Wednesday, September 14, 2011

NFL 2011: Week One Review

Thoughts and observations after Week One of the 2011 NFL season:

Green Bay looked wonderful on offense, but gave up 34 points on the other side of the football. My feeling is that it was an blip on the Packer radar, just a product of the high-octane attack that Drew Brees leads for New Orleans. Clay Matthews and co were strangely porous, but that should change next week. And hey, let's face it, Brees is going to torch a lot of good teams this year, so that good Packers D won't be alone!

Indianapolis ran straight into a Houston buzz saw this Sunday, even without their star RB Arian Foster in the Texans backfield. Watch the media go wild this week with all manner of doom and gloom about the Colts' fortunes this season! Maybe it was just an early season aberration on both sides? They happen, you know?

The Detroit Lions are 1-0! No, that's not a mis-print. They looked pretty good, snuffing out a late Tampa Bay rally. QB Matt Stafford - destined to become a superstar, I think - had a good day, going 24-33 for 305 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. If the Lions can stay healthy, they'll be a threat for a Wild Card berth. Their problem? They play in the talent-laden NFC North.

Pittsburgh were run over by a very impressive Baltimore Ravens teams, to the tune of 35-7. This one was a massive departure from the close, low-scoring tussles we're used to when these teams get together. Joe Flacco had a solid day, 17-29 for 224 and 3 TDs and Ray Rice had 107 and a score on the ground. The story here, though, is Ben Roethlisberger's horrible day: 22-41 for 280 yards, 1 TD and a horrible 3 INTs. Either an early-season aberration like with the Colts or a changing of the AFC North guard?

Chicago beat Atlanta 30-12. I'm not so much surprised that the Bears won - this game could've gone either way - but the way in which they won was a shock. The dominated on both sides of the football, and Atlanta looked at sea for most of the time, especially on offense. Brian Urlacher had a huge game and looked like his old self once more. Good news for the Bears, bad news for anyone facing them!

FOX are labelling the Redskins vs. Giants contest America's Game of the Week? Oh really? What about New Orleans vs. Green Bay or Dallas vs. NY Jets? Seriously, the network who employs Joe Buck to call both football and baseball is not a good judge of anything!

Tony Romo isn't doing much to shed his 'Choker' tag. The Cowboys looked like world-beaters for 3 quarters on Sunday night. Then they fell apart horribly, fumbling the ball, giving up a blocked punt return for a TD and Romo's horrible throw that was intercepted by a gleeful and grateful Darelle Revis. Romo swears he was throwing for his receiver, but I wonder, based on the way he tossed the football right to Revis Island, whether a conspiracy is afoot. Just kidding. But I'm not kidding about the Cowboys. Another game where Romo misses a chance to stamp himself as a legitimate big-time performer in the NFL.

What more can be said about Tom Brady that hasn't already been said? The greatest sixth round draft pick in the history of the NFL did a number on the Miami Dolphins last night, 32-28 for a whopping 517 yards, 4 TDs - one of which was a 99-yard monster to Wes Welker - and a solitary INT. Amazing numbers on an amazing night that also saw a record-tying 63-yard field goal in Denver.

NBC announced that 25.8 million people watched the Sunday Night Football game between the Jets and Cowboys. That's the most ever for a SNF broadcast, up 2% from the corresponding game last year - Dallas vs. Washington. Ridiculous numbers!!

No comments:

Post a Comment