Things I Noticed: Week 1

The long awaited NFL regular season has finally arrived!  No more lock out drama, no more training camps or meaningless pre-season games.  It's go time.

Here are some things that I noticed this week.

• The season kicked off on Thursday night in a battle of the last two Super Bowl champs, as the Packers hosted the Saints.  The celebration of a new season included an extended pre-game show with musical performances by Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum and Maroon 5. 
• I liked the Maroon 5 performance, as I must admit to being hooked on that catchy "Moves like Jagger" song.  Although I was a little thrown off hearing Adam Levine sing Christina Aguilera's part.  I've never seen them perform the song live before, but I imagine since she doesn't tour with the band that he usually does that, but that was my first time hearing it that way.  Is it just me, or was he actually trying to imitate a more feminine voice for those lines?
• The pre-game show also included an uncomfortable interview with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, where Bob Costas asked him some hard hitting questions about HGH, overpriced pre-season games and the fact that only the greedy owners are in favor of 18 game schedules.  The Commish put on a fake smile and provided some scripted answers.  So that was pointless.
• As for the game, it ended up being pretty exciting.  It looked like a blow out early on, but every time the Packers extended their lead, the Saints found a way to get back in the game.  Brees was on fire in the 4th quarter, leading a scoring drive in the final minutes to pull the Saints within one score.  While the on side kick attempt failed, their defense managed to force a 3 and out, giving the Saints one last shot.  In a thrilling finish, the Saints managed to march down to the Packers' 1 yard line (aided by a questionable pass interference call in the endzone as time ran out).  The Packers managed to stuff the Saints last attempt to get into the endzone, hanging onto the win by mere inches.
• Questionable play call in the end.  The Saints hadn't had much luck running it up the middle against B.J. Raji and the stout Packer front line, but on the deciding play of the game they attempted to rush Mark Ingram up the middle.  With the game on the line, I want the ball in the hands of my best player - Brees.  Allow him to try to make a play to win the game rather than give it to a rookie in his first career game.
• The new kickoff rule is in effect and we saw the impact in this game.  Of the 12 kickoffs in the game, 8 of them went for touchbacks.  In 8 home games for the Packers last season there was a total of only 2 touchbacks.  Once the weather gets colder and the winds pick up it will be harder to kick it as deep, at least in a place like Green Bay, but we can already see a noticeable difference the rule has made.
• On the other hand, kick returns are far from eliminated.  Packers rookie Randall Cobb returned a kick 108 yards for a TD and Darren Sproles had a few nice returns for the Saints, in addition to his punt return for a TD.  Some of their success may be attributed to sloppy tackling and poor execution, a potential impact of the shortened off-season.  As the year goes on we may see even less kicks returned.
• Two of the league's best QBs put on an aerial show.  A good chunk of Brees' 419 passing yards came in the 4th quarter as the Saints desperately hurried to catch up, but it's impressive nonetheless.  Rodgers wasn't too shabby either, with 312 yards of his own.  Each of them also had 3 TDs.  With less incentive to pass late in the game and a much higher completion percentage, Rodgers had the better performance, but they each showed why they are amongst the elite.
• Brian Urlacher dominated the Falcons, picking off a pass and returning a fumble for a TD, as the Bears routed the Falcons in Chicago. 
• Despite a decent yardage total from Matt Ryan, the Falcons offense never really got going.  Their only TD of the game came from their defense.  The same defense, which besides for that pick six play, made Jay Cutler look like a star again.
• Hyped rookie Julio Jones caught 5 passes for 71 yards, following just short of the team lead.  A good sign going forward, but hardly the breakout many were hoping given the boatload of draft picks they gave up to get him.
• Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton got his team off to a quick start before leaving with an injury, but Bruce Gradkowski came in to finish off the upset victory.
• On the game winning TD in the 4th quarter, Gradkowski caught the Browns defense napping.  Before the defense had time to even line up and get in position, Gradkowski snapped the ball and found a wide open AJ Green for a 41 yard TD reception.
