Fun, fun week 1

NFL was in full flow today and I am sure a lot of Sports fans gladly welcomed it into their living rooms just like I did today. Many games, many stories, but these are the things that stuck with me.

Obviously the injury to Tom Brady is the biggest news. Reports are saying he is out for the season. Thats a shocker for the New England fans and is also a loss of a bankable superstar for the NFL. Thats too bad. I wonder if Matt Cassel can take over and do very well and dent Tom Brady's legend a little bit. I doubt it though since Matt is very inexperienced and Tom Brady is pretty good. Gone or the days when I used to think Brady was over-rated. He has definitely worked his way up the QB rankings pretty well.

Vince Young left his game with an injury as well, though he is expected to return soon. Tennessee also surprisingly beat Jacksonville.

Chad Pennington started for Miami and was is 1/6 for -1 yards at one point. It looked ugly, but he turned it around later. Ricky Williams also started and I am glad about that. NFL can use more vegan yogis.

Jim Nance was totally confused when Pennington completed a pass to David Martin. For some reason, he thought that was Favre to Bubba Franks and talked about how these 2 guys have done this many times before. Or not! To be fair to Nance, it was a confusing game with both QBs at new places. Even I was sub-consciously thinking Chad Pennington every time I saw Brett Favre take the snap in a Jets uniform because I am so used to seeing Chad at that spot.

Speaking of Favre, he did well. He connected on a bomb to Jerricho Cotchery and then threw the ball up for grabs on a 4-Th and 13 play that conveniently ended up in a Jets receiver's hands. Typical Brett Favre. Fun to watch. I was surprised to see very little from Laveranues Coles though.

Atlanta had a fantastic season opener. Matty Ice's first pass in the NFL was a TD bomb. That should have felt great for the Rookie. Michael Turner ran all over the Lions D and I guess Matty didn't have to do much after that pass, Both these new-comers looked very good for ATL.

McNabb was awesome. He looked healthy and unstoppable. Their Wide Receivers were catching balls all over the field and that has not happened a whole lot in Philly during the McNabb era except for TO. Speedy rookie from Cal, DeSean Jackson had a great game both receiving and returning.

The other half of the Philly game was the horrible St. Louis Rams. I was really sad to see the STL Rams offense. The "greatest show on Turf" days are long gone and they look very ordinary these days. I miss those days with the ball flying all over the place with Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt reeling in 40 yard passes from Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger. Torry Holt caught just one pass in this game and their supposed number 2 receiver, Drew Bennett caught one pass and was hurt right after that catch. It's going to be another long season in STL.

Speaking of the old Rams, Mike Martz has come west to the Niners and has brought a QB with him. J.T. O'Sullivan was not bad. He seems to be very poised and did make some throws that Alex Smith can't or won't. Frank Gore had a great game too. But the Cards just would not give them the ball. The Niners defense had no answer to the Cards run or pass game in the second half and the Cards killed the clock effectively. Seems like Ken Whisenhunt at least for a day was able to bring the Pittsburgh Steelers football to the Cards. The Niners turned the ball over 5 times. Typical Martz offense.

Chicago went in and shocked the Colts as did Carolina at San Diego. The Colts opened a new stadium, but had to go home disappointed. I think they'll be fine, but they didn't look all that sharp today. Big win for the Bears and they may have something special in that rookie Matt Forte.