Week Three Stats of the Week

Stat of the week No. 1: LaDanian Tomlinson became the fifth player in NFL history with 12,000 rushing yards and 4,000 receiving yards.

Stat of the week No. 2: Anquan Boldin reached 600 catches faster than any other player in NFL history (98 games to 102 games for Marvin Harrison).

Stat of the week No. 3: Cedric Benson is the first Bengals running back with a receiving and rushing touchdown in the same game since Corey Dillon in 2001.

Stat of the week No. 4: Mike Wallace became the first Steeler since Louis Lipps in 1988 to have two touchdown catches of 40 or more yards in the same game.

Stat of the week No. 5: The Dallas Cowboys won their 400^th game since the merger joining the Pittsburgh Steelers (406 wins) as the only teams since 1970 with 400 wins.

San Francisco's house of cards crumbles and other NFL thoughts

(1)              I really believed that the San Francisco 49ers were the class of the otherwise weak NFC West.  On paper, they had the best defense and the best running game.  All they needed, it seemed, was for Alex Smith to do his best game manager impersonation and they were going to cruise to the division title.  Unfortunately, all the hope and expectation has evaporated in the wake of San Francisco’s 0-3 start to the 2010 season.  Outside of a close, hard-fought loss to the defending Super Bowl champs on Monday Night, the 49ers have generally looked more like the worst team in the division as opposed to the title favorites. 

On opening day, the 49ers got blitzed by the Seahawks 31-6 despite dominating the ball for most of the first half.  San Francisco made one mistake after another, which allowed Seattle to score 31 unanswered points and make a loud statement that the fight for a title was going to be a tough one.  The Niners failed to convert on 15 of 16 third down opportunities, failed to score any touchdowns on three red zone opportunities, failed to protect the ball as they turned it over twice and failed to play disciplined football by committing eight penalties.  The loss also exposed the fact that the 49ers had trouble making play calls in a timely manner, which contributed to their high penalty total and their general lack of execution.  It is probably a bad sign when your offensive coordinator is described as disorganized and a slow play-caller.  Nevertheless, the 49ers recovered to provide a stiff challenge to the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.  Alex Smith looked like a much more confident signal-caller in the friendly confines of Candlestick Park and San Francisco ran the football much more successfully.  I thought the running game was the most encouraging sign from this game because it gave us a glimpse of what the 49ers were supposed to be this season.  Frank Gore averaged 5.6 yards per carry, which took most of the pressure off of Smith and allowed Smith to flourish in the passing game.  Actually, Smith gained so much confidence throughout the game that he led a wonderful drive, in the two-minute offense, to tie the score at 22 apiece with 1:19 remaining in the game.  Unfortunately, the Niners left too much time on the clock and Drew Brees led a two-minute drive of his own resulting in a game-winning field goal by Garrett Hartley. 

San Francisco felt as if they had taken a positive step forward with their performance against the Saints, but they were quickly brought back to earth with their god-awful game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week Three.  The Chiefs racked up 457 total yards on their way to a 31-10 shellacking of the Niners.  Their offense was generally horrific as they converted just 4-17 third down opportunities, averaged a paltry 2.9 yards per rush and allowed Smith to be sacked five times.  If you take away Gore’s nine catches for 102 yards, Smith only completed 14 balls for 123 yards to his wide receivers and tight ends.  The 49ers’ defense, which was believed to be their strength, allowed the Chiefs to rack up 207 yards rushing and averaged nearly 5.5 yards per carry.  Kansas City owned this game from start to finish.  I’m sure that diehard Frisco fans are going to try to blame the short week of preparation, the travel to Kansas City and the hostile environment, but I think we are seeing the reality that the 49ers had no business being the favorites to win the NFC West.  I know that I was fooled.  Alex Smith has looked nothing like the game manager that the 49ers needed him to be with five interceptions and an overall QB rating of 66.4.  The running game led by Frank Gore has produced just 234 yards through three games with an average of less than 4 yards per carry.  Overall, the offense has been unable to sustain drives due to six turnovers and a 24.4% on third down.  In addition to the offensive woes, I believe that the 49ers defense has been exposed as being a little overrated.  I think they have generally played okay, but they have had too many lapses that have allowed their opponents to seize control of each game.  In Seattle, they were taken by surprise in the second half but their offense really didn’t do them any favors.  Against New Orleans, the defense had their best effort but they allowed Drew Brees to drive the length of the field for the game-winning field goal when they desperately needed a stop.  This week, against Kansas City, the San Francisco defense had no answers for the Chiefs offense.

