NFL Week 1 Review

I think it is obvious that I know more about College Football then the NFL. For the College games the first two weeks I had a win percentage above 85% and for the NFL in Week 1 I was 58.8%. Hmmmmm. Well here is the break down of Week 1. What i've learned, what I noticed, and the way I thought things were gonna be.

Saints-14/Vikings-9: Well I had the Saints winning in this one, but I had no idea it was going to be like this. The high scoring offense of the Saints was absolutely not the way Drew Brees and the O wanted it to be. They came out with the win basically on defense. Shut down AP, and the soon to be retired Brett Favre. Teams are going to have to shut down the Saints offense and be able to score on their defense this year if they want to dethrone the champs.

Steelers-15/Falcons-9: Well I had my ATL Falcons coming up with this one, and it was a close game throughout. The Falcons couldn't get their run offense established and Matt Ryan had an average day. The Steelers were on the same boat except for the Mendenhall touchdown in overtime that gave them the win. Both defenses looked pretty good and week 1, but the offenses both could use some work.

Dolphins-15/Bills-10: I had the Dolphins in this one, but I thought they would beat the Bills by a little bit more. The running game for Miami didn't seem to be as explosive as last year, because of their "passing" game they have with ONE wide receiver. The preseason monster for the Bills on the other hand got shut down by Miami. CJ Spiller couldn't find any space for his athleticism and speed. The boy is still nasty, but he shouldn't have let the animal out of the cage in preseason.

Bears-19/Lions-14: This was my upset pick for the week, and it SHOULD have happened. Great catch by Calvin in the endzone, but due to a brain fart he supported himself with the FOOTBALL instead of falling down with ball which would have got him the touchdown. I was really impressed with Best in the game for the Lions, he seems to have one step on a lot of defenders. The Bears didn't really prove to my that they would contend with the Vikings or Packers.

Titans-38/Raiders-13: Well I was absolutely right on this one, except I didn't say anything about Mr.Invisible himself throwing for multiple touchdowns and one to Nate "The Great" Washington. Love the nicknames for these guys. Raiders will not be able to stop a Top 10 RB this season. Previously I said Top 5 to give me a little hope for the Raiders, but I changed my mind. Sorry Ernest "The Furnace" Sullivan.

Patriots-38/Bengals-24: Well I said Moss would get into the endzone and all of his problems with his head would be over, but that didn't happen. Instead little Wes Welker caught two TD's. Brady's offense was in control the whole game, and their defense was solid in the first half at shutting down the run, leaving Palmer to just air it out in the second half. Both QB's looked pretty good, while the RB's didn't do much at all.

Giants-31/Panthers-18: Well I had this one closer than it turned out to be. The Panther's D was very very good except for containing the greatest himself Hakeem Nicks. THREE TD's. What a champ. Besides that the Giants offense really didn't have much against the Panthers. Carolina on the other hand could not establish a running game on the Giants leaving them to have to air it out with Matt Moore and Brandon Lafell who did really well.

Buccaneers-17/Browns-14: This one was the toss up for me. Either team did not show me anything that they would be remotely good this season. Browns will not play with Jake Delhomme in Week 2. So if your going to be betting alot of money for the next game, put it with whoever the Browns play. The most outstanding player on the field sunday was rookie WR Mike Williams. He seemed to be the only one Josh Freeman counted on to make a key catch and well he made a good choice.

Jaguars-24/Denver-17: The key to this game was not MJD3, but David Garrad and Mercedes Lewis. Lewis was a beast against the Broncos LB's trying to guard him in the endzone. Both defences did really good at what they were trying to stop, but forgot about the other part's of the opposing teams offense. Other than that, no body really stood out as REALLY GOOD.

Texans-34/Colts-24: The Houston Texans folks are here to stay. They surprised the Colts with a very good running game with Arian Foster. I do not think Foster will have another game like that this season, because people know what he is actually capable of doing to you. I still think the Colts will win the division even though they lost to the Texans, but it is clear that Houston will be in contention to win this year, if they have the running game working.

Cardinals-17/Rams-13: Both teams are going to have rough season's this year. The victor in this matchup, Arizona, seemed to trust Derek Anderson enough to let him throw the ball around. It still looks like the Cardinals are going to be one-dimensional this year again. That means no Beanie Wells. The Rams are struggling. Steven Jackson did not have a breakout game and Sam Bradford was decent, but not sensational. Pick against the Rams also this year.

Packers-27/Eagles-20: Well I picked the winner in this one, but was really surprised about who did really well and who did not live up to my expectations. Aaron Rodgers was the preseason king and I thought he was the best QB in the NFL. Michael Vick even did better than him in my opionion. Both teams lost two key starters, but it hurt the Packers worse. They lost their starting RB, Ryan Grant, for the whole year. The Eagles on the other hand lost Kevin Kolb, but the way Vick played they should have nothing to worry about for a while.

Seahawks-31/49ers-6: After showing people that they could play and had all the keys to make a run in the NFC West, the 49ers disappointed ALOT of people this week. The worst performance out of any team had to be the 49ers. The SEAHAWKS killed them. Thats not good. Enough said.

Redskins-13/Cowboys-7: This was the second most disappointing performance. The Cowboys who some people had going to the Super Bowl, lost to the drama heavy Redskins. The Cowboys D did do good against Washington, but the offense is just BAD. They have a ton of RB's, really good WR, one of the best TE's. What did I forget? Oh yeah, QB. I believe Tony Romo is not a really good QB. Just saying.

Ravens-10/Jets-9: I got this one wrong, but I knew it was just going to be a hard knocks football game. No I'm not talking about Jets training camp show on HBO, but a defensive heavy game where no offense could do ANYTHING. The Jets would have won this game 9-3, if they didn't hold on to the Baltimore receivers (Kyle Wilson). The Jets D is nasty. The Ravens also have a nasty defense, but Sanchez is not that good. Absolutely the best two defenses in the league though.

Chiefs-21/Chargers-14: Well I predicted this one wrong, but the was a really close game. The Chiefs came out ready to play unlike the Chargers. They dominated the Chargers in the first half with a hard hitting defense and a really good rushing attack. San Diego and Kansas City are going to be battling it out for the AFC West title. I will still give the Chargers the edge in this one though.

Well that's Week 1 folks. Predictions for Week 2 will come out soon. It really really needs to be better. We'll see.