Week Two Highlights

Week Two began with a Monday Night double header. That’s right, not 1 but 2 Monday night clashes.

First in the line-up was the return of Robert Griffin III following what many feared was a career ending injury mid-year last season.  Although RGIII played in 1 game following the horrific injury, but it was obvious his season was over.  

The Washington Redskins desiring to afford the phenomenon every opportunity to return to playing form didn’t allow any contact with the young star until the first regular season game. This late summer evening that time had come as the Redskins hosted Mike Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles. It looked to be a clash of the titans of the NFC East and many of the commentators were picking Washington as their favorite.

Chip Kelly extends his honeymoon period with a "W"   nfl.com

Many were annoyed with the commentator’s picks, but we knew why.  It was another first.  It was Chip Kelly’s premiere game as head coach of the Eagles after the firing of longtime coach Andy Reid.  As Dick Vermeil, Buddy Ryan and yes Andy Reid all know, historically the Philly fans don’t exactly welcome their unproven coaches.  Such was not to be the case for Chip Kelly as the Eagles walked away with a 31-24 victory.

After a Redskin score on a controversial backwards pass, the Eagles pummeled the Redskins in the first half.  RGIII appeared awkward, unsettled and understandably leery of his knee.  The second half he seemed to get a bit more confidence back, but not enough to undermine the momentum of the Eagles.

RGIII and Vick meet folowing the season opener. nfl.com

The second Monday Night match had San Diego hosting Houston.  

This was a sleeper until late in the third quarter when Houston seemed to be rallying. The Chargers had run up a 24-7 lead and held it the bulk of the game until late in the third quarter. When slowly but surely, the Texans began a route reminiscent of Sam Houston’s defeat of Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto.  The final score 31-28.

Thursday Night saw the New England Patriots against the New York Jets.  The Jets struggling after a pre-season injury to quarterback Marc Sanchez were dependent on the field general antics of rookie Geno Smith.  

Geno Smith displays rookie jitters. nfl.com

Smith a 2^nd round pick, out of West Virginia, seems a bit intimidated for the league thus far.  I know it sounds ugly, but perhaps Bill Parcell should consider eating some humble pie and re-activate Tim Tebow.

Although the Patriots walked away with a sloppy 13-10 win, a 36 year old Tom Brady may be displaying his years in the league.  In his past two victories this season the future hall of

Is Brady showing his age?
nfl.com

famer has not delivered the stellar performances of seasons gone by. Throwing a little above a 50% completion rate and scoring only 3 touchdowns, perhaps fans in Foxborough should be a bit concerned.

In the Sunday match-ups, commentators continue to tout the hoop-la of the clash being the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, … big whoop!  Big whoop is right but, what’s this fan’s appraisal of the Manning Boys?  The only stars in the Manning family are the boys’ mama and daddy, Olivia and Archie Manning.  However, if given a preference, I’ll take Peyton every time.

The Giants drew first blood with a field goal early in the 1^st quarter.  But the Broncos were dead on their heels and scored 7, moments later.  Such was the case throughout the game.  One pass followed another, with an occasional run in between.   The combined passing yardage neared 700 yards with each teams’ total passing yardage divided by no more than 50 yards.   In the end, after a couple of costly turnovers, Peyton took the game with a score of 41-23.

In the Bears against their rival Vikings a series of turnovers lead to a 21 up tie at the half. The battle continued throughout the 2^nd half but a final second Jay Cutler connection with Martellus Bennett resulted in a 31-30 win for the winding city warriors.

The Eagles continued to sputter along while hosting Phillip Rivers and the Chargers in their opening game at home. The Chargers’ Rivers to Gates connection was tough to stand up to, especially given Philly’s serious lack of defense.  Going into the 4^th quarter the teams were tied at 20. The Eagles looked as if they were going to pull off the win but, some fourth quarter shenanigans and mismanagement of timeouts threw that possibility out the window. The game ended with what seemed to be a rerun of an old keystone cops sequence.  The Eagles succumbed to the Chargers 30 to 33; so much for Chip Kelly’s honeymoon period.  

Thursday night, the Eagles will host Andy Reid and the Chiefs in his first return to Philly since his firing.  This should prove especially interesting.

The Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens, who were beat up after their loss last week, pulled off a 14-6 win against the Cleveland Brown.  In the mist of commentator discussion and ridicule, but in all fairest to Baltimore, the Ravens were decimated following their Super Bowl win.  

Flacco celebrates 2nd son's
arrival with a win.   nfl.com

They not only lost linebacker powerhouse Ray Lewis and center Matt Birk to retirement, but veteran defensive back Ed Reed, star receiver Anquan Bolten, linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Paul Kruger were all lost to free agency or trades.  One has to seriously wonder if the Ravens organization really has any intention to legitimately defend their championship.  Adding injury to this insult, star running back Ray Rice experienced a hip injury in the Cleveland match-up.  No further information has been released concerning the status of Rice.

On a positive note, congratulations to Ravens QB Joe Flacco, he and his wife were blessed with the birth of his 2^nd son as Flacco prepared to play Cleveland.

In other action around the league:

Washington Redskins 20                                Greenbay Packers 38

Kansas City Chiefs 17                                    Dallas Cowboys 16

Tampa Bay Buccaneers                                 New Orleans Saints

Carolina Panthers 23                                      Buffalo Bills 24

Indianapolis Colts 20                                     Miami Dolphins 24

Houston Texans 30                                       Tennessee Titans 24

Detroit Lions 21                                            Arizona Cardinals 25

Jacksonville Jaguars 9                                    Oakland Raiders 19

Atlanta Falcons 31                                         St. Louis Rams 2424 

The Game of the Day was undoubtedly should have been the Seattle Seahawks hosting the San Francisco 49ers. Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson were paired and set to repeat a late season match-up from last season. Both QB’s tout excellent throwing skills and exceptional running abilities and both teams display high voltage play both ways.

Playing in one of the loudest stadiums in the league certainly has its challenges but, with 3:13 left in the 1^st quarter the greatest challenge was the weather.  The game experienced a delay due to heavy showers accompanied by lightening.  

Upon the return to the field roughly an hour later, both teams seemed to have lost a step.  The 49ers offense could not seem to generate any score except a safety that was attributed to a penalty in the 49er end zone.  Just as both team started to display a return to form, time expired in the half.

After the half, the lightening gone and the rain subsided, both teams appeared to have a chance to get back on track.  Just in time for the 12^th man to make a re-appearance.  In the red zone, the

Crowd noise had an adverse effect as the 49ers attempted to get back on track.         seahawks.com

49ers had to resort to huddles so tight Kaepernick had to show the plays from his wrist bands.  It never got much better as the Super Bowl challengers never regained their momentum. The game ended with a 29 to 3 Seattle victory.

The Monday Night match-up is the Battle of the Ohio River as the Pittsburg Steelers square off against their rival Cincinnati Bengals.  There’s little love lost between these two teams, so tune in for what is sure to be a slugfest.