The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Last year’s playoff teams went 5-7 in week 1 indicating that the trend of parity in the NFL will continue.  Pre-season favourites such as Indianapolis, San Diego, Dallas and San Francisco all started their 2010 campaigns with a loss.  Only five of the sixteen games this week were won by double digits giving more credibility to the argument that the NFL is the most competitive professional sports league from top to bottom.  For us as NFL fans, it makes the season that much more exciting because on any given Sunday, any team can win.

The Bad

A number of contenders had elements of their team exposed.

Indianapolis Colts Run Defense:  Peyton Manning threw for 433 yards and 3 touchdowns and personally outgained the entire Houston Texans offence, yet the Colts fell to their division rival.  The Colts pass defense held Matt Schaub in check but let Arian Foster run wild.   The second year back averaged 7 yards per carry and gashed the Colts for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns.  As good as there offence is, the Colts are doomed if they can’t repair their swiss cheese run defense.

Cincinnati Bengals Secondary:  The Bengals actually looked good in this game and should not panic after losing to a strong New England team.  One cause for concern is that Tom Brady had his way with the Bengals secondary all day.   Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall are coming off big years but the Bengals need to be able to cover the slot receivers and it doesn’t appear that their safeties can handle that assignment (see Wes Welker).

New York Jets Offence:  If you want to talk the talk you better be able to walk the walk.  The Jets did a lot to try and boost their offence this off-season by bringing in some big names and praising the development of Mark Sanchez.  Well that leap that everyone was expecting from Sanchez was not apparent Monday night.  The Ravens have a great defense but 6 first downs is not going to cut it, no matter how good the Jets D is. 

San Francisco Quarterback Alex Smith:  The ‘make or break’ year for the former 1^st overall pick could not have gotten off to a worse start.  Smith completed less than 60% of his passes and threw two costly interceptions in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks.  The time is now for Smith who is surrounded by talent.  If he doesn’t step up soon, the Niners would be wise to see if another former 1^st overall pick, David Carr, can get the job done.  

The Ugly

Earlier in the offseason I blogged about the Cowboys and Lions ignoring their offensive lines and how it would come back to haunt them.  We didn’t have to wait long.

I knew at some point this season Jerry Jones would regret his decision to let Flozell Adams walk.  With Marc Colombo out, Alex Barron started at right tackle and looked more like a wrestler than an offensive linemen.  On the final play of the game, Barron didn’t even attempt to block Brian Orakpo.  Instead he rung his neck and committed the most blatant holding penalty in recent memory, which cost the Cowboys the game.  For all the talk about Super Bowl aspirations for Dallas, Jones erred when he released a quality offensive tackle in an uncapped year.  The lack of depth on the line will continue to plague this club going forward. 

In the draft, the Lions decided to take Ndamukong Suh and Jahvid Best instead of addressing their issues on the offensive line.  While Suh and Best look like emerging stars, the repercussions of ignoring the o-line have already been felt.  The Lions rushed for a dismal 20 yards on 21 carries, but the bigger impact was the injury suffered by Matthew Stafford.  Stafford has all the tools to be a top quarterback in this league but if Detroit doesn’t make it a point to protect him, they are doomed to remain in the basement of the NFC North.