Personally, I believe that the 49ers’ goose is cooked, which means that I my prediction for the NFC West was wrong.  The Niners have already dug themselves a whole that only five teams have ever made it out of to make the playoffs and I have no confidence that they are going to be the sixth.  First of all, they are going to fall to 0-4 after their Week 4 trip to the Dirty South.  Secondly, Alex Smith is the definition of a first round flop and I don’t think he has the ability to be an effective game manager, much less an upper echelon NFL quarterback.  Finally, I feel like the 49ers defense is quite ready to carry the load like the defenses of the 2006 Bears and 2000 Ravens.  In the end, the Niners’ failures have opened the doors on the race for the NFC West wide open.  As strange as it sounds, the Seattle Seahawks might very well be the favorites going forward.

(2)              The greater New York City area has been blessed with a lot of great teams and great players.  Every single professional sports team in the area has at least enjoyed one or two moments in the spotlight.  In football, the New York Giants have had a lot more recent success on the strength of two Super Bowl victories under Bill Parcells, a Super Bowl appearance under Jim Fassel and another Super Bowl victory under Tom Coughlin.  The most recent Super Bowl title seemed to announce the arrival of Eli Manning as an elite quarterback after being the Giants’ number one pick back in 2003.  Unfortunately, Eli’s fortunes as well as the team’s seem to be going in the opposite direction.  The Giants followed up their shining moment with a 12-4 season in 2008, which concluded with a resounding thud after a 23-11 loss to the Eagles in the Divisional Round.  The trend continued to go in the wrong direction in 2009 when the Giants’ record fell to 8-8 and they missed the playoffs all together.  Keep in mind, their 2009 season started with five straight victories until they were completely undressed on the Superdome turf by the subsequent World Champions.  New York finished the season losing eight out of 11 games and looked very much like a team in disarray.  The poor ending to last season seems to have carried forward to the beginning of this season.  The Giants opened with a sloppy victory over the Carolina Panthers, but have played pretty poorly in consecutive bad losses to Indianapolis on the road and Tennessee at home.  Specifically, I have seen evidence that the Giants have lost the identity that helped them win the Super Bowl just four seasons ago.  During the highly successful 2007 and 2008 seasons, the Giants were built on a strong running game and an outstanding defense.  The running game revolved around Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw, who helped the G-Men average 134.3 yards per game in 2007 and 157.4 yards per game in 2008.  The defense was equally dominant led by their multi-talented defensive line.  They racked up 95 sacks and held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing per game over the two-year period.  Since that high point, the Giants have run the ball less successfully and have had to rely more heavily on the right arm of Eli Manning.  He responded with a career year in 2009, but the improved numbers didn’t translate to victories on the field.  At the same time, the defense saw their sack numbers plummet to 32, their rushing yards allowed increase to 110 yards per game and their opponents’ QB rating skyrocket to 95.1.  The trend is continuing in 2010 as the Giants’ opponents are averaging 136.7 rushing per game.  I think this team needs to get back to the basics.  They are not going to have success if Eli Manning regularly throws the ball 48 times like he did on Sunday.  They are also going to continue having problems if they don’t clean up the penalties and the turnovers.  New York committed 11 penalties and turned the ball over three times on Sunday, which was the biggest reason that they lost the game.  After watching the Giants stumble through the first three weeks of the season, I’m wondering what possessed me to have picked them to win the NFC East.  I’m not sure that they would win the Big East with the way they are playing right now.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets are taking the city by storm.  They jumped into our consciousness last year with their run to the AFC Championship game and continued to own the headlines with their offseason transactions and appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks.  They had there own rocky start to the 2010 campaign, but they have scored two impressive wins in a row over AFC East divisional opponents to serve notice that there was a reason many thought they could be Super Bowl contenders.  I’m most impressed by the recent performance from Mark Sanchez.  The Sanchize was awful to begin the year against the Baltimore defense, but he has responded tremendously in the last two weeks.  In their week two victory over the New England Patriots, Sanchez threw a career-high three touchdown passes on his way to posting a 124.3 QB rating.  I was mainly surprised at how confident Sanchez appeared in the New England game after playing the opening game like a five-year old with a bad case of stage fright.  He looked like a franchise quarterback.  In an attempt to prove that his performance against the Patriots was not a fluke, Sanchez threw another three touchdown passes against Miami and posted a 120.5 QB rating.  His first two touchdown passes were brilliantly executed and showed why the Jets and a lot of talent evaluators believed that he could be an elite quarterback in the NFL.  In addition to Sanchez’s recent improvement, I’m encouraged that the Jets are still committed to the run.  Instead of Shonn Greene, it has been LaDanian Tomlinson leading the way, but regardless the results have been impressive.  Tomlinson has rushed for at least 60 yards in each game and the Jets are the ninth in the NFL with just over 130 yards rushing per game.  I have been very impressed by the burst that Tomlinson has displayed through the first three weeks.  If he was a baseball player, we would all be questioning whether he had ingested some performance enhancing drug.  Finally, I think that Jets’ fans should be encouraged by the fact that their defense seems to be getting worse, but they are still winning games.  They were very good against the Ravens and so-so against the Patriots, but the Fins shredded the Gang Green defense that was missing Darrelle Revis and Kris Jenkins.  It has to be a comforting thought for all Jets supporters that their defense doesn’t have to play lights out for New York to win games.  If the defense can hold their ground until Revis returns and the offense can continue to produce like they have over the last two weeks, then my prediction that the Jets will win the AFC East will look mighty good.

