Yes, We're Ready For Some Football
It's easy to forget how violent a game football is, until the reality of opening weekend slaps you in the face and tears your knee in half.
OK, maybe not your knee, but when one of the pre-eminent stars of the league, a man critical to his teams success and Super Bowl aspirations, goes down after one single quarter of football, that's a serious smack of reality.
I'm talking, of course, about Brodie Croyle.
Wait, scratch that, I'm talking about Vince Young.
OK, I'm not. I'm talking about pretty boy Tom Brady, who was just one of the big names to get dinged up - in his case, extremely seriously - in Game One of the NFL season.
For what it's worth, to an unbiased eye, that didn't look like a dirty hit whatsoever by the Kansas City lineman. It was just an unfortunate twist, and one that lands Matt Cassel into a starting gig. That's a pretty crazy thing, since Cassel didn't even start in college. Now he is starting, while the guy he backed up (Matt Leinart) is riding the pine for his team.
Funny how things work, isn't it?
It was a pretty odd weekend in a lot of other ways, not the least of which was our pool. It came down to a foot race between Tuvey and Flacco Jacket. Given that Tuvey is a die-hard Patriots fan (and was, even when Tony Eason or Steve Grogan were behind center, he'll have you know), it is perhaps appropriate that he nailed the first week.
Congratulations, Tuvey!
(And a special shout out to Mooncusser, for having an even worse week than I did. I try not to call out those who do particularly bad, but when it masks my wretched performance, I can't resist.)
In addition to Brady going down, a lot of other players got dinged up, including the majority of the Jacksonville offensive line. Marion Barber III hurt his ribs, which allowed hotshot rookie Felix Jones to burst onto the scene, scoring an 11-yard touchdown on his first carry in the bigs.
But the NFL season actually started back on Thursday, with the Redskins lying down like dogs against the New York Giants. If you haven't seen Brandon Jacobs ruin LaRon Landry's day, then you're missing something special:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7_1djI2TxU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]
Oh, a bit of league business - because some folks forgot about the Thursday game, I changed the league settings going forward. It used to be that you had to make ALL your picks five minutes before the first game of the week. Now, that deadline is five minutes before each game. So, you can change your picks up until five minutes to kickoff - I wouldn't toy with this too much, because Yahoo's clock isn't always the same as mine, but it should provide more flexibility.
So, Michael Turner looked pretty good, didn't he? I think part of that is that the Lions are once again going to be quite bad, but you can't deny a 220-yard rushing day. Turner looked like a beast. As did Fast Willie Parker who scored one more TD yesterday than he did all last season.
If the Lions defense looked shoddy, that was nothing compared to the Rams, who looked like they were playing a different game than the Eagles. Donovan McNabb looked dominant, and he had three different receivers go over 100 yards. One of them was local Cal product DeSean Jackson who looks like a quality rookie receiver this year.
In any case, it looks like another great NFL season, even for the Patriots who have - bizarrely, given that they were in the freaking Super Bowl last year - one of the easiest schedules in the league. Remember to get those picks in, and enjoy!