Sports

And we’re off

The first game of the NFL season has come and gone, though it wasn’t much of a game.

Here’s what we can deduce from the first four quarters of action: Eric Johnson is going to be a viable threat as the Saints tight end. After throwing sporadically to TE last year, Johnson was QB Drew Brees‘ favorite target last night. Heading into the weekend, he is the No. 1 pickup for this week’s waivers. If you plan to start Owen Daniels, Benjamin Watson or even L.J. Smith in coming weeks, Johnson could be an upgrade.

Peyton Manning is still great.

Don’t worry too much about the poor performance by Brees. He will still post solid fantasy results most of the season. We’re not as in love with the Saints as the rest of the pundits (we’re not going to annoint them division champs, let alone conference champs), but we feel Brees will still be a top 5 fantasy QB.

We contend the NBC “Sunday Night Football” theme – heard for the special Thursday night game – is the best theme of the bunch, usurping the “Monday Night Football” classic.

So far, we’re liking our call that Reggie Wayne will supplant Marvin Harrison as the Colts best fantasy-producing WR – a stance that has generated a fair amount of resentment. In basic scoring leagues, the count is Reggie 21, Marvin 14. We’ll keep you posted on this matter throughout the season.

The Faith Hill intro song is just as bad as last season’s Pink intro. We were never that crazy about of the Hank Williams Jr.’s “Are You Ready for Some Football.” But the NBC knockoffs make Ol’ Hank sound less like Pavarotti, God rest his soul, and more like Erinco Palazzo.

Don’t sweat the collection of dropped passes by Reggie Bush. The guy has caught the ball in the past. He will again in the future.

I’m really sick of “This Is Our Country.”

The Panthers are still undefeated : )

So are the Raiders : |

We’re still not sold that the Colts will consistently stop the run. Sure, we’re surprised they shut down Bush and Deuce McAllister, but it often takes offenses a while to click – unless your Indianapolis. And last season’s monumental postseason turnaround was really smoke and mirrors. Kansas City had (has) no passing game, so Indy committed everyone to stopping Larry Johnson and waited for Trent Green to beat them, and he couldn’t. Baltimore’s pathetic passing game wasn’t much better. They did fare decent against a good Patriots run attack, but they yielded significant yardage to Chicago in the Super Bowl. Good offensive teams with a sound ground game will be able to run against this defense.

Joseph Addai, after giving fantasy owners a scare when he took a blinding hit on the first play of the game, showed he is going to be the real deal.

We’ve got 15 games to go this week and 496 in the 16 weeks thereafter, so if you’re trailing early, cheer up. At least it’s not a rotisserie league.

dloftis@nypost.com