(3)              I think it is time for the New Orleans Saints to start worrying about their lackadaisical start to the 2010 season.  They sleepwalked through their rematch with the Minnesota Vikings and barely escaped with a 14-9 victory.  Their trademark big play offense was missing for most of the game as Drew Brees had to settle for mostly short and intermediate completions.  They were terrible on third down, which led to five punts in the game and general ineffectiveness.  Most alarmingly, Garrett Hartley missed two field goals, which didn’t cost the Saints this particular game but foreshadowed future doom.  In their second game against San Francisco, the Saints once again could not convert third down opportunities, which led to a lot more punts and another close finish.  In addition to their third down woes, the Saints were also inconsistent in the red zone and couldn’t run the ball to save their lives.  Apparently, the Saints did not do enough to clean up their sloppy play because it continued to plague them during their NFC South showdown with the Atlanta Falcons.  The Saints were once again ineffective in the red zone and in their running game (16 carries for 43 yards).  New Orleans improved their third down efficiency but the progress that they made in that area was completely counteracted by three costly turnovers.  The Saints’ inability to be efficient on offense allowed the Falcons to stay in the game, control the clock and ultimately steal the victory.  Everyone is blaming Garrett Hartley for his missed field goal in overtime, but the Saints need to look at all phases of their team before they heap all of the blame on Hartley.  Their offense has been unimpressive all year long and their defense followed up two strong performances with a clunker against the Falcons.  I still think they will be in the mix all year long, but the Falcons issued a stern warning that they are serious contenders for the NFC South crown.  

Week Three Picks

Here are my week three picks (home teams in caps):

CHIEFS over 49ers

VIKINGS over Lions

PATRIOTS over Bills

SAINTS over Falcons

Titans over GIANTS

Steelers over BUCCANEERS

Bengals over PANTHERS

RAVENS over Browns

TEXANS over Cowboys

Redskins over RAMS

Eagles over JAGUARS

Colts over BRONCOS

CARDINALS over Raiders

DOLPHINS over Jets

Packers over BEARS

SEAHAWKS over Chargers

Last Week: no picks

Overall: 10-6

Week Two Stats of the Week

Stat of the week No. 1: Matt Schaub and Donovan McNabb combined for 923 passing yards, the second-most all-time by opposing QBs in a single game.  Andre Johnson became the second fastest to reach 600 receptions in NFL history (Johnson – 104 games, Marvin Harrison – 102 games).  The Redskins finished with 17 rushes for 18 yards, the second lowest total ever recorded by a team in Mike Shanahan’s 246 games as a head coach.

