Happy Football Sunday, friends.
A reminder here to secure your go-to ale and hang out with fellow Go Long subscribers all day inside the Gameday Chat:
So much to keep an eye on today.
We’ve got storylines galore to track.
Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit. Can Caleb Williams get into a rhythm and stay in that rhythm? As we’ve noted, the days of twisting and contorting the playbook to coddle a QB1 are over. The new Bears HC will want Williams to keep up with his X’s and O’s. This is a major litmus test.
Aaron Glenn’s first swing at his AFC East goliath: Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The injury to Ed Oliver is not ideal for a Bills defense. Nobody else on that side of the ball played that well against Baltimore.
Bengals-Jaguars has sneaky intrigue to me. Joe Burrow and Cincinnati’s offense went stale vs. Cleveland last week.
How much leash will Russell Wilson get as the New York Giants’ starter? He’ll need to show signs of life vs. Dallas. Of course, I’m sure Brian Daboll would love it if Jaxson Dart was playing behind a healthy O-Line.
One week into the season and the Miami Dolphins already held a players-only meeting. Tua Tagovailoa must bounce back from a grisly opener.
Grant Delpit has not been shy ahead of the Cleveland Browns’ gargantuan task in Baltimore, saying it’s “not hard” to tackle Derrick Henry. They’re 11.5-point underdogs. You may recall Delpit explaining to Go Long how he plans on bringing some bark to the Browns. A win today would be quite a step.
If you’re dialed into Mac Jones vs. Spencer Rattler, God bless you.
Michael Penix Jr. vs. J.J. McCarthy in the nightcap should be fun. Both flashed last week.
Denver looked worse than expected in Week 1. Indianapolis looked much, much better than expected. We’ve admittedly taken the bait on Daniel Jones too many times before at Go Long. He won’t play lights out again, right? Right?
Aaron Rodgers looked damn good vs. the Jets. He was clearly motivated to stick it to his former team. Now, if he throws for four touchdowns against this Seattle defense…
And the Game of the Week, of course, is a Super Bowl rematch: Philadelphia at Kansas City. We were on-site for the Eagles’ carnage in New Orleans — a humiliating night for Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and a proud Chiefs team. Will they punch back?
Feel free to weigh in on anything you’d like inside the chat. Rant. Riff. Ramble. The floor is yours. Introduce yourself and let us know what you see.
Also, we’re due for another mailbag. Have a question you want answered in full — be it on our Bears series? Anything at all? Shoot me an email at golongtd@substack.com.
Thanks, everyone.
Enjoy the games.
