NFL Wrap-Up

Here are my thoughts from Week 1 of the NFL season, based purely on what I was able to see, and again, since I was at a bar all day drinking and watching football, that was a lot!

Game of the Week

Indianapolis Colts 24 at Houston Texans 34. There were no really classic games in Game 1. Some teams made a statement that they are better than expected, some teams made the opposite statement (I am looking at you New York Jets). This game was the game of the week for what it represented, The Houston Texans' emergence as a power in the NFL, and Indianapolis' comeuppance. Now Indianapolis may not slide into complete mediocrity, but they are at a point where other good teams are no longer scared of them. Houston, without great games from Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, but behind a ridiculous effort by the offensive line leading to 231 rushing yards by Arian Foster, made a claim that they are the team to beat in the AFC South.

Best Team Performance

The New England Patiots. They completely dismantled the defending AFC North champions the Cincinnati Bengals, who became preseason darlings after the arrival of Terrell Owens. New England asserted control early, and eased into a 38-24 victory, letting the Jets know that despite Rex Ryan's assertions, the Jets are not the team to beat in the AFC East.

Least Impressive Team Performance

New York Jets - Horrific offensively against the Ravens, and they looked like they were completely lost on offense. The defense only gave up 10 points to a supposedly vaunted Ravens offense, but when needed, and especially on third down, Baltimore was able to have its way with the Jets.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Offense)

Arian Foster, RB - Houston. 231 yards on 33 carries, including 4 consecutive carries during which he gained 98 yards. In all honesty, I don't know what was more impressive, Foster's running or the blocking provided by the offensive line.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Defense)
LaRon Landry, S - Washington Redskins. 17 tackles, including 13 solo tackles, against the hated rival Dallas Cowboys in a 13-7 victory. Honorable mention to Clay Matthews, who had 3sacks for Green Bay against the Eagles.

Most Impressive Individual Performance (Special Teams)

Dexter McCluster KR, Kansas City Chiefs. A 94 yard return for a TD in his NFL debut. In a game in which he was not supposed to play because of an illness. So much for being too small for the league.

Goat of the Week

Calvin Johnson, WR - Detroit Lions. Yes, in reality he caught the ball. We all saw it. But anyone who has watched the NFL for any length of time knows that if you go to the ground during a catch, you have to maintain possession the entire time. Apparently Johnson was too busy with his engineering studies to watch the NFL growing up.

Hit of the Week

Julius Peppers - DE, Chicago Bears. Not a classically great hit in terms of viewing pleasure, but Peppers separated Matthew Stafford's shoulder with his hit, knocking the QB out for several weeks, maybe months. You don't get much harder than that. Peppers must be chomping at the bit to go against the Cowboys' Alex Barron.

Breakthrough Performance

Sam Bradford - QB - St. Louis Rams. No the Rams didn't win, and no Bradford did not play like a star. But, he looked like he belonged in the NFL as a QB, and he had 55 pass attempts. Generally most rookie QBs don't throw that much in 4 or 5 games.

Finally

Michael Vick, QB - Philadelphia Eagles

After serving time in the federal pen, and after not playing much at all last year, Vick looked good in throwing the ball for 175 yards, and he looked like himself in rushing for 103 yards. He gets the start this week.

Impact Injury

So many to choose from this week, but I will have to go with Matthew Stafford. The Lions look like they could be emerging this season to respectability, and now they lose Stafford for an indeterminate number of weeks.

Team Rising

Kansas City Chiefs - They looked good in defeating the perennial AFC West favorites San Diego Chargers. More importantly, they looked fun, not boring, with Charles and McCluster breaking off big plays.

Team Falling

Toss Up between the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys, but I am going to pick the Cowboys, because they lost to the Redskins. The Jets at least lost to the Baltimore Ravens, a team some consider a Super Bowl favorite.

Best Teams

1. New Orleans Saints
2. New England Patriots
3. Houston Texans
4. Tennessee Titans
5. New York Giants

Worst Teams

32. San Francisco 49ers
31. Cleveland Browns
30. Oakland Raiders
29. Carolina Panthers
28. Cincinnati Bengals

Preview - Game(s) of the Week

4. Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys - Is it possible that Dallas is as bad as it has shown in the preseason games and week 1? The Bears looked really good at times against the Lions, but the Cowboys aren't the Lions.

3. New England Patriots at New York Jets - After last weeks debacle, the Jets really need to assert some control over the other playoff favorites. New England looks to continue its dominance from last week.

2. Miami Dolphins v. Minnesota Vikings - Can Miami be that good without any real stars? Can Minnesota start 0-2? Both important questions that can be answered early in the season.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers v. Tennessee Titans - Two tough grind it out teams fight for early season supremacy. Steelers D v. Chris Johnson. Dennis Dixon with a game under his belt. Who knows what could happen?

Trivia
Houston Texans RB Arian Foster surprisingly rushed for 231 yards last week. This should not have been that much of a surprise as he is the second leading rusher in Tennessee Volunteer history. Who is the first? Answer provided next week.

Sports Bar Review of the Week
This is a new segment this year. Me and my peeps are going to attempt to watch the NFL games every Sunday from a different sports bar. My review of the bar will be in this section of the NFL Wrap-Up. This week's bar - JJ Muggs Stadium Grill in the Abacoa section of Jupiter, Florida.

JJ Muggs is in a great location, right across from the Spring Training stadium of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins. At first, it looks like a great sports bar, with lots of televisions in all good angles for watching. However, we were asked to move from our table because it was "reserved", and those that reserved it had arrived. We later find out that the reserving party was a bunch of employees, including the girlfriend of one of the managers. We were escorted upstairs, which is a nice area for a private party, but not so great for NFL Sunday. The televisions are located only along one wall, running perpendicular to the tables. Not good angles for watching the actual games.

Our bartender/waitress, Katie, was very attentive and generally really good. Although she seemed incredibly busy, running a small bar and about 10 tables by herself, she generally kept on top of everything.

The bar offers all you can eat wings during football Sundays, and although the buffalo style was OK, the barbecue wings were great. The sauce was exceptional, and we ordered more than several plates.

The beer was cold, the prices were good, and the experience might have been better if only it was easier to watch the actual games. It was better for the 4:00 games, as most of the bar cleared out after the early games finished, but generally, it was difficult to maneuver to watch more than one game.

On a scale of 1-10, the overall rating is a 3. It might have been higher if we were downstairs, and it would have been even higher if we weren't kicked out from downstairs. The saving grace was Katie and the barbecue sauce.