Week 1 Game Notes

Packers over Saints

• What a great way to start the season.  There wasn’t much defense to go around, but both offenses moved the ball up and down the field all night.
• New Orleans didn’t have any answers for Aaron Rodgers who threw 3 first quarter touchdown passes.  Rodgers made things look pretty easy out there, compiling a 132.1 passer rating.
• In his last two games against the best the NFC South has to offer (this game and last year’s Divisional Round game versus Atlanta), Rodgers has gone 58/71—an 82% completion percentage—for 678 yards, 6 touchdowns, and zero interceptions.  A word to Green Bay’s Week 2 opponent, the Carolina Panthers: you better watch out.
• One of Green Bay’s many casualties to injury last year, Morgan Burnett had a very strong game, recording 14 total tackles, including a stop on the game’s final play in which he denied Saints rookie Mark Ingram the end zone on a goal line dive.
• Darren Sproles looked like everything Reggie Bush wasn’t.  A straight-ahead runner who knows his role as a scatback/return man, Sproles caught 7 passes for 75 yards and even returned a punt for a score.

Ravens over Steelers

• An old-fashioned whuppin’, the Baltimore Ravens made their fierce rival and defending AFC Champion Steelers look pretty silly.
• Baltimore forced seven turnovers, and Ray Rice became the first rusher since Ray Rice in Week 16 of 2009 to rush for 100 yards against the Steeler defense.

Bears over Falcons

• Chicago struck quickly and Atlanta could never catch up.  Playing from behind is not the Falcons’ specialty; they want to get a lead, then pound Michael Turner and drain clock.
• It was a pretty defensive game as Atlanta’s only touchdown came on a Kroy Biermann interception return.  The Bears got a defensive touchdown as well when Julius Peppers forced a Matt Ryan fumble that Brian Urlacher picked up and ran in for the score.

Bengals over Browns

• Andy Dalton’s rookie debut was cut short by injury, but that led to Bruce Gradkowski’s entrance and his manufacturing the win.  Cleveland was ahead for most of the contest, but with four and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter the Browns were late coming out of the defensive huddle, leaving rookie AJ Green wide open down the sideline for Gradkowski to hit for the go-ahead/game-winning score.
• Whenever he saw time in Oakland, Gradkowski made the Raiders competitive, which really should mean he’s a good quarterback.

Texans over Colts

• If there was ever a game that validated Peyton Manning’s four MVP awards, it was this one.  The first game without Manning since December 21, 1997, the Colts get thrashed 34-7 by the now de facto division favorite Houston Texans.
• Even down one of their main offensive weapons, Arian Foster, Houston still dominated the Colts in all facets: offense (Foster’s replacement Ben Tate going for 116), defense (holding Indianapolis to just seven points), and special teams (Jacoby Jones’ punt return for a touchdown).

Bills over Chiefs

• A stunning upset in which the previously 4-12 Bills knock off the defending AFC West champs at the seemingly impenetrable Arrowhead Stadium, not only did the Bills beat the Chiefs, they blew them out of the water 41-7.  Hill 364 had high hopes for the Chiefs, but only the Pittsburgh Steelers were more disappointing in their opener.
• After losing Tony Moeaki in the final preseason game for the year, the Chiefs were dealt another blow as potential Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry tore his ACL versus the Bills and will miss the rest of the season as well.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick had a whale of a game, throwing for 4 touchdowns.  The preceding note may have had something to do with that as two of those touchdowns went to tight end Scott Chandler over the middle of the field.

Jaguars over Titans

• As long as they keep winning, I cannot blame Jacksonville for cutting ties with David Garrard, but I do consider Garrard as perhaps the most under-appreciated quarterback in football.  He has a career passer rating of about 86 and always made a talent-deprived Jaguar team a tough out, even a playoff threat last year.
• I liked Garrard a lot as a place holder/mentor for first-round selection Blaine Gabbert, but now those duties go to journeyman third stringer Luke McCown, who has only marginally more NFL experience than Gabbert.
• The Jaguars held Chris Johnson to just 24 yards rushing, but wideout Kenny Britt went off for 136 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.

