Around the NFC East
Well, the Cowboys lived up to their expectations in Week 1 with an absolutely dominating performance of the Browns. Tony Romo looked even better than last year (even if one game is a small sample size) and the most powerful offense in the league did quite a number on the Cleveland defense. Felix Jones looks to be as dangerous with the ball as HBO made him out to be on Hard Knocks and if Dallas can hold offenses like the Browns off the scoreboard, there is no way this team doesn’t get a bye in the first round of the playoffs. What they do once they get that bye is a different story.
Philadelphia looked good as well, even if it was against one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Rams. I was going back and forth between this game and the Jets and the Patriots and since the Eagles were already up 14-0 in the first, well I can’t say I really watched this blowout. I am not ready to jump on the bandwagon of every “expert” NFL analyst and call the Eagles a 10 or 11 win team because let’s be honest, what is the chance Donovan McNabb plays in every game this season? Either way the Eagles will be tough and will be there in the end and I believe they will earn a wild card bid along with the G-Men.
Around the League
How devastated are the New England Patriots? In the first game since the biggest upset in NFL history, in a season where EVERYONE picked them to with the Super Bowl, there star QB goes down in the first quarter and is now lost for the season. The injury to Tom Brady ended the Patriots season and that is a fact. There is no way that a team, which needed a miraculous four play goal line stand against the Kansas City Chiefs, that’s right the Kansas City Chiefs, to win a game is going anywhere this season. The Jets are better, the Bills are better, and even the Dolphins are better. The Patriots have the easiest schedule in the league as reported by the major media outlets, and so maybe there is a chance they get into the postseason based on that, but that might even be a stretch, and once they get there…well thanks for playing New England.
How bad did the Colts look last night? Peyton Manning and his defense play as poorly as one can imagine the Colts playing with all that talent on their team. I picked the Colts to win the Super Bowl last season and with the Patriots down and out now, I am going to have to say that the Colts will be in the Big Dance once again, but I am not saying they are going to win it. I understand it’s Week 1 and Peyton is coming off a knee injury and didn’t play in pre-season, but come on, a 29-13 to the BEARS, THE BEARS?
The Chargers were just as bad as the Colts if not worse. At least the Colts have the Bears defense as an excuse. What’s the Chargers defense? That Philip Rivers proved he is the most overrated QB in the league or that their own defense was abysmal. I wasn’t sold on the Chargers in 2007 and there is no way anyone can be sold on them in 2008 either. They might have gotten off to a poor start last year before going to the AFC Championship, but who’s to say that will happen again?
The Jets were able to squeak one out against Miami after almost blowing a 20-7 lead and even on a day that was centered around Brett Favre, Chad Pennington shined and made the Dolphins happy that they brought him on board.
Aside from these games the only other interesting one was Tennessee over Jacksonville, in a game that I saw coming from a mile away. The Titans are no joke. They weren’t last year and they weren’t the year before. Are they a championship team? Probably not. But they are a team that will beat very good teams along the way like they did yesterday and they will be in the postseason again.
Lots to come this week as we lead you up to the Giants @ St. Louis in Week 2 with the G-Men trying to get off to their first 2-0 start since 2005. Big Blue has not lost a road game since Week of 1 of last year (September 9th, 2007) at Dallas. And after the number the Eagles did on the Rams yesterday, it looks like Giants will still be undefeated after Sunday.