NFL Monday Night Recap

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Well lucky us, ladies and gentlemen! We got ourselves 2 great games on the week 1 Monday night calendar. Starting us off we have the New York Jets facing the Detroit Lions in what people may think from the offset would be a battle of sub-par teams. While the saying stood true for one team, the other seemed to come alive and send a message to the rest of the league. It was the NFL debut of 21 year old quarterback Sam Darnold who is looking to get the Jets off on the right foot. Now without further adieu lets see what transpired in this Monday night match up.

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Well for starters, I guess the only way Sam Darnold’s first NFL pass could’ve gone any worse is if he got hurt on the play as he threw a pick-six on his very first pass. Lions corner Quandre Diggs would get the Lions on the board with the defensive score putting Detroit up 7-0. The Jets would respond however before the end of the quarter on a run by Isaiah Crowell up the right side and into the endzone giving us a 7-7 tie after the first. The Jets would grab the lead in the second quarter on a field goal by Jason Myers giving the Jets a 10-7 lead. The Lions had a chance to even it up on a field goal attempt by Matt Prater, however the record holding kicker could split the uprigths on his attempt leaving the Lions still trailing. Now with good field position the Jets were looking to get further away but were unable to do so, giving Prater another shot. This time he connected with the field goal tying the game at 10-10. The tie was short lived however as Darnold seemed to rebound from his early mistake and found Robby Anderson for his first career touchdown and giving the Jets a 17-10 lead at the end of the half.

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Detroit would strike early in the second half as Matthew Stafford would connect with Golden Tate for the major and the 17-17 tie game. Unfortunately for the Lions, the game sort of just completely left them from that point forward. The Jets would pile on 31 points in the third quarter starting with Darnold’s 2nd touchdown of the game. This time he connected with Quincy Enunwa which gave the Jets the lead back at 24-17. The next Jets score would come off a pick-six from Daron Lee that would extend the lead to 31-17. Not wanting to be left out the Jets special teams then scored on a punt return from Andre Roberts further extending the lead to 38-17. The following Jets field goal almost seemed like a mercy at this point as they finally didn’t surrender a touchdown making it 41-17, and the onslaught ensued. Isaiah Crowell finally drove the final sword to the gut getting his second touchdown of the day and finishing the Lions off at 48-17.

Stats for the game are as follows. Quarterbacking the Jets was Sam Darnold going 16-21 for 198 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Matthew Stafford on the Lions side of the ball went 27/46 for 286 yards and 1 touchdown… As well as 4 interceptions. On the ground we had Isaiah Crowell carried the ball 10 times for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns. His counterpart Theo Riddick actually had a good average getting 20 yards on only 4 carries in the game. The Jets top reciever on the day was Quincy Enunwa who had 6 catches for 63 yards and 1 touchdown. Kenny Golloday on the Lions side actually had a good game catching 7 for 114 yards. Jason Myers was a perfect 2/2 on field goals whereas Matt Prater missed 2 going 1/3 on the day.

Hey lucky us because there was another game on tap on Monday night as the Los Angeles Rams took on the Oakland Raiders to finish off the week. Both these teams are expected to win their divisions this year so this was slated to be a titanic battle. This game also marked Jon Gruden’s return to coaching after spending many years calling the Monday night games. His counterpart on the Rams side is reigning coach of the year, 32 year old Sean Mcvay who was looking to repeat the success of last year getting the Rams their first double digit win season since 2003. So who would come up on top in this thrilling matchup.

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The Raiders would draw first blood on a vintage Marshawn Lynch run. He carried what seemed like the entire Rams defence across the goal line for the early 7-0 lead. The Rams all-star running back Todd Gurley would respond to the deficit with a rushing touchdown of his own. Though he didn’t carry a whole team with him, the slippery Gurley made the most of his first catch of the game scoring on the right side for the 7-7 tie game. That did it for the first quarter, and the game remained close throughout the second quarter. Bit of a field goal fiesta in this quarter as we had 3 of them making up the entirety of the scoring in the second. Mike Nugent went a perfect 2/2 in the quarter whereas Greg Zuerlein missed 1 going 1/2 in the second leaving the score 13/10 Raiders at the end of the first half.

Just like the first game, this one had one team explode in the second half whereas the other just seemed to fade away into a distant memory. Once again it would be the home side just failing to produce anything but interceptions. Los Angeles would open the scoring in the second half with Jared Goff throwing a touchdown strike to Cooper Kupp giving the Rams the 17-13 lead. Zuerlein would add a field goal to end the third quarter 20-13 Rams. The fourth quarter was more of the same from the Rams. Gurley would eat up the clock, then Zuerlein would kick a field goal. The Rams successfully did this twice in the fourth making the score 26-13. The final nail in the coffin was a pick-six by Marcus Peters making the final score 33-13 Rams.

The games stats go like so. Jared Goff had a solid outing going 18/33 for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns. Derek Carr had good yards going 29/40 for 303 yards, but also racked up 3 interceptions. Todd Gurley had a big game getting 20 carries for 108 yards. His counterpart Marshawn Lynch seemed to be abandoned in the second half as he only got 11 carries for 41 yards and 1 touchdown. New Rams acquisition Brandin Cooks lead the team in receiving catching 5 passes for 87 yards. Jared Cook on the Raiders side had a monster game getting 9 catches for 180 yards in the losing effort.

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Be sure to check back on Thursday as the Baltimore Ravens will be in Cincinnati to take on the Bengals.

What do you think of this news? Are you excited to see what teams pull ahead? Let us know in the comments below!

Maxwell Mantik

Written by Maxwell Mantik

Articles Published: 42

Maxwell Mantik was born in Calgary Alberta and currently lives in a hamlet about half an hour outside the city. A graduate of SAIT Polytechnic, he’s been writing for fun for over 7 years (mostly script and novel themed). His voice acting worked has been featured in films at the Vancouver film festival, and has worked on 7 short films. His interests include superheros, sci-fi, fantasy, acting, writing, hockey, and shooting guns (because he likes to think he’s edgy).