After the last play of Monday night's San Diego/Oakland game, the NFL's first week came to an end and there weren't too many surprises. Most of the teams lived up to what everyone expected, some showed more and some showed much less. Three games that stood out were the defending NFC champion, Arizona Cardinals, losing to the San Francisco 49ers, the Carolina Panthers getting man-handled by the Eagles who forced Jake Delhomme to throw 4 interceptions and lose 1 fumble and of course the New York Jets beating down the Houston Texans with a rookie QB giving a strong performance in his debut. Most of the other games went as we all thought they would, with only a little bit of flare here and there through out each game.
The Bills almost and probably should have beat the Patriots, but of course Brady came up in the end with a win at home, cracking his smile from the Stetson cologne ads. The Saints' Drew Brees showcased his ability to dominate and threw 6 TDs against the Arena Football League Detroit Lions. The Giants did their thing and relied heavily on their defense without exposing the most overpaid QB in the NFL. On the other side, the most exciting player in the NFL, Adrian Peterson, did not disappoint, scoring 3 times while rushing for 180 yards against Cleveland, sparing Brett Favre from having to explain why he threw for a paltry 110 yards. Eric Mangini came up short, like he usually does coaching for the team where began his career as a ball boy. Brandon Stokley saved his Denver Broncos from embarrassment against the Bengals, winning the tip drill on a botched interception, taking it 87 yards to the house in a stunning ending to an otherwise boring game. Aaron Rodgers took the Packers down the field with under 2 minutes to play, beating the Bears, who unfortunately lost Brian Urlacher for the entire season and who saw their new QB, Jay Cutler throw 4 interceptions. Not a great start to your career in Chicago, huh Jay? Green Bay may have a chance in the competitive NFC North if Rodgers plays like that all season. Miami came back down to earth after last year's fluke season. Everyone was caught off guard last year with the Wildcat offense, but not this time Chad. Atlanta quietly took care of the Dolphins, sacking Pennington 4 times and taking advantage of Miami's 4 turnovers. Tony Gonzalez continued his success with his new team, Atlanta, and scored on a 20 yard TD pass after the Falcons intercepted Pennington. And, St. Louis showed fans that the circus left town years ago and that the Rams who were once known as the "best show on turf", have lost that high powered offense they once had. Without the likes of Warner, Holt, Bruce and Faulk, they now have become the Detroit Lions of the NFC West, getting shutout by Seattle this week and continuing the horrendous play from last year.
It is only week 1, but that usually is an indicator of how the season will play out for a lot of teams. There is of course plenty of parity in the NFL and some things will change, but starting the regular season off well can set the tone. Hopefully there will be surprises down the road and that fans will get a chance to see some teams succeed that they are not used to seeing do so. There are a lot of players who haven't had a chance to play yet as well, due to suspensions and injury, so that will bring a new feel and boost to those teams. The NFL is an exciting league and it builds up so much hype during the week, that by the time Sunday comes, the fans have almost forgotten about last week. It is true that "on any given Sunday" any team can look like the best in the league, so keep your hopes up Detroit!
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