NFL Week One Recap: Teams to Worry About

August 30, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) during the first quarter in a preseason NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals at O.co Coliseum. The Cardinals defeated the Raiders 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Week one is in the books and there are plenty of opinions about each team’s performance in their respective match ups. Injuries occurred, unexpected setbacks happened, and defenses were clobbered, but like I said earlier, the NFL season is still fresh and new to fans across the nation. With that being said, I wouldn’t advise anyone to hit the panic button just yet on any team, but in this article, I’m going to list three teams in which I think are on the brink of disappointment. Not only did these three teams disappoint me in week one, but they also created doubt of whether they could live up to the expectations they were given in the preseason. So without further ado, here are the three teams that definitely disappointed me, fantasy owners, and their respective fans in this NFL Week One Recap.

Oakland Raiders  (Lost 33-13 to Cincinnati)

The Oakland Raiders were one of the teams that I thought had a legitimate shot of being one of the most improved teams in the NFL. Their combination of young talent on both offense and defense made them a trendy pick for this game against the older Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately, things went south really fast for the Raiders as they lost Derek Carr early in the game to a hand injury, which most likely sealed the game for Cincinnati. Even though the running game with Latavius Murray was fairly effective and did create optimism for the future, life without Derek Carr did not. Matt McGloin struggled to move the ball down the field on a consistent basis, which in turn dug up too large of a hole for the Raiders to get out of thus abandoning the run game. Oakland’s defense however was the biggest disappointment of all. Outside of Khalil Mack, there is not a pass rush threat on this roster that will scare opposing offensive coordinators and that showed on Sunday as Andy Dalton had all day to throw the football. Not to mention, BOTH of Oakland’s safeties, Nate Allen and Charles Woodson, caught the injury bug instead of the football, and will miss significant time as a result. Although I wouldn’t necessarily hit the panic button yet with this team because Derek Carr could be available this upcoming week, this defense could be the Oakland Raiders’ achilles heel this year and in a division with teams like San Diego, Kansas City, and Denver, that could be a major issue going forward.

Next: Indianapolis Colts