Week one discussion thread

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

Greenbay looking very impressive early on, let's see what the saints can do in reply.


Oh and thank you mr 11/1 Greg Jennings for first TD

[Thomond]

I'm using a decent link,the NFL rolling highlights,are pretty handy aswell though.


Surprise of the afternoon? I'm going for the Bills 41-7 over KC. A bit of a shock!

[crazy_dave23]

San Diego's special teams has obviously improved vs last year... harvin runs back opening kick!

[BamBam]

The Chargers have cured their special teams woes then ... 103 yard TD return by Harvin on the opening kickoff!

edit - crazy_dave just beat me to it!

[Thomond]

Feck it. Could see the Bucs going 7-9 or worse.

[crazy_dave23]

Anyone seen Kenny Britts Touchdown today... Hasselbeck practically runs into someone, ball pops out Britt catches it and takes it 80 yards!

[Karld]

Great to see the rest of the NFC South losing their opening games, especially seeing as none of their opponents where anywhere near the ability of the packers.

Im not 100% certain, you never can be with injuries, but i see us going around the 13-3, or 12-4 mark and winning our division and home field advantage.

Colston will be out for 4 weeks at the least but Moore should be back for the texans game, we may be able to rush him back for the Bears game but id rather not risk him being out for longer. The best thing we can take from these injuries is that we have Brees at QB, he is the player who makes everyone else look good.

Watched the Steelers - Ravens, and the Vikings - Chargers games today. I was really impressed with the Ravens, they look like the real deal. Obviously a better offense will score more points on the baltimore secondary, but they are an early tip for the AFC championship game participant.
I was really disappointed by both the vikings and the chargers. The vikings lacked everything on offense, even their o-line couldnt make running lanes for AP, and they had no passing attack at all. Their D, minus the linebackers, were dreadful. The d-line came up with no consistant pressure and the secondary allowed Gates miles of room to pull in 3rd down after 3rd down.
The Chargers were also really below par, and this time there was no excuses of early season woes. They had VJ, Floyd, Gates, Tolbert and Matthews along with a fully-fit D. But the most important thing is that had they played a better team they would have been blown away. Clary was a real weak point on the o-line and although allen didnt have a massive sack count, i saw McNeil get away with so many fouls once he had been beaten around the outside. They had no running attack and had to rely on a poor vikings secondary to move the chains.
There were some more plus points on defence, but its hard to judge seeing as the vikings were so poor. It also depends on the healthiness of some players... i personally cant see Bob Saunders playing all season. Finally they still have bad problems on special teams, nate keading could be injured and out for a while, Tolbert also came of the field with a bad injury late in the game.

Thats all of the games ive seen so far this first NFL weekend, i could provide more of my thoughts after watching NFL gameday.

[cherriesfna]

why cant we defend punt and kick returns
but T-jax exceeded my exspectations, to pass for 197 yards 2 TDs with little to no protection and his pick was only an act of despiration in the last play of the 1st half.
didnt run the ball nearly enough.

[skins4ever]

Only complaint I have after week 1 is what happened to my fantasy team! I really need a great game out of Brady later. :|

Nothing to complain about on the field though. Great game from the Skins, and yes you can complain about injuries, but we lost our #1 lineman too, so alls fair in love and war. D really tightened up in the 2nd half. Great play from the rookie Kerrigan - one to watch.

No doubt Rex can't carry the team (as evidenced by his fumble), but on this evidence, our D should be able to keep us in games and the O should be able to win a few games off the back of them, so I reckon 8-8 is achievable. Anything more is a bonus.

[Grizzly]

I can't work out whether watching the Bills put 40 points on you in your own back yard is more painful or more embarrassing.
The only hint of enjoyment I got from yesteday was watching the Chargers opening play of the season get run back 100+ yards for a TD.

[skins4ever]

Hey Grizzly, what was your prediction again?

[Grizzly]

Which one ?
The Chiefs running all over the Bills, Flacco choking once again at the hands of the Steelers, or that the Skins would yet again have no offence and lose heavily to the Giants ?

[Pr4wn]

Very disappointed with Tampa last night. We couldn't stop the run, couldn't get pressure on the opposing QB and had no running game of our own. No way we're making the playoffs with displays like that.

