~Anthony Constantino
Now that an enormously entertaining week has been completed everyone is probably ready to write off certain teams, and raise the Lombardi trophy for others. We all have a tendency to speak in extremes, and sports talk is no different. Here are 10 proclamations I'm comfortable making after Week 1:
1) The Jaguars are the worst team in pro football. This team can start planning to draft whoever they desire next May at the NFL draft; they are already on the clock. Their team is probably good enough to stay in several games this season, but I sense that the losing culture has not been adjusted by head coach Gus Bradley and his new staff. 28-2 against the Chiefs at home? I don't care how good Kansas City might be, that is unacceptable.
2) The Patriots will not have the best offense in the NFL. The Buffalo Bills new look defense didn't have a great game against Brady's bunch, but they did hold New England to 23 points. That is a feat only four teams accomplished all of last season (the Pats still won two of those games). I know that Rob Gronkowski will add a valuable dimension to the offense, but so do opposing defenses. I might be falling into the trap of underselling another no name group of playmakers in Foxboro only to be proven wrong, but Kenbrell Thompkins? Shane Vereen? Josh Boyce? Really?
3) Peyton Manning wants his record back. The Denver Broncos lit up the night sky on Thursday night to kick the season off. Manning provided the opening night fireworks by throwing seven touchdown passes against the Baltimore Ravens, tying an NFL record. If Manning averages three TD passes over the next 15 games (that's it?!) the record for single season passing touchdowns would be his again.
4) Ndamukong Suh needs to go to his room. The Detroit Lions' 2nd overall pick from 2010 cannot stop playing dirty. After teammate DeAndre Levy intercepted a gem of a pass thrown by Vikings' QB Christian Ponder, Levy was off to the races with what was sure to be six points for Detroit. That is, until Ndamukong went rogue on Vikings' offensive lineman John Sullivan's knee, nullifying the defensive touchdown. Suh was subsequently fined 100,000 dollars for the incident. If Suh wants to play tough and physical, nobody will criticize him for that. However Lions' coaches, players, and fans alike must be getting awfully tired of seeing their high priced defensive tackle racking up fine after fine after suspension for dirty plays. The NFL will continue to collect money from his paychecks as this behavior persists.
5) The Saints missed Sean Payton badly. Saints head coach Sean Payton returned to the sideline to coach his team again after his year long suspension for "bounty-gate". Nobody was happier to see him than Drew Brees. Payton, a master play-caller, has always had a great connection with his quarterback. The always seem to see the game the same way and Payton makes Brees better. This in turn makes the Saints offense better, and opposing defenses quiver.
6) There was a Philip Rivers sighting! The San Diego quarterback threw for four touchdown passes on Monday Night Football this week. He hadn't done that since Week 8 in the 2011 season. Rivers also had just one turnover, which is a refreshing departure from what he had been doing lately. The quarterback was responsible for 49 turnovers over the past two seasons.
7) NFL players don't know where the sideline is. In multiple games this weekend, players were flagged for hitting other players out of bounds. Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall tackled Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson almost 5 yards clear of the out of bounds line, causing a scuffle between the two players. The penalty came on a drive that gave the Eagles their second touchdown, and a 12 point lead. In a different game, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews launched himself into 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick after the San Francisco QB was well out of bounds. This resulted in a penalty that helped to give the 49ers another chance to score, and the Niners took full advantage by scoring a touchdown. The most egregious error came in the Buccaneers/Jets game. Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker LaVonte David gave a late hit to New York Jets' quarterback Geno Smith. The Jets in return gave Tampa Bay their first loss of the season by nailing a 48 yard field goal with only second remaining. These are professionals that should really consider paying attention to rules, and the dimensions of the fields they play on.
8) Chip Kelly is changing the game. There's an old adage that reads, "work smarter, not harder". Chip Kelly wants to have the best of both worlds. His offense is the fastest thing I've ever seen on a football field. In his debut as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach, his offense ran a play every 23 seconds. That is a blistering pace by NFL standards. There was no huddling, no audibles, and no time wasted. Michael Vick looked right at home in the most up tempo offense in the NFL. The Eagles ran 53 plays in the first half, the most in a half of NFL football since 1998. Midway through the first quarter, the Washington Redskins' defense looked as if the game had already went into overtime. Exhausted, they were hunched over with hands on their hips and I suspect more than one injury was faked to decelerate the sheer speed of Kelly's fastbreak offense. This could be the way of the NFL moving forward, after the Eagles had so much success on Monday night.
9) Don't sleep on the Carolina Panthers. I know they lost. I know it's the first week. It doesn't help that Carolina is in a tough division either. Carolina did just hold the Seahawks to 12 points in a game. This team averaged more than 25 points last season. Sure Seattle had 9 penalties against them. I will tell you this much, the Panthers defense should not be taken lightly. Their three linebackers (Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, Jon Beason) are as good as any in the game. Charles Johnson is a stud at defensive end, and their secondary isn't a pushover either. Cam Newton's offense may be "challenged", or maybe they just aren't very good. If Cam Newton cuts down his mistakes and develops into more of the game breaker we saw at Auburn, this team could make some noise this year.
10) Review everything. I was alright with each coach getting a pair of challenges to use during a game (with the possibility of accruing a third). I was even willing to accept reviews coming from upstairs inside each two minute warning. Now it seems like every other drive something is being reviewed. I feel as though I'm watching college basketball, where nobody knows how to work time clocks, shot clocks, flagrant fouls, or the little televisions to see if a player's foot was on the line or the ball was still in hand. Anyway the point I'm making is why give coaches the red flag if you are going to review everything already? How many times do we hear "the previous play is under review" in an NFL game these days? I am all about having replay available to help referees because people make mistakes. However I don't think we need to spend more time reviewing plays than actually playing the game. Maybe there should be a chair umpire like we see in tennis that watches a television and gets the best vantage point on every replay. That chair umpire could overrule the officials on the field when mistakes are made. I am not sure that is a good solution, but nobody wants to pay money to sit and listen to stadium music while the head official is under a cloak watching replays.