Stat of the week No. 2: Randy Moss recorded his 150^th career TD becoming the fourth player in NFL history to reach that number (Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and LaDanian Tomlinson).  It was also Moss’ 48^th receiving TD in 50 games with the Patriots, the most receiving touchdowns by a player in his first 50 games with a new team in NFL history.

Stat of the week No. 3: Antonio Brown’s 89-kickoff return TD was the first kick return TD by the Steelers on an opening kickoff since Lynn Chandnois on Nov. 30, 1952.

Stat of the week No. 4: Jahvid Best became the first rookie in NFL history with at least 75 rushing yards, 150 receiving yards and three touchdowns in one game.

Stat of the week No. 5: Favre has 37 career games with at least three interceptions, the most since the merger in 1970.

Panic in Dallas and other NFL thoughts

(1) It is lucky that the Dallas Metroplex is huge, which presumably means that there are lots of mental health professionals, because the Dallas Cowboys and their fans are officially on suicide watch. In a season where there was so much talk about the Cowboys becoming the first team to make a Super Bowl in their home stadium, it appears that their once promising season is coming unraveled. After losing to the Chicago Bears 27-20 on Sunday, the Cowboys have started 0-2 for the first time since 2001. Unlike 2001, when Dallas was making the transition from Troy Aikman to Quincy Carter, this year’s Cowboys have an established, Pro Bowl quarterback and several other established playmakers. This group of Cowboys seems to have oodles of talent, but they lack the intangible qualities that championship teams possess and they always seem to be at a coaching disadvantage.

The first problem that seems to plague Dallas is their general lack of discipline. They committed six penalties on Sunday and have been flagged 18 times total in two games. Last week against the Washington, several obvious holding calls against right tackle Alex Barron killed their offensive momentum and this week two bone-headed roughing-the-passer penalties helped keep the Bears’ offense on the field. In addition to their problems on the field, it appears that their off the field discipline is coming apart at the seams as well. In the week leading up to this week’s game, there were a couple of incidents in the Cowboys’ locker room that demonstrated a lack of professionalism and a general disrespect for coaches. Also, Terence Newman intimated that the Dallas players are not taking care of the little things in practice and may not be preparing with the necessary level of intensity. Newman was careful to not blame the coaching staff, but I think that the Cowboys have huge problems with their coaches.

As I have said on numerous occasions, I believe that Wade Phillips is better suited to be someone’s grandfather than to be a head football coach in the National Football League. He has had one too many senior moments on the sidelines, which probably explains why the Cowboys pee all over themselves in big moments. Last week, he failed to call off the Hail Mary play at the end of the first half because he was probably too occupied thinking about whether or not to order the early bird special at dinner. As a result, the Cowboys ran one of the most ill-conceived plays in the history of professional football, which turned out to be the difference in the game. The Cowboys will never win anything of significance with Phillips as their head coach. Unfortunately, I don’t think he is the biggest issue on the coaching staff. I believe that high priced offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is the major reason why the Cowboys have failed to live up to their talent level. I honestly believe that he is in way over his head. At one point in time, Garrett was the hottest assistant coach that money could buy until he interviewed for his first head coaching position. Once got his chance to talk with other owners and general managers, it became clear that his lofty reputation had been manufactured out of thin air and no one wanted him as their head coach any longer. Of course, Jerry Jones is way too egotistical to admit a mistake, so he paid Garrett big bucks to serve as his offensive coordinator/head coach-in-waiting/resident genius. The problem, as many front office people had recently learned, is that Garrett wouldn’t know a quality game plan if it fell in his lap. He has no concept of balance despite the fact that he has a solid trio of running backs. He too often abandons the running game like he did against the Bears in favor of allowing Tony Romo to throw the ball down after down. Despite the return of Marc Colombo and Kyle Kosier, the Cowboys ran the ball only 20 times the entire game and gave the ball to Marion Barber only four times in the last three quarters. Instead, Romo threw the ball 51 times and the Cowboys only scored one offensive touchdown. Garrett called passing plays like his team was down two scores for most of the game. In reality, the Cowboys had a four point lead midway through the second quarter and never trailed by more than six points until late in the fourth quarter.

