Week 1 thoughts TM My internet was out edition.

**NAHSTE** · 09-16-2010, 04:52 PM

I did some week 1 thoughts on my blog (link in sig), but I'll copy and paste them below:

Football, it’s so good to have you back. Don’t ever leave us again.

That’s all I can say after the NFL’s first weekend. Football is back and we’re all better off. Welcome back football, and really, welcome back happiness.

The Falcs’ supposedly high-powered offense faltered against the Steelers, who were sans rapist but not sans defense.

Credit to Pittsburgh, who got the win in OT, despite some shaky QB play from Dennis Dixon, who threw an early interception and was seemingly trying to throw several more throughout the game. It was all over when the Falcons won the coin toss but failed to move the ball on the Steelers’ D. After a quick punt, Pittsburgh running back Rashard Mendenhall raced 50 yards up the sideline to put the game away.

Gaining just 58 yards on the ground, including 42 for Burner (2.2 YPC), the offense failed to move the ball when it mattered most. Roddy White (13 grabs, 111 yards) was a lone bright spot in the offense, but the interception at the end of regulation was a result of Atlanta’s over-reliance on the Pro Bowl receiver. It was above all else an incredible play by Polamalu to be able to cover that much ground, undercut the route, make the catch and keep his feet in bounds. It was almost as if…gasp.. he knew it was coming. It’s not hard to account for a player when he makes up 50% of a team’s passing offense. Until a receiver emerges opposite of Roddy White, teams are going to be able to stop the Falcons in similar late game situations.

Without question, when Troy Polamalu is on the field for Pittsburgh their defense is the best in the league. But you still have to wonder if this Falcons offense was a bit oversold going into the year. Perhaps we’re just a top-15 unit and that’s it. Until we play as well on the road as we do at home, we’re far from elite on the offensive side of the ball.

Welcome back disappointment. Welcome back frustration. Welcome back Falcons.

Other welcome backs around the league….

First things first. A warm welcome back to number 7, Michael Vick, who entered the game in relief a concussed Kevin Kolb and almost brought the Eagles back against the Packers. He was running around like the Vick of old, giving me flashbacks to the many hours I spent abusing his unfair speed rating in Madden 2004. Not only did he rush for 100 yards, he did damage with his arm too, completing 16 of 24 attempts for 172 yards. Amazingly, after turning in one of the best performances of his career, it’s still uncertain whether he’ll replace Kolb as the full-time starter. What am I missing here? How can Reid not name Vick the starter after that performance?

He's baaaack...(AP Photo)

As for the Packers, Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings were an impressive pair, hooking up on the prettiest touchdown of the day. The Green Bay offensive line, however, was nothing short of terrible.

… A welcome to NFL relevancy is in order for the Houston Texans, who appear to finally be over the hump after finishing off the Indianapolis Colts in their Week 1 game. The key for Houston: Arian Foster, who went absolutely ape shit, rushing for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Entering the game, the Colts were 15-1 all-time in the series, so you know that as soon as Manning started cutting into the lead in the second half, every Texans fan was thinking “Here we go again.”

The typical Texans would’ve let Indy back in it, but not this time. They gave Indy the Jason Voorhees treatment in the fourth quarter, not ceasing to run over them until they were totally done. So Houston, welcome to the NFL. You may actually post a winning season this year. I wouldn’t go crazy about Arian Foster just yet though, I’m leaning towards that being an aberration. The Colts defense really is that soft.

…I’d like to extend the same welcome to the Detroit Lions, who came this close to beating the Bears for what would have been their first road win in three years. And while I’d like to offer condolences to Lions fans for getting screwed by the officials, I’ve watched the overturned touchdown a dozen times and have to side with the rulebook. It’s a shit way to lose a game, but the rule is a good one.

Still, it’s too bad the Lions couldn’t hold on (see what I did there?) because Chicago really didn’t deserve to win. The Bears were atrocious in the red zone last season and look to be right back there this year. They went 0-4 on possessions inside the 20. The Lions have a lot to be proud of, especially doing it without Matt Stafford. The young Georgia product will miss some significant time after watching the second half in a sling. Before the injury, Stafford had completed 11 of 15 passes for 83 yards.

