last year and will continue to pay large dividends for the Eagles. The Eagles don’t play for 10 days with a cupcake waiting for them on the Road in Tampa Bay. While the Falcons have a tough divisional game against the Panthers. Sunday cannot come soon enough. All hail football.

Joseph Leo

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Writer/Creator of The Basement View Host/Producer of The Grind Hours Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grind-hours-podcast/id1361270470?mt=2