NFL Week 1.....At Last!!

After a very long summer of shitty baseball and a somewhat subdued NFL off season (from a Ravens fans point of view)I have had this day circled on my calendar. There is nothing better than waking up on Sunday morning knowing that you are going to watch NFL football from 12pm until nearly midnight. Nothing can compare to it, the NFL makes Sunday an event every week for 16 weeks and into the playoffs.

That being said, the early match ups had some fantastic finishes and some God awful crooked scores. Lets start with Cleveland and Pittsburgh, is there a worse team in sports (the Orioles aside) than the Cleveland Browns??? After the "old" Browns moved to Baltimore in 96 and the "new Browns" reappeared in 99 the franchise is still a joke. I haven't seen so many big hits in three hours since the last Eagles reunion tour. Charlie Frye never had a chance and Jamal Lewis looked just like he did in his last three seasons in Baltimore, flat and slow. Derek Anderson was brought on for mop up duty and managed at least one touchdown but the game was a joke. Pittsburgh scored at will and Roethlisberger looked like a freaking stud which really pisses me off. In other surprisingly bad action Kansas City was decimated by Houston who looks like they may actually be for real this year. Larry Johnson was a virtual non factor and Damon Huard looked clueless as Matt Schaub had an impressive debut for the Texans. The Texan defense also looked real good and could rank in the top 5 this year if they keep on like this.

The early action hi-lite games were definitely the Redskins vs. Dolphins and Broncos vs. Bills. Washington had an amazing overtime win to beat the Dolphins only after a last second Hail Mary play came up 2 yards short. In a weekend where the Statue of Liberty play worked twice in the NCAA why not a Hail Mary. The Broncos managed to scramble their field goal unit on the field with 10 seconds left and no time outs to beat Buffalo by 1. Having recently been to Buffalo I feel for their fans who are all to accustomed to last second controversial losses. I bet Ted's Hot Dogs is hopping with buzz about this game!


The 2nd set of games was not all it was billed to be. For the first half the Bears held the Chargers scoreless and looked as if they were truly the real deal. However you can't stop LT you can only hope to contain him. He ended up passing and rushing for two touch downs and Antonio Gates had an early resurgence with over 100 receiving yards and a touch down. It's amazing Rex Grossman even knows his own name as he was crushed twice early and never seemed to have it together not to mention the two running backs Peterson and Benson who couldn't hold onto the ball. If the Bears offense can't get it going it's going to be a long season in the windy city. The Tampa Bay Seattle game was a lot closer than I thought it would be especially with Tampa suffering several injuries during the game to key players. In the end Shaun Alexander had his way with the Bucs D and rushed over100 yards and a touch down although the play of the game was a pass down the sideline from Hassleback to little used Maurice Morris. That play was genius in design forcing a linebacker out in coverage on the wing in a huge mismatch.

The game I was not surprised by although the sports media seemed to be was the win by Detroit over Oakland. Even though Oakland was home lets not forget how much they suck. Detroit has a quality offense and an improving D, Oakland is quarter backed by one of the McCown brothers and can't even sign their first round draft pick. I don't see the upset but am happy for the Lions and believe that 10 wins is a possiblity per Kitna's guarantee.

Tonight's game with Dallas matching up against the Tiki Barberless Giants should be good although I expect Dallas to win rather easily. As much as it pains me I need TO to grab a couple of catches and preferably a TD so I can wrap up my victory over Greazy in fantasy football and ensure my free crab dinner at Old Mill at the end of this month.

Tomorrow night my Ravens play in hostile Cincinatti who up until 5 years ago was the Cleveland of the NFL. I expect a close game although the Ravens are notorious for losing their opener. I'm hoping for a win and a good showing from McNair and McGahee in his debut. I also hope Chad Johnson is shut out of the endzone so we can stop hearing about the "celebration" he has planned for when he scores. He did not get into the promised land at all last year against Baltimore so heres hoping he doesn't make it in this season either. As for the 9ers and Cards, I think it will be a good game I'm just sad it is on so damn late and I won't get to see any of it. Both of these teams are on the rise but I expect San Fran to pull this one out as they seem to have more experienced weapons. However Alex Smith does have freakishly small carny hands so who knows....til next week I wait in anticipation of another glorious day of football freedom.