NFL Week 1 Recap

So I'm about a day late with this, but I thought I'd chime in on some of the bigger story lines from the first week of the NFL's new season.


Kevin Everett: The most tragic story of Week 1 is that of the Bills' Tight End, who suffered a potentially life-threatening spinal injury during a kick return. The latest news indicates that there is a chance he'll walk again, which is just about the best case scenario after his injury. Here's wishing him the best possible recovery.


Patriots: There are two stories to watch here. First, Randy Moss came out of the gate better than anyone could have predicted. I expected him to limp through the first couple of weeks, catch a few balls a game and leave everyone wondering if he'd really make any difference before breaking through in Week 4 or 5 (against either the defensively challenged Bengals or the totally hapless Browns). Instead, Moss bumped that timetable up by about a month with one of the biggest performances (9 catches, 183 yards, 1 TD) of the first week. He won't play like this every week, but if Moss continues to play more like his 2003 self (111, 1632, 17) than his 2006 self (42, 553, 3), just who, exactly, will stop the Pats?

The Patriots of course, may be stoppable, if the second storyline turns out to be more significant than I expect. How much of an impact on the Pats recent success has their spying/cheating/signal stealing had, how long exactly has this been going on, and what will the impact/fallout be now that they've been caught? Of course I don't know the answers to these questions, and until I do, I'll underrate its impact a bit, but this is definitely something to pay attention to.


JaMarcus Russell: The first overall pick in the 2007 draft finally signs. Why does it seem there is always one rookie each year who is willing to sabatoge his season with an ill-advised holdout? This years version is Russell, who will now be lucky to see any playing time this season after waiting until AFTER the season began to sign. On another note, why is Russell's prolonged holdout rewarded with a record contract?


J. Load!: As if the Giants weren't already harmless enough, they lost a starting quarterback, running back, and defensive end during their game against the Cowboys. How long Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, and Osi Umenyiora are all out is as of yet unknown, but the longer it is, the worse the Giants get. The positive side of this story is that we get to see the Hefty Lefty take a few more snaps. Hopefully this time he remembers a) where the first down marker is and b) that he is 285 pounds, so instead of sliding feet first to avoid tacklers, he can just truck anyone who tries to tackle him. It would be especially helpful for him to remember these things on fourth downs.

Cleveland: They suck. Not that this is a surprise. It just bears repeating.


Colts: Along with the Patriots, Indianapolis had the most impressive performance of the week, and unlike their rivals, theirs wasn't dampened by allegations of cheating.


I don't want to let this linger too long, so I'll stop for now. Maybe more later, maybe not. Maybe some updated power rankings later, we'll see.