Quick Hits

Brief observations about every game in the NFL except for the Thursday Night game and the Seattle Seahawks game.

New England 23 - Buffalo 21

The New England Patriots have dominated the Buffalo Bills since Tom Brady became the starting quarterback in 2001, but the difference between the two teams seems to be shrinking in a real way.  The Bills defense made life miserable for Brady and harassed him into one of the worst games he has ever played against Buffalo.  For example, Brady had the fourth worst yards per attempt average he has ever had in a victory over the Bills.  Couple Brady’s struggles with the encouraging start from E.J. Manuel and even the most forlorn Buffalo fan has a reason to smile and look forward to the future.

Chicago 24 - Cincinnati 21

The Chicago Bears posted one of the more impressive victories in Week One.  They not only beat the team that many people think will win the AFC North, but they did it in a very un-Bear-like way by limiting mistakes.  The Bears turned the ball over just once.  More importantly, they protected Jay Cutler like the gold at Fort Knox giving up zero sacks against the team that had the second highest sack total in the entire NFL in 2012.  They also showed their discipline by committing just four penalties.  If this version of the Chicago Bears shows up on a weekly basis, then they are going to be hard to beat.

Miami 23 - Cleveland 10

The Cleveland Browns looked as bad on offense under the guidance of Rob Chudzinski and Norv Turner as they did under the Pat Shurmur and Brad Childress regime.  They couldn’t sustain drives, they couldn’t protect the quarterback, and they shot themselves in the foot repeatedly with turnovers and penalties.  As a result of the loss, the Browns still have not won their home opener since 2004.  Their defense might be better, but the Browns will still be stuck in the cellar of the AFC North if the offensive brain trust can’t get more out of Brandon Weeden.

Detroit 34 - Minnesota 24

It was a stellar start for Adrian Peterson, who broke off a 78-yard touchdown run on his first touch of the 2013 season, but the rest of the afternoon was mostly an exercise in frustration.  The Lions defense bottled up Peterson after the touchdown run and put the burden on Christian Ponder to win the game.  Unfortunately, Ponder did nothing to answer the question marks about his ability to be a viable NFL starting quarterback.  If anything, the drum beat to replace Ponder is going to get louder and steadier.

Indianapolis 21 - Oakland 17

If you are a fan of the Oakland Raiders, it must have been extremely encouraging to see the way that Terrelle

Pryor played on Sunday.  Pryor was far from perfect, but he used his arm and his legs to keep the Raiders in

the game all the way to the end.  He completed 65% of his attempts for a respectable 7.5 yards per attempt

average and he combined designed runs with well-timed scrambles to set the Oakland franchise record for

rushing yards for a quarterback.  If he continues to progress, the Raiders just might have their first franchise

quarterback since Rich Gannon.  How much does it suck to be Matt Flynn?

New Orleans 23 - Atlanta 17

It’s no surprise that the Atlanta-New Orleans game was in doubt down to the very last play when you

consider the recent history of the series.  The six-point victory by the Saints represented the seventh time in

the last nine meetings that the margin of victory was eight points or less.  The more surprising statistic is that

the Saints have dominated the Falcons to the tune of a 12-3 record since Drew Brees joined the organization

in 2006.

New York Jets 18 - Tampa Bay 17

It is difficult to come up with a bigger stomach punch loss than the one suffered by Tampa Bay to the Jets. 

After playing pretty poorly for most of the game, the Bucs had mustered a game-winning drive and led the

Jets by two points with less than a minute left in the game.  Unfortunately, linebacker Lavonte David gift

wrapped a New York victory with one of the most boneheaded plays in recent memory.  Instead of allowing

Geno Smith to willingly step out of bounds, David thought it would be a good idea to give him a somewhat

innocuous but nonetheless illegal shove when Smith was already a step across the sideline.  Regardless of the

ending, the biggest takeaway from this game is that the Jets might have a better future at quarterback than the

Buccaneers.

