Newton Magic in
Debut
Today at least, Cam Newton was
exactly what a lot of people didn’t think he was, something they never thought
he could be: a pocket passer. Not this
early, not Game 1, no way would this *spit* running
QB stand tall in a pocket and find open receivers, not with the rottweilers
in his face and a road crowd in his ear.
But there was Cam, in the pocket, firing strikes, using his legs to buy
time and find space, standing tall, hitting receivers.
It may seem like he played
catch with Steve Smith all day but Newton did throw a couple passes to other
receivers. The Carolina Panthers’
still-got-it, go-to guy caught 8 balls for 178 yards and both of Newton’s TD. Their first quarter pitch and catch for 77
yards to tie the game was a spark for this franchise, setting up Newton’s big
day and potentially a big season as well.
And the best thing about the play was that it came as a result of Cam
picking up the blitz, waiting for Smith to blow by the safety that was too busy
watching Newton, getting good blocking and flicking a gorgeous deep ball to an
absolutely wide open receiver. Pitch and
catch.
In hitting Smith for 178, TE
Greg Olsen for 78, receiver Brandon LaFell for 70 and fellow TE Jeremy Shockey
for 51, Newton became the first rookie QB to throw for more than 400 yards in
his first game, besting Payton Manning’s record of 302. Manning threw three picks that day. Newton had one this day. It was a pretty ugly one though, right into
triple coverage. At least he made the
tackle.
Sure he scrambled. 8 rushes for 18 yards and a 1 yard TD leap to
put the Panthers back ahead. But he
didn’t take off unless he had to and looked surprisingly comfortable in the
pocket. Running was a last resort and an
asset rather than a hindrance to the offense.
All Panthers fans this morning believe their
team has found the guy who can give them lasting success. Super Bowl success. A debut like that and how could they
not? Not this year, but surely down the
road he should deliver. The price of
success can be heavy with expectations.
The one thing Newton couldn’t
do? Get the win. The Cardinals won 28-21 after 5th
overall pick Patrick Peterson ripped off an 89-yard punt return to put the
Cards ahead. Newton put the Panthers in
position to win it at the end but Mike Goodson couldn’t get across the goal
line to tie. He’ll have plenty more
chances.
Baltimore on top
after stomping Steelers
The
Ravens put the AFC North, and their conference in general, on notice on
Kick-Off Weekend, routing the Steelers 35-7.
The Ravens struck early and often as Joe Flacco put up 224 yards and 3
TD on a defence that just might be getting a little old.
Flacco
has had a lot of doubt tossed his way this off-season, getting ripped on by
rival players as a player who couldn’t win big games. Well, this was a big game for the Ravens, no
matter how much the Steelers want to shake it off as just an opening week
loss. Flacco had never beat the Steelers
with Ben Roethlisberger under center.
Not only did Flacco finally beat Big Ben, he did it in a way that wipes
away the last 3 years, 2 of which have been ended by Big Ben and the Steelers
in the play-offs.
Ray
Rice will be the catalyst for the Ravens this year. As long as he’s rolling, and he was rolling
this Sunday, the Ravens can beat anyone.
Rice busted off a 36 yard run on the game’s opening play and the Ravens
never looked back. With Rice setting up
play action and chewing up yards the Ravens have their most complete offense in
years, if not in their entire Baltimore history.
It
wasn’t entirely rosy for the Ravens though.
Anquan Boldin was the Ravens only receiver to catch a pass. It must have been a little disconcerting for
everyone to see Lee Evans held catchless on the day. Rookie receiver Torrey Smith had one ball
come his way as he too finished with no grabs.
What
must be eating at the Steelers this morning are the 7 turnovers. That’s not Steelers-like though
Roethlisberger is certainly capable of having those kinds of days with his
style of play. Ben had 3 INT and 2 lost
fumbles while Rashard Mendehall and Mewelde Moore took turns turning it over
with a fumble each.
Ravens
stars played like it. Ed Reed picked off
2 passes, Haloti Ngata grabbed two fumble recoveries and Terrell Suggs harassed
Roethlisberger into 3 sacks. Dominating
performance from this defence.
