NFL Week 1 Thoughts

These are my thoughts on games that I watched this weekend.

New England at Jets: I am going to take a page from Gregg Easterbrook here and tell you when I wrote “game over” in my mental notebook. First drive of the game, Jets are facing 4th and a long yard at about New England’s 40 yard line. I felt that a strong message of WE ARE HERE TO WIN could have been sent to the Patriots and more importantly to the Jets’ young O-line if Mangini went for it. He chose to punt. I looked at my buddy who was there with me, a rugby fan who had more interest in the Scotland/ Portugal match, and said that the Jet game was over. What did they have to lose? If you fail, they still need to go about 30 yards to get a field goal. The Patriots took possession at the Jet 15 or so, and proceeded to go on a 10 minute TD drive. The Patriots cruised the rest of the way.
** Gregg Easterbrook is an ESPN Page 2 columnist whose TMQ article can be read every Tuesday. I encourage you to read his articles.

Chiefs at Texans: I have documented in my AFC South Preview post that I expect good things from the Texans this season, especially from their defense. They did not disappoint. The only problem is that the opponent were the Chiefs, who will be in season long struggle to score. Carolina will be a much stronger test in Week 2.

Miami at Washington: The game was in a corner TV and was out of my view.

Denver at Buffalo: Surprisingly, this game was switched to the Yankee game for an older gentleman sitting in the corner bar area that requested it. I did not watch the game, but found out about the devastating injury to Kevin Everett. May God bless you. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Atlanta at Minnesota: Thankfully not televised at the bar.

Philly at Green Bay: Philly was the better team. The Philly offense did not play crisply but that will change in the coming weeks. The Eagle defense was stingy all day and if not for the two muffed punt returns, the Eagles would have most likely won the game. The Packer offense was terrible and I do not see why that will change as the season wears on because there are no playmakers in Green Bay.

Pitt at Cleveland: I don’t really think the defense played that bad. The Brown defense was forced to defend a short field for most of the day. The final score was a product more of Cleveland’s offensive ineptitude, rather than porous defense. The Brady Quinn era needs to start soon because Frye looked terrible, and Anderson really did not have the body language of someone that wanted to be out there. TE Kellen Winslow came to play. I give credit to Pittsburgh for winning a game that I though they would have trouble with. I really do hope Ben Roethlisberger is fully recovered from his head injuries incurred in his motorcycle accident last year. He looked very much in control and played with the poise he exhibited his rookie year.

Tennessee at Jacksonville: Jeff Fischer has this team ready to win every week and more importantly, believing that they are the better team. Vince Young is a true field general and leader, who needs to be given better people to throw to. I like watching Tennessee play because they are not afraid from the coach on down to the players. Regarding Jacksonville, I documented in my AFC South Preview how I felt about them and my opinion has not changed any.

Carolina at St. Louis: Steven Jackson is better than he showed, as is the rest of the St. Louis offense. The doubts surrounding the Ram defense were not quelled against Carolina. They were beaten at the line and in the secondary consistently, and I never got the felling that they were going to make a big stop. The Panthers played well all around , especially Delhomme and the running back tandem of Williams and Foster.

Chicago at Chargers: Did not watch most of this game, but did see that the Bear RBs put the ball on the ground too often for them to win any game.