Week 1 Thoughts, Week 2 Predictions at 12:00 PM

It’s Saturday, and that means I’m in football mode.  So let me give you a few thoughts about the week that was, and the week that will be.

I’ll kick this thing off with the requested Eagles rant.  The part that may be surprising is that I’m not annoyed because they lost.  The Falcons have started a rivalry here that they are just not good enough to win on a regular basis.  Let me just run down the list of things that went wrong for the Eagles on Monday night:  

Before the game, run-stopping middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was ejected (which was a crock, by the way.  Have you ever seen a guy throw a punch with both arms in a grabbing motion?). Donovan McNabb suffered a bruised chest in the first quarter, with the hit resulting in an interception on that play (the hit was highly illegal, by the way—the refs missed a blatant spear that the player was later fined for—ridiculous).  David Akers, the second most accurate kicker in NFL history, missed two field goals.  They turned the ball over three times.  McNabb was just not right after that hit, and it showed—he was off a lot with his passes.  And what happened?  The Eagles lost by four points.  

After the game, Atlanta was celebrating like they’d just won the NFC championship game (which they won’t reach this year).  Deangelo Hall (the cornerback who covered Owens all night) got in T.O.’s face and let him have it.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Did these guys really think they’d done anything?  They beat half a team with an injured QB.  They racked up over 200 yards on the ground, sure, but they got into the end zone twice.  And they were that happy?  Give me a break.  And I have to mention Hall again, who thought he’d done the impossible (Madden and Michaels were on that bandwagon as well) by covering T.O.  Watching the replays, Owens was open all night.  McNabb just couldn’t get the ball to him.  You know, I hope I’m wrong and they do make the playoffs.  I’d like to see the Eagles just destroy them for the third straight year in the postseason.

There.  I feel better now.  On to week one thoughts:

The trend is that everyone tends to take week one way too seriously.  People start panicking if their team gets beaten, or if a bad team wins people get too excited and start thinking playoffs.  To quote the immortal quote machine Jim Mora, “Playoffs?  Are you kid—playoffs?”  So here’s what meant something and what meant nothing in this first week of the season.

Something:

-Chad Pennington may not be in top form.  He fumbled the ball six times, and his throws just didn’t look right.  I hope his arm strength isn’t going to be a long-term problem, because if that’s the case, the Jets are in for a long season.  It would take them from contender straight into the AFC East basement.

-The Steelers are back.  The Titans are frighteningly bad, but a mediocre team does not just handle a team like the Pittsburgh did in week one.  Big Ben continued his role of making a few plays and then handing the ball off.  He was 9 of 11 on passing attempts, and Willie Parker came up huge.  I think that wasn’t a one-time thing from Parker.  We’re going to be seeing a lot of him.

-The Packers are that bad.  Yeah, they put up 3 points last week.  I figured Detroit would win, but 3 points?  Geez.  They’ll smoke Cleveland this week, and everyone will get all excited about Favre making a comeback, and then we’ll see.  They might win one game between then and week 8.

-Carolina could be in trouble.  After a lot of inexplicable Super Bowl hype, they lost Kris Jenkins at defensive tackle and got demoralized by the Saints at home.  We’ll see how they do against the Pats this week.

Nothing:

-Cowboys over Chargers.  If Antonio Gates was in the game for San Diego, they win.  Conversation over.  And I like how the new and improved defense allowed 24 points without Gates.  That having been said, Bledsoe looked pretty good, and Jones is a player.  But one win on the road does not a contender make.

-49ers over Rams.  The Rams are awful on the road, Mike Martz is somehow still the coach, and the Niners put up 21 of their 28 points in the 2nd quarter.  Is that enough for you?  If not, watch San Francisco play the Eagles this week.  The Rams will probably lose again though.

-The Colts’ defensive performance.  It was the Ravens.  Give me a break.  Their offense is anemic at best.  Let’s see what they do against the Rams in week 6 (yeah, that’s pretty much the next time they play another good team.  I’ve never seen a schedule like that for a team as good as Indy).  And by the way, can someone explain to me how the Eagles couldn’t stop the run last year without Jeremiah Trotter, and now suddenly former-Eagle Corey Simon is a “big run-stopping tackle” for the Colts?  They’ll be exposed.  You wait and see.

-New Orleans.  Yes it was an emotional win.  Yes they looked good.  Yes it was on the road.  It means nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I wouldn’t mind seeing the Saints do well this year, but let’s just tell ESPN and everyone else to cool down a bit, shall we?

So that’s about it for now.  In week two, check out Jacksonville at the Colts.  That should be a good one.  That’s probably the game of the week, but it looks like there’s solid games pretty much across the board.  Questions and answers for week two:  Will Culpepper get his groove back?  (I say yes.)  Who wasn’t a fluke in week one—Buffalo or Tampa?  (I say Buffalo wins this one, but Tampa doesn’t look like a bunch of suckers either.)  Are the Rams really that bad?  (No, but Mike Martz is.  I’m saying he’s gone by week 8.  I’d say sooner, but they’ve kept him around this long…)  Can Pennington really still throw?  (I think so, and I think they show that the Dolphins aren’t as good as last week would have you think.)  One more prediction:  everyone will talk about how the Falcons take out the Seahawks this week, until later in the season when everyone realizes the Seahawks aren’t really good.

For those of you still reading, thanks for sticking around.  Remember, the beginning of the season is fun, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.  The Pats lost 31-0 in week one before winning the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.  That same year, the Eagles went 1-3 and then ended up 12-4.  So get excited, but don’t set your expectations too high or low just yet.