Biggest Takeaways From Week 1 So Far, MNF Picks

Welcome to The Truda Report everybody. Today I'll be hitting on what I found most interesting from the week one NFL action so far, as well as giving my picks for tonight's Monday Night Football games. Make sure to share this article along with my others, because it helps TTR grow.

Takeaways:
The Packers and Seahawks are going to be the top teams in the NFC. I know it's only been one week, but I said in my NFC Preview that these were the two best teams in NFC, and they would play in the NFC Championship, and I feel that I was validated yesterday. The Falcons, who are widely regarded as a top three team in the NFC, underwhelmed yesterday. They almost lost to the Bears. Yeah. Also, to bring things back to my NFC Preview article, I said the Packers are ultimately the better team than the Seahawks. Yesterday that was proven to be true, as Seattle's offensive line looked atrocious. Overall, the big takeaway is that the Packers are the team to beat in the NFC until someone knocks them off.

The Patriots look old and slow. Tom Brady played like a 40 year old quarterback in the season opener versus the Kansas City Chiefs, and his defense looked worse. They struggled all second half, and the potential long term loss of D'onta Hightower isn't going to help. Brady has always been aided by solid defenses, and if he can't get that help this year I don't know if the Patriots will live up to the preseason hype that everyone, including myself, fell into.

Colin Kaepernick deserves a job in the NFL. I don't care about anybody's politics right now; the horrific quarterback play yesterday proves that Kap is better than at least 5 starting QB's right now. The Cleveland Browns ran out of the tunnel yesterday with members of the military and police as a show of unity, and it's time for the NFL owners to unite and end the blackballing of Kaepernick.

The Lions and Matthew Stafford prove to be the comeback kings once again...and I'm not sure it's a good thing. This team's offense doesn't have a ton of talent on it, and that continuously results in the Lions playing from behind. Stafford's late game heroics have been incredible, but this is not a formula for success. Detroit's defense needs to play better at the beginning of games, and more importantly, so does the offense. This team is supposed to be vying for a playoff spot this year, so this issue needs to be fixed.

MNF Picks:
New Orleans Saints @ Minnesota Vikings: I'm taking the Vikings in this game. I thought that this teams offense was okay last year, and the addition of Dalvin Cook makes me like them even more. The New Orleans high powered offense has its hands full with the Minnesota defense, and in complete contrast I think the Vikings offense has the ability to run over the Saints defense. This should be a fun game to watch.

Los Angeles Chargers @ Denver Broncos: I hated that I had to type "Los Angeles" instead of "San Diego," so I'm using the pitiful relocation of the Chargers as my tiebreaker for picking this game. I think this should be close since both teams have talent on at least one side of the ball, but the home field advantage is going to help give the Broncos the edge. The Denver defense is also going to play a very telling game against the Chargers offense, since both units are the strong points of their respective teams. I think, just like the Saints v. Vikings game, this will be close and an intriguing game to watch. It could have a major impact on each teams ability to make the playoffs later this season.