Ladies sorry to inform you but
the NFL has officially returned and it was a Week one filled with winners and
losers, literally and figuratively. So lets’ go ahead and get my highlights out
the way first:
Winners
Peyton Manning beat the wingspan
off the Ravens. I knew their defense was going to lose some ground but I think
Manning shook their whole earth. He played a game that was at a Michael
Jordan-esque magnitude throwing 7 touchdowns on the defending Super Bowl
champions. And yes I would like to point out the Broncos running game was not
impressive but who needs help from a mediocre opening act when your main
attraction can open and close the show.
In one game Geno Smith may have
saved a job and ended another and for the latter I am thankful. The rookie QB
won his first career regular season start defeating the Tampa Bay Bucs but
bigger than that he did his thing passing for 256 and a TD and leading the team
in rushing with 6 rushes for 47 yards. So with all this speculation about what
to do with Sanchez and Ryan, hopefully this would put a decision on either
one’s future. From what I’m writing it may sound like I’m leaning toward
Sanchez getting the boot only because I’m sure it will happen. But back to
Smith, who was chosen in the second round of a draft heavy on the O-lineman (no
pun intended). If he continues to keep up this type of play a lot of defenses
may be heavy on studying him.
Can’t forget about my home state
of Texas, so much love to the Cowboys and Texans!! Dallas’ renovated 4-3 defense
forced 6 turnovers on Eli Manning in their home opener. It was also the first
time the Cowboys beat the Giants in the stadium formerly known as Cowboys
Stadium (now called AT&T stadium). As for the Texans, they mounted a 21
point second-half comeback against the Chargers in their home opener which
included a 41-yard field goal to win the game as time expired.
Losers
Sadly I have to start my losers
off like this but I have to get it done. What is up with the Pittsburgh
Steelers? They seem to be losing some of their luster that it seems over half
the nation is infatuated with. Ever since they got beat by Tebow in that
playoff game they have not been the same. They missed the postseason last year.
No James Harrison on defense and no Mike Wallace on offense. Even though it’s
one game, it probably is not a good sign to lose to the Tennessee Titans on the
first game of the season. Especially when all Jake Locker did was put up a measly
125 yards and Chris Johnson added pedestrian 70 yards rushing. Steel curtain
may be closing down on this team If this continues during the season.
Running backs were not as
impressive. Patriots’ Shane Vereen was
the only running back to hit 100 yards. The other 100 yard rusher was Raiders’
Terelle Pryor, a quarterback. So for fantasy football heads unless your running
back hit 3 touchdowns like Peterson did or hit some goal line/receiving action
like the Lions’ Joique Bell you probably did not make that much point wise. And
if your running back was either David Wilson or Montee Ball, you can shoot your
big toe now. The Giants’ Wilson had 2 fumbles and may soon be replaced/sharing
carries with either Brandon Jacobs or Willis McGahee. Broncos rookie Montee
Ball was expected to make a larger impact than what was shown but did not. And
that performance was bad enough for Yahoo to notify me that he was dropped by
14,000 teams across fantasy football.
Somebody do me a favor and tell
the Jacksonville Jaguars that by NFL rules they have to show up at some point
this season. How do you open the season at home scoring only 2 points? I used
to think it people were over the top when talking about how bad they were but I
now see where their points lie. You got beat by a Chiefs team that could not
hold a lead in regulation last season for 7 or 8 games. Alex Smith did not even
crack 200 yards and Jamaal Charles did not even run for a 100 yards and still
managed to put 28 points on the board. The only good thing that came out of
this for Jacksonville is that Chad Henne will now be the starter but he was
garbage before so the Jaguars still lose.
