It’s back. Like Britney Spears to her circus, Mr. Rogers to his neighborhood or Sarah Palin to her Alaskan frontier, it blindsides us with the force of a semi.
It’s the NFL regular season and the end of meaningless preseason football.
Yet, the 91st NFL season carries intrigue for football fans across the country, and for one week every team has promise and thoughts of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February. Alas, that week has come and gone—week one in the National Football League.
For the Minnesota Vikings, despite a week one loss to the defending champion Saints, the consensus among the Vikings is to settle for nothing less than playing in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV.
However, the Vikings will have to hope the soon-to-be 41 year-old grandpa remembers he’s throwing passes to NFL receivers and not actors in a Wrangler commercial with how many passes he bounced to his intended targets.
Not to mention, apparently Head Coach Brad Childress decided that his other franchise player shouldn’t touch the ball more than once in the fourth quarter and put the season opener on the shoulders of the absentee from training camp and not Adrian Peterson.
With a full slate of games in week one, there was sure to be plenty of surprise appearances, controversial calls, upset specials, sloppy, penalty-filled football and exciting endings.
Not many teams can boast a three-time Pro Bowler as a backup quarterback, but when ex-convict Michael Vick graced the field in Philadelphia for the second half, the Eagles had a slight glimmer of hope for a comeback against the Packers.
Starting quarterback Kevin Kolb left the game due to a concussion, and the former penitentiary resident took over.
Vick proceeded to scramble for over a hundred yards and throw for one score, while leading the Eagles on two touchdown drives in the second half in a close loss to the Packers. Hello quarterback controversy.
As many football fans know, it’s not football without plenty of booth reviews and red challenge flags. Usually, the referees will get the call right with the help of instant replay, but every so often, there can be a mishap.
In the case of the Detroit Lions, what must they have been thinking?
Wide receiver Calvin Johnson appears to make a great catch in the back of the end zone against the Bears with just under a minute left to take a one-point lead, but the pass was called incomplete due to Johnson not completing the reception. I bet you can’t guess who won. Poor Lions.
The Indianapolis Colts are terrible. A preposterous claim to make on most accounts, but given their performance in Houston one thing is for certain: their rush defense is terrible.
Peyton Manning threw for 433 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in a loss.
Despite a meager 13-10 halftime deficit, the defending AFC Champion Colts never seemed in the game against the Texans due in large part to the eruption of Arian Foster. Foster had an incredible game to keep the potent Colts offense off of the field.
The result? The Texans’ second career win in 17 tries against the Colts. Now that’s an upset.
With week one, there were bound to be plenty of miscues and penalties, and NFL teams were happy to oblige. There were a total of 186 penalties in the 16 NFL games, which amounts to an average of over 11 penalties per game.
That’s more yellow than a bushel of ripe bananas.
The most costly penalty belonged to Dallas offensive lineman Alex Barron.
The most penalized player in the NFL since 2005 finished the Cowboys chance at a comeback against their NFC East rival Redskins with the last of his three offensive holding penalties of the night. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo scrambled out of the pocket on the last play of the game to find a wide open Roy Williams in the end zone for an apparent victory only to have the Barron wrap up defensive end Brian Orakpo on the play to nullify the touchdown. Ouch.
Indeed, the first week of the NFL regular season brought excitement and disappointment to football fans all over the nation and posed many questions for the remaining 16 weeks. Can Brett Favre play up to the level he did last season? Will the Colts bounce back? Are the Seahawks really that good?
All I can say is it’s only the first week, and there are 16 weeks to go. For almost all football fans, it is far from panic mode. Well, unless your respective team happens to be the Raiders. In which case, I’m sorry.
They don’t give out Lombardi Trophies in September, but they just may give out tickets to Britney Spears’s circus.