Deacon's Post-week Preachment (Week 1)

preach-ment
-noun

1. the act of preaching

2. a sermon or other discourse, especially when obtrusive or tedious


Obtrusive? Check Tedious? You betcha.

And so came the name for the random-shot post that is going to follow the action every week (usually on Tuesday mornings following the monday night game) during the season.

At midnight on Saturday night, I began extending wishes to friends.

"Merry Christmas!"

There are those that associate Christmas with new beginnings, cheer, joy, and happiness. But Christmas is not always so kind, as it was for 16 teams this week who have begun their 2009 seasons in the NFL with losses. Some found nothing but an orange in their stocking. Others, lumps of coal.

But while Week One in the NFL Season may have gone the way some of us expected, it was not without its surprises, shocks, and of course, dreaded injuries.

The format that this post will take will be point form, as the thoughts that were processed both during and after the games are rather 'random' in nature, and should come across as such.


- Tennessee still looks like the class of the AFC South despite losing to Pittsburgh 13-10 on Thursday night, and was impressive in a tough opening game. And was it me, but did Kerry Collins look really good out there?

- Ben Roethlisberger just gets it done. He might need to get his ass scraped up off the grass with a shovel every game, but when the game is on the line, few are better at leading and willing their teams to victory.

- Did we all see who the phony was from last year? Look, I'm not saying that I don't like what Bill Parcells has done there in Miami, and it's not that I dislike the Dolphins (only the '72 ones), but this week showed us why they might really regress this year. When you can only beat teams one way, you're probably not going to be that successful when your schedule dictates that there is a good chance you will play from behind alot; something you're not particularly good at. Recipe: Start thinking about when you're going to look to Chad Henne, and get yourself another playmaker on offense.

- Remember in my picks column when I said that there was some reason that I didn't like the Panthers this year? Oh yeah, I just realized it: Jake Delhomme

- I can't beleive that McNabb got hurt in Week One. Seriously? Get ready for more Micheal Vick talk that it might make you puke more than Brett Favre talk. Ok, maybe not that much.

- Speaking of that hillbilly, did I see correctly on most websites a picture of Favre in his classic 'arms raised' pose after the Vikings beat the Browns? Ummm, hello? Did you not see the real reason why they won? You know, that guy who ran for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns and treated Cleveland defenders like rag dolls? (By the way, that 60 yard TD run by Adrian Peterson was remarkable. He does things I don't think I've seen any other runner do in my lifetime. I hate that he's in the Bears' division, and I have nightmares about him.)

- Did you see what happened in the Bengals/Broncos game? If you didn't then click HERE (I think Gus Johnson almost had a heart attack while making this call). Basically, the game was a snoozer for the most part, until the Bengals took the lead with less than a minute to go, and then...well, if you watched the clip, you saw. Now after you've watched the clip, repeat after me: That's why the Bengals are the Bengals. AND Gus Johnson is the greatest play-by-play sports announcer in the world right now. FACT.

- Are the Texans beleiving their own hype, or did everyone (including me) overlook the Jets that much? Did Sanchez actually play that well, or was it more attributable to one of the biggest out-coaching jobs I've seen in years? With 3rd down conversion rates like that, you have to give a lot of credit to the play selection as much as the performance of the QB. They looked tough, physical, sharp, and prepared. The Texans...I really hope it was just one bad week. I really, really hope.

- In uncharacteristic form, in the 4th quarter trailing by 8 Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio goes for it on 4th and 1, which results in a touchdown for Maurice Jones-Drew. Then to follow it up, in characteristic form, dials up a useless two-point conversion play, which of course fails. Different uniforms, same dumbass moves.

- ALERT: The Detroit Lions are still the NFL's doormat.

- ALERT: Drew Brees is F#*($&($_#_@ SIIIIIIIIICK. PS. Welcome back to the NFL Jeremy Shockey. Let's see if this time you actually shut your mouth for once and not cause a stir on a team that would be fine, if not better, without you.

- How 'bout them Cowboys? Ok, let's see: No TO. What happens? Romo throws for the most passing yards he's ever thrown in a game, and tosses 3 TD's to 3 different receivers. Would that have ever happened when TO was there? Well, the fact is that it didn't. Remember what happened to the Giants after they got rid of Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber retired? I'm just saying...

- So when do the ' 2008 fluke' comments come out in regards to a one-dimensional Arizona Cardinals team with a suspect offensive line and aging QB come out? I love Warner, Fitz, and the whole gang there, but this is a team that is going to start facing alot of criticism in the media after that loss to San Francisco at home, which by the way, is where they had the best record in the NFL over the past two seasons.

- Just like today is Tuesday, Qwest Field is still loud as ever, and the Rams still suck. With the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams select...

- Smartest play of the week has to go to Broncos WR Brandon Stokely for running out time before crossing the goal line on that play from above. I know that Bengal fans, betting people, and fantasy players everywhere hate him right now, but I love this dude.

- Dumbest play of the week has to go to a collective effort by the Chicago Bears which included: a long-snapper making a decision to audible out of a punt to run a fake, which no one but himself was aware of (I think he bet the game and had the Packers on the spread), combined with Lovie Smith looking lost on the sidelines, and Jay Cutler's 4 INTs. Oh, and let's not forget completely ignoring the run game in the first half. Thanks for reminding me why I'll never see you win another Super Bowl again Chicago. Oh, and we lost Brian Urlacher for the year already...while not shocked, I'm extremely pissed off about that. Honorable mention goes to Buffalo's Leodis McKelvin for his bonehead return (when he should have kneeled in the endzone) and fumble which ended up costing the Bills a game they should have won.

- How about those Monday night games? Everyone inlcuding myself would have thought the Patriots would roll the Bills at home, and that the Chargers would stomp all over the Raiders. What happened? Well, the Bills outplayed the Patriots, and the Raiders outplayed the Chargers. Now, there's two ways we can look at this: On one hand, you can say that both of these teams are better than we first thought because they were able to compete with better teams and almost win the game. On the other hand, we could realize that this is the reality of the NFL, and despite outplaying better teams, it actually shows how bad these teams are. A person could argue that it only magnifies how good New England and San Diego are, by getting outplayed for more than half of the football game and still winning. Stop and think for a second about the following: How many times do bad teams play bad and win? How many times do good teams play bad and still win? See what I'm getting at here? Just to make these games competitive, the underdogs had to play arguably out of their skull to make the game competitive, while the favorites looked average and still won. It's definitely something to think about, and as the season goes on, we'll see which one of those two opinions would be correct at this point. Personally, I think when these teams meet again later on in the year, the games will be beatings, but that's just my prediction.


Any way you slice it, the NFL season is in full swing and there is much to debate and discuss. So to all, Merry Christmas.

I hope you didn't find a lump of coal in your stocking.


- Deacon Touchback