Week 1 Results/Review
WEEK 1 RESULTS
Washington Redskins 7 - 16 New York Giants
Detroit Lions 21 - 34 Atlanta Falcons
Cincinatti Bengals 10 - 17 Baltimore Ravens
Seattle Seahawks 10 - 34 Buffalo Bills
New York Jets 20 -14 Miami Dolphins
Kansas City Chiefs 10 - 17 New England Patriots
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 - 24 New Orleans Saints
St Louis Rams 3 - 38 Philadelphia Eagles
Houston Texans 17 - 38 Pittsburgh Steelers
Jacksonville Jaguars 10 - 17 Tennessee Titans
Dallas Cowboys 28 - 10 Cleveland Browns
San Diego Chargers 24 - 26 Carolina Panthers
San Francisco 49ers 13 - 23 Arizona Cardinals
Chicago Bears 29 - 13 Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings 19 - 24 Green Bay Packers
Denver Broncos 41 - 14 Oakland Raiders
TOP THREE PERFORMANCES OF WEEK
1. Chicago Bears
2. Carolina Panthers
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
WEEK 1 REVIEW
As usual in Week 1, a few eyebrow raising results and a couple of teams having a few question marks placed against them, even at this early stage, whilst a few other teams have question marks taken away from them and replaced with exclamation marks.
The biggest jaw drop of the day though came in New England, where for 10 minutes or so it seemed business as usual for the Patriots....Tom Brady making pass after pass and marching down the field towards the Pats first Touchdown against the helpless Chiefs.....and then disaster. Brady takes a massive hit from one of the Chiefs defensive men and goes down, having to be carried off the field. Brady's backup QB, Matt Cassel, comes in and just about leads the Pats to victory over the Chiefs but the news come through that Brady is now OUT for the season, needing reconstructive surgery on his knee.
The effect this has not just on the Patriots, but on the NFL Superbowl scene as a whole cannot be understated. I have been trying to liken the loss of Brady to a Premiership footballer to give you a parallel...quite simply i cannot do it on a one for one basis. The closest i can get is to like saying Man Utd lose Ronaldo, Rooney and Ferdinand for the whole season 10 mins into their first game. The Pats will still be a force, as would Man U, but severly weakened and impossible to replace him - they do have a relatively soft/easy schedule this season - but it will still be an achievement for them to make the playoffs now.
This really blows the AFC picture wide open, especially for Indianapolis, but they also had a shocker this weekend...losing at home to the very unfancied Bears bad enough, but the Colts also had injury concerns - top RB Joseph Addai being knocked out of the game, and they looked very lethargic and dull throughout the game.
Only the Steelers really showed their class in the AFC this weekend - a comprehensive victory over the Texans with the Texans scoring two late TD's with the Steelers on auto pilot and playing a few reserve players giving the scoreline some respectability. Narrow, though poor, losses for the two other main AFC protagonists, the Jaguars and the Chargers, will soon need to be eradicated, especially after the good showings of the Bills and Broncos. The Jets also had a good win, though the quality of opposition for the Jets and Broncos needs to be considered here.
In the NFC and the Cowboys looked scary good against the Browns. It looked like they could score at will, with Tony Romo having plenty of time to find his excellent receivers, as well as RB Marion Barber pummeling the Browns D on the ground. With the Eagles showing no mercy to the hapless Rams and the Saints prevailing in an epic encounter with a very good Buccs side, and not forgetting the Giants and the Packers wins here either, the Cowboys will need to maintain this level of performance to keep their noses in front in the NFC race. Honourable mentions must go also to the Panthers - they could be a dark horse, the Falcons - very encouraging start and also the Cardinals.
MY CURRENT TOP 5 RANKED TEAMS AFTER WEEK 1
1. Dallas Cowboys - looked impressive on both sides of ball
2. Pittsburgh Steelers - great win, could be the new #1 in the AFC
3. New England Patriots - a win, but at what cost? Time will tell.
4. San Diego Chargers - last second loss hard to take - should bounce back tho
5. Indianapolis Colts - lucky to be still #5 - another poor showing in Week 2 tho and they wont be with plenty of teams snapping at their heels
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