…Welcome to the NFL, Sam Bradford. Bradford was impressive in his debut, throwing for 253 yards. He also got his first career touchdown pass on a ballsy 4th-and-1 attempt. (At to the :30 mark of the video, Laurent Robinson hands the ball to a family member wearing his jersey in the stands. That killed me. A rookie throws his first career touchdown and the receiver gives the ball away.)

The Rams lost to Arizona 17-13, but with the passable play of Bradford their offense moves from “unwatchable under any circumstances” to “strangely intriguing”. The return of competent quarterback play to St. Louis has restored the fantasy viability of Steven Jackson, who rushed for 81 yards, and it might soon do the same for the Rams’ receivers. Mark Clayton should be a hot fantasy pick-up this week after his 10 reception, 119 yard performance.

…Also getting his NFL baptism was Tim Tebow, (see what I did there?) who carried the ball twice for two yards. In his defense, they were a very a very leadership-y and intangible-y two yards. Nobody gets two yards like Tim Tebow gets two yards.

**KINGOFOOTBALL** · 09-17-2010, 12:01 PM

All teams look bad against Pitt when there on there game.

Ryan and TubbyHB need to prove they arent flash in the pans though. They arent getting anymore passes for mediocrity. The expectations are very much there.

**Warner2BruceTD** · 09-17-2010, 12:49 PM

I typed up mine on Sunday night/Monday morning at like 4am, but I got the dreaded server error/back button black hole of death combo.

As for senser, I believe he is, in fact, dead.

**KINGOFOOTBALL** · 09-17-2010, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by Warner2BruceTD

I typed up mine on Sunday night/Monday morning at like 4am, but I got the dreaded server error/back button black hole of death combo.

As for senser, I believe he is, in fact, dead.

Ugh...I cant stand that damn error. Many a Pulitzer worthy posts have been lost due to that crap. Only forum I have to use notepad with.

Sensers dead ? Maybe Dave will be less moody now.

**Warner2BruceTD** · 09-17-2010, 01:09 PM

Senser is lurking

**Senser81** · 09-17-2010, 01:11 PM

Thanks for the kind words about my demise.

Some comments on the comments already made.

*The Cowboys play at the end of the 1st half reminded me of the Redskins-Raiders Super Bowl when Joe Thiesmann throws an INT to Jack Squirek on the last play of the 1st half. I think Week 1 showed that Dallas is once again going to be a hard-to-predict team.

*I think people are making too much out of one week. I think the Rams will continue to suck. They looked decent because the Cards will also be bad this year.

*Troy Polamalu is a HOFer, IMO. When he plays, its like he's in fast-forward. The Steelers D is great when he's on the field. That said, the Falcons pissed away an easy win with a couple unlucky breaks and some horrible coaching. Dennis Dixon is beyond bad.

*I hate the catch "rule" and the fact that the officials can hide behind a rule in the face of common sense. To me, the NFL rules are so complicated that they take away all subjective reasoning from the officials. While some people think that's good, the Calvin Johnson play says otherwise. If the NFL isn't going to let the officials use their judgement, why have them in the first place?

*I'll end on my favorite player, Mike Vick. I somewhat disagree with KOF in that Vick's game against the Packers was nearly flawless. He ran well AND passed well. I honestly think that is because Vick did not start the game and there were no expectations or 'gameplan' for him to follow. I think Vick hits a wall when coaches want him to execute plays rather than make them, and I think coaches "overload" Vick with too much info. I would guess that if Vick starts this Sunday, he won't do nearly as well as he did against the Packers, because Andy Reid will have overcoached Vick.

**Warner2BruceTD** · 09-17-2010, 01:12 PM

Oh, and as for London Fletcher, I've been on that bandwagon for a long time. One of the most underappreciated players of his era. He is seemingly in on every tackle.

**KINGOFOOTBALL** · 09-17-2010, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by Senser81

Thanks for the kind words about my demise.

Some comments on the comments already made.

*The Cowboys play at the end of the 1st half reminded me of the Redskins-Raiders Super Bowl when Joe Thiesmann throws an INT to Jack Squirek on the last play of the 1st half. I think Week 1 showed that Dallas is once again going to be a hard-to-predict team.

*I think people are making too much out of one week. I think the Rams will continue to suck. They looked decent because the Cards will also be bad this year.

