NFL Hangover - Week 1

The first Sunday is in the bag, and I feel like I always do, like I've got a football hangover.

The combination watching a dozen games, losing my bets for the day, finding out my fantasy teams aren't as good as I thought, and of course the nachos, beer and chile have taken their toll. The Monday Nighter will be like that drink you have the day after a bender, just to ease the headache. Only now they have 2 Monday Nighters, so I guess it's like having a couple drinks on a patio the next day. Ok, I'm getting off topic.

Like a lot of fans, I tend to channel surf. I’ll watch 2 games at the same time, then switch to a game that is close if one of the games I’m watching seems like it’s already decided. I’m only going to write about the games I watched, since I believe highlight shows never really indicate the true ebb and flow of momentum or how well a team played overall or under pressure.

Titans (10) at Steelers (13)


Within the first 10 minutes of this game, one thing is glaringly obvious. Troy Palomalu is quite possibly the quickest defender in the league. His closing speed on Chris Johnson and later on Bo Scaife was just unreal. Too bad he got hurt, I was enjoying that display.

This just in, Snoop Dogg is a Steelers fan. They just showed him in a box. I thought Long Beach was in California, not Pennsylvania? See, even Snoop can’t stomach the Raiders.

Big Ben might be the best improvisational quarterback in the league. He seems to excel when the play breaks down.

Late in the 4th quarter, Pittsburgh is destroying the Titans through the air using the no huddle. So what do they do? They huddle, then run twice on 3rd and 2 and get stuffed. Who made that play call?

Hines Ward’s fumble at the end of the game wasn’t a poor play like some people made it out to be, Michael Griffin made a fantastic play to knock the ball loose.

Wait a second, there’s a rule that you get a free, uncontested kick if you fair catch the punt with no time left? Who comes up with this stuff. Someone needs to explain this to me.

Fantastic point by one of the announcers, explaining why players like Marvin Harrison, John Runyan and Derrick Brooks aren’t signed yet. Apparently any player on the week 1 roster has 100% of his salary guaranteed if he’s a vested veteran. If he’s not on the roster until week 2, only 25% of the salary is guaranteed. That’s a big difference for a player who might not stay healthy. Look for these 3 guys to get picked up this week.

Starting the season off with a game that goes into OT, is exactly what the NFL was hoping for.

Jaguars (12) at Colts (14)


The Colts outplayed Jacksonville in the 1st quarter but the interception in the endzone and the fumble by Addai set them back immensely. Losing Anthony Gonzalez isn’t going to help the passing game.

Maurice Jones-Drew (MJD) looks good and Garrard looks efficient. At this point, the Jaguars offense looks promising.

Has anyone else ever noticed that Indy is always playing rap music over the loudspeakers during Colts games? Am I the only one who expected AC/DC or Bon Jovi?

The Colts are having 1 of their DT’s stand up and pass rush from different angles on obvious passing downs. It’s an interesting twist, and it seems to be working. They’re getting good pressure with only the front four.

After an MJD touchdown, the Jaguars try a Wildcat-like direct snap to MJD for the 2 point convert, which is stuffed like a turkey. While I like the Wildcat, it’s not effective inside the 10 yard line, because the defense is too compact for misdirection to open any sizable creases.

Apparently the Colts haven’t fixed their problems in short-yardage offense. They got crushed on a 4th and inches attempt.

The Colts pass rush sealed this victory. Garrard had someone in his face the entire 2nd half.


Vikings (34) at Browns (20)


I watched this game early on, then changed when it got out of hand.

Brett Favre did not impress anyone early on. In the first quarter, he was 5/6 but for only 30 yards.

Brady Quinn took a hit from Kevin Williams that looked primed for the NFL’s first official decapitation.
With ~8 minutes left in the 1st half, Braylon Edwards made a gorgeous catch while being interfered with. Too bad for that re-establishment rule or it was a TD. That said, Brad Childress made a great decision to challenge the play. It saved 4 points.

As I mentioned above, I don’t like the Wildcat inside the 10 yard line. Apparently the Browns were determined to prove me right by running Josh Cribbs out of it on 2nd and goal, and 3rd and goal. He almost scored on the first play, but was smacked on the next one.

With 2:15 left in the half, Favre was sacked by a safety on a play where he could clearly see the rusher, and clearly could do nothing about it. Trust me, when the Vikes play someone good, he’s going to hold them back.

Josh Cribbs takes Cleveland’s offense into his own hands by scoring a TD on a 67 yard punt return.
Brady Quinn is going to get killed unless his O-line steps it up, I’m scared FOR him.


Eagles (38) at Panthers (10)


I only perused this game in the first half. By that time it was out of hand.

