Sports Noise

The first week of the NFL season has passed and it has left me excited for the rest of the season.  There were some great games, some terrible games, some key injuries, and some very sloppy football but overall the NFL season started off with a bang.  We saw Colts wide out Anthony Gonzalez and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu both suffer knee injuries which will cost them multiple weeks. Eagles quarterback broke a rib on a meaningless third quarter rushing TD in a route against the Carolina Panthers and could miss the week 2 show down against the Saints.  Never have their been so many miscues on Special Teams, there were blocked field goals, missed field goals, punt return touchdowns, blocked punts for touchdowns, fumbled kick off returns, even a faked field goal for a touchdown. It was a bizarre week to the least but that is why football is so great.

Games of the week

Titans vs. Steelers-

The Thursday night season opener saw a defensive struggle featuring the Tennessee Titans and defending Super Bowl Champions Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Titans showed that losing Albert Haynesworth was not going to hurt their run defense by giving up just 36 rushing yards on 26 carries but their secondary suffered as Ben Roethlisberger gashed them for 363 yards.  As for the Steelers, they played a typical Steelers game. Their defense shut down the Titans and only allowed 10 points and Big Ben lead a game winning drive.  The win did come at a cost, safety Troy Polamalu left the game with a knee injury and is expected to miss 3-6 weeks.

Bills vs. Patriots-

The Buffalo Bills played their hearts out on Monday Night Football but made just one mistake and Tom Brady took advantage.  The Bills outplayed the Patriots for most of the game but momentum changed when Leodis McKelvin decided to run out a kickoff instead of taking a knee in the end zone, 31 yards later the ball was out and the Patriots recovered. Needless to say, even with a rusty Tom Brady, the game was over. While Brady looked rusty in the first half he delivered when it mattered most.

Players of the week

BEST QB:  Drew Brees’ came just 15 yards short of the single season passing yards record last year, this year it seems like he is gunning for the Touchdown record. In week 1 Brees torched the Lions defense for 6 Touchdown passes( to 5 different receivers) and 358 yards. Even though it was the Detroit Lions defense this performance was one to be remembered.

BEST RB:  Adrian Peterson showed exactly why he is the best running back in the NFL. He exploded for 180 yards including a beautiful 64 yard run,which ended in with his 3rd TD of the day, on which he looked like he was playing a high school team.

BEST WR:  There were a few great performance’s by WR’s in week 1 but Reggie Wayne was the best( 10 catches for 162 yards 1 TD). With Marvin Harrison gone Wayne took over the role of “number 1 receiver” and proves that he is up for the task. Wayne has had some great season’s before but this year could be very special.

BEST TE:  Ben Watson isn’t even the New England Patriots starting TE but he came up big when it mattered most. He caught a touchdown to pull the Patriots within 5 and caught another just over a minute later to put the Patriots up for good.

BEST DEFENSE:  This has to go to the Philadelphia Eagles defense, they dominated a Carolina Panthers team that went 12-4 last year.  Many people said the Eagles defense would suffer from the loss of Brian Dawkins, Jim Johnson, and Stewart Bradley but after one week they could not be more wrong.  After a 70 yard opening drive touchdown by the Panthers the Eagles allowed just 99 yards the rest of the game.  They finished the game with 5 sacks, 5 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 defensive touchdown, and 1 punt return touchdown.  It was a great performance by the Eagles defense.