[skins4ever]

Which one ?
The Chiefs running all over the Bills, Flacco choking once again at the hands of the Steelers, or that the Skins would yet again have no offence and lose heavily to the Giants ?

Any and all.

Must admit, I think despite it not being a 'high profile' game, I reckon the Bills result is upset of the week. Not because of the win, but the nature of it.

[thunder and lightning]

Just finshed watching the Jets Cowboys game (fell asleep after the first quater last night ><) and what a game it was. Cowboys came out absolutely on fire with Bryant looking untouchable and their D getting massive pressure on Sanchez, then it started going south for them. O-Line showed its inexperience towards the end with some massive penalties and keeping Bryant in when he could barely move was the dumbest thing I've seem in a while ... well with the exception of Romo actually throwing to Bryant in that state matched up against Revis. Jets offense looked terrible with the exception for the Burress TD drive with plax looking pretty good, their special teams came up huge with the block punt return and 50yard field goal for the win.

I think what I take from this is that Cowboys look better than expected and the Jets look worse.

On a side note my Titans had a poor game which doesn't bode well, only bright spot is that Kenny Britt looks like he could be the real deal and hopefully once CJ is back up and running to the full he should be seeing a lot more space if Hasslebeck can build a good rapour with him.

Great opening Sunday and looking forward to the NE game tonight.

[Grizzly]

We have problems skins.
Baldwin brought a heap of ego into the locker room and issues still simmer, our defence played like it was 2008 again, Charles got nothing going on the ground despite Bills being one of the worst run defences in recent history, and Cassel got no joy all day - longest pass play of 20 yards when chasing the game from very early ?
Either the Bills have slipped under the radar and are quietly putting together a team on a par with the 85 Bears, or we have problems and I think I know the answer.
Just a slight gloat from Chan Gailey but can't say I blame him.

Only game that comes close to this an upset for me is the Bungals going to Cleveland and getting a win - Dalton looking OK before getting hurt and Cedric Benson walks straight out of prison and into a 100+ yard game and TD.

And just to sum the weekend up I had Steve Smith (Panthers) on the bench in one of my fantasy teams.
Just the 2 TDs and 178 yards, who needs 30 points ?

[BamBam]

Talking of Steve smith, how good was Newton! Yes he threw a pick and had the chance to win the game at the end but I was hugely impressed with some of his throws. He looks to have a decent understanding with smith and Olsen already and I think the Panthers are going to surprise people

[Grizzly]

Agree bambam.
First QB ever to throw 400 yards on debut unsurprisingly.
Only seen highlights so can't comment on his overal play but I always felt last year the Panthers had more than they showed, now they have a talented QB they can move forward and become a force again.
Never understood why Bears tradeded Olsen, he was worth his weight in gold as a blocker but was also a good target amongst a weak receiver corps, a little surprised he only cost the Panthers a 3rd rounder and he and Newton are probably the reason Smith stayed in Charlotte.

[Derbyblue]

What did everyone think of the kickoff rule? Apparently the league are happy with it so far but will be monitoring scoring and changes could be made in the future.

I think the biggest surprises of the weekend are wins for the Bills and Bengals, and although some people predicted a Ravens win I doubt anyone predicted that scoreline.

[GB1919]

Benson usually runs well against the Browns but to see the Bengals get the win was a huge upset really.

The kick-off changes didn't seem to have a huge impact so far but I get the feeling teams were just running them back because they felt special teams coverages probably wouldn't be perfect yet. As the season goes on I can imagine more and more touchbacks.

[Thomond]

Derby,two kicks were run back for TDs at the weekend I think. Stroughter for the Bucs took one around 80-90 yards too. Pr4wn,the Bucs didn't run a lot,the O-line is pretty poor and this means Freeman's always running shotgun plays and Blount has no room to run.

