Things I Noticed: Week 3

A record 20 teams entered Week 3 with a 1-1 record, including the entire AFC East and NFC North divisions.  Teams that end up improving to 2-1 after this week greatly increase their playoff odds over teams that drop to 1-2.  That makes this a big week for a lot of teams, as the league begins to form it's list of contenders.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• No Ahmad Bradshaw?  No Hakeem Nicks?  No problem for the Giants offense.  Andre Brown (113 rushing yards, 2 TDs) and Ramses Barden (9 catches, 138 yards) made names for themselves by stepping in to fill the void, ensuring Eli's offense didn't miss a beat without their injured starters.

• People wondered how Victor Cruz managed to go from being undrafted out of UMass to  one of the league's best receivers last season.  Maybe the Giants just happen to be very good at finding diamonds in the rough, enabling them to turn unknown commodities into stars overnight.  Or maybe Cruz's success should be more attributed to Eli and the offensive system then we realized.
• What's happened to the Panthers defense?  After Cam Newton revitalized the offense last season, the team's focus this past off-season was on revamping the defense.  They made some additions through the draft and free agency, but so far it hasn't paid off.  After getting torched by the Giants, they have now given up 383 yards and 26.3 points per game.
• Cam's three INTs certainly helped put the Panthers in a hole, but it was the two kick return fumbles that really buried them.  Joe Adams fumbled away the opening kick-off to start the second half, leading to a quick Giants FG.  Any chance at a comeback was erased when Adams muffed a punt that gave NY the ball back at the Carolina 19 yard line.  The Giants managed to chew up most of the remaining clock before adding another FG. 

Things I Noticed: Week 2

The NFL has added to their schedule of Thursday night games this season.  Last week opened on a Wednesday night, but starting this week, we'll have a Thursday game every week until Week 16.  I'm all in favor of adding football to another day of the week.  It makes the afternoon games on Sunday slightly less hectic to follow, especially during weeks with no byes, while also allowing me to get a head start on this column.  Why shouldn't they do this every week?

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• With Greg Jennings sidelined with an injury, the Packers offense struggled to find a rhythm.  Granted they've played two of the better defenses in the league, but through two weeks, the Packers offense hasn't looked like the powerhouse unit from the past few years.  Instead, it was the defense and special teams that carried them to victory this week.  The defense that ranked dead last in total yards allowed last season gave up only 168 total yards to the Bears, while sacking Jay Cutler 7 times and picking off 4 of his passes.

• Clay Matthews was a beast in this game.  He notched 3.5 sacks in the game and now has as many sacks through 2 games as he had all of last season (6).  
• Green Bay took control with a gutsy special teams play.  Facing 4th and 26 from the Bears 27 yard line, the Packers sent out the FG unit.  Rather than settle for three points, the Packers surprised us all with a fake.  The holder flipped the ball to Tom Crabtree, who ran to the endzone for the score.
• Cutler had a rough night, but it wasn't all his fault.  It didn't help that he spent most of the night running for his life.  He threw 4 INTs, but most of them came on passes he forced due to being hurried by a defense that repeatedly blew past the Bears offensive line.  Earl Bennett shares the blame for one of them for failing to come back to the ball on his route, letting the defender slip in to steal it while he stood and waited for it to come to him.  He also had a ball dropped by Brandon Marshall in the endzone.
• As if things hadn't been bad enough for the Bears, they also lost Matt Forte to injury again.  If it turns out to be a high ankle sprain, the injury could keep him out for a few weeks.

Things I Noticed: Week 1

While the pre-season gave us a small taste of the action, the utterly meaningless games did little to satisfy our football cravings.  Now the regular season has begun.  Now the games actually count.  Now it's finally football season again!

The season kicked off on a Wednesday night (which still seems like an odd night for football, but who are we to complain?) with the defending champion Giants hosting their rival Cowboys.

Here are some things that I noticed this week:

• Last year, two rookie QBs took the league by storm with historical seasons.  This week saw a total of 5 rookie QBs open the season as their team's starter, with mixed results.  Only one of the group was impressive in leading his team to victory.  Two of them were very up and down, but showed some promising signs in defeat, while the other two were just plain awful.
• Get Eli some Advil.  His Giants appear to be suffering from a mind numbing Super Bowl hangover.  After a pre-game celebration of last year's championship season, it all went downhill for the Giants.

• Despite all the stats the broadcast booth could throw at us about how Eli set a league record for 4th quarter TDs last season, how they fawned over how clutch he is and how the Cowboys had a bad habit of late game collapses, it was the Giants that failed to pull out a close game late in the 4th quarter.
• The game started off ugly, with both teams having trouble moving the ball, coupled with some early turnovers.  David Wilson, the Giants first round pick and a popular fantasy football sleeper, fumbled on his second carry of the game and found himself confined to the dog house for the remainder of the game, touching the ball only on special teams for the remainder of the evening.  Given coach Coughlin's distaste for turnovers, especially from young players, it could take some time before Wilson earns his way back into more playing time.  Given that his fumbling problems date back to his college days, his rookie season could become a bust if he doesn't do a better job holding onto the football.
• After that slow start, the Cowboys offense exploded. resulting in impressive performances by Tony Romo (307 yards, 3 TDs) and DeMarcco Murray (131 rushing yards).  Romo's performance is all the more impressive when you consider that two of his top weapons were banged up and questionable to even play in the game.  Miles Austin surprised by not only playing, but playing well (4 catches, 73 yards, 1TD), while Jason Witten served as little more than a decoy (2 catches for a meager 10 yards).
• Who is this Kevin Ogletree?  After winning the 3rd receiver spot in Dallas, he didn't disappoint in the season opener (8 catches, 114 yards, 2 TDs).  Last season, Laurant Robinson had a break out season in this same role that led to the Jaguars ridiculously overpaying him.  Could Ogletree be this year's Robinson?  Given how often the Cowboys' top receiving options tend to find themselves on the injury list, there's a good chance that Ogletree remains involved following his big game.
• One of the game's biggest plays was made after a Romo interception, but the play wasn't made by Michael Boley, who picked off the pass.  It seemed that Boley was about to plow his way into the endzone for a pick six, but Cowboys lineman Tyron Smith made the save with an illegal horse collar tackle that took Boley down at the two yard line.  Despite the vicious tackle, a half the distance to the goal penalty cost his team only one yard.  A fired up Dallas defense was able to hold the Giants to a field goal on a drive that started first and goal at the one yard line!  With the Giants needing two scores to make a comeback late in the 4th quarter, how different could the game have played out if one of those scores needed only to be a field goal instead of a TD?