Fall is here at last and fourteen of 16 NFL openers are in the books, with Eagles-Redskins and Texans-Chargers on tap Monday night. When the dust settled from all the late hits and dynamite quarterback play, we gathered our takeaways from an eye-opening Week 1:
Defenders in blunder-land
Bucs linebacker Lavonte David, the culprit who pushed Geno Smith out of bounds for the 15-yard penalty that set up Nick Folk’s game-winning, 48-yard field goal for the Jets, wasn’t alone on Week 1 Stupid Island. Here are other occupants:
Rey Maualuga, Bengals linebacker: With 1:06 remaining in a 24-21 loss to the Bears, the Bengals retaliated for a push by pulling Jordan Mills down by the face mask. The unnecessary roughness penalty prevented Andy Dalton from getting the ball back with some 40 seconds left. Marvin Lewis’ School of Hard Knocks.
Ndamukong Suh, Lions defensive tackle: His cheap-shot dive block on Vikings center John Sullivan negated a pick-6 by DeAndre Levy.
Clay Matthews, Packers linebacker: He wrestled quarterback Colin Kaepernick out of bounds with a late hit, precipitating a skirmish with offensive lineman Joe Staley. But instead of fourth-and-2 and a probable field-goal attempt resulting from the offsetting personal fouls, the referees mistakenly allowed the Niners to replay third down – which they converted for a 10-yard TD pass to Anquan Boldin en route to a 34-28 victory. Don’t worry, the cheeseheads won’t be lobbying for the return of Lance Easley and the replacement refs anytime soon.
Danny Trevathan, Broncos linebacker: The Pick-6 That Wasn’t, only he began celebrating a late-game interception of Joe Flacco before crossing the goal line, dropping the ball for a touchback.
Frank Alexander, Panthers defensive end: Ejected in the first half for throwing punches at Seattle OT Breno Giacomi and negated a sack by Chris Godfrey.
Tebow may have prayer in Jacksonville
Don’t write off Tim Tebow’s NFL quarterbacking career just yet.
With Blaine Gabbert sidelined indefinitely by a hand injury, the Jaguars’ internal dynamic with regard to Jacksonville favorite son Tebow could be fascinating to watch.
New GM Dave Caldwell didn’t need long to seemingly dash the hopes of Tebow’s noisy local fans this winter, saying at his debut press conference he wouldn’t be interested in signing Tebow — then under contract to the Jets — “even if he were released.”
But in the wake of an utterly dismal 28-2 home loss to the Chiefs on Sunday that appeared to put the Jaguars on the clock with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, will fan-friendly owner Shad Khan continue to defer to his GM when it comes to Tebow?
Tebow is not the answer on the field, of course, and his ability to sell tickets in Jacksonville has long been overstated by his cultists there. But he certainly would move the needle in terms of interest and buzz for this woebegone franchise, which could eventually prove tempting for Khan.
Brady’s got a bunch of company in AFC
If the Jets, Bills and Dolphins are right about their young quarterbacks — big ifs, given their respective histories at the position — a tidal shift is likely to take place in the AFC East by 2016, when Tom Brady is 39. Smith and EJ Manuel would be in their third seasons, and Ryan Tannehill would be in his fourth. If we’re thinking about it, you know Bill Belichick is thinking about it. Brady is still likely to be better at that point than backup Ryan Mallett, but the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl was John Elway, who was 38 when he repeated in Super Bowl XXXIII.
Terrelle Pryor may be merely Kaepernick Lite or RG3 Lite, but he has turned on the lights inside the Black Hole. As impressive as he was against the Colts, his postgame accountability is exactly what you want to see in a young quarterback — or any quarterback. “This loss is on me,” Pryor said following the Raiders’ 21-17 loss in Indianapolis. The view from the bench has a chance to be as exciting for Matt Flynn as it was a year ago watching Russell Wilson run away with the starting job.
Nothing fake about Jones-Mara feud
Jerry Jones was no doubt motivated by more than just the Cowboys’ 36-31 win Sunday night when he claimed after the game that the Giants were “obviously” faking defensive injuries.
Jones has made no secret he’s still steamed at the NFL penalizing his team $10 million in salary-cap space last season for not going along with the owners’ collusion to keep spending down during the uncapped 2010 season in preparation for the lockout the following year.
Jones and Redskins owner Dan Snyder (who was hit with a $36 cap million penalty for the same “infraction”) have been particularly upset ever since with Giants owner John Mara because he openly led the charge against them as a key figure in the league’s powerful Management Council.
Mara then fueled the hard feelings by claiming shortly after the penalties were announced that both teams were lucky they didn’t also have to forfeit draft picks for being “in violation of the spirit of the salary cap.”
Jones is very tight with many of his fellow owners, especially Snyder and the Patriots’ Bob Kraft, and wouldn’t dream of criticizing those owners’ teams so publicly. But Jones obviously has no qualms when it comes to Mara’s Giants.
Pitt-iful start puts pressure on Tomlin
Just one game in, the Steelers already look dead and buried.
As if mustering just one touchdown at home in a loss to what appears to be an average Titans team wasn’t bad enough, Pittsburgh took an actual beating, too.
