Peyton Manning is the best ever:
You either watched the game or saw the highlights, but if not, let me tell you what happened. Peyton Manning was perfect. He tied the NFL record for single game touchdowns and had zero turnovers. Peyton owned the Ravens team. He saw every twitch Raven’s defensive player had and exploited it. The scary thing isn’t the number of touchdowns or lack of interceptions. No the scary thing is how Peyton handled the end of the game. Peyton Manning is not the kind of guy to run a score up. Throughout his career he has shown that with a lead he is more than happy to run the ball to run the clock out. Thursday night however, Manning was throwing to end the game. What that means is that Manning believes their passing is so unstoppable that it is the best option to run the clock out at the end of the game. He’s a football brainiac and always plays the percentages, so the final minutes of the Thursday game should be a warning to the rest of the league.
Defenses can still wins games:
The Jets, Seahawks, and Tenesee Titans all proved that you don’t need a prolific offense to win in the NFL. Let’s start with the Jets as everyone from Portland to Portland wanted to anoint them as one of the worst teams in the NFL, they proved that whether Mark Sanchez or Geno Smith were quarterbacking, they still had the pieces of a very good defense. And it’s that small fine print that separates them from the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Seahawks have the heart-throb of NFL analysts across America in Russel Wilson, but it was their tough aggressive defense that kept them in the game and allowed them to pull the win out. That offense will probably get going eventually, but till then they just need to protect the ball. The Titans pulled the biggest upset of the weekend, but if you’re a betting man you smelled blood in the water as Pittsburgh is clearly overrated based purely on their prestige. Even still, holding the Steelers to just 9 points is an impressive feat by any defense. I labeled them my dark horse in the AFC and an upset win in the first week is a good way to start their campaign.
Adrian Peterson is not joking around:
Even though it was in a losing effort–not much you can do to overcome 3 interceptions–Adrian Peterson showed that his talk about breaking all these rushing records was not said in jest. He is a monster. Sure he only ran for 93 yards but he ran for 2 TDs and caught 1 too. This will be another great year for Adrian Peterson and he will probably have a shot at some of the long-standing records held by running backs in the league. On the other side of the ball in the this game Reggie Bush proved to be a pretty dangerous offensive threat. I must warn Detroit fans and fantasy owners alike, my long time betting partner and I both made a call that he would have a big game today only to go bust/get injured in by week 3. I’d never wish ill on any player, but just saying.
Colin Kaepernick is not joking around either:
The source of kryptonite for super Kaepernick is dwindling. I’m beginning to wonder what options team have other than “forcing” him out of the game. He has a new favorite target in Aquan Boldin and things are only about to get scarier for everyone else in the league as that relationship congeals. “Mighty Kap” (I’m trademarking this nick name as we speak) has learned a valuable lesson during the offseason. How to make a touch pass. Last season he was all zip and no finesse. He still loves to put zip on the ball, but I saw him drop a few in the bread basket, which is a terrifying thing for defenses. What’s even worse is that usually a mobile quarterback is seen as somewhat fragile outside the pocket. Kaepernick to me looks hard as nails. I mentioned the Niners all offseason as the team that would be hardest to beat in the NFL and this first week of football only asserted that more. I’ll be looking for San Francisco to only get better as the season goes on.
The curse has been lifted:
It wasn’t exactly pretty, but the Cowboys finally took back home field advantage in their own stadium. The Giants had been undefeated in the new stadium going 5 and 0 over the past few years. As a Cowboys fan, this killed me. Fortunately the new Kiffin defense that’s hell-bent on causing turnovers did just that. Now a team getting 6 turnovers should certainly win by more points, but it’s the NFC East and regardless of how the first 3 quarters go, those games always come down to the fourth with them. Romo didn’t have a brilliant game, but he did show signs of maturity, he was patient in not forcing it to Dez with the constant double coverage he was receiving, and did an excellent job of managing the tempo of the offense as more control has been handed to the QB this season. On another note, the Giants have always been a hard nosed well coached team to me that are always capable of putting up a W. However last night to me was a cause for concern for any Giants fan. As much as I hate the Giants, I’ve always respected them and their style of play. If anything I’d always kind of wished the Cowboys would take on a few of their attributes. But last night witnessing the Giants getting a roughing the passer penalty when a player made lunge below the knees of Romo, and the feigned injury to stop the Cowboy’s momentum, I was bit taken back. I wouldn’t have been surprised by those antics coming from the likes of the Cowboys in years prior (thankfully I think they’ve cleaned up their locker room recently) but I am massively surprised to see this from the Giants. I don’t want to blow two plays in a long season out of proportion, but a Tom Coughlin coached team would’ve been the last team I’d expect to see faking it in a game. That does not bode well for them this season.
About Matt Cargile
Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.
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