Week 1 Monday Recap

I apologize for being a day late posting this.

Going into Monday Night Football, I was most excited for the game in Denver. I felt that that game was the more even matchup, and in the end I was probably right. However, there was plenty of excitement in the first game of the night, too.

Tom Brady recorded 517 passing yards, a fantasy player’s dream (or nightmare), good for the best single-game passing performance in Patriots history, and a spot in the top five for the NFL All-Time list.

What is easy to forget is that Miami’s quarterback, Chad Henne, also had a career game, throwing for 416 yards and two touchdowns while running for 59 yards and another score.

The defining moment of the game came with about six minutes left in the game and Miami trailing 31-17. A big play for the Dolphins was called a touchdown but then overturned on review, the ball placed on the 1-yard line. Three stops later the Dolphins are faced with 4th-and-goal, just inside the one. Miami elected to pass, and Henne threw an incompletion.

With just under six minutes to play, the Dolphins knew that a quick stop, or better yet a safety, could keep them in the game. Brady stepped back to pass, Miami rushed, and Benny Sapp let Wes Welker slip by him. Brady saw the opening, went for it, and 99 ½ yards later the Patriots had a new organization record for the longest play from scrimmage. The Dolphins would score again, but by this time the game was well out of reach.

Denver hosted the Raiders in the late game. Oakland arrived at Mile High on a seven game winning streak against the AFC West. However, they were also on a long losing streak in opening games. Meanwhile, Denver hadn’t lost a home opener since 2000. Only one of those streaks remained intact at the end of the night as Oakland earned a 23-20 win in a game that wasn’t nearly as exciting as I had anticipated.

Neither team played lights out football, though Darren McFadden was quite impressive, gaining 150 yards on 22 carries. One of his carries was probably my highlight of the game. The only other play that particularly impressed me was Janikowski’s NFL record-tying 63-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

Late in the game, Denver fans began a Tim Tebow chant, but I didn’t see what was so bad about Kyle Orton. No, he wasn’t stellar, but he was a little above average from what I saw. He made a couple mistakes, one that should never be made (he lost his grip on the football while scrambling out of the pocket). But he threw for over 300 yards and had a pretty nice 13-yard scramble.

My next post should be up either Friday or Saturday evening, and that will have my predictions for Week 2 as well as my games-to-watch.

Week 1 Sunday Recap

Yesterday was a very exciting day as the NFL kicked into high gear with its first Sunday of regular season action for the 2011 season.

I chose the Ravens/Steelers game to watch during the 1:00pm session rather than the Eagles/Rams, and I was treated to a blowout. The Ravens defense allowed seven points, but they also forced seven turnovers, and Baltimore took advantage of all of them by not turning the ball over even once! Flacco looked very good, Ray Rice was stellar, and Baltimore rolled to its easiest win over their most hated rivals in NFL history.

The Eagles took care of business in St. Louis, but it didn’t hurt that Sam Bradford, Steven Jackson, and Danny Amendola all sustained injuries during the game. Their severity will be assessed today. Vick settled down as the game wore on, but the Rams defense was gunning for him early. In fact, the Eagles didn’t really look very good at all during the first quarter, yet they led 14-7 going into the second.

Other big early games included Chicago’s romping of Atlanta and the surprise 41-7 win by Buffalo, who was visiting a Kansas City team that went 7-1 at home last year.

I got to see the Redskins win at home against the Giants during the later games, and it was a very good game. During the first half New York scored twice, but the drives following both New York touchdowns resulted in touchdowns for the Redskins. During the second half it was all Washington. It opened up with rookie Ryan Kerrigan tipping an Eli Manning pass, catching it, and running into the end zone for a touchdown.

The other three late afternoon games all have great story lines as well. Cam Newton became the first rookie to pass for 400+ yards in week 1, breaking a record previously held by Peyton Manning. It wasn’t enough, however, as the hosting Cardinals still won the game. Minnesota led in San Diego, 17-7 at halftime, but Philip Rivers helped lead a big comeback win at home. Fullback Mike Tolbert scored all three Charger touchdowns. And the game in San Francisco was much closer than the score suggests. Ted Ginn Jr. had two late return touchdowns, the first a kickoff and the second a punt. It marked the first time in NFL history a player had one of each on opening day.

The late game was the most exciting of the day. The Jets hosted the Cowboys, and Dallas looked like they would be unstoppable early on, or at least Dez Bryant looked unstoppable. Unfortunately, after the first series he left the field with an injury. He would return later but would not be very effective. Dallas led by 14 early in the fourth quarter, but Sanchez finally came to life, and the Jets’ run offense got a spark, too. When New York completed it’s comeback and the game ended, it marked the first time in Dallas Cowboys franchise history that they lost a game in which they led by 14+ in the final quarter (they have also tied once).

Tonight we have two games. Miami hosts the Patriots at 7:00pm and the Oakland visits Denver at 10:15pm. Tomorrow’s post will include recaps of those games and my Week 1 prediction results. I will then be back next Saturday with Week 2 predictions.