9 Things I Learned From Week 1 of the NFL Season

St. Louis’ Offense Is a Dumpster Fire

As optimistic as Vikings’ fans should be about the Mike Zimmer era after Week 1, we have to also realize what was going on opposite of them: St. Louis’ offense was flat-out atrocious.

Shaun Hill played in place of the injured Sam Bradford against the Vikes, and compiled a 6.23 yards per attempt average in one half of play. He failed to do work in the second half due to an injury, and that’s when backup Austin Davis entered. Davis threw for 192 yards on 23 attempts but, like Hill, threw zero touchdown passes and an interception. Davis had the sixth-worst quarterback rating on the day.

The running game wasn’t much better. Zac Stacy ran the ball 11 times for 43 yards, while backup – who is apparently becoming less of one – Benny Cunningham toted the rock five times for 21 yards. It’s important to note that Cunningham saw four targets to Stacy’s two.

While the Vikings defense is improved and better coached versus last year, the fact that the Rams – at home – could only post two field goals against last season’s fourth-worst defense according to our per play Net Expected Points (NEP) metric isn’t a good sign.

The one positive on the Rams offense this week was Brian Quick. He caught seven of his nine targets, and, as noted by our own Joe Redemann prior to the start of the season, is the best athlete at the position on the team. He’s not a terrible waiver wire pickup in fantasy football.

Otherwise, it’s probably wise to sell this offense now before it potentially gets worse. And for the 100th time, don’t bank on Kenny Britt.