The NFL season is finally back, and there are already key matchups to lookout for this weekend. On Thursday the season opener happened between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, in a shocker the Lions defeated the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs in a thrilling 21-20 victory. Some people are putting an asterisk on this victory due to the Chiefs missing superstar tight end Travis Kelce due to a knee injury as well as Defensive Tackle Chris Jones due to a contract issue. Despite this the Lions still did great as free agent signings CJ Gardner-Johnson and David Montgomery shined but the real superstars were the Lions offensive line which looked like an strong, organized unit.
Now that the season opener is behind us we have a great slate of games ahead of us including a Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. The Bills have been great for the last 4 years due to the emergence of superstar quarterback Josh Allen, who has a cannon for an arm and will run over anybody like he’s a running back. The Jets have a star studded defense which is headlined by second year corner Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, the Jets offense last year faced problems due to bad quarterback play from former 2nd overall pick Zach Wilson, and backup Mike White. This offseason, however, the Jets fixed this problem by acquiring four time league Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.
Another interesting matchup is the Bengals vs the Browns. An AFC North matchup and the battle of Ohio is always fun but this time it’s extra interesting. This time the Browns look like they have a stacked roster from top to bottom including a top running back in Nick Chubb and an elite edge rusher in Miles Garrett. The Browns success all rides on the shoulders of Deshaun Watson, a quarterback who was elite during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons, but due to legal reasons missed the 2021-2022 season completely and most of the 2022-2023 season. He now has his first full offseason as an active Browns quarterback and we finally get to find out if he’s going to return to the top 5 quarterback he used to be or if the Browns insane two hundred and thirty million dollar guaranteed contract was worth nothing. On the other hand, the Bengals lost their safety duo in Von Bell and Jessie Bates, which anchored an otherwise shaky Bengals secondary. Now we get to learn if without them, the Bengals defense will sink or swim.
Every NFL season has shocking and exciting stories emerge and this year will be no different.
