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.
by 