Week 1's Final Drive
Week 1 of the National Football League season has come and gone. Seeing three home teams get shut out made it about as strange a weekend as I can ever remember. Speaking of home teams struggling , we saw road teams go a combined 11-5. Needless to say, Vegas must have loved this weekend.
Going forward, this is going to be a weekly NFL wrap-up that I hope to have done every Tuesday morning.
First Down - Things I Liked
-Sean Payton did a tremendous job of dividing the touches between his two star running backs, Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush. Each got 22 offensive touches and the two backs combined to gain 209 yards of total offense. You can only expect this to get better.
-Donovan McNabb looked like a new man in his debut against Houston, throwing for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns. Donte’ Stallworth quickly made Philadelphia fans forget all about Mr. Owens, hauling in 6 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.
-Baltimore’s defense destroyed Tampa Bay’s young offense while holding them to 116 yards of total offense and forcing Chris Simms to throw three interceptions.
-San Diego’s defensive front seven was absolutely scary in the Black Hole on Monday night. The Chargers defense sacked Oakland’s quarterbacks 9 times, lead by the extremely impressive Shawne Merriman who had 3 sacks of his own.
-The Jacksonville Jaguars played an extremely solid game after hearing the so-called experts down play their team. The only thing I would worry about is season-ending injury to pass rusher Reggie Hayward. Hayward led the Jags with 8.5 sacks last season.
-Atlanta’s defense was all over the field and the Falcons completely dominated both Panthers lines. John Abraham had two sacks and two forced fumbles while Warrick Dunn and company ran for 252 yards over the highly rated Panthers defense.
-Patriots first round draft pick Laurence Maroney was awesome in his debut. His combination of speed and power is going to be a huge weapon for Tom Brady.
-LaDainian Tomlinson sliced up a Raider defense to the point where it looked as if Oakland had given up.
-Chad Pennington was back to his efficient self against the Titans. While Tennessee looked extremely disorganized, Pennington looked great while in complete control of this game.
-Buffalo may have lost to the Patriots but the defense had some very strong moments. The speed of the Bills could cause a lot of problems for teams with quarterbacks throughout the league. Matt Schobel was constantly in Tom Brady’s backfield causing havoc.
Second Down - Things I Did Not Like
-The entire performance of Oakland Raiders was brutal. Aaron Brooks had no time to get passes off yet the Raiders continued to run long routes. The offensive line provided zero protection and opened so few holes for Lamont Jordan to run through the Raiders basically gave up.
-Jake Plummer had that deer in the head lights look back from his Cardinals days. Jake took way too many chances and every time the Rams put pressure on him, he seemed to throw the ball away. You have to wonder if Jay Cutler looking over his shoulder is making him apprehensive.
-The cheap shot by Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers was despicable and merits a suspension by the league. These blatant late shots which injure players have got to stop and League should make an example of Geathers.
-The officiating as a whole was very poor, especially on offensive pass interference calls. In just the games I saw; Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and Giants receiver Tim Carter were called for pushing off on two highly questionable plays that arguably cost their teams chances at victory.
-The highly regarded Washington Redskins defense was extremely mediocre against an average Vikings offense. The ‘Skins could not get off the field on third down and continued to get torched by Brad Johnson and his receivers.
-Tampa Bays offensive line got roughed up by the Ravens defense in what turned out to be a completely one sided rout. Tampa spent a lot of time and money reworking their line, but it showed no resistance to the Ravens physicality.
-Carolina’s defense was terrible against the Falcons offense. Going into this season the so-called experts were expecting John Fox’s boys to challenge the Bears defense for the top spot in the league. I can assure you that Chicago would never allow such a display by an opposing offense.
-Houston’s offensive line left much to be desired this weekend. Gary Kubiak was supposed to come in with schemes he used with the Broncos in order to better protect David Carr. It was apparent pretty quickly that Houston has zero running game and not much more protection than last season.
-The Lions inequality on offense was reminiscent of Mike Martz’s last few years in St. Louis. You cannot have John Kitna throwing the ball 37 times while only running the ball 17 times.
-The red zone inefficiency of the Rams could be a huge problem in St. Louis. Your kicker attempting 7 field goals in a game and winning is not a likely combination most of the time.
Third Down - Top Games from Next Week
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars
Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks
Fourth Down - Top Ten
Indianapolis - I am not in love with their defense; however, they did go into a hostile environment and won a big game.
Seattle - This ranking is not based on their performance in Week 1, it is based more on the Deion Branch deal.
Chicago - The Bears finally have an offense that might be able to score a few points.
Baltimore - Going into a quality opponent’s stadium on opening day and pitching a shutout is something else.
Pittsburgh - While I don’t think Miami is the playoff team every one else thinks they are, I was impressed by the Steelers performance.
Atlanta - The Falcons dominated a lot of peoples Super Bowl pick from the NFC.
Jacksonville - The Jaguars shut up a lot of their detractors with their win over the Cowboys.
New England - The Pats look like a team changing from a passing offense to a punishing run one.
Philadelphia - The only area Philly looked shaky in was their secondary as David Carr had a chance to make a lot of big plays on Sunday.
