Don't Freak Out OK?

The Smart Fan's Week 1 Mantra

You show me a guy who draws sweeping conclusions from Week 1, and I’ll show you a picture of my junk.

………Sorry I should not have let Brett Favre write my intro this week. I do agree with the beginning of his point though. A guy who thinks you learn anything in the NFL after one week either hasn’t been following football for long, or he has- but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Week 1 is not any more important than Week 6 or Week 12 in terms of playoff seeding, momentum, or anything else. In the first three games of the year, as long as you start at least 1-2, you’re fine. So no one’s back is against the wall yet, and no one is sitting pretty either. But as always, there are a few things worth noting before we look towards Week 2.

Things That Looked Good: Baltimore:
The Ravens demolished Pittsburgh 35-7 at home. Like I said above, one win does not a season make, but the two Steelers games are always Baltimore’s most important games of the year and getting a home win, while catching the Steelers on an off day (they turned it over more times than they did in the whole 1970’s) is definitely a notch in the belt. These two will slug it out all year for the AFC North crown, so getting such a decisive win is certainly a big one, and puts all the pressure on Pittsburgh to win the rematch in Pittsburgh in November.

Green Bay and New Orleans’ Offenses:
What a way to start the season! While the 76 total points prompted the predictable string of hand-wringing columns on Friday about “life in the new NFL,” to anyone without a big stick up the pooper, it was an exciting way to get back into the NFL. Both of those teams will be very good, and I think the defenses just haven’t caught up to the upper echelon QB’s yet due to the lockout. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing these two teams playing each other again sometime in January.

Detroit winning when they are supposed to
Not getting much play this week because they were supposed to win, but are we really taking Lion road wins for granted already? Not a dominating win, but I’m firmly on the “too much respect” bandwagon for Detroit, and expecting them to stumble out of the gate. But the fact that the beat a 10 win team in their building shouldn’t be overlooked.

My scale at 11:45 AM
Got up, went for a run and got on the scale before the early games started. All was looking pretty good. We’ll get back to this later.

Things That Didn’t Look GoodTony Romo’s LeBron James imitation:
Quite the 4th quarter Tony. Fumbling on the 1 yard line when a field goal probably ends the game and then throwing a pick when the Jets were conceding overtime. But since he wears a backwards hat and has a babyface he just keeps getting leeway as a “young Quarterback.” He’s 31. It’s probably time to admit he’s as good as he’s going to be. At times that’s really good; at times he’s the bad parts of Brett Favre. Very capable guy, but veteran QB’s can’t have 4th Quarters like that.

Kansas City:
Jesus. Arrowhead is supposed to be a tough place to play and the Chiefs won the AFC West last year. They let up 41 points to Buffalo. AT HOME? Really just a no account performance all around. They were a long shot to replicate last year’s win total, but come on.

Indianapolis:
This really proves the greatness of Peyton Manning. The Colts were demolished by the Texans. Houston has an explosive offense, but this game was over 6 or 7 minutes in. Indy could possibly be the worst team in the league this year, with a cast that would win 11 or 12 just by putting #18 back in there.

My scale at 11:45 PM
Soda, Beer, 4 slices of meatball pizza, Butter Twist Pretzels, not moving from my chair, and a donut for good measure turned it into quite a day health-wise. Good thing I don’t have one of those blood pressure machines. Football is going to wage war with my scale over the next 5 months. I expect quite the battle.

Other Quick Notes:Chicago- Very impressed with their win over Atlanta. Still not sure what to make of them, but convincing win over what is expected to be a good team.

Cam Newton- What can you say? Great performance, but they did lose. If I was Cardinals fan, I’d have been a bit pissed that our win was barely mentioned in the wrap-ups all week. I’d also be pissed about being a Cardinals fan, but I digress.

The Other “Elites” Hold Serve- New England, Green Bay, San Diego, the Jets, and Philadelphia all win. None looked phenomenal- New England and Green Bay need to play defense, San Diego squeezed one out, the Jets needed a furious comeback, and Philadelphia overcame an uneven second half- but they all won. And you can’t be better right now than 1-0.

Look Ahead to Week 2 (full preview Friday):Some 0-1 teams “needing a win”- Atlanta (v.Phi), New Orleans (v. Chi), Giants (V. StL) (Pittsburgh v. Sea) Dallas (@SF)

Best Games: San Diego v. New England, Philadelphia v. Atlanta

My early suicide favorites:
(Teams gone: New England)
Pittsburgh (v. Sea)
Green Bay (@Carolina)
Dallas (@SF)