The Matchup Show, Week 1: The Matchups That Decide the Big Games

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Warren Sharp (1:26)

Welcome to Sharp Football Analysis. I'm Warren Sharp and this is The Matchup Show. Games are decided when coaches, teams and players can win the matchups of those games. So I've decided to build an entire show around it with my man Rich Hribar. We're going to be walking through the biggest games of week one and identifying the matchups that are going to decide those games. So if that sounds interesting to you, if you're into betting, fantasy, football and the game within the game, I think you're going to love this show. So sit back, relax and let's get into it.

All right, Rich, it feels so good for football to be back. It's great to be on a show with you. This is going to be a lot of fun this upcoming season. But before we even get into some of these week one matchups, normally we won't have a game to talk about because we're going to be recording these on Thursday. They'll come out Thursday afternoon.

But we just watched the Seattle Seahawks pull off an upset. I guess you could call it, given the fact that they lost their starting quarterback in the first drive of the game, Sam Darnold. Because this game was last night, we've got to talk a little bit about it for the audience here. What were some of your biggest takeaways from that win that Seattle was able to record? Obviously, there was absolute carnage, AJ. Brown goes out as well. We don't know how long he's going to be out for or Sam Darnold. But a lot to think about this game and sort of transition into the upcoming season. What are your takeaways?

Rich Hribar (2:51)

That's a big game. I think that's going to go a long way for both of these teams at the end of the season. We are expecting the Patriots and the Seahawks, they have some kind of natural regression just based on how hot they ran last year. The New England Patriots still playing a division with the Buffalo Bills. The next three weeks now, they play the Steelers, the Jaguars and the Bills. Where are they at after four weeks? How much they look back at that game at the end of the year and say that one game could have made a difference in either seeding, the division or them making the playoffs in general. The Seattle Seahawks stealing a game with their quarterback got injured five places of the game.

They played a division with the Rams and the 49ers and they have a rest game. They go on the road the next two weeks at Arizona, but they have rest and then at the commanders. We'll see how long Sam Darnold is out. But that's them stealing a win where the New England Patriots have the football up 10-3 in the fourth quarter on Seattle side of the field and they lose that game. The rest of that game from that point on is commanded by the Seahawks.

That's one I think that both teams are going to look at and say either that helped us get in or that prevented us from getting where we needed to be at the end of the season.