26. Washington (+1)
This team is going to win games based on their defensive line and EDGEs, and today that was in full force. Early in the game Washington was down and couldn’t really generate any sort of offense, however as the game progressed the defense slowly started being more and more effective.
Finally, the hydra of pass rusher started to get home more and more frequently. When the game was over they had 8 sacks and 14 quarterback hits, headlined by the future Hall of Famer Ryan Kerrigan’s 2 sacks, the 1st round rookie Chase Young with 1.5, and the always underrated Matt Ioannidis with 1.5 sacks and 4 QB hits.
Ron Rivera wins his first as the head coach, and maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel in the DMV.
25. Indianapolis Colts (-9)
I was lower than most on the Colts before the season, but this confirmed every concern I had about them. This isn’t a coaching staff that is going to bend Phil Rivers to their will, but the other way around. They ended up passing nearly 50 times today despite lies of this still being a run-first team.
There is no more demoralizing thing for Colts fans than losing to the Jaguars in a game where your offensive line kept Rivers clean and he still ended up throwing two interceptions that looked bad. Also, the stud rookie tandem that people fell in love with during the offseason ended up with Michael Pittman having 2 catches for 10 yards while Jonathan Taylor had 9 rushes for 22 yards.