Good, Bad, Ugly Week For NFL Quarterbacks
Quarterbacks experienced quite the adventure during Week 1 of the NFL season.
Drew Brees threw six touchdown passes for the Saints. Jay Cutler threw four interceptions for the Bears. Jake Delhomme threw four picks for the Panthers.
Donovan McNabb suffered a broken rib for the Eagles. Jets rookie Mark Sanchez chatted with Joe Namath, then won his debut handily at Houston.
Aaron Rodgers rallied the Packers past arch-rival Chicago. Kyle Orton threw a last-minute, game-winning, 87-yard touchdown pass for the Broncos – and that “heroic” pass should have been intercepted.
Against this backdrop, Marc Bulger’s scoreless struggle in Seattle was just humdrum mediocrity, hardly noticed in the grand scheme of things.
Here is what some of our favorite sports pundits wrote about Sunday’s action:
Charles Robinson,Yahoo! Sports: “OK, it’s too early to point out that Saints quarterback Drew Brees is on pace for 96 touchdowns this season. Or that he’d probably reach that total if only he faced the Lions once or twice more this season. Brees doesn’t, but it’s worth noting his ridiculous two-year stat line against Detroit: two games, 56-of-74 passing (a 74-percent completion rate), 709 yards, eight touchdown passes. The Battle of the Little Bighorn wasn’t that lopsided.”
Jay Mariotti, FanHouse: “So now, already, we are left to wonder if the biggest curse in professional football has swallowed Jay Cutler. He was supposed to be the savior of the Chicago Bears and still might be in due time, but in his first regular-season game Sunday night, he plummeted into the same black hole that has doomed so many of the franchise’s wickedly bad quarterbacks.”
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com: “Brett Favre turns 40 in less than a month. It’s a nice age to retire, but a bad age to get blitzed. Forty in football years is like Joe Paterno in real years. It’s old. Favre got blitzed. He got sacked. He spent enough time on the Cleveland Browns Stadium turf to qualify for plant life. But he also won. And at this point, in the long shadows of his 19-year NFL career, Favre is more about letters (W) than big numbers. Good thing, too, since his game stats in the Minnesota Vikings’ 34-20 victory Sunday were as modest as a nun.”
Don Banks, SI.com: “This might sound like a bit of a reach, but hang with me for a minute while I make the case that this one was far more valuable than just any old season-opening win to the Green Bay Packers. This one, as ugly as it was for most of the night on offense, was exactly what Aaron Rodgers needed, and by extension, what his team needed . . . In beating the Chicago Bears 21-15 on the strength of a Rodgers-led two-minute drive, with a 50-yard scoring strike to receiver Greg Jennings providing the game-winning points with just 1:11 remaining, the Packers and their young starting quarterback cleared a critical hurdle that eluded them all of last season. They learned to finish.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering if Richie Incognito will ever settle down:
- Suddenly are the Eagles looking more prescient for adding Michael Vick?
- Can we all get off Rich Rodriguez’s back now that he has pulled off one of Michigan’s most exciting victories in years?
- On the other hand, is Charlie Weis accepting sympathy calls this week? And is NBC regretting building so much programming around the Fighting Irish?
- Is Tiger Woods feeling slightly less frustrated this week?
- Is it too soon for Cardinal Nation to start sweating the recent Ryan Franklin and Chris Carpenter breakdowns? Is the Cards pitching staff wearing out at precisely the wrong time?
THE BUNGLES STRIKE AGAIN
When Bengals cornerback Leon Hall stepped in front of Orton’s last-second pass in Cincinnati, he had the opportunity to clinch his team’s 7-6 victory over the Broncos.
Instead, he let the ball carom off him . . . and float right to Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley, who had a free run to the end zone.
That stunning 87-yard TD play with 11 seconds left gave Denver a 12-7 victory.
“The funniest, weirdest, craziest ending I’ve ever experienced in football,” is how Bengals running back Cedric Benson summed it up for reporters
“So much went through my head,” Stokley said, according to the Associated Press. “I just thought: Get what you can. My mind was racing. What should I do? I felt myself pulling away.”
NOT-SO-SERENE WILLIAMS
While most American sports fans were focused on football this weekend, tennis star Serena Williams attempted to make news with an outburst at the U.S. Open. She lost her match point by angrily protested a foot fault call.
While her McEnroe-like tantrum was entertaining, it could end up costing her entire Open purse and lead to additional sanctions.
CRIS COLLINSWORTH WISHES THIS VIDEO WOULD VANISH
This interview was NOT his finest hour.
MEGAPHONE
“We were really excited for him, but I don’t think it was getting him his first win that we were excited about — it was how he responded to it. After the game he was talking to the team and he gave the game ball to the owner and he got choked up because of the opportunity he was given. You could really feel the emotion. A lot of people might laugh that he cried. But for us guys who are older and understand the game, we understood. That really shows how much he really cares about this team and how he’s putting his heart and soul into this team. I don’t want another coach, honestly. If I can keep him for the rest of my career, I’m going to do the best that I can to do that.”
Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins, to the New York Post. after Rex Ryan won his first game as a NFL head coach.
It is enough with Incognito. He is never going to change no matter who the coach is and that is why he has to go, period.
