NFL Thoughts: Week 1

First let me say that my 1st trip to NYC was quite an experience. Living in rural Utah doesn't give this country boy much of a chance to experience mass humanity in all it's glory. New York is dirty, smelly, horribly overcrowded and pretty damn loud. So of course I loved it! I sluffed most of my business meetings and hit all the required tourist spots. I even caught a Mets game. Now that I'm back home, I'm pretty much going through sensory deprivation. Everything is so freaking quiet here that I feel like screaming "hey I'm walking here!" at the next person that even gets close to me at work tomorrow.

As I mentioned, I missed all the games on Sunday except for the Giants/Colts circus that I recorded and then watched when I got home (I'm in the doghouse for that incidentally....apparently proper homecoming etiquette with the wife you haven't seen for 6 days involves something other than watching football at 1 a.m. ......was I really supposed to know that when she told me she was looking forward to sleeping with me, she actually meant I was supposed to fall asleep with her after our "getting reacquainted session" (that's sex for the erotically impaired) ? Please! I had a football game to watch! Anyway I caught other game highlights the next morning and read what I could. I saw about half of the two Monday night games as well. Here are my abbreviated thoughts for my abbreviated look at the first week.


Colts/Giants
So at least we know where the constipated looks come from with the Manning Brothers. Mom and Dad Manning put on a pretty nice display of pained expressions Sunday night. What a horrible experience they had to endure. I mean wow, two of their multi-millionaire starting QB kids had to play each other. I just want to give them a hug. Or kick them in their private parts. I haven't decided yet. Pretty good game though. The Giants were robbed with the pass interference call near the end of the game. Nice to know the officiating crews picked right up where they left off last year. Also, a couple of other thoughts I had while watching this thing. 1. Tiki Barber still looks great. He should be in any discussion concerning the top running back in the league 2. The Colts had better figure out their running game. Last year's run-pass ratio was pretty nice for them. True they choked in the playoffs but their regular season game plans were right on. They'll need a ground game eventually.


Dolphins/Steelers
I was surprised that Batch didn't totally blow chunks. Just goes to show you that sometimes a really good team can survive a less than average QB---temporarily. I'm not ready to give up on Culpepper figuring out he used to be good. He has a good enough team that he doesn't have to win it by himself. He just can't lose it by himself by throwing costly interceptions.


Saints/Browns
McAllister and Bush are going to give New Orleans a powerful rushing attack. With one of my favorite QB's on board now (Brees), I finally have a team in the NFC South that I will honestly root for every week.


Jets/Titans
Collins, Volek, Young? None will provide the answer this year. On the flip side, is Pennington back to 2002 form? I'm wary. Don't get too excited yet Jets fans....except over the fact that you no longer have Herm Edwards.



Rams/Broncos
How many times do we need to be reminded that the 1st week of the season is no time to over-react? Plummer's not done yet. Before Cutler is anointed by Denver, the Snake needs a chance to show that last year's solid season was no fluke. As far as the Rams are concerned,...they need to be concerned. Where the hell are the touchdowns? I'm happy for Jeff Wilkins. I mean, I was a kicker in high school (no smirking allowed) and I would have killed for a day like that. Well maybe not killed...that's a bit strong....but I would have at least beat a few cheerleaders senseless for a six field goal performance. But seriously, I liked the game Steven Jackson had running the ball and I loved the defensive performance. Still, redzone production has to improve.


Seahawks/Lions
Fans who watched this in person probably demanded a refund.


Bengals/Chiefs
Trent Green's hit was unfortunate but he wasn't going to change the outcome of this game. The Chiefs have some work to do. The Bengals have to be happy with Palmer's rehabilitation and his progress so far.


Bills/Patriots
Shocker of the week for me. I would have pegged this a 35-7 blowout. Instead the Bills almost knock the Pats off. I'm speechless. Or at least I would be if you were here and I was talking. Except that would mean I wouldn't talk. So you know, like I said, speechless.


Ravens/Bucs
Another surprising game for me. Not that the Ravens won.....I actually thought they might. But that the Bucs looked so bad. In Baltimore the D is back strong and a decent QB is making them confident.


Eagles/Texans
If McNabb looks this good the rest of the season then the the rest of the NFC East is in trouble.
Still it was Houston and week 1, so again, no over-reacting. Except to say Eagles rule!. Oh wait I'm a Ram fan....Rams rule!....not overreacting...just rambling.



Cardinals/49ers
So the Cardinals can pass but not run. Edgerin James is a really good locker room guy though. He's playful and a winner. At least that's what I've read. And they have a really nice stadium. Or so I've heard. The 49ers looked pretty good against them. So either Alex Smith is really improving or the Cardinals defense really sucks. Which one would you bank on?


Bears/Packers
The Bears with some potent offense just might cause opposing team's to wet themselves. The Defense obviously is going to be good and opportunistic again. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Favre and the Packers. However, the Bears D is not the best barometer for the Packer offense. Not every defense will be that good. If the Pack stink it up against everyone else then we'll be able to ask the question that Favre is going to be asked all year long. "do you regret coming back?" And of course his reply should be, "no I just regret that one night stand with your mamma". Cause Yo Mamma jokes always play well.


Cowboys/Jaguars
I'm not a Bledsoe fan but I would say again that this is not the time to jump ship with him. Maybe Romo is the future but Drew's regular season play last year earned him a little grace period here (I can't believe I'm saying that). It's still a good team. So are the Jags. Nice Defense, and a solid QB. If Fred Taylor can stay healthy then maybe this offense can post enough points to win some more tough games like this.


Chargers/Raiders
Everyone seems to be saying that it was a good thing Philip Rivers only threw 11 times in this game. Break him in slow. Are you serious? Oakland was a gimme even if he threw a couple of picks. Why not let him throw a few more times and get into a groove (which he totally would have) and gain confidence against a bad team. He's going to need it when they play better teams. They are not going to be able to run on three straight 3rd down plays like I saw them do in this one. I hate "Marty ball". It's stupid and doesn't work in the playoffs. And by the way, Does Art Shell ever talk into his headset? Everytime something bad happened (pretty much anytime Brooks took a snap) he just stood there with a dazed expression. He sort of had that look I get when I have a really bad fart and I'm in crowded room. It's smells but you just have to get through it. Don't try to over-compensate by talking or joking. Look straight ahead and maybe no one will notice the devastation. Then again, we all notice a train wreck and the Raiders certainly qualify.


Redskins/Vikings
I'm worried about Daniel Snyder's health. The Skins can't tease him with a year like last season and then go back to business as usual (sucking) without some nasty consequences. Wait, I'm not over-reacting this week, so Daniel you just hang in there buddy because there is plenty of time left in the season to act irrational and crazy. The Vikes looked so-so which is about what I expected. Everything about them screams .500 team to me.