Carolina ran a few Wildcat plays with DeAngelo Williams with no success. They may be trying it because Jake Delhomme is looking so pitiful. Sure, the Eagles defense is getting some pressure, but he’s 3/9 for 19 yards and 2 INTs. I think the Panthers would start Brooks Bollinger at this point.

DeSean Jackson took a punt back 85 yards for a touchdown and threw a dagger in the heart of the Panthers at the same time.

Jake Delhomme’s final line when he was yanked: 7/17 for 73 yards and 4 INTs. Cue up Josh McCown’s entrance music for week 2.


Chiefs (24) at Ravens (38)


I didn’t switch to this game until there was 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Frankly, I couldn’t believe it was still close. I may have predicted the Ravens to slide a little, but I didn’t think they were bad enough to lose to the Chiefs.

I change to the game just in time to see Ray Rice burst through the line like a bowling ball on speed. He looked like MJD in his rookie year. Several Ravens fans just high-fived each other. He made 2 more nice runs on the drive and Le’Ron McLain plunged for a yard to put the Ravens up 24-17.

On the return drive, I was shocked by how well the Chiefs moved the ball with Brodie Croyle at quarterback. You can count me among the group who figured the KC coaching staff was thinking “screw it, let’s just throw Croyle in there, take the loss, and move on to week 2 when Cassel’s healthy”. He throws the tying TD with five and a half minutes left. 24-24.

Baltimore then puts their running game into another gear by mixing Rice, McLain and McGahee with a beautiful deep touch from Flacco to score 2 more TDs in the final 3 minutes. Game over.
Let’s give KC some credit for scoring 24 points on the road in Baltimore though.


Broncos (12) at Bengals (7)


Well, this game looked like the biggest snoozer of the NFL for almost the entire day. I kept seeing 3-0 and 6-0 scores on the ticker and really wasn’t interested at all, until I saw the Bengals up 7-6 with less than a minute to go, and most of the other games had finished. I turned to the game at the right time.

For those that haven’t seen the play, here it is. I actually feel terrible for the Bengals. Leon Hall made a gorgeous leap to get his hand on the ball and it looked like a game saving play. Dumb luck helped the Broncos there. Josh McDaniels might want to buy a Powerball ticket, his stars are aligned right now. That said, I like Stokely wasting extra time at the end of the run, really smart.


Redskins (17) at Giants (23)


This was a game I’d been looking forward to all day. I love tough division games. Both teams were talking tough before the game. I especially loved Brandon Jacobs and Alberta Haynesworth jawing at each other, but B-Jac might want to watch that video of Big Al stomping an offensive lineman from a few years back before he gets too yappy.

The Giants started off reasonably well, and then used Ahmad Bradshaw on a toss right in a 3rd and inches situation with about 8 minutes left in the 1st quarter. I thought they had Brandon “265” Jacobs for these situations? As you would predict, the play got stuffed.

The Giants defense looked really good early in this game. A nice interception by Corey Webster and a great fumble return by Umenyiora were the highlights.

The ‘Skins were forced to resort to a fake FG for their first touchdown, but it was a great fake. Nobody on the Giants had a clue it was being run in.

In the 2nd half, Haynesworth continued to be a monster in the middle, Antwaan Randle-El looked like Washington’s only offensive threat and the Giants continued to look like they had no go-to receiver.

The Giants did a really nice job grinding out the lead in the 2nd half with their strong running game and great pass rush. The Redskins, however, showed some resilience and kept it close, but not close enough.

Round 1 goes to the Giants, but I think Washington will surprise a lot of teams.

49ers (20) at Cardinals (16)


I didn’t tune into this game until there were 4 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter and the score was tied 13-13.
This may surprise you, but Arizona doesn’t have a running game. No really, I’m serious. Arizona has a drive stall, but still manages a FG to go up 16-13 in the first play of the 4th quarter.

I like how Shaun Hill is playing. He might lose to Chad Pennington in an arm-strength competition, but he’s feisty and hits the short routes quite well. He makes a nice 3rd down completion to Vernon Davis and then tries a horrible throw to Isaac Bruce and is lucky it isn’t intercepted.

A couple more completions underneath the zone and the Niners are marching down the field. The stats graphic shows that Frank Gore has 16 carries for 26 yards, that’s not a good sign. That’s OK because the Niners pick up a blitz and Hill hits Bruce for another 1st down.

Vernon Davis is getting a lot of looks in the passing game. Apparently he and Mike Singletary have hugged it out.

Another ‘Zona blitz and Hill sees Gore wide open in the flat, touchdown San Fran. 20-16.

Arizona make an attempt to come back down the field but Mark Roman de-cleated Jeremy Urban and Nate Clements just blanketed Larry Fitzgerald for another missed 3rd down conversion.

