NFL WEEK 1
It was a week filled with marquis match ups, the injury bug, tragedy, and some shenanigans, all will be addressed in this post.
Let's start off talking about the marquis match ups this past week. There were a pair of potential Superbowl previews with Indy and New Orleans and San Diego Chicago, with the AFC teams winning both games. The Colts picked up right where they left off last season, as the best football team in the world, defending Superbowl 41 champs. San Diego made a statement showing they didn't need to score 40 points and win. And they did it against the best defense, arguably, in the league DA BEARS.
There were two other divisional match ups of interest on Sunday and they were the Patriots against their rivals the Jets and the G-men taking on the Cowboys. Neither New York team fared well in their respective games, with the Jets getting blown away by the loaded Pats and the Giants getting injured at the 2 most important positions on the field in QB and RB in their loss against Dallas. Giants starting quarterback Eli Manning has a hurt shoulder said to keep him out about a month (Byron Leftwich, stay by your cell phone) and starting running back Brandon Jacobs out a month or more with a knee injury. The Jets QB Chad Pennington also suffered a foot injury after taking a sack and falling awkwardly. His status is up in the air. Two other side notes from the Jets Pats game was the re-emergence of the NFL's best receiver (yes best, when he wants to be) Randy Moss, 9 catches for a buck 83 and 1 score and the tactical mischief by New England. The Pats were reported to have had a camera used to spy on the Jets defensive coaches and this wasn't the first time this happened either. HEY GUYS.....you don't need all this garbage to help you win games, you already have the best on field personnel in the league. Nothing will come of this but if future occurrences of this arrive then serious punishment needs to take place.
Tragedy also struck on the gridiron on Sunday. Bills backup tight end Kevin Everett suffered what some doctors have called a life threatening neck injury during a head on collision. Doctors say that he will most likely not regain full movement in his limbs. It's very unfortunate that every 10 or so years we get an injury like this. In 1997, Lions linebacker Reggie Brown was carted off the field with a neck injury against the Jets. Luckily he managed to almost fully recover. We will see how this injury to Kevin Everett evolves and I wish him well.
The Steelers, with new coach Mike Tomlin, proved they are back in full force. Granted they played a horrible Cleveland team (who just today dealt Charlie Frye to the Seahawks), the Steel Curtain was dominant. Ben Roethlisberger threw 4 td's en route to a 41 point outburst. Brett Favre used his magic on the field to lead the Packers to a grind it out, thrilling victory over the Eagles 16-13. Donovan McNabb returned behind center for the Iggles after missing much of last season and played fairly well. I would not be concerned if I were an Iggles fan because they will work the kinks out and win at least 10 games as they perennially do under the leadership of head coach Andy Reid.
Adrian Peterson had his welcome to the NFL and to my fantasy team moment in his first NFL game as he had a 60 yard catch for his first career touchdown. He also ran for over 100 yards. Calvin Johnson made some noise, as the projected by starting QB John Kitna 10 win Detroit Lions, made a quiet statement on opening day beating the Raiders (FYI JaMarcus Russell has finally signed).
Now looking at this recap of week 1, it is way to early to forecast the success and failures of all 32 NFL teams. With all the parity in this game, anything can happen. So don't go crying over spilled milk if your team disappointed you in week 1 very much like I did, but I learned my lesson. There are 15 games left and every team is still in the playoff hunt. I say this now, but its only a matter of time before major injuries and off the field issues become prevalent and the landscape in the league completely changes. So here's to a fun and competitive 2007 NFL season and may the best team win without the use of spy cameras of course.
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1 comment:
You are too kind--the Giants stink, and that is that. With or without Eli Manning and their other injured stars, the Giants are wandering about without direction. I agree with Tiki, moreover, Coughlin is the problem. His brand of authoritarianism hasn't worked since the Battle of the Bulge. When Giants' management is willing to face that fact, the team will take its first step down the road to renewed respectibility.
Dr. P.
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