NFL Week One Nuggets

As compared to the previous few opening weekends of the NFL season, this one had certain crispness. This is just one of the observations Doug Upstone made while watching the action on Sunday.

2007-09-11

As compared to the previous few opening weekends of the NFL season, this one had certain crispness. This is just one of the observations Doug Upstone made while watching the action on Sunday.

The hitting was big-time, and the presumed good teams did not overload with penalties like the bad teams did. Tackling was much cleaner then in year’s past, which had featured a couple of weeks of bad football before teams settled in. Without being in the training camps this summer, it is impossible to know if a greater emphasis was placed on this area, but by visual experience, it seemed clear that across the board, all 32 teams came prepared physically to play footballa and gamble online.

Boy Wonder –Tom Brady

Sometimes it just doesn’t seem fair does it, why are the San Antonio Spurs and to a lesser degree the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim always good? Why are these teams able to fill the pipeline to stay in championship form year after year, when the Atlanta Hawks and Pittsburgh Pirates of the world wallow in self pity and mediocrity? The answer is simpler than Kid Rock punching Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee at the VMA Awards. New England’s Robert Kraft, who was once a Patriots season ticket holder, has assembled a front office that is determined to win and doing it the right way. Kraft can hang with any of the nabobs of the NFL ownership; however he runs circles around most of them in having all the right people in all the right places. Last season Tom Brady had fewer receivers then the backdoor of a grocery store and still almost made it to the Super Bowl. In the off-season, Kraft worked with his people to bring in a minutemen brigade of wide receivers, led by the biggest catch Randy Moss. While Moss may no longer be capable of 16 injury free games of excellence, his opening game performance was electric. On his 51-yard touchdown bomb from Brady, it was absolutely astonishing to see him shift gears like a Nissan 350Z on the open road, gliding past three Jets defenders for the score. As important as Moss is and will be, the most invaluable pick-up is Wes Welker, who will become Brady’s safety valve on third down pass plays and be extraordinarily hazardous to opponents in the red zone. It’s only one game as coach Bill Belichick correctly stated, but what a way destroy your closest division rival.

“Line, we ain’t got no stinkin’ line”

To turn a phrase, the match-up of Philadelphia and Green Bay was about two well known and highly regarded quarterbacks spending most of the afternoon running for their lives in even the remotest of passing situation. Defensive coordinator Jimmy Johnson had his usual assortment of mind-numbing blitzes that often gave the appearance of so many Eagles meeting at one location, Brett Favre probably thought he was living an updated version of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. Philadelphia had some success in staying committed to the run for 29 attempts; nonetheless the Packers defensive line frequently dominated, especially against the pass, in what was thought to be one of the main strengths of Philly, its offensive line. The Packers did not use many blitz packages with the effectiveness of the front four. If the Green Bay defense can play at this level all season, the Packer front office should be chastised again for not signing Randy Moss when they had a chance.

Time for Adams Family to quit being frugal

Tennessee tightwad owner Bud Adams should reconsider and put that long-term contract back on the table again for coach Jeff Fisher. The former Chicago Bear defensive back had two brilliant ways to upset Jacksonville. First on offense, who would have thought any team could be effective running right at defensive tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson for 282 yards. Fisher knew Stroud was not 100 percent coming off of ankle surgery and the key to thwarting Henderson is to get to his knee level, where he is not as effective. Having Kevin Mawae at center is a huge plus, since he has more tricks up his very large sleeves than magician Lance Burtonsd and is crafty as can been with his vast knowledge. While publicly the Titans whined about facing Garrard instead of Leftwich, Fisher knew if you take away Jacksonville’s running game, they are not going to beat you with the pass. Garrard is indecisive beyond his first read unless the receiver is literally wide open, which is seldom the case with this collection of Fred Sanford wide receivers. Fisher does not get his due as a coach by his owner or other NFL pundits. He just finds ways to win and is ever dangerous as an underdog.

Quick Direct TV Observations – Brett Favre throws as poor a long pass today as any NFL starting quarterback, hurting the Packers chances of scoring easy touchdowns Carolina might be real NFC contender as the season rolls along Cleveland and Oakland look remarkably familiar as before Chiefs coach Herm Edwards “Mr. Positive” had running back Larry Johnson carry the ball 10 times in opener.I can’t wait to see how good Denver’s Jay Cutler might be once he knows what he is doing. Joey Harrington, different uniform, same guy that holds on to the ball taking sacks.Keith Olberman looked as comfortable on NBC Sunday night “Football in America” set as he might sitting on a plane between Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck.

Contributed by Doug Upstone, StatFox

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