As you all know, I'm a football fanatic. Imagine my excitement this weekend, the first weekend of the NFL season! Sunday football is now in the past and I thought it appropriate to blog a bit on what I consider the weirdest weekend in football. To start the fun, I completed an online test on Friday in which you have 5 minutes to name all the starting quarterbacks for week 1. I got 29 in 5 minutes...damn you Rams, Bills, 49ers. It wasn't even that I didn't know them, I just drew a blank. And onto football...
Let's start with the obvious. Brett Favre, face of the Green Bay Packers for 16 years, is wearing another green jersey this weekend, that of the NY Jets. His first start as a Jet is in Miami, facing a Dolphins team now quarterbacked by the last face of the NY Jets, Chad Pennington. In my life, Favre has always been with the Packers. It is still strange to think of him as anything but a Packer, however, on this Sunday, we were watching Favre play for the Jets. Talk about weird. Favre showed signs of his old self, throwing 2 TDs, including one that was quoted as "God wanted that to be a touchdown, and so it was". Strange took on a new facet when the 4th quarter marked a Dolphins comeback by none other than the Jet cast-off, Pennington. Down to the red zone, one last shot to win the game...pass is in the air and it's...intercepted! But wait, there's a flag! My brother thought for sure it would be pass interference on the defense with a first and goal on the 1 and the Dolphins would win it. Thankfully, I correctly called the play as offensive pass interference and with a final Favre kneel-down, the game was over. Jets, 20-14.
Moving on to the saddest. Tom Brady, my dreamboat of the NFL, is back in action with his New England Patriots against a seemingly easy to beat team, the Chiefs. Halfway through the first quarter, tragedy struck. When dropping back to pass, the running back, Sammy Morris, picked up the block from a charging Bernard Pollard. In taking down Pollard, the tackle fell right into the left knee of my beautiful quarterback crush and down he goes in severe pain. He left the game and was not to return. Matt Cassel, a career back-up (to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinhart at USC, and of course, Tom Brady), is thrust into the game, where the Patriots squeak out a victory, 17-10. Reports are back today that Brady will have season-ending knee surgery, although the minister of darkness, Coach Belichick, has no comment on the nature of the injury. I read last night that "your arm could be severed and Belichick will term it an abrasion". New England has a policy of not commenting on injuries.
What may be the most interesting turn of events, Baltimore won a game solely on offense scoring prowess. In the years since football returned to Baltimore, the Ravens have been stalwart in their defensive strategy and have often won games through defensive turn-overs for scores and on the leg of Matt Stover. I remember the entire October schedule in the year they went onto win the Super Bowl, all the scores were field goals. Seriously. Imagine my surprise when not only did they score a field goal, but had two rushes for touchdowns. One TD was on the legs of wide receiver Mark Clayton, for 40 odd yards, and the other on rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco, for a career high rush of 30 some yards and the score. This also marks a win for the coaching debut of John Harbaugh (formerly with the...blecch...Eagles). Ravens, 17-10. It is also worthy to note that the much talked about Chad Johnson-now-Ocho Cinco was unable to debut his new surname due to some contract issues with the NFL. Soon, I hear.
While on the topic of rookie quarterbacks and new coaches, the Falcons had an unusually decent showing against the Lions. This is the second incident in the same weekend of a rookie quarterback winning his first NFL start in week 1 of the season under a new coach; the Ravens, obviously, the other. Only one other time in history has this ever happened. Like I said, crazy! Even crazier is that in the first quarter, Atlanta jumped to a 21-0 lead over Detroit. Three scores in a quarter...by the Falcons! Of course, Detroit came roaring back (ha, the Lions roared back...I so amuse myself), but the Falcons, with rookie Matt Ryan (BC) at the helm, held on to win 34-21. Finally some distance from the Michael Vick saga...