The fallout Monday was gruesome: The Steelers were forced to put linebacker Larry Foote (bicep), center Maurkice Pouncey (knee) and running back LaRod Stephens-Howling (knee) on season-ending injured reserve.
The Steelers were already lacking depth, and the pressure begin to rise on Mike Tomlin if he misses the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
Pittsburgh’s owners are famously patient, so Tomlin’s job is probably safe, but he won’t be immune from criticism for the decision to fire Bruce Arians as offensive coordinator following the 2011 season and replace him with Todd Haley.
Haley is as pass-happy as ever (the Steelers ran 15 times Sunday), a dangerous recipe for Ben Roethlisberger’s health behind a line that was thin even before Pouncey’s injury.
Roethlisberger was sacked five times by Tennessee — no doubt a preview of things to come as long as Haley is calling the plays.
Can’t say Giants fumbled Martin pick
The Giants pinkie-swear they were not upset that the Bucs drafted RB Doug Martin one spot ahead of them in the 2012 draft, because David Wilson was rated higher on their board. The jury is certainly out, but Wilson’s two fumbles Sunday night in Dallas put him back in Tom Coughlin’s doghouse. Rex Ryan built his game plan around gang-tackling Martin, who was limited to 65 yards rushing with a touchdown. That gives the Muscle Hamster 1,519 yards and 12 TDs over 17 pro games. Wilson, who has been an electric kickoff return man, has 377 yards and four TDs as a running back.
The running backs who played for Bill Parcells knew if you didn’t hold onto the ball, you didn’t play. So no one who follows the Parcells coaching tree should have been surprised when Bill Belichick benched Stevan Ridley on Sunday in Buffalo, and no one should have been surprised when Coughlin benched Wilson. The difference? Belichick has Shane Vereen (now out several weeks with a broken wrist) to turn to. Coughlin has Da’Rel Scott. Ahmad Bradshaw is in Indianapolis, and Andre Brown (broken leg) is out another month or so. Wilson will get every chance to redeem himself. The question is when.
TEs are chuck in the middle
Four tight ends (Jason Witten, Vernon Davis, Jared Cook and Julius Thomas) caught two touchdown passes in Week 1. No tight end caught more than one in Week 1 of 2012. Cook (Rams), Thomas (Broncos) and Jordan Cameron (Browns) could join Jimmy Graham (Saints) as the next generation after Tony Gonzalez and Witten. Cook, who couldn’t flourish with Jake Locker in Tennessee, showed up as a weapon capable of helping Sam Bradford take it to the next level. Cameron and Thomas were fourth-rounders from the 2011 draft; Cameron was the 102d pick, Thomas the 129th. With the 126th pick, the Jets selected RB Bilal Powell. Ironically, the tight end was no factor for Belichick: Zach Sudfeld was targeted once by Brady, to no avail. In the 2012 Week 1 opener against the Titans, Rob Gronkowski (6-60-1 TD) and Aaron Hernandez (6-59-1 TD) were nightmare matchups. Gronkowski will be back soon. Hernandez will not.
Ronnie Lott and Jack Tatum never could have played in this era of safety-at-all-costs NFL football. And from the looks of things, Bucs safety Dashon Goldson will continue to struggle until he recognizes defenseless receivers are no longer fair game. Goldson, the former Niner who was flagged twice for unnecessary roughness on Tyson-esque hits on the Jets’ Jeff Cumberland and Jeremy Kerley, will have to figure out how to rein in his natural violent football instincts in Roger Goodell’s NFL. The league better clarify the strike zone for defensive players and for zebras, because if this keeps up — and it will — there will be more Dustin Kellers getting their knees blown out, if not their careers ended.
Quick slants
*How much has the NFL changed? There were just two 100-yard rushers through Sunday in Week 1, and one of them (Pryor, 112 yards) is a quarterback. Vereen (101 yards) was the other.
*When their teams needed them the most in the fourth quarter, Wilson and Andrew Luck answered the call. Don’t expect a Sophomore Jinx. On the other end of the spectrum, Bucs QB Josh Freeman should be looking over his shoulder at Mike Glennon, and Christian Ponder (Vikings) and Blaine Gabbert (Jaguars) better start balling in their third season. Adrian Peterson deserves better than what Ponder has exhibited, and the “We Want Tenow” chants already have started in Jacksonville. Or was it London? …
*After Bountygate, Saints coach Sean Payton and now-Titans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams waited what must have seemed like an eternity for their respective wins.
*As bad as the Steelers and Ravens looked, they’re still tied for first in the AFC North.
*Mike Shula better step it up before Cam Newton starts missing Rob Chudzinski.
*Manuel attempted 27 passes, and the Patriots didn’t sack him once. … Kudos to former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine for bothering Brady with a three-safety look and to Jim Leonhard (nine tackles).
*The 1-0 Jets are now a game behind in the “Suck For Clowney” or “Suck For Bridgewater” sweepstakes.
*The Dolphins (six sacks) have themselves a pass rush. Defensive end Dion Jordan, their No. 1 draft pick, recorded his first sack, and Cameron Wake (2 ½) is the terror.