*Troy Polamalu is a HOFer, IMO. When he plays, its like he's in fast-forward. The Steelers D is great when he's on the field. That said, the Falcons pissed away an easy win with a couple unlucky breaks and some horrible coaching. Dennis Dixon is beyond bad.

*I hate the catch "rule" and the fact that the officials can hide behind a rule in the face of common sense. To me, the NFL rules are so complicated that they take away all subjective reasoning from the officials. While some people think that's good, the Calvin Johnson play says otherwise. If the NFL isn't going to let the officials use their judgement, why have them in the first place?

*I'll end on my favorite player, Mike Vick. I somewhat disagree with KOF in that Vick's game against the Packers was nearly flawless. He ran well AND passed well. I honestly think that is because Vick did not start the game and there were no expectations or 'gameplan' for him to follow. I think Vick hits a wall when coaches want him to execute plays rather than make them, and I think coaches "overload" Vick with too much info. I would guess that if Vick starts this Sunday, he won't do nearly as well as he did against the Packers, because Andy Reid will have overcoached Vick.

Troy is amazing. The amount of field he covers is ridiculous. One of the few DBs in this league I always look forward to watching.

Isnt this 2 out of 3 years now where some "new" rule to make reffing easier resulted in the wrong team winning ?
((sd den 08 ?))
I think the NFL tinkers just for the sake of making the meetings worth going to in the off season.

BTW that redskin play was one of NFLN;s top 10 goofs of all time.
Tony Romo is now involved in two of the biggest blunders ever. oy vay.

Originally posted by Warner2BruceTD

Oh, and as for London Fletcher, I've been on that bandwagon for a long time. One of the most underappreciated players of his era. He is seemingly in on every tackle.

He reminds me of Sam Mills ((for stature reasons mostly)) but he makes so many plays outside of his base responsibility area. Thats what top tier defenders do. Hes done it for a long time.

**NAHSTE** · 09-17-2010, 02:25 PM

Senser, welcome back. As for your last point about Vick, I agree. It's no coincidence that the least sophisticated offense coach he's ever had (Reeves) got the most out of him during his career. His famous quote was "there's always two plays out there with Mike, first is the play I call in the huddle and the other play he ends up making."

It's kind of pointless to draw up fancy schemes with that much raw athleticism at your disposal. Let the guy react, outrun people, and use his arm strength to hit guys who are wide open. Instead, the ego maniac offensive "gurus" like Bobby "Scumfuck" Petrino and Greg "If he's your OC, you're probably ready for a" Knapp who always try to force him to adapt to their patented "system", as if it's the only way you can win a football game.

Because without the system these coaches would be admitting their worthless, if you let Vick play outside of the "system" which got you hired, you become expendible . At 65, Reeves didn't give a damn about his reputation or his need to assert control of the team. He let the player play. Hopefully Andy Reid does the same thing but I doubt it. He's already showing how stubborn he is by refusing to fully commit to Vick as the starter, only because Kolb was "his guy."

**Senser81** · 09-17-2010, 02:31 PM

Who are you?

**NAHSTE** · 09-17-2010, 02:34 PM

Originally posted by Senser81

Who are you?

NAHSTradomous

**Senser81** · 09-17-2010, 02:37 PM

Originally posted by Smuggle Shepard

NAHSTradomous

Really? I thought you were Larry.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been back in the slammer for the past couple weeks for a parole violation, but I'm out now and was able to catch some replays of NFL games on the NFL network. A lot of lousy games in Week 1. Jets-Ravens, Cowboys-Skins, and Falcons-Steelers were all unwatchable.

**nflman2033** · 09-17-2010, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by Smuggle Shepard

NAHSTradomous

ah that explains it.

**nflman2033** · 09-17-2010, 02:43 PM

Originally posted by Senser81

Really? I thought you were Larry.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been back in the slammer for the past couple weeks for a parole violation, but I'm out now and was able to catch some replays of NFL games on the NFL network. A lot of lousy games in Week 1. Jets-Ravens, Cowboys-Skins, and Falcons-Steelers were all unwatchable.

yeah honestly week one sucked so bad I honestly just don't have anything to say, everyone looked like it was still preseason out there. can't believe the league wants to cut Preseason to 2 games, they do that and we have 3 shitty weeks of regular season football

Week 1 thoughts TM My internet was out edition.