Lions over Buccaneers

• Despite the scoreboard reading 27-20 as time expired, the Lions’ win over Tampa Bay was not nearly as close as the score indicated.  Quite frankly, the Detroit defense was dominant.  Only against a lax prevent defense could the Bucs generate an offensive touchdown.
• Matthew Stafford came out to play as well, throwing for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns, two of which went to Calvin Johnson.  With the chemistry those two have, look out world.

Eagles over Rams

• I have two nitpicks about the Eagles in their 31-13 victory over St. Louis: Mike Vick was not sharp passing, and Philly’s run defense, like it could be all season, did not look very good.
• Vick completed just 44% of his passes and threw for only 187 yards, but Philadelphia’s other playmakers were the real difference.  LeSean McCoy totaled 137 yards of offense and 2 scores on just 17 touches.  DeSean Jackson accounted for 102 of Vick’s 187 passing yards.  Vick did make up for some of aerial yardage though by going for 97 yards on the ground.
• The Eagles gave up 56 yards on two carries to Steven Jackson before he had to leave with a bum quad.  Then Cadillac Williams came in and rushed for 91 more yards.

Redskins over Giants

• With seemingly half their defense missing in action, the Giants could be playing from behind a lot this season, and for a team that wants to hand the ball off to Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs thirty times a game, that could mean a long road lies ahead.
• Rex Grossman took advantage of the depleted Giants as he threw for over 300 yards and 2 scores.
• Eli Manning’s only scoring play was an interception returned for a touchdown by Redskins rookie Ryan Kerrigan.

Cardinals over Panthers

• Even though Carolina lost, the story of this one undoubtedly is Cam Newton and his record 422 passing yards, the most in a rookie debut ever.  Newton also threw for 2 scores, ran one in as well, and only threw one interception.
• If Newton keeps this up, he’s going to make my 1-15 prediction look really awful.
• As good as Newton was, Cardinals first-round pick Patrick Peterson was nearly as bad.  Given the task to cover Steve Smith, Peterson was completely overmatched as Smith caught 8 balls for 178 yards and two touchdowns.  I only said “nearly as bad” though because Peterson made up for his mistakes by returning a punt for the game-winning touchdown.
• After the Saints lost Thursday and the Falcons and Buccaneers both lost in early matchups, Carolina's late loss meant NFC South went 0-4 for the first time in its existence.

Chargers over Vikings

• How does one pass for only 39 yards in an entire game?  How is that even possible?
• Counting sacks, the Vikings only had 28 yards through the air.

49ers over Seahawks

• Player of the game honors go to Ted Ginn Jr. for his consecutive kick return touchdowns.  Within the span of 59 seconds, Ginn took back a kickoff return, the Niners kicked off to Seattle and forced a 3-and-out, and Ginn took back the following punt return.
• Though Alex Smith passed for only 124 yards, he did not commit any turnovers and he did rush for a touchdown.
• With David Akers converting four field goals, the longest of which was from 31 yards out, San Francisco must improve its red zone efficiency if they want to beat a team that doesn’t start Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback.

Jets over Cowboys

• Neither team seemed like it wanted to win this game, but the Cowboys wanted it less.  Jason Witten should have scored on his long reception to put the game out of reach, Dez Bryant shouldn’t have played down the stretch if he was not at 100%, and Tony Romo threw a pass only Darelle Revis could have caught, which he did, and it set up the game-winning field goal for New York.

Patriots over Dolphins

• Tom Brady had the 4th-most passing yards ever in a game in NFL history by throwing for 517 yards against the Dolphins.  This was also the first time there’s ever been a 500-yard passer and a 400-yard passer in the same game as Chad Henne threw for 416.
• Also in this game Brady saw his interception-less streak snapped at 358 regular season passes without a pick as defensive end Jared Odrick gathered in a tipped ball for the Dolphins.

Raiders over Broncos

• Sebastian Janikowski’s NFL record-tying 63-yard field goal just before half time turned out to be the game-winning margin.
• Contrary to the fans at Mile High Stadium, I don’t think it’s panic time (Tebow time) just yet, but the Broncos sure looked off Week 1.

--from @jeuneski