16. Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson is like the Kyle Schwarber of the NFL. He might not hit for the highest average, but dangit if his power isn’t downright impressive.
Richardson completed just nine passes against the Houston Texans, yet his team only lost by two points and he finished with 212 passing yards and two touchdowns. That’s 212 passing yards on just nine completions.
The man has an absolute rifle for a right arm, and it was on display in Week 1 for the Colts, a welcomed sight for that fan base after AR15 missed most of last year with an injury. The Colts dropped a home opener against a team many expect to contend with Kansas City in the AFC this year, but the future still looks bright for the Colts.
The margin for error in the NFL is razor-thin. These two teams were pretty evenly matched all afternoon on Sunday and yet the Colts had the lone turnover in the game – an interception by Anthony Richardson. The Texans didn’t score points off the turnover, but it wiped points off the board for the Colts as they were in the red zone, driving before the end of the first half.
The Colts will be a fun team in the AFC all year so long as Richardson remains on the field.
15. Seattle Seahawks
After a really ugly start on Sunday afternoon, the Seahawks started cooking in the second half against the Denver Broncos.
Specifically, running back Kenneth Walker gave his team a big jolt as the Denver Broncos basically couldn’t stop #9 in the third quarter of the Seahawks’ 26-20 win at home to kick off the season.
Seattle’s ugly start against Denver included an interception from Geno Smith on the second play of the game, followed by a pair of safeties for the Seattle offense. The Broncos led this game 13-9 at halftime but the Seahawks frazzled rookie QB Bo Nix enough to get the advantage in the second half and cling onto it.
Even though it wasn’t a perfect season-opener for Seattle, we saw Mike Macdonald’s defense do some great things against Sean Payton’s offense and we saw Ryan Grubb’s offense really get things going in the second half. The Seahawks have issues to sort out on the offensive line but 26 points and a win in today’s NFL is more than an acceptable result.