I am officially in the feeling sorry for Bulger fan club. What the Hell was that offensive line doing? They sure were not blocking.
It looks like the defense has a chance to be much improved which is encouraging. The offense HAS to take advantage of three turnovers but when the line cannot block or is getting 15 yard personal foul penalties, it is pretty tough to score.
My prediction was 5-11 but that may have been kind. Here is to hoping Spags doesn’t take the first plane out of town this morning. I really think he is going to be a great coach.
Quick memo to the past team president, GM and previous two coaches: Do you see now how important the draft is? Pick after pick from 2000 – 2007 was absolutely wasted and now look at this monumental mess that needs to be cleaned up. Ridiculous to say the least.
It seems like the Rams never win in Seattle so I checked scores along with Bulger’s numbers over the past five visits:
2005: Lost 31-16 28-40 304 yds. 1 TD 1 INT 1 FUM
2006: Lost 24-22 26-40 215 yds. 0 TD 1 INT 0 FUM
2007: Lost 33-6 21-40 225 yds. 0 TD 3 INT 2 FUM
2008: Lost 37-13 18-31 184 yds. 1 TD 1 INT 1 FUM
2009: Lost 28-0 17-39 190 yds. 0 TD 0 INT 0 FUM
Two touchdown passes in 187 attempts…six interceptions and five fumbles.
The Rams were in that game until the Seahawks counted our 12 guys.
Too bad, that was our best chance to score.
I wish our only problems were Bulger’s happy feet and Jackson’s backfield hops to nowhere.
On a positive note, the D looked much better in the first half.
It boggles my mind that teams who realize or even just suspect they may have gotten away with a call are completely unabale to run a quick play before it can be reviewed, even if it’s just a ’spike ball’ play. As soon as the ref sets the ball and blows the whistle you’re good to go, just like with hurry up offense. Get away with that touchdown and have Brown make a field goal he’d make in his sleep as a ‘Hawk and you’ve got a totally different ballgame…nice to see Brown and Avery yucking it up on the sideline throughout the game after setting the tone for loss. Had that been Steven Jackson, fans would would be lined up outside Rams park with picket signs and torches…
…don’t look now, but on days when Holiday doesn’t get a hit, this offense looks just like it did in May, June and early July. The other contenders look just as asleep though. Hopefully for Cards it’s just early clinching and they’ll turn it back on in a couple of weeks, but…
20/20, the “good” teams in the NL all look like they are sleepwalking, don’t they? Fortunately we have a monster lead. The other teams don;t have that luxury…
Maybe I am being harsh here, but I found it amazing that the Yankees, with all their great players and all their World Series wins and all their money, have NEVER had a player get 3,000 hits AS a Yankee. Then it dawned one me. When you buy players all the time because you have the money (going all the way back to Babe Ruth!) it’s no wonder you can win all those Series without having a Tony Gwynn or Stan Musial. Jeter will get 3,000 eventually, but the Yankees have still bought most of their chanmpionships throughout their history. The economics of baseball are ridiculous…
Go Blues!
I will believe that Spag and even moreso the front office behind him are serious about making the Rams a respectable franchise when they run off under-achieving head-case idiots like Incognito - and he’s not the end of the housecleaning that needs to happen, not by a long shot. Jay Zygmunt is gone - time to quit looking for scapegoats and start doing what needs to be done. Is there anybody out there that knows talent when they see it and who also knows how to recruit it? This team will not go near the playoffs this year or next, without radical change throughout the roster.
Now, what could possibly be more wonderful than seeing the Bears and their whiner quarterback get whipped by the Packers? Is anything ever more delightful than that?
Bump in the road against Atlanta; nothing to freak out over, and nothing for the doo-doo-disturbing, can-we-create-an-issue-where-there-is-none sportswriters to work their hot little keyboards into a tizzy over. The only thing really at stake here is home field advantage through the playoffs, and if the Yankees make the Series we couldn’t get it there, anyway. All the Cards need to do is concentrate on tuning up and being healthy for the playffs. Does anybody out there really think that the Flubs are going to play .750 ball and the Cards .250 ball from here to the end of the season? That’s what it would take to prevent the Cards from clinching the division.
Boyd…I hope you are right about not freaking out about the Cardinals.
I’ve got to tell all of you, when I tuned in the Rams game and saw a running game going nowhere, stupid penalties, and wasted timeouts, I switched to the Cardinal game only to see our ace pitching in the sixth inning and trailing 6-0. At that point I went searching for Wavy Gravy’s bad-trip tent.
I’m NOT a Bulger fan, but you have to feel sorry for a guy that gets knocked around so much. It was the same story with Warner. If you’re O-line can’t give the guy 2 seconds to make a pass what good is it? Instead of a 3 step drop, it is a 3 step plop! Too many mistakes on both sides of the ball.
I like Spags, I too think he will be great, but he got handed a pile of crap, and I don’t think it will get cleaned up. I think this is all a rouse to get the Rams out of St. Louis. Their contract is coming up, they are playing (and have been playing like crap) and their contract says they should have a stadium like the Cowboys. I just don’t see anything changing….
Did no one watch the collinsworth interview, or am I the only one that thinks that is horribly creepy! No comments on it? I will never think of that chester the same way.