By: Jeremy T. Ballreich
Thursday 8:20 pm, the kickoff started the season opener for the Gridiron Season, with the Detroit Lions receiving the kick from the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. The drive stalled, the offense out of sink, it wasn’t pretty at all. But yet, Kansas City drive fails. So a series for each team, and we saw 2 punts? I thought these were supposed to be 2 of the greatest offenses in the NFL last season. But like the infomercials say….But wait, there’s more!
An aggressive 4th down call in the shadow of the goalpost on their own 18. Jalen Reeves Maybin achieves a first down. The Offense clicks in a rhythm. They sometimes on a pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown! 7-0 to end the first quarter!
The Chiefs score, Lions falter, Chiefs score again. Lions’ offense fails to move the ball again (it wasn’t looking pretty!).
Halftime happens, defensive adjustments were made. Some fantastic things went both ways.
14-7, the Chiefs are approaching midfield. And Mahomes attempts a pass that was over the middle, it’s tipped! With his right hand, 45th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Brian Branch pulls in the errant football and takes it 50 yards to the house! 14-14.
The one thing that puzzled me, and it was pointed out by announcers, the head rules guy they talk to during reviews, and even us fans. Juwaan Taylor, Right Tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs was not lined up correctly, was moving pre snap, every play! And it wasn’t called for 99.9% of the game. It became a joke to a few friends and I that watched the game together. But yet, he was holding Aidan Hutchinson almost every play and they still couldn’t keep him from getting pressure throughout the game. Justin Houston had 5 3rd down snaps. 5 pressures.
All in all, this was not the game anyone expected, ugly on both sides of the ball with both teams. What matters is what was on the scoreboard when the gun sounds. Lions win in Arrowhead Stadium. It was awesome to watch.
PS: Even Vegas thought the Chiefs were the better team. The betting line was -4.5 for the Champs.
DET 21
KC 20
Thanks for Reading!!!
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