- Packers-Seahawks: Tremendous play-calling by Darrell Bevell leads Russell Wilson and Seattle to another impressive spotlight win. GB BEST: Aaron Rodgers effortlessly flinging accurate 50-yard bombs running away from pressure showed why he's special. GB WORST: Run and pass blocking was light in the cakes, and RT Derek Sherrod was especially abused. SEA BEST: Russell Wilson is developing into one of the best game managers in football, which is nothing at all to be ashamed of. SEA WORST: I still think not using Marshawn Lynch more is a mistake, although I get trying to keep him fresh.
- Saints-Falcons: Another pair of Matty Ice fire drills earn Atlanta points at the end of both halves, then they create a turnover to win in OT. NO BEST: Basically everything. They thoroughly outplayed Atlanta in the 1st half. Drew Brees is a master of Sean Payton's offense. NO WORST: Their Cover-2 defense tried to contain the Falcons' comeback attempt, but they just gave up too many big plays underneath for Matt Ryan to exploit. ATL BEST: Matty Ice surviving and pulling off another big come-from-behind effort. That offense will be a headache for all 16 opponents. ATL WORST: They got no pass rush on Brees in the 1st half, and the blitz in the 2nd half wasn't all rainbows--Brees made some big plays and could have put the game away if not for Robert McClain's INT in the end zone.
- Jaguars-Eagles: From down 17-0 to a 34-17 victory, Philly comes out on the ultimate rollercoaster. JACK BEST: Chad Henne took what the Philadelphia D gave him, including two early TDs to someone named Allen Hurns. JACK WORST: Major blown coverage in the 2nd half spoiled not just a Jacksonville upset win, but the spread as well. Lucky for Jas and me. PHI BEST: Once the offense got on track in the 2nd half, Nick Foles was a shining star just like last season, and Darren Sproles was a fearsome X-factor. PHI WORST: Wait, you fell behind the Jags 17-0? The Jags???
- Bengals-Ravens: When crunch time arrived, Cincy went back to the Dalton-to-Green combo, and it worked yet again. It's like an addiction, you want to kick it but you just can't do it. CIN BEST: They're said to have one of the best defenses in football, and they played like it for about half the game. CIN WORST: I had a problem with Jay Gruden's Polecat and read-option plays for Andy Dalton last year, and unfortunately, the new OC Hue Jackson had them in there as well. Dalton's gonna get killed doing that shit. BAL BEST: It may be more a Bengal problem than a Raven strength, but holding Cincinnati to 5 FGs in the 1st half kept Baltimore in the game. The defense bent frequently but didn't break, at least until the last TD. BAL WORST: Joe Flacco's decision making sucked before the busted-coverage TD toss to Steve Smith. Truly some bad throws throughout the game.
- Bills-Bears: Old defensive issues once again blocked Chicago from taking advantage of their high-powered offense and permitted Buffalo to get a rare road win. BUF BEST: E.J. Manuel looked like a NFL quarterback. No major mistakes, no panic attacks, just take what the crappy Bears defense is giving you. BUF WORST: They let Chicago drive for a TD on the first drive of the season, and it looked so easy you thought the Bills D had missed their flight and were being replaced by scabs. CHI BEST: I know Jay Cutler threw two INTs, I know he had his usual bad mechanics, but he's still a franchise QB leading a very good offense, and he still had a good day overall (349 yards and two TDs). CHI WORST: The revamped, retooled Bears defense gave up 193 rushing yards, including two different sprints over 35 yards. Absolutely pathetic.
- Redskins-Texans: Houston returns to their spot as an AFC force, for one game anyway. WASH BEST: Robert Griffin III playing pitch-and-catch with Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson (18 combined receptions) was encouraging, although they couldn't find the end zone. WASH WORST: Pass blocking did the Skins in ultimately. RG3 was sacked three times and coughed up a fumble, and if not for that, he could have found the end zone eventually and gave Washington more than six lousy points.
- Titans-Chiefs: Kansas City is going to be in trouble all year if their offense looks this anemic and their defense keeps getting injured. TENN BEST: Jake Locker and new coach Ken Whisenhunt were in sync in the 2nd half, exploiting the Chiefs' defensive shortcomings. Locker showed nice poise in putting the game away. TENN WORST: Still don't like the Titans in a shootout situation, which this definitely was not. Kansas City opened up the offense a bit in the 2nd quarter, and initially, Tennessee couldn't keep up due to lack of protection for Locker. KC BEST: That hint of sunshine when Alex Smith made some big plays in the 2nd, until they realized they had no playmakers. KC WORST: As terrifying as their offense was once they were behind and needed quick points, Andy Reid's fake punt whiffed of desperation. And it failed, on top of that.