• The theory that the Bengals will be one of the worst teams in the league took a bit of a hit after this shocking outcome, but it still doesn't change my view of them being a losing team.  Nice win for them, but last place is still their likely finish.  The Browns on the other hand were a popular sleeper team, thanks in part to an easy early schedule.  As was the case with their troubles last year, they once again seem to be playing down to their competition, which could doom their chances of being a team that jumps to a winning record this season.
• Speaking of upsets from teams we expected to be terrible, the Bills blew out the Chiefs in KC.  Typically a team that plays very well at home and coming off a season where they made the playoffs, the Chiefs were expected to be the ones to roll through this matchup.  Instead, it was the opposite.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick enjoyed a 4 or 5 week stretch in the middle of last season where he was statistically one of the best QBs in the league.  Granted stats that include high yardage totals can be misleading for a team that often is playing from behind and forced to throw a lot, but at least we've seen a small sample of this before.  Enough so that maybe we shouldn't have been surprised by his 4 TD performance.
• The Chiefs were one of the teams that I downgraded this year, expecting them to fall short of the playoffs this season after they won the division last year thanks to a creampuff schedule.  Considering they now can't beat the supposedly easy teams, perhaps I didn't downgrade them quite enough.
• The Michael Vick show was on display through the air and on the ground.  Along with playmakers like DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy, this Eagles offense is going to be tough to stop.
• Shady McCoy is as dangerous a receiver out of the backfield as there is in the league, notching a receiving TD in this one.  His big day showed that he is plenty capable of getting it done on the ground as well.  Check out this 49 yard TD run.
• It was hard enough dealing with the Eagles' revamped pass defense, but things only got worse for the Rams.  First, their top receiver Danny Amendola went down with an ugly dislocated elbow which puts his season in doubt.  Then the face of the franchise, QB Sam Bradford left after hitting his finger against an opponent's helmet.  They don't expect the injury to be too serious, but seeing him removed from the game due to any injury has to scare the Rams a bit.
• Stephan Jackson also left the game with an injury, but that surprises no one.
• In a battle of two young up and coming teams, the Lions outlasted the Bucs.  Tampa made a valiant comeback attempt late in the game, with Josh Freeman connecting with Mike Williams in the endzone to pull within one score with about a minute and a half remaining.  The dramatic finish came to a close after the Bucs failed on their on side kick attempt, allowing Detroit to run out the clock to end the game.
• Matthew Stafford made it through Week 1 injury free.  As I've said before, the Lions are a team on the rise, with a shot at a playoff spot if Stafford can stay healthy.  He's now 1/16th of the way there.  When he stays on the field he gets the chance to display his impressive talent, racking up over 300 yards and 3 TDs.
• Two of those TDs went to Calvin Johnson, who is an absolute beast on the field.  He's another young Lions star with a worrisome injury history though.
• Remember when we were excited about LeGarrette Blount after he rushed for over 1,000 yards in only 10 starts last season?  5 carries for 15 yards in the opener takes away some of that excitement.  Maybe he's just waiting until Week 7 to really get started.  I think it's also safe to assume the Bucs won't completely abandon the running game so early every week.
• Is there any more uncertain division than the AFC South?  Peyton Manning's injury puts the division up for grabs.  Not much was expected from Jacksonville, especially after they released their starting QB a week before the season started, but a big win over the Titans at least gets them off to a good start.  Or maybe it just shows that the Titans won't be the team to take advantage of the opening at the top of the division.
• Hey Chris Johnson, congrats on the new contract!  Holding out through the entire pre-season clearly had no impact on your adjustment to a new offense after a shortened off-season.  Then again... 9 carries for a pedestrian 24 yards?  Nevermind.
• When Kenny Britt is healthy and not getting into trouble with the law, he's actually a pretty darn good football player.  136 yards and 2 TDs, one of which came after the play had broken down and Hasselbeck shoved the ball in his direction in desperation.  Britt bailed out his QB, taking the ball to the house for an 80 yard TD.
• In a game between two of the league's fiercest rivals, in which the games are typically low scoring close battles, the Ravens changed up the script this time by dominating the Steelers.  After a lot of talk about how the Ravens defense has gotten old, they proved their experience makes them a still dominant unit, forcing 7 turnovers in the game.
