Week 1 (almost) in the Books

Congratulations to Mardi for winning Week 1 of our challenge. For the first set of games she correctly called 10 of the 14 games played between Thursday and Sunday, compared to 9 of 14 for me. We disagreed on 3 of the games, with the Washington at New York Giants matchup being the tie-breaker.

Sunday was quite embarassing for the Texans. Not only did they lose big, but they lost big to a team led by a rookie quarterback. Mark Sanchez proved himself to be the real deal on Sunday, especially on 3rd down situations, where he seemed to transform into a wily veteran. The Texan defense did a pretty good job stuffing the run game. Don't let the 100 yard rushing game fool you as that was the result of 2 big runs. Unfortunately something had to give somewhere. The Jets defense was also very disruptive most of the game as it didn't allow the Texan offense to get in full sync. It brought back the bad memories of David Carr's last season with the Texans (although that was a team-wide bad effort that year). Hopefully the adjustments can be made for next Sunday when the Texans visit the Titans.

Congratulations to the Vikings for winning their season opener. While I didn't get to watch the game, I did follow it for a while on ESPN GameTrax. It would appear the Browns kept it competitive until the 2nd half when Adrian Peterson just opened up on them (180 yards!?). The talk on the post-game shows last night was of Brett Favre's lackluster performance (14 of 21 for 110 yards). While the percentage was efficient, the yardage was not. In fact, the leading receiver for the Vikings only gained 36 yards. I was talking to a relative in Duluth who told me that Favre managed the game well. Be that as it may, either Rosenfels or Jackson could have managed the game the same way. I told him that unless Favre can deliver bigger numbers, the Vikings will become one dimensional.

I didn't expect Philadelphia to pound the Panthers like they did. I regretted my pick as soon as I made it last week, but stuck by it just in case. My play of the week has to go to Denver and the should-have-been intercepted catch by Stokely for the score and win. The folly of the week goes to the Aaron Rogers safety in Green Bay's win over the Chicago.

Since we both agreed on Monday's games, the tie-breaker won't be necessary. The full record will be posted when I make my picks for this Sunday. I look forward to Mardi's comments about Week 1.