What to Take Away From Week 1

While everyone is just happy that football has begun, there was a lot we learned about teams. Nobody duplicated Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning’s monumental day, but there were plenty of highlights.  While it is still early in the season and things are destined to change over the season, here is a quick recap of the key moments yesterday.

• If the New York Jets are smart, which is still to be determined, the Mark Sanchez era has officially ended . Rookie Geno Smith got the start and while it was not a perfect game, you could see that he is progressing into an NFL quarterback. The Jets are not expecting to make the playoffs this year so this will be a great time for Smith to take his lumps and learn each week how to be a quarterback in the NFL.  He now has his first win under his belt, regardless of how ugly it might have been, and that has got to feel good .

• Their AFC East foes, the New England Patriots had a scare that no one saw coming.  The Patriots needed a perfect drive from Tom Brady to come back and beat the Buffalo Bills.  Brady clearly misses his two tight ends and receiver and it shows.  While chemistry will develop it is rare to see Brady ever struggle and get that frustrated.  The Bills offense led by rookie EJ Manuel looked better than it has in recent years.  Another instance of where the team has low expectations and should have Manuel start every game.

• Adrian Peterson is even better than he was last year.  Now that both of his knees are fully healthy, teams need to be worried about this guy getting loose and going the distance; which is exactly what he did yesterday. Despite their loss, the Vikings running back ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns.  One of those touchdowns was a 78 yard run which was his FIRST touch of the game! Not to be outdone, Lions newly signed running back Reggie Bush also had a 90 yard rushing day and a 77 yard PASS from Matthew Stafford.  If Bush can develop into a duel threat it could take some of the pressure off Stafford to constantly find Calvin Johnson.

• One offense who needs to figure things out is the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Steelers only scored two points in the first three quarters. The Steelers struggled to score in the preseason, but everyone expected Big Ben to get it together in time for the regular season.  Losing Mike Wallace was a huge loss, but Jerricho Cotchery  and Emmanuel Sanders are still there.  The Steelers had zero rushing first downs which was a struggle for them last year and something they did not address in the offseason enough.

• Colin Kaepernick proved he s the real deal in an impressive 400 yard day.  The one catch about his day was that it was all about his arm and not about his running ability.  His new favorite target Anquan Boldin had a 200 yard day and showed the Ravens that they made a VERY bad decision letting him walk. Joe Flacco must have cringed watching Boldin catch everything thrown in his vicinity; something he is known for.  While they never really established a run game, they never needed to with Kaepernick’s throwing ability.  Even after taking some cheap hits courtesy of Clay Matthews, he still torched the Packers’ defense.  You know when you can outshine Aaron Rodgers, you are doing something right.

• The New York Giants had one of their worst games in franchise history with SIX turnovers.  Luckily for them they face Eli’s older brother on Sunday (note the extreme sarcasm).  Eli’s first throw was an interception by longtime foe Demarcus Ware.  The Giants are currently working out new running backs after David Wilson’s two fumbles that really cost the Giants a lot of momentum.  If there was any positives for the Giants it was that Victor Cruz looked 100 percent healthy catching three touchdowns.  Another welcomed sight was Jason Pierre-Paul who battled with Tyron Smith all night, but still managed to have a sack. The Giants had a difficult time bringing down the strong DeMarco Murray.  Dallas quarterback Tony Romo gave fans quite the scare when he took a very hard hit and had to sit out for a play looking to be in serious plan. The Cowboys won a very ugly and sloppy game.