• 5 of those turnovers came from an overmatched Ben Roethliberger (3 Ints, 2 fumbles).  The Ravens defense treated Big Ben the way Ben treats college girls in bar restrooms.
• Ray Rice is making my prediction of a monster season from him look good early on, with 149 total yards and 2 TDs.
• We new there would be a drop off by the Colts with Manning out of the game, but this was ugly.  Kerry Collins looks like an old guy they picked up off the streets a couple weeks ago.  Oh wait, that's exactly what he is.  Colts fans could be in for a long season while they await Manning's return, which may not even happen this season the way things are going.
• The Texans are looking like the smart pick to run away with the AFC South.  Well, if it weren't for a questionable head coach and a history of dwindling down the stretch anyway.  They looked pretty dominant this week though.  Granted a Manning-less Colts offense isn't much to worry about, but the Texans much maligned defense looks to have improved already.
• The Colts may have been without Manning, but the Texans were without last year's league leading rusher, Arian Foster.  Yet they didn't miss a beat, with Ben Tate and Derrick Ward combining for 155 yards and 2 TDs on the ground.  That may actually just say more about the importance of the QB to an offense in comparison to RBs.  A good offense can plug just about anybody in the backfield and still be effective.
• He didn't manage to win in his NFL debut, but Cam Newton gave us plenty to be impressed with.  He tied a rookie record for most passing yards in a game (422) and obliterated the previous mark for a rookie debut.  The future just got a little brighter for Newton and the Panthers.
• Meanwhile, Kevin Kolb wasn't too shabby in his Cardinal's debut.  His stats weren't as eye popping as Newton's, but he proved capable of running the offense to victory and may have showed just enough to get Larry Fizgerald to stop counting down the days until he can escape the desert.
• Then again, maybe these impressive performances can be partially attributed to the fact that they did it against terrible defenses from two of the worst teams in the league last season.  Let's wait to see a larger sample size before we shower either of them with too much praise.
• Philip Rivers started off slow, but finished strong to lead his Chargers to a rare September victory. 
• The running game never got going, but San Diego's two headed backfield was very effective in the passing game.  Mike Tolbert stole the show, scoring 3 TDs (two through the air).
• Donovan McNabb started off slow... then never got going.  I know the Chargers were the top ranked defense in total yardage last year, but 39 passing yards?  Really?  Poor Adrian Peterson is going to have to carry this offense again.
• The Chargers struggles on special teams haven't gone away, as they gave up a kick off return for a TD to Percy Harvin to open the game.  The game likely wouldn't have been even close if it weren't for poor special teams play, something the Chargers should be used to by now.
• To make things worse for their special teams unit, kicker Nate Kaeding was injured on the opening kick off, forcing their punter into all kicking situations. This predictably made the Chargers a bit hesitant in field goal situations, forcing them to try to convert some 4th down attempts that they typically wouldn't have been bold enough to go for
• Ted Ginn, Jr. was the star for the 49ers.  He returned a kick off and a punt for TDs late in the 4th quarter to put the game out of reach.
• Did Seattle really expect Tarvaris Jackson to be the answer, or are they all in on the Andrew Luck sweepstakes?
• Did Rex Grossman suddenly become a viable NFL starting QB, or is the injury ridden Giants defense just this bad right now?  I'm leaning toward the latter. 
• Hakeem Nicks was the only reliable weapon for the Giants, accounting for nearly half of the yardage put up my Eli Manning.  The 68 yard bomb that he caught to set up their first TD was their best offensive play of the day.
• Speaking of that first score, you can count the number of times Eli has run the ball into the endzone himself on one hand, yet he managed to do it early in this game. 
• It's like deja vu for the Cowboys, as their season opens with yet another late game collapse aided by a series of miscues down the stretch.
• Romo fumbled on the Jets' 3 yard line, preventing the score that likely would have sealed the game. 
• A blocked punt was returned for another Jets TD to tie the game.
• After getting the ball back with yet another chance to put the game away, Romo makes an awful decision to throw to a well covered Dez Bryant, resulting in Revis easily intercepting the pass.  This puts the Jets in great field position, leading to the game winning FG.
