Thoughts on Week 1 in the NFL...
By Scott Burks
An exciting and wacky (Broncos-Bengals) Week 1
of the NFL is in the books. Here are my thoughts on what transpired.
It's early folks!
The NFL is a marathon, not a sprint. It's a 16-game season.
There will be a lot of ebbs and flows throughout the season. One game
is not significant in the grand scheme of things. DO NOT HIT THE PANIC
BUTTON!!! Having said that...
The New
England Patriots have to worry a bit. The Patriots' defense looked
rather ordinary against the Buffalo Bills Monday night. The Pats' D
had a hard time stopping the run, and made Bills QB Trent Edwards look
Brady-like. If it wasn't for Brady (and the Bills' major choke job),
the Pats would have started the season in a big hole. You never want
to lose to a division rival at home to start the season.
The Bengals and Bills may not recover from
their losses.
Hollywood could not script a worse ending in both the Bengals' and Bills'
games. That tip drill at the end of the Broncos-Bengals game was
classic. I mean, how did the Bengals defenders leave Brandon Stokely
unattended like that? Only the Bungles...
Meanwhile, I don't know how the Bills even
show up for the rest of their season after the way Monday night's game
ended. Only the Bills (and possibly the Bengals) can blow an 11-point
lead with less than two minutes left in a ballgame. It just goes to
show that losing teams find more ways to lose games than the average teams.
Pittsburgh REALLY needs to fix its running
game. My enthusiasm
over my Steelers' victory over those damn Titans was tempered by their lack
of a running game. I know the Titans are "Ravens-lite", but the
Steelers have to gain more than 36 yards on 25 carries. And "Fast"
Willie Parker cannot continue to be "Pedestrian" Willie Parker by rushing
for 19 yards on 13 carries.
The good news is the Steelers will face a
Chicago Bears defense that has lost LB Brian Urlacher for the rest of the
season. The bad news is the Steelers still employ that "alleged"
offensive line.
It's looks to be a long season for the
Panthers. So much for
Panthers QB Jake Delhomme turning over a new leaf. The only thing
Delhomme turned over was the football, and he did it 5 times. Why the
Panthers gave him a 5-year extension is beyond me. In the meantime,
their defense is not deep, and DE Julius Peppers simply does not want to be
a Panther. The Panthers' special teams is not that great either,
giving up an 87-yd punt return to DeSean Jackson.
Maybe the Panthers being on the road in
Atlanta would be a good thing, at least so they could regroup. If the
Panthers turn the ball over and lose ugly again, look for changes to go down
in Charlotte...
Go Back to
Home Page