San Fran got pinned on their 1 yard line and ran the lamest Shotgun draw play on 3rd and 7. Why do teams do this crap when they’re backed up? It never works.

As the Cardinals get the ball back, the graphic on the screen shows that they’ve incurred 11 penalties for 72 yards in this game. Wisenhunt isn’t exactly running a tight ship. As I make a note of it, Jeremy Urban just dropped a wide open pass, but the play was called back for holding anyway. I’d hate to be a Cardinals fan right now.

I’m extremely impressed with how often the ‘Niners are getting to Warner. He has no time to throw and just got sacked on 4th and 5. I thought this would end the game.

The 49ers couldn’t run out the clock, so they have to punt it with 55 seconds left. Somehow Antrel Rolle runs 12 seconds off the clock on a punt return that gained about 3 yards, not pretty.

The Cardinals ran too passing plays that took a total of 35 seconds off the clock to gain 30+ yards and then had to spike the ball with 8 seconds left on their own 45 yard line. Justin Smith doesn’t even let Warner get the hail mary off as he records his 2nd sack in the last 5 minutes.

What a monstrous road win for San Francisco. Next week, I’ll be in attendance when they host the Seahawks. Giddy up.

Bears (15) at Packers (21)


This is a great division rivalry to have on Sunday night. Not only that, but it’s Jay “Trade me right F*@k!ng now” Cutler’s debut with the Bears. As I’ve mentioned before, I think Cutler makes the Bears a much better team.

In a related note, Cutler looks terrible. He gets lucky after 2 passes that should have been picked off, then manages to ensure the INT on his third try. This would be a good time for the Bears offensive coordinator to forget his man-crush on Cutler and use Matt Forte a little.

Neither offense seems to get going early, but it has a lot to do with the defenses. Front seven players are swarming like hornets right now. I love football.

Green Bay might want to stop feeding their offensive lineman the local bratwurst and cheese for a pre-game meal. They’re looking a little sluggish and Aaron Rodgers might get killed.

It took until the 11 minute mark of the 2nd Quarter for an actual offensive series. The Packers seem to have found their rhythm mixing the run and pass to keep the Bears pass rush off balance. They end the drive with a FG.

On the next drive, Cutler hits some kid named Knox for a 60-70 yd play over Charles Woodson. Now THIS is the type of play they expected when they traded for him. The next play didn’t get enough press in my opinion. John Jolly, a Packers d-lineman, makes a one-handed interception on an inside screen to Forte. It was amazing! All the announcers could talk about was another Cutler pick, but it was more of a fantastic defensive play. The pick didn’t matter too much anyway, because the Bears hit Aaron Rodgers for a safety on the blitz.

At this point, with 6 minutes left in the 1st half, Cutler is 5/15 for 111 yards and 2 INTs. Did I mention they should be using Forte? And as soon as I wrote that, he threw another pick. Given my endorsement of Jay Cutler in my season preview, I’m wondering if I’ve just created the Sports-Opinionated Curse.

After a Ryan Grant TD run, the Bears have the ball again with 3 minutes left in the half. Brandon Chillar just hurdled a Chicago running back and sacked Cutler, he looks ready to surrender.

Has anyone else noticed that Clay Matthews Jr. has hair that makes him look like a cast member from Dazed and Confused? Now that I think about it, most of the Packers linebackers have a little “party in the back” going on. Is this like a mustache competition?

Despite a terrible first half, the Bears are only down by 8 points. They’re still in the game.

The Bears come out in the 2nd half having realized that they employ one of the best running backs in the league. A mix of the run and pass along with better protection schemes has them marching down the field.
Cutler hits Hester with a deep pass for a TD, and we have a game. By the way, the Bears now have 2 passing plays over 30 yards, which is one more than they had all last season.

Unfortunately, Brian Urlacher hurts his wrist and is taken out of the game. The news today is that he might miss the whole season. Not great news for the windy city.

Early in the 4th quarter, with the Bears up 12-10, they attempt a fake punt on 4th and 11. I’m just as stunned as the announcers. Later we find out that the long snapper decided to snap to the up-back in order to catch the Packers with 12 men on the field. Who gives the long snapper the power to audible? Why not have the fullback change plays at the line? Of course, Green Bay takes advantage of the field position and kicks a FG to go up 13-12.

Cutler and the offense make a nice drive in the final 10 minutes to get into FG range. Gould nails it and they’re up 15-13. It looks like Cutler might redeem himself.

With a minute and a half left, the Packers make a gutsy play call and get rewarded. On 3rd and 1, they fake the run and Rodgers hits Greg Jennings for a 70 yard TD to take the lead 21-15 after the 2 pt conversion.

The Packers seal the win with an Al Harris interception of Cutler shortly after. He might get run out of town after 1 game. Looks like the S-O Curse is official.

No wonder I feel hung over.