Oh what a week 1 in the NFL. If you ever wondered why this league has the most to offer game to game, then just relive this first week.

11 of the 16 games were decided by less than a touchdown and 7 decided by less than a field goal. Wow.

I was at one of those games on Sunday and still don’t have my voice back. There really is nothing like the feel or energy at the Clink (Century Link Stadium). These games throw you through the meat grinder and spit you out on the other end. It is fun all hell, but exhausting.

Now obviously I am going to beat the Seahawk drum because that is where I live, but this not only here. Sure the force of the NFL is strong in the PNW (mainly because of the proclivity for football here, only having 2 major sports team here, this team representing a large geographic region, and being really good as of late really really helps), but it exists in many places. From Denver to Green Bay to Pittsburgh to Dallas, to…well….everywhere outside Phoenix (c’mon Card fan! I was at your game vs the Hawks last year and literally 25%+ of the fans were wearing navy and action green. Last night there were seemingly 30%+ rooting for the Pats. Your team is good!!! Stop letting other fans part your ‘Red Sea’ on a weekly basis) embraces this excitement.

Even if you are not a sportsball fan, you can appreciate the comradery and civic pride these games can invoke. At the game the other day, I actually had about 15 friends all around me rooting, living and dying with every play. We were all stressed together, celebrated together, and pepped each other up. Yes, I will never see these people again and probably hate them when I see them at the beach later this month, but for those 4 hours we were one. That is sort of cool.

Anyway, let’s hope I recover, get my voice back before game time next week. Oh yeah, I guess let’s hope Russell heals up as well.

Just a quick lesson to the overreactors: one game make not a season. Yes Seattle looked bad. Yes AZ looked worse. Yes Philly actually looked functional. But remember when Dallas was blown out by SF 2 years ago? Dallas went 12-4. Remember last year when Winston looked lost and Mariota looked like the future of the NFL? Not so much anymore. Remember when the Pats lost the Miami in 2014? Yeah, guess that didn’t matter.

We have 16 more weeks of this to truly see who are the haves and have-nots. I am betting the Cards are ok, the Panthers are pretty good, the Rams are not that awful, and the Browns are not good at all and never will be.

But what the hell do I know? I think every year the Falcons are going to be that break-out team. When is that day coming?