Week One Wrap-Up

In Week One of the NFL season, we saw some blowouts, and we saw some close, hard-fought battles. There was excitement, disappointment, confidence building, set-backs, winning and losing.

Fortunately, for half of the league, they enter Week Two 1-0 looking to stay undefeated. Unfortunately, for the other half of the league, 0-2 is staring them right in the face.

In the modern era, only about 12% of teams who go 0-2 end up making the playoffs. That number skyrockets to about 40% when teams start the season 1-1. So even though going 0-2 isn't the end of the world, it very well could be the beginning of the end.

Here are my Top 5 things we learned from Week One:

#5: No Super Bowl Hangover for the Green Bay Packers.

 
- The Packers came out on Thursday night and played a good game against a playoff-caliber team in the Saints. The Packers started where they left off last year, coming out fast and strong, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. Rookie Randall Cobb looked very good in his first game as a Packer. Aaron Rodgers connected on passes to nine different receivers. Look the big things out of the Packers this year.

#4: The Ravens are a dominant force, and the Steelers are the ones with a Super Bowl hangover.

- The Ravens welcomed the Steelers in with open arms and an empty stomach. As soon as that first whistle blew, it was a feeding frenzy for the Ravens, and the Steelers were on the menu. Over the past few years, this rivalry has been one of the closest and most hard-fought. Not this week, the Ravens had no intentions of keeping the game to within three points, it was all domination, all day. On the other end of this lopsided victory was last years AFC Champions. Even though they didn't win the Super Bowl, they had a hangover from it. No need to panic in Pittsburgh though, the Ravens are a good team;
right the ship this weekend against Seattle.

#3: Colts are nothing with Manning.

- Since Manning started his first game over a decade ago, we haven't seen the Colts without him at the helm. And after one week, I don't want to see it again. The Colts looked terrible against divisional foe Houston on Sunday. Kerry Collins isn't to blame for the loss either, he had a very short time to learn the entire Indianapolis playbook, a playbook in which Collins said was different than any other playbook he has gone through. The Colts have Pro Bowl caliber players on the roster, but without Manning leading the way, people in Indianapolis are in for a very long season.

#2: The new Kick-off spot didn't have the effect most thought.

- Kicking off from the 35 instead of the 30 has been one of the biggest controversies during the preseason. It was thought that by moving the ball forward (for safety reasons) was going to lead to more touchbacks and force teams to settle with starting at their own 20-yard-line. In Week One we saw both sides of the argument. On the one hand, the number of touchbacks during the week tripled compared to last year. Almost half of all kickoffs resulted in a touchback. On the other hand, three players returned kickoffs for a touchdown in the first week, which ties the NFL record for Week One. Percy Harvin of the Vikings, Ted Ginn Jr. of the 49ers and Randall Cobb of the Packers all returned kickoffs for touchdowns in Week One.

#1: Through thick and thin, lockout and tragedy, America loves football, and supports the NFL.

- Perhaps the best story of the entire weekend was the patriotism shown by the entire country. On the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, America delivered perhaps the best visual of the weekend. At the opening game of the season, the Saints and Packers, the entire crowd held up colored signs to create the American flag in the stands. It was a beautiful showing, and quite possibly the best I have ever seen. It just goes to show that even with adversity, America and Americans can push through and fight. It truly is, America the Beautiful. Additionally, after a long summer of the NFL lockout, Week One was a big win the the NFL. The fans still showed up and supported their respective teams. Put one in the win column for our entire country.



-Sal LaFata

I'm Back; And So Is Football!

After a long summer of working, vacationing, and studying, I am back in East Lansing and ready to start up my blog again.

As you all know, during the summer the NFL went through a few headlines of their own. But at the end of the day, and the end of the off season, football is back and everyone is happy.

The NFL lockout definitely was the top story of the summer, but luckily it is over and both sides came to an agreement. As soon as the lockout was lifted, free agency made its own headlines. With teams averaging around 45 signed players each, everyone was very active in the free agent market trying to fill their teams for training camp.

Some teams did better than others. The Eagles, or the "Dream Team" as newly acquired backup QB Vince Young stated, made a big splash in the free agency pool. New England also made some big moves in free agency.

As the preseason came, so did expectations for each and every team. Some have expectations of repeating as Champions, some have expectations of making it back to the promise land of Super Bowl Sunday, some have expectations of making the playoffs, and some just have expectations of building off terrible previous seasons.

Two teams went undefeated in the preseason, the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams. Both teams are coming off of improved years after being bottom dwellers in years prior. Both teams also have high hopes for the regular season.

Three teams didn't win a preseason game: the Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs.

As teams like the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions have shown in recent years, a preseason doesn't necessarily portray what will happen in the regular season exactly, but it definitely isn't a good thing for the defending number-one seed in the NFC to be going 0-4 in the preseason.

When all is said and done, football is back, and that's all that really matters. No more worrying about what to do all day Sunday or on Monday nights. Just sit back, relax, grab some snacks, and watch your favorite team fight for a playoff spot, I know that's what I'll be doing.

-Sal LaFata