NFL Bandwagon Report: Time to hop on wings of these Eagles?

There are the teams you’re born rooting for, for better or worse, and then there are the bandwagon clubs – the franchises and star players that pique your interest, draw you in and drop you off.

This season, embrace the chaos of bandwagon hopping and dropping. After all, football is too fun and the season too short to limit your fandom to just one team.

Some bandwagons are no-brainers – if you’re not on board with Josh Allen and the Bills, for example, what are you waiting for? But other popular picks like the Chiefs and Chargers will be tested early as the AFC West powerhouses go head-to-head Thursday night.  

So, who are you riding with? Each week of the 2022 campaign, writers Mike Johnston and Emily Sadler are recapping some of the most encouraging and discouraging developments around the NFL and deciding whose bandwagon they’re hopping on or off – even if only for a week.

Hop on: Vikings' offence

Is there a better way for the Minnesota Vikings to start the season than with a statement win over Green Bay? The Packers’ defence, billed as one of the best in the league, had no answers for Justin Jefferson, who made Kirk Cousins’ job look easy. Aaron Rodgers, meanwhile, could only do so much with an inexperienced group of receivers against a Vikings D that outplayed expectations. While I wouldn’t dream of counting out Rodgers & Co., early goings have the Vikings making things interesting in the NFC North and I’m here for it. (ES)

Hop off: Cowboys without Dak

Sunday night brought a nightmarish start to the Cowboys’ 2022 season – and that was before Dak Prescott fractured his thumb. The Cowboys’ flat offence couldn’t put anything together against the Buccaneers, with the only silver lining being the strong play of Zeke Elliott. Considering Dallas has experienced life without Dak before – and it wasn’t pretty – Jerry Jones’ literal lack of a backup plan is inexcusable. (ES)

Hop on: The wings of these Eagles

Specifically, because of how promising that offence looked led by Jalen Hurts and newcomer A.J. Brown who lived up to the hype in his Eagles debut. Hurts didn’t need to throw any touchdowns – instead, he and his three running backs each rushed one in behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines. Allowing 35 points weekly is not conducive to a successful season but we could be looking at a legitimate NFC contender if the defence can find its collective footing -- a defence likely to be tested against the Vikings in Week 2. (MJ)

Hop off: 49ers hyperbole

We’re still relatively high on San Fran this year and certainly not writing off 2021’s third-overall pick Trey Lance just yet after how heavily the weather factored into Sunday’s loss to the Bears. Still, it wasn’t a good first impression for a team hoping to contend for a division title with the defending champion Rams. Lance was his team’s top rusher but only completed 13 of 28 passes for 164 yards, zero TDs, one interception, and one fumble. Losing starting running back Elijah Mitchell for a couple months doesn’t help going forward, either. The silver lining for the Niners is the NFC West went a combined 1-3 in Week 1 with low-expectation Seattle the only team to start 1-0. We’ll get a more accurate assessment of the 49ers when they host the Seahawks this coming Sunday. (MJ)

Hop on: Rookie head coaching performances… on Sunday

Full disclosure: This idea was lined up before Nathaniel Hackett’s disastrous Denver debut (yikes)… but four out of five overall ain’t bad, so let’s set aside the outrage (for now) in favour of praising the winning rookie head coaching performances. All four first-time HCs who took the field on Sunday won their debuts, but what’s really impressive is how they won. Mike McDaniel called a really fun offensive game in Miami, Matt Eberflus had all of Chicago slippin’ and slidin’ and singin’ in the rain, Kevin O’Connell started his purple reign with a dominant divisional win, and Brian Daboll’s gutsy call for a two-point conversion to top the Titans has New York football fans opening the standings to see  a winning record for the first time since 2016. (ES)

Hop off: Broncos’ play-calling

The whole thing was a disaster, but not even the entire game’s worth of shaky calls and bad penalties and a bewildering inability to punch it in in the red zone could compare to the absolutely unfathomable decisions Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett made in the final 1:11. Wasting 30 seconds only to call a timeout when down by one point? Attempting a 64-yard field goal instead of putting the ball in the hands of Russell Wilson on a fourth and five?? While you still had timeouts remaining???

That he used those timeouts after the missed field goal attempt, as Seattle hit the field in victory formation, might just be the ugliest part of the whole sequence of events. Broncos Country… let’s cry. (ES)

Hop on: Any team playing the Falcons

Call it the 28-3 curse and make all the jokes you want, but there’s something seriously wrong with the Falcons when they lead late in games. It’s easy to lose track of all the times Atlanta has blown a double-digit fourth-quarter lead in recent years and Week 1 was merely the latest example. The Falcons were up 16 with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter yet lost 27-26 to the Saints in one of several Week 1 games that featured last-minute field goal drama. The Falcons’ best defensive player, cornerback A.J. Terrell, gave up two TDs to Michael Thomas to boot. All that to say: it’s looking like it could be another long season for the Dirty Birds. (MJ)

Hop off: Matt Patricia calling plays for the Patriots

Unlike San Francisco, New England can’t blame the weather for their 20-7 loss at Miami. Patricia has won multiple Super Bowls with the Patriots – his two most recent in 2014 and 2017 when he was the team’s defensive coordinator. Patricia coached on the defensive side of the football from 2006 to 2017 before leaving New England in 2018. After posting a dismal 13-29-1 record as Detroit’s head coach, he returned to the Patriots in 2021 as a senior football advisor and o-line coach. After refusing to name an offensive play-caller all off-season, Bill Belichick handed the duties to Patricia in Week 1 and suffice it to say it did not go well. (MJ)