In the end, the Cowboys are in big trouble with a road trip to Houston staring them in the face. Since 1990, only 13 percent of NFL teams that have started 0-2 have made the playoffs. In the past two years, 19 teams have started 0-2 and only three made the playoffs: Miami, Minnesota and San Diego. Fans in search of a silver lining might point to the 1993 club that started 0-2 and finished as Super Bowl champs, but that team was coming off a title and played the first two games without Emmitt Smith. This team has to dig themselves out of a hole the size of Texas while also solving their discipline woes and improving their game plans.

(2) Another fan base that is probably wringing their hands today is the fans of the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings were a couple of plays from making the Super Bowl last season and their 2010 title aspirations received a huge boost when Brett Favre decided to return for his 20th season. After two disappointing losses to start the year, it appears that the Good Ship Brett Favre has lost a significant amount of its magic and is probably going to drag down a once promising campaign. Favre just looks old and tired. I saw some video of him entering the Metrodome prior to yesterday’s game and he could barely walk into the locker room. It looked like it was consuming all of his energy just to make it down the tunnel. Frankly, he looked like he was in pain, which is not a good sign when the second game of the season had not even started yet. I believe we are finally seeing the wheels come off for Favre. His short training camp is catching up with him. The beating that he took at the hands of the New Orleans Saints is catching up to him. The lack of rhythm that has developed between him and his primary receivers is catching up to him. For God’s sake, Father Time is catching up with him.

He didn’t play particularly well last week against the Saints, but he saved his worst performance as a Viking for the game against the Dolphins. Favre turned the ball over four times, including three back-breaking interceptions, and posted 44.3 QB rating, which was his lowest as a Viking. Last season, Favre fell into the perfect situation and he made the absolute best of it. He threw 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions while enjoying the benefits of having the best running back he had ever played with and a stable of pass catchers that were pushed to new heights using Favre’s infectious style of play as inspiration. Sidney Rice became a Pro Bowl receiver, Visanthe Shiancoe developed into an elite tight end and Percy Harvin won the Rookie of the Year award. It was all gum drops, lollipops and bubble gum. This year has felt more like the entire team swallowing a bag full of Sour Patch Kids. The rhythm just isn’t there. The enthusiasm just isn’t there. The execution just isn’t there. The Vikings failed to convert on a fourth-and-one at the goal line and Favre threw two red zone interceptions, which effectively sealed the deal. The Dolphins made so many big plays that I feared the Metrodome roof would cave in due to all the air being sucked out of the building. The only things that can save Minnesota, in my opinion, are to focus even more on Adrian Peterson and simplify the passing attack to limit Favre’s mistakes. We might all be witnessing Favre hit the wall that all great athletes hit, so the Vikings need to mitigate their risk and try to win games on the strength of their running game and defense.

(3) I think that folks are definitely panicking in Dallas and Minnesota, but what is the feeling like in towns like Baltimore and Phoenix, where the home team is 1-1 after two weeks of the NFL season. Frankly, I would be feeling a lot better if I was a fan of the Ravens as opposed to the Cardinals. True the Ravens offense is sputtering to put it mildly, but their defense has served notice that they should not be left out of the discussion regarding the best units in the game. After throttling the New York Jets last week, the Ravens limited the Bengals to only 253 total yards and forced Carson Palmer to complete less than 50% of his attempts. The Ravens have been dominating despite the fact that they are missing Ed Reed and they have had other injury issues in the defensive backfield. The problem with the Ravens right now is the severe lack of productivity coming from their offense. They have scored 10 points in back-to-back weeks and it appears that their attempts to energize the offense have failed miserably so far. In his third year, Joe Flacco was supposed to take his game to new levels with the help of offseason additions Anquan Boldin and Donte Stallworth and preseason addition T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Instead, it looks like Flacco has taken a Paul Bunyon-size step backwards. Last week, Flacco completed just a shade over 50% of his attempts and posted a 62.2 QB rating against the tough Jets’ defense. Overall, the Ravens punted the ball six times and only produced two solid drives the entire game. Flash forward to this week and things only got worse for Joltin Joe Flacco. He completed less than 50% of his attempts and posted a horrific 23.8 QB rating, which is probably a good number for the number two scoring option on an NBA team but is terrible for an NFL starting quarterback. The worst part is that Flacco killed four possessions with interceptions. The only reason that I’m encouraged about Baltimore is that they nearly won two games on the strength of the defense alone. Flacco is going to play better because he can’t play much worse than he did against Cincinnati. I still think they are a playoff team and they are certainly built to survive the rigors of the rough and tumble AFC North.