Tennessee 16 - Pittsburgh 9

There were some pundits who expected the Steelers to take a step back offensively due to the departure of

Mike Wallace, the absence of Heath Miller and the lack of a viable running game, but it was a bit shocking

to see the Black & Gold set offensive football back to the age of the leather helmet.  Pittsburgh could only

muster 195 total yards, which included an anemic 32 yards on the ground.  Making matters worse, the

Steelers will have to find answers without the benefit of having Maurkice Pouncey, the anchor of their

offense, in the line-up for the rest of 2013.  Like a bad traffic accident, a lot of NFL observers are going to

be craning their necks to see how bad things get in the Steel City before they get better.

Kansas City 28 - Jacksonville 2

How much more evidence do we need to decide that Blaine Gabbert is not going to be a successful NFL

quarterback?  He has completed a shade over 53% of his passes in 26 appearances spread over 2+

seasons.  On Sunday, he completed just 46% of his attempts before heading to the locker room with a hand

laceration.  His career yards per attempt are a woeful 5.51.  In this category, he is the worst quarterback

over the last two seasons and he didn’t start the 2013 season off with a bang.  His yards per attempt on

Sunday were the seventh lowest in game since 1960.  In other words, Gabbert was historically bad against

the Chiefs.  For God’s sake, his QBR was 1.2 when you get a 25 for just buckling your chinstrap correctly. 

The fans in Jacksonville, if there are any left, must be wondering what they have done to anger the football

gods so badly.  While other cities are blessed with young and exciting quarterbacks, the Jaguars have quite

possibly the worst quarterback situation in the NFL.

St. Louis 27 - Arizona 24

Three things are clear from watching the Cardinals vs. the Rams: (1) Arizona finally has a legitimate

quarterback, (2) Robert Quinn has an insatiable hunger for quarterbacks, and (3) the Rams’ best weapon is

Jared Cook.

San Francisco 34 - Green Bay 28

The 49ers rope-a-doped the Green Bay Packers by riding Colin Kaepernick’s right arm to victory instead of

his two legs.  If you remember back to the 2012 playoffs, Kaepernick emasculated the Packers defense by

running for 181 yards and two touchdowns.  Rather than try to repeat the virtuoso performance, the

offensive game plan called for a heavy dose of Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis.  They combined for 19

receptions, 316 receiving yards, and three touchdowns.  Kaepernick bedeviled the Packers in an entirely

new way and further showed why he is going to be tough to stop.

Dallas 36 - New York Giants 31

Hey David Wilson, let me show you your new digs: it’s got just enough room for you to curl up inside, you

will be able to sleep under the stars, and you will have a separate bowl for food and water.  Unfortunately,

Coach Coughlin won’t be letting you touch the football very much until you go to the Tiki Barber School of

Protecting the Football.  It’s fun to pile on Wilson, but let’s not forget the other four turnovers committed by

the Giants, including three costly interceptions by Eli Manning.  Frankly, it is amazing that the G-Men made it

as close as they did.

Philadelphia 33 - Washington 27

Am I the only one that wasn’t impressed by the 53 plays run by the Eagles on Monday Night?  Sure they are

running the offense at a breakneck pace, but it doesn’t hurt when the opposing team runs less than 25 plays

in the first half.  For the record, the Eagles only ran 24 plays in the second half because the Redskins finally

started looking like a legitimate NFL football team.  It’s easy to see that Chip Kelly will be an exciting

addition to the league, but let’s not get the good folks over at the Pro Football Hall of Fame working on his

bust too soon.

Houston 31 - San Diego 28

The capper to a solid first week of professional football was the Houston Texans reeling off 24 unanswered

points to clip the Chargers at the final whistle 31-28.  The quality of play for Houston through the first 2+

quarters was about as bad as you can expect from a team that has serious designs on making a run to the

Super Bowl.  At the 10:42 mark of the third quarter, they had allowed Philip Rivers to slice and dice their

defense for nearly 200 yards passing and four touchdowns.  From that point forward, the Chargers offense

possessed the ball five times and produced 10 total yards, four punts, no first downs and had an interception

returned for a touchdown.  It was an epic collapse by the Chargers, who could have salted the game away

with just a handful of first downs.