NFL Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 1 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see.  I was not at my usual bar(s), so I did not see as much as usual, but still!

Game of the Week

Philadelphia Eagles 30 at. Indianapolis Colts 24.  Both teams moved the ball plenty, but not enough that it looked like the defenses did not matter.  Some exceptional performances by backup running backs (Darren Sproles and Ahmad Bradshaw), and a last minute drive to win the game, on the road, at the buzzer by a field goal.  All of this in prime time on a Monday Night.  Jon Gruden's head probably exploded.

Best Team Performance

Chicago Bears.  The Bears win at a seemingly more talented San Francisco, with their hobbling wide receivers Brandon Marshall (3 TDs) and Alshon Jeffrey the difference in the second half, and losing the heart of their usually unimpressive defense (Charles Tillman).  Jay Cutler leads an impressive comeback, and the defense, including 2 interceptions by first round draft pick Kyle Fuller contributes mightily.

Least Impressive Team Performance

Minnesota Vikings.  Without Adrian Peterson the team jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and then proceeded to lose to the Patriots 30-7.  For reasons not related to on-the-field play, Minnesota never had a chance this game.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

DeMarco Murray, RB - Dallas- With all due respect to Aaron Rodgers, who absolutely carved up the New York Jets secondary, Murray was the most impressive offensive player.  After a game in which people wrote off the Cowboys due to turnovers by Tony Romo in week 1, Murray took the ball, rushed for 167 yards and resurrected the Cowboys' hopes for the season.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
Kyle Fuller, CB - Chicago Bears. Two absolutely game turning/changing interceptions coming off the bench to replace the injured Charles Tillman.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Cody Parker, K - Philadelphia Eagles.  Hit a 36 yard field goal as time expired to win the game on the road in Indianapolis.

Goat of the Week

Adrian Peterson, RB - Minnesota Vikings - Inactivated against the Patriots after being indicted for charges in Texas related to child abuse of his kid for hitting the four year old with a switch, and this was not the first incident of this.  The Vikings started the season with a promising win, and now their year is completely over.

Hit of the Week

San Diego Chargers.  The entire team came out and hit the "toughest" team in the NFL - the Seattle Seahawks - in the mouth, and the Seahawks did not answer the bell after that.

Breakthrough Performance

Kyle Fuller, CB - Chicago Bears. He showed exactly why the Bears made him a first round pick, and will be the starter for the remainder of the season.

Finally

Cincinnati Bengals Coaching Staff - Giovanni Bernard had more carries that Andy Dalton had pass attempts (27-23) in a 24-10 win over the Falcons.  That may be a bit high for Bernard every game, but the equation seems about right.  Cincinnati can win it all if it keeps this up.

Impact Injury

Kansas City Chiefs - Lots of big names out (Robert Griffin III, Knowshon Moreno) out for extended periods of time, and lots of big names (Gerald McCoy, Ryan Matthews, A.J. Green) out for unspecified short periods of time, but no team lost more than the Chiefs, who after losing LB Derrick Johnson for the season last week, lost RB Jamaal Charles and S Eric Berry for unknown time periods this week.  The Chiefs are officially done.

Team Rising

Buffalo Bills - One of only 7 teams to start the season 2-0, and with the Jets and the Moreno-less Dolphins in their division, can safely think Wild Card possibilities, at least for now.

Team Falling

Pittsburgh Steelers - Thoroughly dominated by the Baltimore Ravens in a division game; a Ravens team that is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination.

