Winston and Payton are going to be fun together.
He had players screamingly open for Winston in crucial situations. That offensive line is so good and Payton designs some electric runs.
The running backs were averaging almost a full two yards before first contact per carry. Winston’s 8.7 air yards per attempt was much more vertically-inclined than some of the recent Drew Brees teams. As mentioned in my advanced stats notebook from Friday, the Saints’ offense looked a bit more like the 2011-era teams. The elite offensive coach was at the top of his game Week 1. That theory immediately looked smart in Week 1. The one thing that held me back from a full-on panic was simply: Sean Payton still exists. I ultimately backed off that and left him there. There was even a point where I thought maybe it was bad enough to bump Alvin Kamara off of the first tier of running backs. I’ll admit to being worried about the Saints’ offense heading into 2021 because their on-paper personnel was so weak. If this target share and route deployment hold, Swift could scratch his way to a top-15 running back season. That’s fine if Swift is going to be featured as a receiver. The Lions will be in that situation often if their defense plays like it did in Week 1. Detroit clawed back but they were still firmly in negative game script all day.
The 49ers were on them in a hurry to the point that the halftime spread checked in at Lions +20.5. This was the perfect script for Detroit to unleash Swift in this role. Swift registered 11 targets, most among running backs and Lions players in Week 1. If D’Andre Swift was going to leave behind the “dead zone” tag among mid-round running backs and be a smash fantasy football pick, he was always going to need a special receiving role. The experiment isn’t over, but he knocked out the first trial. If Hurts has truly made the leap as a passer, he could be the answer for the Eagles behind center and a potential top-five fantasy quarterback. Still, this was about as encouraging a passing performance that you could ask for from Hurts, and he still tacked on another 62 yards as a rusher. We have to give a small caveat that Hurts’ dynamic performance came against the still miserable, under-manned Falcons defense. From then on, the Eagles just kept swinging on the Falcons on their way to a 32-6 win, making their +3.5 line coming into Week 1 look wildly foolish. It was instantly clear that Smith’s ability to get open quickly is going to be a huge boost to a passing game that was utterly broken in 2020. Hurts hit DeVonta Smith early for the first touchdown of the Eagles’ season. This was exactly the type of 2021 debut you wanted to see from the young passer. He was one of the worst quarterbacks in this metric last year. Jalen Hurts finished with a nine-percent completion percentage over expectation. But after what we saw today, that’s no given. With Raheem Mostert injured once again, Sermon could start rising again. We should be more concerned about Sermon’s prospects than Aiyuk. A Day 2 draft pick, Sermon ran as a starter in the preseason.
Update your settings here to see it.Īgain, it would have been nice for someone to report this information any time before, you know, after the game ended. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. He ceded just one carry to Sony Michel, which came in the scoring area. He logged 17 touches for 87 yards from scrimmage with one touchdown. There will be some huge games available for him when the Rams need to throw more.ĭarrell Henderson was also a surprise, playing 94.2 percent of the team snaps. He was on the field for every single Rams’ offensive snap and was consistently an outlet for Stafford, one who added juice after the catch. He drew six targets and caught five for 68 yards. Tyler Higbee might just be a huge key to this offense. I think we’ll look back at some of the depressed ADPs of Rams players and be a bit ashamed.Ī few other new developments were noticeable. We might have needed to be even more excited than we were in fantasy. With Stafford’s arm combined with McVay’s ability to scheme open windows, we’re going to see some truly special fireworks.
Stafford only threw 13 percent of his passes into tight windows (per Next Gen Stats). He brought an electric chunk-play potential to this squad that was utterly absent in 2020. He averaged 8.8 air yards on his completed passes, the second-highest mark of any quarterback. Matthew Stafford was as advertised in his Rams' debut.