The season starts tonight with the Vikings going back to the Superdome to face the Saints in a rematch of the 2009 NFC Championship game (a game I’d rather not talk about).
The Saints are favored, and probably should be. They’re at home, they’re Superbowl champs, the Vikings are without their number one receiver and no one really knows exactly how hobbled Favre is by his ankle.
I’m still going to be a homer and pick the Vikings to win on the strength of a big game from Adrian Peterson.
Here’s the rest of the week one schedule:
CAROLINA at NY GIANTS
MIAMI at BUFFALO
ATLANTA at PITTSBURGH
DETROIT at CHICAGO
CINCINNATI at NEW ENGLAND
CLEVELAND at TAMPA BAY
DENVER at JACKSONVILLE
INDIANAPOLIS at HOUSTON
OAKLAND at TENNESSEE
GREEN BAY at PHILADELPHIA
SAN FRANCISCO at SEATTLE
ARIZONA at ST. LOUIS
DALLAS at WASHINGTON
MONDAY NIGHT GAMES:
BALTIMORE at NY JETS
SAN DIEGO at KANSAS CITY
I’m going to pick Detroit over the Bears as my upset of the week. Other interesting games I think will be Dallas facing Donovan McNabb in his first game as a Redskin, and seeing what Ochocinco and T.O. do against the Patriots.
I’d like to see a race between McNabb and Farve, see who has the gimpiest ankle. I think both are going to take a pounding this week. There’s blood in the water!
Interesting that Sharper’s on the PUP list tonight. I admit, I’ve done absolutely zero research to find out what his injury is, but I’m pretty certain that he’d have been pounded if he was on the field tonight.
I think if Buffalo loses to Miami this week, they’ll probably be staring down 0-7 or worse to start the year. This is bad for me not because I’m a Bills fan, but because I work in an office full of them. Mondays are already bad enough without having to work with an entire office of mopey people…and, no, the fact that the Bills have stunk for a long time has done nothing to alleviate the mope when they lose.
Even if I wasn’t a Steelers fan, apart from the headline Saints-Vikings game, I’d think the Pittsburgh-Atlanta game is the most intriguing one. Batch was the safe QB replacement, so going with Dixon is Mike Tomlin’s indication that he’s going to roll the dice on these next four games. With the bye week in Week 5, the Steelers can all but split this season into two sections…and going 0-4 or 1-3 in Section 1 is not going to get them to the playoffs, IMHO. It’s crazy to say this is a must-win game in Week 1 for the Steelers, but can you see the Dixon-led Steelers beating the Titans or the Ravens? If the Steelers want to go at least 2-2 before Roethlisberger comes back they need this one.
I live near Heinz Field now but I have two favorite teams; the Vikings and whoever last beat Dem Stillers. Farve, if he can keep from getting hit, is as good as he ever was but the offensive line could be a real questionmark. I have not liked everything I’ve seen pre-season. Across the board I am thinking the winners will be:
Trash? Ain’t it gonna be fun watching Gropey the Quarterback guarding the clipboards? Sorry Duke but even if I could hack the rest of the team, he’s just a flat-out deal-breaker.
The Pats are a stronger team than the Bengals, but it’s a bad matchup for them – the Pat’s secondary are very young and inexperienced going up against TO and 88. I predict a pretty high scoring game, and I’m giving it to the Patriots only because they’re home and they have the better coach.
I have to say “Gropelisberger” makes me question my loyalty a bit too. I wish he’d gone in the offseason, although I can appreciate that no other team would have sent back fair value for him.
I find this game interesting too. The Bengals have one of the better CBs tandems in Leon Hall and Jonathon Joseph, although there are issues at the safety spots. With a questionable running game and Welker not at 100%, I think that if the Bengals can get any sort of pass rush going against the Pat’s O Line, they have a good chance of upsetting the Pats. And boy would I like that.
At this stage I don’t think the Pats are the stronger team than the Bengals. The Bengals have a better defense and running game. I’d say the passing game is close to even with the Pats certainly having the better QB, but even in terms of receivers. The Pats have a better coach I’d say as well.
There are only issues with the safeties if they are both injured like they were last season. True, they aren’t excellent at coverage (the starters, Williams and Crocker) but they are studly enforcers in the run game and the defense usually rotates in Ndukwe (who is a good coverage safety) in obvious passing situations.
I was wondering if anyone would catch that!
I think the Bengals have a chance to jump all over the Pats early and often, but Foxboro is a tough place to play. I’m glad we’re playing them now rather than later in the year for sure.
I’m glad the Pats get the Bengals in Week One because it will be a strong test of where they are right now. I think the Pats run game is underrated and they have clearly been making the run a top priority in preseason games, so don’t be surprised to see a less pass-happy offense than one might expect.
I’m more worried about Benson running wild than I am about T.O. Should be one of the better games of the weekend.
As a Saints fan, I say…whew, glad that’s over. Good teams win ugly games, and that’s what we did tonight.
Liked what I saw with the running game in the second half. Thomas has arrived as a feature back, if he can stay healthy. Also liked what I saw from Jenkins. He hits like a truck. Vilma is still a beast in the middle.
Wondering if there might be some phone calls going out to unemployed kickers in the next few days. 2 missed FGs isn’t a good start, even for a Super Bowl hero.
Your Saints won fair and clearly; no real zebra problems or anything silly. They just flat-out looked like Super Bowl Champs - except for the kicker. My Vikes have the problem I thought/expected - holes in the offensive line and a quarterback too close to my age for comfort and repeated hits.
Gotta disagree there - the pass calls showed close but not close enough and the holding calls looked legit. They may have missed two calls they should have made against the Saints but they are breaking in a new system too. I HATE any Vikings loss but I can’t put this one of the zebras.
They boned Kleinsasser on that catch they called incomplete, and they ignored a lot of defensive holding by the Saints. Therewas aso a completely bogus OPI call against the Vikings. The zebras are always out to fuck the Vikings. I have no idea why.
Having said all that, the Vikings have some issues at WR. Favre doesn’t have a go to guy. And Berrian is clearly out of his element trying to return punts.