Best Teams
(All undefeated teams will be top ranked teams until none are left - then the rankings will be the result of my true thoughts)

1. Denver Broncos
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. Carolina Panthers
5. Houston Texans

Worst Teams
(All winless teams will be top ranked teams until none are left - then the rankings will be the result of my true thoughts)

32. Jacksonville Jaguars
31. Oakland Raiders
30. New York Giants
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
28. Kansas City Chiefs

Middle Teams

15.  Detroit Lions
16.  Baltimore Ravens
17.  New York Jets
18.  Tennessee Titans

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

4. San Diego Chargers at Buffalo Bills - After what the Chargers did to the Seahawks last week, they have become a chic playoff pick.  The Bills being undefeated makes this game really interesting.  Which team makes a big jump to the playoff picture, the Bills who could be 3-0, or the Chargers, with Phillip Rivers and Antonio Gates looking as good as they ever have together?  Biggest game the  Bills have played in a long time.

3. San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals - Before last week, the 49ers were thought to be the only real competition for the Seahawks, but they were exposed a bit, especially by Chicago's big receivers.  Too bad Arizona doesn't have any of those - oh wait, they do.  The Cardinals defense could be great, even though they are missing Darnell Dockett for the season.  The winner gets the first leg up in the NFC West.

2. Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions - Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson and Matthew Stafford to Calvin Johnson could produce 1,000 yards of offense.  Which defense will make a plan to win the game?

1. Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks - Only the sixth time a Super Bowl rematch has occurred the following season.  Can Emmanuel Sanders, DeMarcus Ware and Aqib Talib make a difference this time around?  Seattle is virtually unbeatable at home.

Trivia

With the Colts loss to the Eagles on Monday night, Andrew Luck just missed the chance to set the record for most games by a quarterback without consecutive losses to start a career?  Who holds that record?

Sports Bar Review of the Week

I did not watch the NFL games at a Sports Bar, but I was recently at another sports bar with some college games on television, so I will review that one.

Murray Brothers Caddyshack Restaurant, 455 South Legacy Trail #E106, St. Augustine, FL

As you can probably guess, Caddyshack is a Caddyshack themed restaurant, owned by the Murray brothers, Brian Doyle-Murray the predominant writer of the movie - now on the television comedy Sullivan and Son - and Bill Murray being the most famous.  Complete with the servers wearing caddy bibs with various golf terms on the back, to the hostess stand being made from the front of a golf cart with the word "Starter" on the front, their is no mistaking the theme.

The service was friendly and good enough, but nothing astounding, with the waitress service at the table much better than the bartender.  I did not remember either the waitress's name, or the bartender's name, as I was not expecting to do this review on Caddyshack.  The bartender seemed more concerned with cleaning, even 2 hours before closing, than he did the games on the television, as he did not even know the primary sports channels in order to change games after one set was completed.  He was fairly attentive to the guests though, so that is OK.

Although the bar seems as if it is sports oriented, it really is not, as their were not great viewing lines to the televisions in order to watch the games, even though each was programmed to show a different game (except once one ended and whatever the next program was, was shown).  So for a sports bar, the bar was nothing special.  We ordered some local craft brews, which were not new to our group, but they were still pretty tasty.  Not that big of a selection overall, however.

For food, the chicken nachos were great, and more than enough for the four of us to share.  The burgers, mostly Chicago themed, were delicious, and I would definitely order them again.  As stated earlier, I did not expect to be doing this review, so I did not vary all of the orders of the group, nor did we share tastings in order to provide more information.  I would have tried the Chicago dog or the bratwurst, had I been thinking ahead.

Generally the restaurant/bar was clean, although the bartender used hot water to melt all of the ice in the beer bin, but kept the beers in the bin while he did that.  Pretty sure that could affect the taste of the beer.

Overall, a decent experience, but nothing special.  A big bonus for being less than 1/4 mile from where we were staying, though that has nothing to do with the restaurant!

Service - AFC West
Drinks - AFC West
Food - NFC South
Cleanliness - NFC South
Overall - Oakland Raiders (4th in the NFC West) - Good, but nothing special.

Rating System Best to Worst:  NFC West, NFC North, NFC South, AFC West, AFC North, AFC South, AFC East, NFC East

Trivia Answer

The first quarterback to defeat all 32 NFL franchises was BRETT FAVRE.