Back with our first in-season Q and A with our four analysts, a weekly feature in which our own Mount Blockmore of Neil Hornsby, Ben Stockwell, Sam Monson and Khaled Elsayed give their best answers to five pressing questions of the week.
This week, they identify their surprise teams and players from Week 1, determine which big injury hurts most, and which Week 2 matchup they're most looking forward to.
No PFF stats here, just off-the-cuff answers from the guys in the virtual trenches.
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1. Which Week 1 injury is most damaging: Kris Jenkins/Jets, Ryan Grant/Packers, Matthew Stafford/Lions, Bob Sanders/Colts, Kevin Boss/Giants?
Neil Hornsby: Much as I'd like to say Boss so I can tell you how much trouble it was for the Giants without him on Sunday (they had to use both tackle William Beatty and backup Travis Beckum to cover for his all-around ability), it's obviously Ryan Grant. Brandon Jackson is an ideal third-down back — a superb pass-protector and receiver, but not that hot a runner. Grant was a great runner but not that hot at much else.
Khaled Elsayed: Any time you lose your starting quarterback and have to replace him with Shaun Hill, it's a big blow, so you'd have to go with Stafford. I think the Jets can cope without Jenkins, but I'd be concerned how Brandon Jackson can cope as a full-time starter when he looks much better suited to the role of third-down back. Ryan Grant is an underrated but very talented runner.
Sam Monson: The Colts can't really miss Bob Sanders, they're used to playing without him anyway. The Jets are fine without Kris Jenkins, and Stafford isn't good enough yet to be a huge loss for the Lions (though long-term, in terms of his development, is perhaps another story). Brandon Jackson can play, but behind him the depth is now very suspect for Green Bay, and I'm not sure how heavily you want to ride Jackson, but he does give them some interesting options in the pass game that Grant didn't. Kevin Boss hurts the Giants a lot because Travis Beckum is just not a blocking TE, and routinely detonates run plays that were fine with Boss in the lineup. He causes the Giants to have to totally rethink what they want to do on offense, which is hard to do.
Ben Stockwell: Kevin Boss. Boss can positively contribute on every down, run or pass, and the Giants do not have a suitable replacement on their roster. The others listed are a loss but the Jets, Packers, Lions and Colts have more capable replacements than the Giants have at tight end.
2. What team surprised you most in Week 1, good or bad?
Neil: The Bears. I knew their offense may struggle a little with that OL (which it did), but I didn't expect the defense to be quite so sharp. The linebackers were all fantastic.
Khaled: I was extremely surprised by Seattle and Kansas City, in particular both teams' strong defenses. They really stepped it up, though whether they can keep it up without their respective 12th men, I'm not so sure.
Ben: San Francisco. The defense was solid but the offense continues to look like a complete mismatch and you wonder how many more chances Alex Smith can get. It's only Week 1, but Smith continues to be the wrong QB for the team Mike Singletary is building with a strong defense and run game.
Sam: I didn't think Oakland's offense would be so bad. Campbell is a big upgrade over anything they've had for a while, but the O-line just wasn't viable against Tennessee. Jared Veldheer is 6-foot-8, and while he looked decent in preseason at left tackle, he looked awful at center. They need to figure out a way to protect Campbell if they are going to do anything with the ball.
3. Any players you saw in Week 1 that just came out of nowhere with a great game?
Neil: Of the games I did, Rams CB Ronald Bartell was the guy I was most surprised by. I know he was one-on-one with a gimpy Larry Fitzgerald, but targeted 11 times with 1 reception for 4 yards is Revis-esque.
Ben: Steelers guard Trai Essex graded positively in only four games last season and popped up with a very strong game on Sunday against the Falcons. He took advantage of the Falcons' backup DT and got to the second level well on occasion. It'll be interesting to see if this form continues should the Steelers stick with a run-heavy attack.
Khaled: I was quietly impressed with Seattle DE Red Bryant. It looked an odd match with him moving to end, but he handled the role (as well as moving inside on occasion), looking stout against the run and generating some pressure as well. Outside of that, Ed Johnson had a real stunner of a game for the Panthers. Didn't see that coming.
Sam: Vonta Leach. Leach ranked amongst the poorest FBs in the league last year, but he absolutely dominated the Indianapolis linebackers as a lead-blocker, routinely moving guys out of the hole for Arian Foster to exploit in his huge day.
4. Arian Foster: big season ahead, or Week 1 outlier?
Sam: Assuming the line blocks as well and Leach continues to dominate, Foster can have a big year. I think I actually founded the Arian Foster bandwagon down the stretch last season, so I'm not jumping off it now.
Neil: I didn't see the game, but our stats suggest possible outlier. I'd like to see him up against someone a little to tougher to run on than the Colts.
Ben: I reckon this is an extreme outlier of a solid season for Foster — he'll have a good season, but not this good.
Khaled: I think he levels out somewhere along the line. His performance owed a lot to some excellent blocking — that only 59 of his yards came after contact probably shows you how dominant the Texans were in opening up big spaces for him to run through.
5. Which Week 2 game are you looking forward to?
Neil: Pittsburgh at Tennessee. I didn't get to see either of them in Week 1 and I want to see how the Steelers' defense copes with Chris Johnson. My money's on the Steelers defense, by the way, but this doesn't mean I think they'll win.
Khaled: There's always something a little extra in the Jets-Patriots matchups. Lots of little sub-stories to look forward to. In theory, the Jets have the matchup advantages. Revis can nullify Moss, the Pats' D shouldn't be able to stop the Jets run game and Mark Sanchez should have all the time he could ever want to make plays. Yet you have to feel it ends up going a different way, and that makes it a must-see.
Sam: Miami at Minnesota. Some interesting matchups here. One of the league's best OT pairings (Miami) face one of the league's better pass-rushing duos. Minnesota's struggling WRs get to go against a questionable secondary. Miami's undersized pass-rushers have to run around Minnesota's man-mountain tackles. And Greg Camarillo gets to face his old team. Plus, the Vikings could do with a win.
Ben: Seattle at Denver, rekindling of an old AFC West rivalry. I'm really intrigued to see the Seahawks' new defense (some call it hybrid, some call it shifted front, call it what you will) for a second time. The scheme appears to put every player in the front seven (particularly Chris Clemons, Colin Cole and Red Bryant) into great positions to make the most of their skills. Can they repeat the task in Denver? They got on top of the 49ers' offensive line, and after the struggles of rookies Zane Beadles and J.D. Walton in Jacksonville on Sunday, the Seahawks have a great chance to get their season off to a flying start.