Football is back, baseball rolls on…
and don’t forget about some captivating US Open matches still on deck.
Week 1 is Here
What Happened: Finally. Finally, finally, finally, the NFL is back! Tonight, the shield offers up a matchup between two of the game’s premier quarterbacks, not to mention top-flight defenses.
But which team is better equipped to hit the ground running on Week 1, Day 1?
Why It Matters: It’s easy enough to point to Kansas City’s back-to-back trophy lifts and figure a team that didn’t lose much in the way of talent from last season’s roster will pick up right where it left off.
Sharp minds remember, though, that Andy Reid’s team began last season’s title defense by losing the “NFL Kickoff Game” to the Detroit Lions. It was a single-point loss to a very good football team, but proves that maybe the Chiefs need some runway to get going in the regular season.
Baltimore will be seeking revenge against the team that 86’d them from last season’s playoffs in the AFC Championship game. The Ravens offense has added Derrick Henry and should be even more potent, but working in three new offensive linemen is not as simple as set-it-and-forget-it. John Harbaugh and his staff do as good a job as any in drafting and developing, but this is something to watch.
The bigger loss might be felt on defense, a unit that saw architect Mike Macdonald head west for the Seahawks’ head gig. With Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton directing the corps, the drop-off shouldn’t be drastic…but it might be a couple of weeks before the operation is running smoothly.
What Weâre Watching Today
Ravens at Chiefs (8:20 PM EST) – Pretty sure we covered this above, but yeah, it’s time to park it on the couch and enjoy some pigskin again.
US Open (7:00 PM ET) –Â The NFL’s arrival doesn’t mean we are suddenly bailing on the Open though. Fresh off an upset of the number-one player in the world, no. 6 Jessica Pegula is hoping that tonight’s date with unranked Karolina Muchova buys her a spot in Saturday’s Open final.
The other semifinal match is a heavyweight battle, with no. 13 Emma Navarro and no. 2 Aryna Sabalenka vying to move on. Navarro and Pegula could make this an All-American final with wins tonight, and force the Open crowd to choose a side.
The Look Ahead
Blake Snell STRIKEOUTS – First half Blake Snell is not second half Blake Snell, and Giants fans are thankful for that. But the lefty ace did face the D-Backs back in April, and it didn’t go well. He surrendered five runs on nine hits and ended the start with just three Ks. His line for tonight is 7.5, against one of MLB’s most potent offenses. Will Snell be better his second time around against Arizona? Probably, yeah. Will he top that number in the K-column? We don’t see it happening.
