As I am writing this the Giants are getting absolutely molly whopped by the Cowboys. So they will in my mind they are by far the biggest losers of the losers in week one. But of all the losers from Sunday, which teams can look on the bright side and find the positives in their performance? These are my three NFL week one winners of the losers.

3. Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals are the popular pick to be the worst team in the league this year. And they likely will be. It is also a popular opinion that they are pretty openly tanking. Also likely true. Kyler Murray isn’t playing, DeAndre Hopkins is gone, JJ Watt retired and they have possibly the most cringy coach of all time.

This week the Cardinals lost 20-16 to the Commanders. So with all those things I just mentioned about them, how are they my 3rd best loser of week one? Well because they did a very good job of tanking this week. They lost the game but they didn’t get blown out. The game was competitive the whole time. The Cardinals even had the lead entering the 4th quarter and had a chance inside of 2 minutes to drive and go ahead. So good job to them. The tank is off to a great start and they got their loss with a convincing effort. Keep up the good work Arizona.

2. Indianapolis Colts

The Colts lost to the Jaguars Sunday by a score of 31-21. But there is a lot to look forward to. They took a chance on Anthony Richardson with the 4th pick in the draft and he looked solid. After a few years of being in quarterback limbo that has to be a welcomed sign. Richardson threw for 223 yards and a touchdown with another 40 yards rushing and a touchdown. He did throw an interception late in the 4th quarter that basically ended the Colts chance of winning. But all in all he looked electric while doing it.

It also came against the Jaguars who on paper should be a playoff team, possibly even more than that. And for a team that has been struggling for years, that’s all you want. Something that you can look at and try to convince yourself that it’s going to get better. The Colts are still probably a year or two away from really competing, but when you are looking at a week one loss, this was a pretty good one.

1. New England Patriots

The Patriots lost their season opener to the Eagles 25-20. But they had the ball with a chance to win inside of 2 minutes left. And if rookie receiver Kayshon Boutte had realized he wasn’t still in college football, they might have actually won.

Last year was a major disappointment for the Patriots. After a strong rookie year, Mac Jones struggled and there was a quarterback battle at times. I am a Mac Jones fan so you can call me biased, but I’m putting that one on the coaching. Who am I to question the greatest coach of all time right? But that’s exactly what I’m doing. He had a defensive coach calling the offensive plays. That’s like hiring a flight attendant to fly the plane because they’ve been around it enough they should probably know how. There’s a better analogy out there but give me a break it’s late. Anyway, Mac Jones looked really good. He did have one terrible throw that led to a pick six, but he followed that up with 3 touchdowns and over 300 yards. The defense looked pretty good, holding the Super Bowl runner up to 25 points. And considering the Eagles have the second best odds to win it all again this year, I’d call this a good start. Certainly a disappointing loss, but one that gives a lot of hope.

Still Losers

Even though these are my biggest winners of the losers, they are still losers. But at least for two of them there is a lot to be happy about. And for the Cardinals just keep it up. You really could win by losing. It was also a decent start to the year for my long shot futures picks. Tua certainly looked like an MVP today. It’s not too late to get in on the action, go get those picks here and follow me on my new twitter here for more. Let me know what you think of these losers or any others that should be in the winners of losers category.