I can’t say that I’m quite as encouraged about the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals sleep-walked through last week’s game against the St. Louis Rams and then got absolutely waxed by the Atlanta Falcons this week. This game was a rude awakening for the Cardinals, further proof that we didn’t learn anything about them from their opening day victory over the Rams. The Arizona defense did a pretty good job of confounding a rookie quarterback, but they were far from dominating versus St. Louis. There also remained a ton of questions about Derek Anderson after his week one performance. On the positive side, Anderson threw for nearly 300 yards. On the negative side, he barely completed 50% of his attempts and the Cardinals offense went long stretches where they were unable to move the ball consistently. Overall, their effort could be best described as disjointed as they put the ball on the ground seven times, losing four fumbles, and they punted six times. The only thing that saved them last week was that they were facing an inexperienced signal-caller. This week, there wasn’t much of anything that could be considered positive. First of all, Anderson took a step back with a largely inefficient performance that featured two interceptions and only 161 yards passing. I’m not sure whether they had anything with Matt Leinart, but it is a huge indictment on his ability to play if Anderson was truly their best option. The more that I see of Anderson, the more that I believe his big season in Cleveland was just an aberration. Secondly, their defense got absolutely steamrolled by the Falcons. The Cardinals allowed touchdown drives of 70 yards, 72 yards, 78 yards and 80 yards. The Falcons had five drives of eight or more plays and held the ball nearly 40 minutes. Atlanta ran a mind-blowing 30 more plays than the Cardinals thanks in large part to their 64% conversion rate on third down. Finally, the Cardinals made way too many mistakes to win the game. In addition to their three turnovers, Arizona committed 10 penalties, which repeatedly killed any momentum. Their inability to get out of their own way even wiped out a 98-yard kickoff return by LaRod Stephens-Howling, when Darnell Dockett was whistled for a holding penalty. I think it is pretty clear that the Cardinals are not a good team and their brief stay at the top of the NFC West is over.

Week One Stats of the Week

Stat of the week No. 1: Detroit has lost 21 consecutive road games.

Stat of the week No. 2: Jake Delhomme was the ninth opening day starter in the 12 seasons since the Browns were revived; Jason Campbell was the sixth opening day starter for Oakland in the past seven years.

Stat of the week No. 3: Jahvid Best became the first rookie running back to score two touchdowns in his debut since LaDanian Tomlinson in 2001.

Stat of the week No. 4: Rashard Mendenhall racked up the third longest overtime touchdown run in NFL history behind Herschel Walker’s 60-yard run in 1987 and Garrison Hearst’s 96 yard run in 1998.

Stat of the week No. 5: Chris Johnson eclipsed 4,000 career yards from scrimmage in his 32^nd NFL game, becoming the fourth fastest player to reach the milestone.  Edgerrin James and Eric Dickerson reached 4,000 yards in 30 games and Clinton Portis reached the mark in 31 games.

The Texans stake their claim to AFC South supremacy and other NFL thoughts

(1) I think we can all agree that the Indianapolis Colts are on the short list of dominant teams over the last 10 years. Since Peyton Manning joined the team, they have won 10 or more games on 10 different occasions. The more impressive fact is that they are working on a seven year streak of at least 12 wins, which, in the salary cap era, is the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest without oxygen while hopping backwards on one leg. Despite the fact that they have only claimed one Super Bowl title in Manning’s career, the Colts have been the model franchise in the NFL. During this dominant period, the Colts have been alternately challenged by the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars, but they have always overcome based on their supremacy at the quarterback, head coach and general manager. Frankly, the Colts have become one of the surest things in all of sports.