[Grizzly]

'The kick-off changes didn't seem to have a huge impact so far but I get the feeling teams were just running them back because they felt special teams coverages probably wouldn't be perfect yet. As the season goes on I can imagine more and more touchbacks'

Spot on.
There's also a small matter of emplyment here, someone who is 4th choice CB or 5th choice WR will get very little game time and it's these guys who are thrown into special teams, taking a knee and allowing the touchback will not help your career, taking a chance and breaking out occasionally with a big return will.
I think I saw 4 or 5 kick offs in the Ravens game where the returner was nailed short of the 20, he'll soon be under orders to take the touchback.
By the time October is upon us I expect to see 90% touchbacks

[Derbyblue]

Benson usually runs well against the Browns but to see the Bengals get the win was a huge upset really.

I think the main reason people see it as an upset is we all just expected the Bengals to be absolutely terrible, but maybe didn't the Browns having new offensive and defensive schemes, I was just expecting the Bengals to be so rubbish that the new schemes wouldn't have been too much of an issue.

[GB1919]

I completely agree. I expected the Bengals to be awful and to lean on Benson a lot. As it turned out they weren't actually that bad and didn't really use him that much, his stats were bumped up by that last run.

[Derbyblue]

Agree bambam.
First QB ever to throw 400 yards on debut unsurprisingly.

Almost 100 yards more than the next highest amount on a debut, only 3 players since 1960 (Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, Dan Marino) have thrown for more yards in a season opener, and he was just 1 yard off the record for passing yards in a game. Think you can count it as a pretty good debut for Newton but I don't see him continuing this form for the whole season.

[The Mangler US_UK]

I watched the Cards game and Newton was pretty impressive. He threw a couple good deep balls and was poised in the face of Horton's blitz schemes. With that said, Kolb had a pretty decent day as well and I'm quite satisfied with him so far.

Man, I was surprised at some of the outcomes---Steelers and Atlanta getting their asses kicked specifically.

[skins4ever]

Grizzly - I think the Bills are a lot better than last year, but you do have problems. A bit '6 of one, half a dozen of the other' if you ask me.

The reverse for me in FF - I had Bowe as starting receiver in my team - 17 yards!

Bambam - don't get too carried away with Newton just yet. He had a good day, but I picked up on a couple for things from the highlights. I think their playbook has been simplified for him and they are relying on his ability to scramble to force defences to be careful with when they apply pressure. He under threw Smith on the TD (he was just so far out ahead of the coverage that he had time to wait for the ball - only 1/2 a step mind, but in the NFL...). The last throw of the game should have been into the end zone no matter what, as there was no ways of guaranteeing an underneath pass would get the 1st down (it was at the 1). Maybe its experience, but he should have realised it was pretty much all or nothing and gone for the EZ anyway (although you can also argue the receiver should have been running along the goal line, not the 3 yard line). All that said though, it was a very impressive outing and I may be forced to eat humble pie before long as I thought he would struggle in the pro's.

[skins4ever]

Wasn't it 3 KO returns for TD's in week 1? Cobb, Harvin and Ginn. Can't remember last time 3 separate games had KO returns for TD's in one week.

Anyone else catch the end of the 49ers game? Its not often your kick returner is the guy putting a game away for you!

I agree with a comment in one of the games last night. As the season wears on and especially in inclement weather, we'll see more kicks being returnable. Plus some will look at dropping the kick short (5-10 yard line) on the basis the returner will line up at the back of the EZ and not manage to get out past the 20. Plus Kaeding was knocked out of the game (and maybe the season) on the Chargers opening KO. I'm not sure who this new rule is actually helping right now.

[twelve283]

Cowboys @ Jets was a very close game and it was only a couple of mistakes by Tony Romo combined with a couple of good play by the Jets which swung it in the home teams direction.

If you’re going for the score in that position then you must retain possession of the ball at all costs because you can’t afford to take points of the board, especially in a game like that one last night. The decision to throw that pass to a hobbled Dez Bryant while Revis was in coverage just defies all logic TBH.

As for Plaxico Burress having a good game, notice he was shut out in the 1st half and made all his plays vs. the likes of Bryan McCann and Danny McCray.

Only watched part of the Steelers @ Ravens game but I observed Troy Polamalu being beat in coverage and it got me thinking again about him being overrated. Over the last few years numerous coaches have talked about how the safety position is changing in the modern game. Where there used to be a strict FS and a SS often times NFL offenses will force the safeties to play both positions in order to take them out of their comfort zone. What you end up with is that all safeties will have to learn how to play each position at a high level so they can’t be taken advantage of and become a liability.