San Diego - While they were not exactly playing a Super Bowl contender on Monday night, they did embarrass a team in a tough stadium.
Going forward, this is going to be a weekly NFL wrap-up that I hope to have done every Tuesday morning.
First Down - Things I Liked
-Sean Payton did a tremendous job of dividing the touches between his two star running backs, Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush. Each got 22 offensive touches and the two backs combined to gain 209 yards of total offense. You can only expect this to get better.
-Donovan McNabb looked like a new man in his debut against Houston, throwing for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns. Donte’ Stallworth quickly made Philadelphia fans forget all about Mr. Owens, hauling in 6 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.
-Baltimore’s defense destroyed Tampa Bay’s young offense while holding them to 116 yards of total offense and forcing Chris Simms to throw three interceptions.
-San Diego’s defensive front seven was absolutely scary in the Black Hole on Monday night. The Chargers defense sacked Oakland’s quarterbacks 9 times, lead by the extremely impressive Shawne Merriman who had 3 sacks of his own.
-The Jacksonville Jaguars played an extremely solid game after hearing the so-called experts down play their team. The only thing I would worry about is season-ending injury to pass rusher Reggie Hayward. Hayward led the Jags with 8.5 sacks last season.
-Atlanta’s defense was all over the field and the Falcons completely dominated both Panthers lines. John Abraham had two sacks and two forced fumbles while Warrick Dunn and company ran for 252 yards over the highly rated Panthers defense.
-Patriots first round draft pick Laurence Maroney was awesome in his debut. His combination of speed and power is going to be a huge weapon for Tom Brady.
-LaDainian Tomlinson sliced up a Raider defense to the point where it looked as if Oakland had given up.
-Chad Pennington was back to his efficient self against the Titans. While Tennessee looked extremely disorganized, Pennington looked great while in complete control of this game.
-Buffalo may have lost to the Patriots but the defense had some very strong moments. The speed of the Bills could cause a lot of problems for teams with quarterbacks throughout the league. Matt Schobel was constantly in Tom Brady’s backfield causing havoc.
Second Down - Things I Did Not Like
-The entire performance of Oakland Raiders was brutal. Aaron Brooks had no time to get passes off yet the Raiders continued to run long routes. The offensive line provided zero protection and opened so few holes for Lamont Jordan to run through the Raiders basically gave up.
-Jake Plummer had that deer in the head lights look back from his Cardinals days. Jake took way too many chances and every time the Rams put pressure on him, he seemed to throw the ball away. You have to wonder if Jay Cutler looking over his shoulder is making him apprehensive.
-The cheap shot by Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers was despicable and merits a suspension by the league. These blatant late shots which injure players have got to stop and League should make an example of Geathers.
-The officiating as a whole was very poor, especially on offensive pass interference calls. In just the games I saw; Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and Giants receiver Tim Carter were called for pushing off on two highly questionable plays that arguably cost their teams chances at victory.
-The highly regarded Washington Redskins defense was extremely mediocre against an average Vikings offense. The ‘Skins could not get off the field on third down and continued to get torched by Brad Johnson and his receivers.
-Tampa Bays offensive line got roughed up by the Ravens defense in what turned out to be a completely one sided rout. Tampa spent a lot of time and money reworking their line, but it showed no resistance to the Ravens physicality.
-Carolina’s defense was terrible against the Falcons offense. Going into this season the so-called experts were expecting John Fox’s boys to challenge the Bears defense for the top spot in the league. I can assure you that Chicago would never allow such a display by an opposing offense.
-Houston’s offensive line left much to be desired this weekend. Gary Kubiak was supposed to come in with schemes he used with the Broncos in order to better protect David Carr. It was apparent pretty quickly that Houston has zero running game and not much more protection than last season.
-The Lions inequality on offense was reminiscent of Mike Martz’s last few years in St. Louis. You cannot have John Kitna throwing the ball 37 times while only running the ball 17 times.
-The red zone inefficiency of the Rams could be a huge problem in St. Louis. Your kicker attempting 7 field goals in a game and winning is not a likely combination most of the time.
Third Down - Top Games from Next Week
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars
Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks
Fourth Down - Top Ten
Indianapolis - I am not in love with their defense; however, they did go into a hostile environment and won a big game.
Seattle - This ranking is not based on their performance in Week 1, it is based more on the Deion Branch deal.
Chicago - The Bears finally have an offense that might be able to score a few points.
Baltimore - Going into a quality opponent’s stadium on opening day and pitching a shutout is something else.
Pittsburgh - While I don’t think Miami is the playoff team every one else thinks they are, I was impressed by the Steelers performance.
Atlanta - The Falcons dominated a lot of peoples Super Bowl pick from the NFC.
Jacksonville - The Jaguars shut up a lot of their detractors with their win over the Cowboys.
New England - The Pats look like a team changing from a passing offense to a punishing run one.
Philadelphia - The only area Philly looked shaky in was their secondary as David Carr had a chance to make a lot of big plays on Sunday.
San Diego - While they were not exactly playing a Super Bowl contender on Monday night, they did embarrass a team in a tough stadium.
posted by marinjos at 11:13 AM
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