We still have one game left on the slate for NFL Week 1, but the question for all of you is how are you feeling about your team right now? Did expectations meet reality, or were you surprised by your team or one team in particular? Preseason can be a barometer of sorts in terms of deciphering how teams might play (at least in terms of personnel groups and general style) but other times Week 1 is a mystery box for a variety of reasons.
I don’t think anyone would question Dolphins vs. Chargers being the game of the week so far, and that one is also a good example of expectations vs. reality.
Did Your Team Play The Style You Expected?
Many expected both the Dolphins and Chargers to rely more on their run game this year, at least in terms of upping the efficiency of their runs — if not totaling more runs overall. With the Chargers, that really did play out as they kicked off 19 of the 35 series with a run. On the other side, the Dolphins did run a decent number of times, but really it was still sky-high Tyreek Hill usage, with Waddle usage maybe dipping a bit.
Without looking at the All-22, it’s hard to say what was happening with portions of both defenses, but the Dolphins did bring in the king of the 2-high look (Vic Fangio), so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the Chargers did not go more vertical — as that was the other potential change for their offense coming into the season. With the Dolphins, at first glance it seemed like a lot of bunch looks and motion to get Hill free, as at the end of last year a lot of teams had started to try and be as physical as possible with the Dolphins receivers to throw off the timing of their potent passing game.
All that said, if you’re looking at your team and thinking they didn’t play as you expected, I recommend checking out the Madden School website as it has every Madden 24 playbook for you to scope out. You can figure out what personnel groups maybe make more sense for your team after Week 1, or you can just look at a formation they were running a lot and figure out what playbooks have that formation. It’s a nice little tool to have at your disposal, and there’s plenty more good stuff on that site as well.
Anyway, let me know if your team surprised you in terms of how they played in Week 1!