- Patriots-Dolphins: New England fails the way they normally fail, with Tom Brady and his blockers and receivers not on the same page. NE BEST: The 1st half, where they scored all 20 of their points and took advantage of Miami's comedy of errors resulting in three straight turnovers. NE WORST: The 2nd half, where Brady got dumped by two different sack-strips by Cameron Wake, the defensive backs played very unsound football, and the Pats surrendered 23 unanswered points. MIA BEST: Ryan Tannehill stayed focused under new OC Bill Lazor's offense and led a nice comeback, and RB Knowshon Moreno for the second year in a row started the season 2nd on a depth chart and thoroughly outplayed the starter. MIA WORST: That offense had some kinks in it in the 1st half, to say the least.
- 49ers-Cowboys: San Francisco outplayed Dallas from the opening whistle, and they didn't even play that well. SF BEST: Colin Kaepernick still plays all-or-nothing football, making big plays or making none at all. His first throw of the game saw big Dallas pressure but no pass coverage, his second saw the same and resulted in a wide-open TD to Vernon Davis, his next possession was another Davis TD, and the rout was on. SF WORST: Those missing pieces on defense did result in big runs for Dallas, which would have mattered in a close game. DAL BEST: DeMarco Murray scampered for 118 yards and looked impressive when not fumbling. DAL WORST: Tony Romo made some throws that were so inaccurate he looked like he shouldn't be playing. His track record is such that you can't tell if he was rusty, hurt, or just his normal self, but it was a tough watch, whatever his issues were.
- Colts-Broncos: New rule: I ain't picking against Andrew Luck ever again as an underdog of seven or more points. Indy was no match for Denver for most of the game, but Luck still rallied them back for a backdoor cover. IND BEST: Luck is just amazing. I'm stunned he made this game as close as it was. Most guys would pack it in down 24-0 on the road, but not him. IND WORST: They could have scooted past Den and been up by several touchdowns had they not dropped so many passes. DEN BEST: As always, the maestro, Peyton Manning. I really liked how the Broncos started the game with Emmanuel Sanders, hitting him early and often not just to break him into the lineup, but to make Indianapolis adjust. Peyton would have thrown to Sanders on every throw if the Colts would have let him. DEN WORST: They had a lot of drops as well. They started the 3rd quarter with a pair of wide open drops, and I felt that was enough to give Luck hope and allow him to lead the comeback that came up short but covered the number. Focus, boys, focus.
- Giants-Lions: Detroit didn't go Schwartz! The Lions showed their stuff on a national stage and didn't cough up the lead, stifling New York from open to close. NYG BEST: At least the Giants left some bruises on the Lions. Detroit took some hard licks on their catches, and a lesser team lets that affect them as the game wears on. NYG WORST: Eli. Inaccurate, miscommunication, running the gamut of bad QB play. Seriously, he was one of the worst individual players all weekend. he was THE DRIZZLING SHITS. DET BEST: Very crisp execution on offense by Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense. Oh, that Calvin Johnson guy is good too. Those acrobatic TD catches? Are you serious, bro? He was THE SHIT. DET WORST: The defense gave the Giants some running room and let Eli get into an actual rhythm in the 2nd quarter, but that was about the only misstep for the Lions all night.
- Chargers-Cardinals: I guess this is what San Diego does--get big leads on Monday Night Football and give them away to lose the game. A shame too, because they played so well for most of the game. SD BEST: Philip Rivers did an excellent job of climbing the pocket and delivering accurate throws in the face of a ferocious Arizona D. He held his poise until the end of the game, which is something he has trouble doing. SD WORST: Their back 7 on defense really dropped back too far in the 2nd half, allowing big plays underneath, facilitating the Cards comeback. ARIZ BEST: That defense came out all kinds of fired up. Those replacement parts filled in very well for the most part. The bad snap by the center for SD took them out of FG range in the 4th, and it was forced by the blitz threat. ARIZ WORST: Carson Palmer was a little off early, throwing a handful of potential INTs that could have put the Cards away if the Chargers could have come up with them. But he put it together on that final drive.
Not very brief, huh?
Week 1 Results--Dre 4-11-1, .267; Jay, 9-6-1, .600
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