Finally we come to Eli ‘I’m totally Elite’ Manning being outplayed by Rex Grossman. Sorry Eli you’re closer to being a scrub that you are to being elite.

Oh and I’m not surprised that the Redskins defense made some big plays as I watched them in PS and thought they might surprise a few people this year.

[skins4ever]

12 - you have a good point about safeties. I think the old SS position should no longer exist, especially in a pass oriented league. Point made last night watching Reed Doughty getting torched once and out of position to prevent another big catch. Nothing against Doughty, as he's a good guy and a hard worker, its just that he'd the old model of SS playing run first.

Don't knock Eli too much. He's lost 2 go to guys and Manningham will never be the #1 target. He's also had changes on the OL that will take time to gel. Plus, he was placed in pretty poor starting positions a few times due to a combination of good ST play by the Skins (Sav Rocca take a bow) and dumb penalties from his own guys. Not to big the Skins up too much, but Haslett made some good half time adjustments and the D played lights out second half, so you can't pin it all on Eli.

PS - anybody else hear Aikman's comments on how it must be annoying for DC's to see passing yards racked up in dead time at the end of halves while D's play prevent? Never really liked the guy (or especially Joe Buck), but it was refreshing to hear a QB defending the position of defensive coaches.

[Gaelic-Warrior]

Taped the Jets game but haven't watched it yet, taping tonight's games too. Not filled with confidence after seeing those highlights, Giants offense weren't good only making 102 in the second half. Great, Manning got a rushing TD but was sacked too many times and had a deflection against Kerrigan returned to the end zone. I'd say Eli isn't as elite as he had boasted but skins is right, give him time to readjust. Too many injuries costing us right now too.

[Derbyblue]

Rams Post-Mortem

Let me preface this by saying I did not expect the Rams to win. Nor do I expect the Rams to be better than 2-5 by the time the Cardinals come to visit in week 9. However, yesterday’s game vs the Eagles has given me some cause for concern, and has brought up some issues we know all too well from past seasons. In this piece I’ll give a quick overview of 3 things that worried me about last night’s performance from St Louis, and break down 2 of the TD plays that show the sublime and the ridiculous sides of the Rams performance.
Continue reading at: http://pullinglinemen.blogspot.com/2011/09/rams-post-mortem.html

[Derbyblue]

Gur's Slice of Selfishness

Here at TPL, we’re committed to bring you coverage of all the NFL, not just the teams that we individually support. Well, I’m taking a break from that for right now to talk purely about my Bucs (hence, ‘Slice of Selfishness’).

Yesterday was not a good day for Bucs fans. And I'm going to explain just why it was that bad, in excruciating detail (it really hurt to start at these stats and look at these plays again).
Continue reading at: http://pullinglinemen.blogspot.com/2011/09/gurs-slice-of-selfishness.html

[twelve283]

My comments on Eli Manning weren't so much to do with how he performed last night, though he was outperformed by Grossman, but more an objection to the fact he considers himself to be elite in any way.

[Guest]

Tom Brady is incredible. Although I bet the pats pass protection could even make Jason Campbell look half decent

[Brady12]

Tom Brady is incredible. Although I bet the pats pass protection could even make Jason Campbell look half decent

I think Brady could get close to 50TD's again

[Derbyblue]

Doug Baldwin, Randall Cobb, Ryan Kerrigan, Cam Newton and Patrick Peterson are up for the Pepsi Rookie of the Week. http://www.nfl.com/voting/rookies

[mckay1402]

yee ha redskins beat the giants!

[TheBrownTown]

Soo disappointed about the Raiders - Broncos result. I was very optimistic that we would get a win, but we couldn't run the ball, couldn't hold on to the football and couldn't stop the run.

[skins4ever]

Doug Baldwin, Randall Cobb, Ryan Kerrigan, Cam Newton and Patrick Peterson are up for the Pepsi Rookie of the Week. http://www.nfl.com/voting/rookies

Whilst I'd love Kerrigan to get it, does anyone seriously think Newton isn't a shoo in?

[Toby3695]

Tom Brady's awesomeness aside... Aarob Gronknandez continue to be amazing, Nate Solder was TERRIFIC and Woodhead is the best peak-a-boo runner since Brian Westbrook's pomp.