Most of the other early games were pretty obvious victories. The teams from PA had one hell of an outing. You might have thought someone light a firecracker under our fine little state. Willie Parker ran like a mad man and Ben Giambarresi-Roethlisberger was consistent as he consistently is in the Pittsburgh victory over the Texans (sorry guys, you still have some things to work on). And, as much as it pains me to say, Donovan McNabb looked like the quarterback he SHOULD be in a convincing Eagle victory over the team that shall take over the bottom rung on the standings ladder, the Rams. Also not surpring was the Buffalo victory over Seattle (face it, they're never as good as you think they are). Buffalo is going to be tough for the AFC East, especially now that the division is up for grabs. Tampa Bay and New Orleans put on a nail-biter, similar to that we saw with Miami and NY Jets, with the Saints marching in for a victory. Given some personal ties to NOLA, I have a special place for anything good coming to those poor people. And by this, I definitely do not mean Hurricane Ike!
The late games roll around and two not really surprising games...Dallas winning over Cleveland and Arizona over SF. Maybe Brady Quinn could take one from Tony Romo and find himself a little blonde pop tart while he's riding the pine behind Derek Anderson. Cleveland has the potential to be decent; it was just unfortunate their first outing was to face the Cowgirls. Out west, the 49ers continued their abysmal showing. Have they been any good since the Steve Young era? I am glad that the Packers didn't take Alex Smith (jury is out on Aaron Rodgers yet, though). He's quite a bust. And Kurt Warner continues the greatest show on...desert sand? There's no turf out there, but he's still awesome none the less. Matt Leinhart, learn what you can. Maybe when you out grow the childish antics, you'll be good too. You'll always be pretty though.
In the most surprising afternoon action, the Carolina Panthers...yep, that team that kinda sucked last year...beat the San Diego Chargers...yep, that team that chokes in the playoffs every year, Marty or Norv, doesn't matter. It was a close game, down to the wire, but for a team without it's "star" WR, Steve Smith, the Panthers actually showed some signs of actual football, predominantly on the foot of kicker John Kasay (remind you of the Ravens, much?). QB Jake Delhomme actually looked like the Jake of old and threw the game-winning TD with time expiring. Not to discredit SD, who had solid performances from Philip Rivers and that running back we all love, LaDainian Tomlinson (what's with the sunvisor ALL the time?), the Panthers had some strange force acting upon them...
And finally, for what might be the most strange of the entire weekend, Sunday night brought us a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago, Colts and Bears. However, this strange weekend of football karma reversed the outcome, with the Bears putting up quite a dominating performance and winning, 29-13. I am not a Manning fan (Peyton or Eli) and it does not make me sad when either loses. I have become quite accustomed to watching Peyton shed tears almost every year when Tom Brady and the Patriots would roll over him, but there have been a few recent instances where that just hasn't happened and this is very sad. But, you ask, da Bears? Yes. Da Bears. The defense caused Peyton, coming off knee surgery in his first game experience since said surgery, to look rather amateurish. He still had a statistically good game, but some of those passes were rather sad and off the mark. Brush off that rust, darlin'. You need it. Vinatieri, however awesome he may be, can't win it for you. He's not Matt Stover. And you're not the Ravens. Marvin Harrison failed to do anything spectacular and injuries were suffered by both the RB Addai and TE Clark. Maybe this had something to do with the new Lucas Oil Stadium. Is it possible the Bears are environmentalists and not so positive for big business?
Finally, I just want to quickly mention the preceding Thursday night game between the defending Super Bowl champs, NY Giants and the Redskins. What a pathetically, awful game to show to start the season. Redskins fans are in for a very long season. Someone needs to breathe life into this team and unfortunately, there's a short, short list of people who like Dan Snyder and would be willing to do just that. Good luck Coach Zorn. And you Giants fans, your team only put up 16 points against a very pathetic DC team. Sad. Not at all reminiscent of the team that beat my Packers in January and then my boyfriend and the Patriots in February. I'm still in denial those two games happened, especially watching you start off a season like you did, Giants. Awful.
Tonight...Monday Night Football...ESPN. Or for me, via whatever nice live feed from China or Japan I select for my online viewing pleasure. This will be the first Packers game in my life without Favre under center and the first game for the "heir" Aaron Rodgers. You better win this game, Aaron, or the Packer faithful are going to turn ugly. Favre had one hell of a game yesterday and we all watched it. If you lose to the biggest rivals on Earth, the Vikings, at HOME, your head will be hunted. And they're crazy NRA people up there in cheeseland. The late game is between the Broncos and the Raiders and only if that was the only football left in my lifetime to view would I even desire to watch. Go PACKERS!