Unfortunately, we all know that sports are cyclical. A dominant team can turn into a doormat without too much effort. Sometimes the descent is slow and sometimes it feels like falling off a cliff, but the one constant is that there is always a moment that can be pointed to that defines the subsequent collapse. For the Super Bowl Seahawks, their moment was allowing Steve Hutchinson to leave Seattle via free agency. The Hawks still managed to make the Divisional Round the next two years, but the writing was on the wall. Did we see one of these seminal moments on Sunday when the Houston Texans finally earned a meaningful victory over the Colts? The Texans came into the game with a 1-15 record against Indianapolis with their only previous win coming when the Colts rested their starters. During the offseason, the Texans talked a good game, but no one was going to take them seriously until they knocked the Kings of the AFC South off their throne. Based on what we saw in Houston’s 34-24 victory, I believe that they have served notice that they must be taken seriously.

The Texans and their fans should be very encouraged by this victory for three reasons: (1) they got the King Kong-sized gorilla off their back, (2) they beat the Colts without any contribution from their high-octane passing attack and (3) they held on to a big lead for the first time against Indianapolis. It is safe to say that the Colts have had Houston’s number since the Texans debuted in 2002. The Colts have beaten Houston 15 times in the eight years since. The Texans desperately needed to beat Indianapolis in a game that meant something in order to prove that they had closed the gap between the two teams. This victory should provide a huge confidence boost for Houston as they prepare for the rest of their season. Secondly, the Texans got the big victory despite the fact that Matt Schaub finished with only 107 yards passing and a 67.5 QB rating. Instead, Houston was more than happy to hand the ball off to Arian Foster, who battered the Colts defense for 231 yards rushing on a franchise record 33 carries. The result was the NFL’s second best opening weekend rushing performance since 1933, topped only by O.J. Simpson’s 250 yards for Buffalo in 1973. Foster’s record-breaking performance allowed the Texans to overcome another virtuoso performance by Peyton Manning, who threw for 433 yards and three touchdowns. Finally, the Texans should be encouraged that they finally put their feet on the Colts’ throat and didn’t allow them to make another amazing comeback. Back in 2008, the Colts overcame a 17-point fourth quarter deficit by scoring 21 points in just over two minutes in a game that will forever be known as the “Sage Rosenfels Game.” In addition, the Texans blew a 13-point halftime lead last year when Matt Schaub turned the ball over three times in the second half. The fact that Houston actually held on to a lead against the Colts represents significant progress in my mind.

In the end, I think that the Texans should definitely feel good about how they started the 2010 season, but they have to avoid feeling like they have scaled the mountain because there are still 15 more games to play. Their opening day win certainly makes things more interesting in the AFC South, but I’m far from ready to pronounce the Colts dead. I still believe it is their division to lose and I still believe that they will win another division title.

(2) When teams are missing key players it is important that other members of the team stand up and provide a little extra effort in order to make up for the missing component. In these situations, style points do not matter. The only thing that is important is getting a victory. The Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in one of these situations as they entered their season opener without the services of Ben Roethlisberger, who was serving the first game of his four-game suspension for lewd behavior. In addition, the Steelers did not have veteran Byron Leftwich available either, which meant that Dennis Dixon would be asked to supply a victory against the Atlanta Falcons. Dixon had stepped in admirably for Big Ben last season, but it was still just his second career start, so the Steelers’ faithful had to be feeling a wee bit apprehensive.

In an effort to take the pressure off of Dixon and play to their strengths, the Steelers came out with a conservative gameplan. The Steelers mixed a bunch of short and intermediate passes with a healthy dose of Rashard Mendenhall and the running game. Dixon did hit one long pass to Mike Wallace to set-up a Jeff Reed 36-yard field goal, but otherwise his performance was not good enough to win on most Sundays. Fortunately, for Dixon, the Steel Curtain defense made a smashing debut by limiting Matt Ryan in the passing game and holding the vaunted Falcons’ running attack to a mere 2.3 yards per carry. In fact, the Steelers were so dominating that the Falcons didn’t score until the final play of the first half and only got into touchdown range one time. Nevertheless, the Falcons stayed in the game because Dixon was predictably shaky and Jeff Reed missed two field goals that could have sealed the deal in regulation.