• Did you know Plaxico Burres is out of jail? He was out of the league for 2 years, which apparently was enough time for people to forget that Plax isn't going to beat anyone deep. It took Sanchez until the 4th quarter to realize nobody can stop a pass that he throws up for Plax to grab. It worked for a late TD that was key to their comeback victory.
• Conditioning may be an issue early in the season due to a lack of off-season training. This was the first week that players were expected to play a full game, and in same cases it showed. In the Jets/Cowboys game, several players, including Revis, Cromartie and Bryant, had to leave the game temporarily due to what was reported as leg cramps. Bryant was noticeably gassed near the end of the game and may be partly to blame for that Revis interception.
• Tom Brady set a franchise record by shredding the Dolphins for 517 passing yards, 5th most for a single game in league history.
• Chad Henne put up some big numbers as well.  He benefited from adding a lot of extra yardage in garbage time to reach his lofty total of 416 yards, but he was still having a pretty good game late into the third quarter when the game was still close.  Brady and Henne combined to set a record for the most passing yards by opposing QBs in the same game.
• Brady threw his first regular season interception since Week 5 of last season to end his record setting streak.  It came on a fluke play, where the ball was deflected off his intended receiver.  The ball bounced high in the air and took a fortunate bounce for Miami defensive end, Jared Odrick, who ran the ball back 39 yards to set up Miami's second TD of the game.
• The Patriots surprised the Dolphins defense by playing up tempo for most of the game, primarily sticking with two receiver/two tight end sets to allow them to quickly run another play without allowing Miami to substitute and get set.  The Pats were supposed to be the ones that would struggle in the heat of a warm Miami night, but it was the Dolphins that appeared to suffer more from exhaustion.  Multiple times in the game Miami was forced to call time out just to catch their breath.
• The play of the game goes to Wes Welker for his 99 yard TD reception that sealed the game for the Pats.  Miami clearly wasn't prepared for Welker to run a deep route, despite that Welker had done so earlier in the game.  Backed up to their own 1 yard line, teams will often run a conservative run play to push themselves a couple of yards further from the endzone to avoid allowing a costly safety.  Credit the Pats for being aggressive, coming out in the shotgun formation in their own endzone, which rewarded them with a huge play.
• Oakland won it's 8th straight game against fellow AFC West opponents with a victory in Denver.  Unfortunately for them, they had trouble beating just about anyone outside of their own division last year, and the Chargers can't possibly play as poorly this year.
• Sebastian Janikowski tied a record with a 63 yard field goal to end the first half.  A lot of teams wouldn't bother trying from that distance, instead opting to pray for a Hail Mary attempt to end the half.  The powerful leg of Janikowski combined with the thin air in Denver were the perfect mix for the historic kick, which ended up being the difference in the game.
• Despite the new kick-off rule, which was supposed to limit the amount of returns, we saw three kick-offs returned for TDs this week.  I noticed the many teams seem more willing to take a chance on a return, even when the ball is fielded deep in their own endzone, almost as if in defiance of the new rule. 
• One reason may be that kick returners are now awaiting the ball deeper in their own endzones.  In the past, returners would line up near the goal line, or even out of the endzone.  This would often mean they had to take a step back to field the kick, disrupting their momentum.  Now lining up deeper to begin with the returner doesn't need to step back, and in some cases may already be moving forward in order catch the ball, giving them added momentum in the right direction.  Meanwhile, defenders aren't allowed to line up more than 5 yards back of where the ball is kicked, allowing for less of a running start and therefore less velocity and momentum as they charge toward the returner.  This should still help decrease the force of collisions, while also still limiting the amount of returns due to a kickers ability to kick the ball out of the endzone.  However, could it be that the new rule also could lead to more long returns? 
• Another new rule this year is that all touchdowns will automatically be reviewed by the booth.  This has a big impact, aside from the added delay between scores.  It's good that the reviews will help ensure the right call gets made.  However, it means that coaches no longer have to worry about saving a challenge to overturn a call on a scoring play.  Could this mean coaches will be less conservative with challenges on other plays? 
• Already we've seen several calls overturned on scoring plays, including one that aided each side in the Pats/Dolphins game.