2021 Week 1 surprises

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

JJ Watt with Chandler Jones on the same defense is going to cause some pretty serious damage this year, I predict. Plus that offense is emerging so that wasn't much of a surprise to me. Neither was the Packer game -- I think I said enough in the Aaron Rodgers post a few months back that I think that team is in decline with the way it's run. I would not be surprised if they lost to the Lions.

The Raiders surprised me. Really good win.

The Eagles -- really impressed with how great they looked and how impressive Jalen Hurts was.

Dallas/Tampa game -- surprised it was that close, although I do think McCarthy will end up turning that team around if given a proper chance. Was concerned that Prescott's arm injury might have been worse than what they were letting on, but he played a great game. Also surprising to me was that Antonio Brown had such a tremendous game. Not too long ago, I had thought his career might have been over.

And totally agree with you on the Browns. I expected KC to win by a pretty good margin.

[sheajets]

It seemed like a lot of established players switched their jersey numbers to a single-digit number. Very confusing. I thought I was watching 1987 replacement games.

FURTHER RANT: It was even worse in college, where so many teams are changing their uniform colors that you can't even tell who is who. It took me 5 minutes to figure out the Iowa-Iowa State game, because one team wore black/gold and the other team wore black/white. The Navy/AF game was equally icky.

It's absurd. I'm seeing defensive backs wearing single digits in the NFL and wondering why there's a backup QB on the field playing safety. It's bush league. looks ridiculous

College I'm a bit more used to the out of place numbers but I agree with the uniforms. It needs to be one home, one road uni...and maybe give them them one alternate that they can change up yearly. It just makes no sense...where are the teams identities when every game looks totally unfamiliar (for the most part...some teams stick with traditional looks) but by now every team has put on every possible variation of a clownsuit...let's get back to normal football uniforms.

[JWL]

I don't have a problem with the numbering system. Certain players need to wear certain numbers to aide the officials with illegal downfield activities and maybe a couple other things. Largely, though, it it not a big deal if a linebacker wears 6 or a running back wears 2.

I realize it is a long time ago but in the NFL's first 50 years the players wore all sorts of different numbers and their positions had nothing to do with it. Yes, they played both ways and all that.

I'm not sure why there is any uproar other than certain fans are not used to the new numbering system yet.

What surprised me was wide receivers being given the numbers from 80-89 in 1973. I like numbers in the 80s for defensive linemen. I think the 80s are bigger numbers and tough (and I'm sounding John Madden-like here maybe) and belong on big, tough guys.

I loved before the 2004 season when wide receivers were allowed to wear numbers from 10-19. Now I like how they can wear single digit numbers.

[ChrisBabcock]

Yeah. The single digits DO look weird. I'll be quiet now and go back to watching Larry Wilson highlights.

[Bryan]

I don't have a problem with the numbering system. Certain players need to wear certain numbers to aide the officials with illegal downfield activities and maybe a couple other things. Largely, though, it it not a big deal if a linebacker wears 6 or a running back wears 2.

I don't really have a problem with the system, but it was current players changing their numbers (like Eddie Jackson of the Bears switching from 39 to 2) that was confusing to me.

What surprised me was wide receivers being given the numbers from 80-89 in 1973. I like numbers in the 80s for defensive linemen. I think the 80s are bigger numbers and tough (and I'm sounding John Madden-like here maybe) and belong on big, tough guys.

That was how Franco Harris described his running style..."Run away from the big numbers, run over the small numbers".