But the D was baaaad. So little pass rush that Henne had all day. Rivers will pull us apart if we can't get at him more.

[GurTPL]

85 was only in on 18 snaps? had only 3 targets all game? it's only week 1, but still, in case there was any doubt, really do not see this turning out anywhere near as well as randy moss did for the pats

[BirminghamPatriot]

85 was only in on 18 snaps? had only 3 targets all game? it's only week 1, but still, in case there was any doubt, really do not see this turning out anywhere near as well as randy moss did for the pats

I wouldnt look to much into it. It was the first game of the season and were coming off the lockout, so he may not be 100% in sync with the rest of the offense yet so is probably limited to the plays he can make.

The Defense did worry me a little if were going to give up 412 passing yards against Henne then im quite nervous as what phillips will do to us.

[The Mangler US_UK]

Teddy Bruschi just blasted Ocho for what seemed like an innocent enough tweet to me where he marveled at Brady's performance.

[twelve283]

Chad Henne racked up 416 passing yards by the end on the game however over half of that was accumulated during the final 3 Dolphins possessions in the 4th quarter.

After the Dolphins opening touchdown drive they went punt, punt, punt, punt, touchdown (2 plays for 9 yards after INT), FG, punt and punt. 8 drives which totalled 34 plays (4 plays/drive) and 163 yards (21 yards/drive)

Third down defense-2/14 (14.3%)

One of my favourite moments of the game was Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski giving Brady some credit for how he ran the offense but doing it minus the Peyton Manning jig.

[skins4ever]

Twelve - I get that a lot of yardage was given up in junk time, but Bill doesn't like his teams to let up on opponents, so it would be surprising if he was at al happy with that, regardless of the win.

[Grizzly]

Teddy Bruschi just blasted Ocho for what seemed like an innocent enough tweet to me where he marveled at Brady's performance.

I made Bruschi right - even if he did labour the point a bit.
Chad went to NE where things are different, his 500 tweets a day and constant attention seeking is not how things work there, you join the franchise to do a job and whilst I don't think Chad meant anything but praise in his comments it did come across a bit 'I'm in awe' of this guy.
Bruschi was simply telling him to stop gasping at how good he is and get on the same page as him.
I saw Chad let one go through his hands towards the end of 2nd quarter, it was thrown a bit behind him and he didn't have a huge amount of time to react but should still have caught the ball - or maybe he should have stopped and turned half a beat earlier and the ball would have been straight in the breadbin.....

[GurTPL]

none the less, bruschi is a cantankerous old Bar Steward. remember this offseason when he said derrick brooks will never be a first ballot hall of famer? are you kidding me?

[twelve283]

Twelve - I get that a lot of yardage was given up in junk time, but Bill doesn't like his teams to let up on opponents, so it would be surprising if he was at al happy with that, regardless of the win.

I don't know if BB is ever happy. I just wanted to point out that the defense probably wasn't as bad as some of the comments suggest.

Brian Baldinger takes a look at Darrelle Revis' interception: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-anatomy-of-a-play/09000d5d82236b4b/Week-1-Anatomy-Darrelle-Revis-interception
Well exectuted play.

[The Mangler US_UK]

Dan Patrick, having spent so many years at ESPN, on his radio show thought that Bruschi is ratcheting up his game because that's how you get to be a star on ESPN. If you're a good analyst and full of great info, but are kind of bland, you don't make it there -- they have like a billion analysts and are constantly bringing in new talent. He pointed out how Herm Edwards and Trent Dilfer have become more loud and blunt at times.

He called Rodney Harrison and Rodney thought that it was Teddy just being an old Patriot guy.

Greenberg on Mike and Mike on ESPN thought it was Ocho being preemptive -- in that people would be expecting some kind of disgruntled response from him about being invisible and this was his way of getting out in front of it and showing he was on board.

I don't know. I thought Bruschi was being a bit of an a-hole about it. But he's a former Arizona Wildcat and I'm a Sun Devil, so I think all those guys are a-holes.

[twelve283]

Bruschi stands by his comments: http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4703039/video-bruschi-stands-by-his-take-on-ocho

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