NFL: 5 players who will disappoint in week 1
By Eric Saar
Football is back! The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks played on Thursday to get the season started, with the Packers defense and Eddie Lacy wishing the games started counting in Week 2 instead of Week 1. Here are five more players whose performances have a high probability of producing mediocre results and disappointing their teams’ fans as well as fantasy owners.
E.J. Manuel
Manuel won’t have a very good game, come Sunday afternoon. He’s only a second year quarterback with better, but more importantly, new wide receivers including a banged-up and rookie wideout in Sammy Watkins.
Furthermore, the Buffalo Bills are playing in Chicago at Soldier field against a better Chicago Bears defense than last year. They were ranked 15th in pass defense in 2013, but funneled a lot of money into upgrading the defensive line during the offseason. Chicago lost Julius Peppers to the Packers but got an elite pass rusher in Jared Allen from the Minnesota Vikings. Young QBs generally have problems when there is pressure on them with less men in the box and more men in coverage. They are rushed and there is no one open. Not an ideal situation.
With new weapons on the road against a fierce pass rush, Manuel will crumble.
Bernard Pierce
Pierce has been the backup to Ray Rice so far during his two seasons in the NFL. Now with Rice’s two-game suspension, he has to take on the offensive load. He suffered a concussion in the preseason and has practiced since, but it’s never good to be injured like that. Also, the Baltimore Ravens are playing against the fifth-best run defense in the league last year in the Cincinnati Bengals. That all adds up to a sub-par game.
Some wouldn’t be surprised if Pierce played well enough in the first two matchups to wrestle the starting running back job away from Rice, since Rice was not great last year. I don’t see it. We’ve seen some flashes from Pierce, but unlike Rice (who we’ve seen be great before), we don’t know if Pierce has what it takes.
Trent Richardson
In the understatement of the decade, Richardson’s first two years in the league have been very different. As a rookie he was pretty good. In 15 games he had 950 yards on 267 attempts for a 3.6 yards per carry with 11 touchdowns compared to 14 games the next year after being traded to the Indianapolis Colts, where he had 458 on 157 for a 2.9 yards per carry. That’s a big drop-off.
So in Week 1 he is playing the Denver Broncos, who were tied (ironically with Seattle, who destroyed them in the Superbowl) for seventh in rushing defense from last season. Also, the Broncos upgraded their defense from last year, adding former Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware and Patriots cornerback Aquib Talib. With those additions locking down the receivers and pressuring the quarterback, Richardson will have to run against more people not less, which is a problem for him.
Robert Griffin III
RG3 was pretty good his rookie year in 2012, had a big drop-off in 2013 following an injury in the playoffs the previous year, and now is trying to get back on track. When Griffin is flushed out of the pocket he tries to extend the play with his spectacular speed but has gotten hurt (including a torn ACL). Injuries like that can cause players to think, instead of react. The competitive player in him wants to gain every yard he can, while the other part of him doesn’t think that is prudent due to the injury risk.
He has pretty good weapons around him, but going up against the Houston Texans who have J.J. Watt and now 2014 No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney heading the defense doesn’t bode well for Griffin. Houston certainly won’t finish the year as only the 23rd best run defense. They were already the third best pass defense last season.
Phillip Rivers
Rivers seemed to resurrect his career in 2013 after a few mediocre seasons. He won’t have success on Monday night as the Chargers come to Glendale, Arizona to take on the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona was the 14th best pass defense and the number one rush defense in 2013. They lost some depth up front with Daryl Washington’s suspension, Karlos Dansby leaving for Cleveland and now Darnell Docket’s injury that will cause him to miss the entire season. But the Cardinals are getting back the “Honey Badger” Tyrann Mathieu from injury last season. Their pass defense will be better while their rush defense will be slightly worse.
Rivers is prone to a rollercoaster season with highs and lows. This will be a low. He’ll throw multiple interceptions and won’t want to remember this game.