This article is part of our NFL Observations series.
I wasn't ready for a Survivor sweat of that intensity (especially after Dalton Del Don and I bought in for the $1000-entry Circa contest.) Like Saquon Barkley, I expected to be eased in a bit more after a long offseason of rehab and (psychological) therapy. I almost defenestrated after the Chris Godwin fumble on the goal line in the closing minutes.
- Tom Brady looked awfully sharp to me. His throws had zip, his intercepted Hail Mary at the end of the half made it easily into the end zone, his long TD to Antonio Brown was dropped in perfectly, and he had total command and poise on the final drive, burning clock with no timeouts by calmly dropping back and tossing the ball out of bounds. He also survived the tipped-pick that was mostly (though the ball wasn't perfect) Leonard Fournette's fault and drops by Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in the fourth quarter, along with the Godwin fumble. In fact, Brady had no real interceptions, four TD passes and 379 yards passing, and he didn't take a single sack. He won't face Dallas every week, but I wish I had some shares.
- Rob Gronkowski looked like the prime version, hauling in anything in his vicinity with his giant mitts -- he caught all eight of his targets for 90 yards and scored two TDs for the second straight game. Why people were fine with Travis Kelce in the first round, but Gronk (the widely acknowledged GOAT at the position) not until the 12th or 13th when the two are five months apart in age, was one of the great mysteries of draft season.
- Antonio Brown (7-5-121-1) caught a 47-yard TD and looked as fast and spry as ever. There are a lot of mouths to feed in the Tampa offense, but really there's only a big-four including Gronk, and not much left for anyone else.
- Chris Godwin (14-9-105-1) led the team in targets, but he had a drop on a deep ball late and of course the nearly catastrophic fumble. Still, he might be the most skilled pass catcher on this team, given his quickness, speed, size and route-running.
- Mike Evans (6-3-24-0) had a drop on a key drive and wasn't heavily involved. Don't be overly concerned. He will get his.
- Ronald Jones fumbled early and didn't much work after that. Playoff hero Leonard Fournette struggled to get going, had a pass tip off his hands for a pick, but did catch five passes for 27 yards. I expect Jones to get another chance next week as he's the more formidable early-down runner. Gio Bernard (3-2-12) made a catch on the final drive, but didn't get a ton of work.
- Dak Prescott (58-42-403-3-1) didn't show any rust early on, but later in the game the pass rush got to him a bit. Still, he took only one sack against a tough defense, and his pick went off CeeDee Lamb's hands. He even had a nice escape in the fourth quarter, but he didn't get too far. Prescott is one of the favorites to lead the league in passing attempts this year, though keep in mind this was against arguably the toughest run defense in the league.
- Ezekiel Elliott (11-33-0, 2-2-6-0) did very little against Tampa's run defense, but that was by design as Prescott attempted 58 passes while he and Tony Pollard had only 14 rushing attempts combined.
- Amari Cooper (16-13-139-2) was the best receiver on the field. He was going a full round later than CeeDee Lamb, but it's clear they're co-No.1's, and it's 50/50 who has the better year.
- Lamb (15-7-104-1) had a couple drops, including one that resulted in a key pick, but he's slippery and for a skinny guy, tough to bring down after contact, something he showed on a punt return too.
- Dalton Schultz and Blake Jarwin split targets 6:4. It's hard to see either being especially useful with that ratio.
- Michael Gallup (7-4-36) had a modest showing, though he left in the second half with an ankle injury.
- Greg Zuerlein looked awfully shaky early, which is why it was so tough to watch him absolutely drill the 48-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a lead with 1:24 left.