This victory improves the Steelers’ chances of going 2-2 over Big Ben’s suspension, but they are going to need a huge offensive improvement next Sunday when they visit Nashville. It is clear that Dixon needs to get better, but the Pittsburgh running game seems to have received a pass this week based on Mendenhall’s 50-yard touchdown scamper in overtime. Before the game-saving run, the Steelers had only produced 93 yards on 30 carries for a measly 3.1 yards per carry. In addition, Pittsburgh only converted four first downs on 14 attempts. This offensive performance is not going to get it done on the road against the Titans. The Steelers defense seems to have rebounded nicely from a subpar season in 2009 and now their offense needs to catch up.

(3) One game into the Kevin Kolb era in Philadelphia we are already facing a quarterback controversy that has become all too familiar in the city of Brotherly Love. For more than a decade, Philly fans groused and complained about Donovan McNabb despite the fact that he led them to five NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. They finally got their wish when Andy Reid shipped McNabb out of town in favor of popular back-up Kevin Kolb. Kolb rewarded Reid and the fan base by generally stinking up Lincoln Financial Field for most of one quarter prior to leaving the game entirely due to a concussion. In his absence, Michael Vick rode in on his white horse and produced a performance reminiscent of his days in Hot-lanta. Frankly, Vick was electric finishing with 175 yards passing and 103 yards rushing. Vick made plays out of thin air with his legs and displayed an improved control of the passing game, including several completions that he fit into extremely tight windows. The Vick that was on display in week one appeared to be much more prepared than the version we previously witnessed in Atlanta. It is clear that he benefited from being around a consummate professional like Donovan McNabb last year and he is in much better football shape in his second season after serving the 18-month prison sentence. Vick’s dynamic performance made a rather mundane football game actually watchable. In addition, he has created a huge dilemma for Andy Reid. Fans are clamoring for Vick to start next week’s game, but Reid is essentially committed to Kolb after jettisoning McNabb in the offseason. More importantly, Reid still does not know what he has in Kolb because he lasted less than one quarter. Reid has already stated that Kolb will start if he is healthy, but the post-concussion symptoms that Kolb will no doubt face this week probably take the decision out of Reid’s hands. I think it is going to be tough for Reid to keep Vick on the bench if he continues to perform like he did against the Packers. The important thing for Reid to remember is that Aaron Rodgers went 6-10 in his first season as a starter, so he will probably have to be willing to go through some growing pains if he sticks by Kolb.

Speaking of Rodgers, he played pretty poorly for a guy expected to challenge for the MVP award and lead his team deep into the playoffs. He bounced several early throws and threw two interceptions, including one that was so horribly overthrown that it appeared to be an attempt at throwing the ball away. To be fair to Rodgers, the Packers pass protection was not very solid, which meant that Rodgers didn’t have the time in the pocket that he normally would prefer. Nonetheless, the Packers looked nothing like the team that I fully expect to be a top five offense and Super Bowl participant. They had a nice, long touchdown drive in each half, but otherwise they were their own worst enemy. It felt like they never got into a good rhythm, which was equal parts due to their inefficiency on third down (6 for 14), lackluster running game and Rodger’s inability to get comfortable in the pocket. I still believe they are the class of the NFC North, but they have a lot of things to clean up to achieve their ultimate goals. Fortunately, the Packers have a solid defense led by the relentless play of Clay Matthews, who knocked Kevin Kolb out of the game on his way to racking up seven tackles and two sacks. If Matthews keeps this up, he could very well collect a Defensive Player of the Year award to make up for the Rookie Defensive Player of the Year that he missed out on last season. Overall, I think that the Packers are going to be just fine with Rodgers and Matthews leading the way, but they just didn’t start the season on fire like I expected that they would.