Looks a lot like
1997
Any
Colts fan under legal drinking age (that’s Canadian drinking age, which is 18)
does not know an Indianapolis Colts team without Payton Manning taking the
snaps. Well, now they do and it ain’t
pretty.
Kerry
Collins fumbled three times, lost two and barely completed half of his passes
as the Houston Texans thumped the Colts 34-7.
There is more wrong with this version of the Colts than just the loss of
Manning.
A
couple years ago the Colts may have survived the loss of Manning for an
extended stretch. The 2011 version is
not able to do that. It’s just not the
supremely talented roster that it once was.
Defensively, the Colts are underrated.
Lost in the hubbub of the lopsided loss is the fact that the Colts
picked off Matt Schaub twice and forced a Ben Tate fumble that was recovered by
Pat Angerer, the next great Colts’ LB.
If the Colts’ offense had capitalized on one or two of those turnovers
we would be talking about an entirely different game.
Unfortunately,
Collins and Co could do little right on offense and the Texans revamped defence
looked very little like the one they fielded last year. Granted, Collins will never be confused for
Manning in getting the ball out before the pressure comes and breakdowns up
front definitely hurt, but without Manning back there they can’t overcome the
deficiencies they regularly have blocking.
The run game is weak, again, giving the Colts nothing to fall back on
when their pass attack gets toothless.
Colts
fans should be panicking today. They
have no idea when or if Manning will return and the present is looking very
bleak. If Manning misses a significant
portion of the season, or all of it, the Colts will be looking at high draft
pick. Hopefully they do a better job of
drafting this year, something they haven’t done very well in a couple years. They haven’t exactly hit on their recent
first round picks and haven’t been uncovering stars in later round like they
usually do, leaving this roster too dependent on the greatness that is Payton
Manning. Without him, this is a flawed
team in a heap of trouble.
Blowouts galore
Kick-Off Weekend was not a day
for close games as only two games were decided by less than a touchdown. Otherwise NFL fans were treated to scores
like 41-7 (Buffalo over KC no less), 31-12, 35-7, 34-7, 30-12 or 33-17. We’ve spent a lot of this column talking
about offense. Well, there was a lot of
offense to talk about.
Buffalo dropping 41 on Kansas
City has to rank as the biggest blowout of the weekend and not just because of
the score. The Bills added no one of
note to their offense or along their offensive line. Brad Smith, a
jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none for the Jets, was their big addition but he
didn’t catch a pass. A 4-TD day from
Ryan Fitzpatrick ranks as one of the biggest surprises of the weekend; we knew
the Chiefs had problems, pass defence was not known to be among them.
Lions here to
stay… for one day
Lions
fever! Have you caught it yet? Don’t, I hear it really sucks. You’re setting yourself up for
disappointment. But for one day at
least, the Lions were the best team on the football field, beating Tampa Bay
27-20 in a game that was not as close as the score suggests.
The
Lions were up 27-13 before the Bucs’ Josh Freeman started one of his patented
comebacks which he made look so easy last year.
It fell short but the Bucs gave the Lions quite a scare there for a
minute or two. A few more wins and the
Lions will understand how to take a team and step on its throat. They didn’t that this week and the Bucs hung
around. Learning experience for a team
that hasn’t had much learning opportunity in a long time.
Falcon Flop
Showing
off its supposedly high powered offense for the first time this year, the
Falcons racked up lots of yards (386 total), ripped off a couple big plays and
proved that the demise of Michael Turner is premature. And they still lost 30-12.
Turnovers,
protection problems and an inability to convert on 3rd down did in
the Falcons as the Bears rolled over them.
The Bears defence is far from finished and Brian Urlacher is certainly looking
rejuvenated. He’s one of those vets that
the lockout and loss of OTAs really helps.
Instead of feeling like he’s already played a quarter season, Urlacher,
and vet players like him, look and feel fresh.
Urlacher filled up the stat sheet, racking up 10 tackles, an INT
returned for a TD, a TFL and a pass defence.
Julius Peppers and Henry Melton each got to Falcons QB Matt Ryan twice
in the game, Melton hit Ryan 7 times total, and former Texans DT Amobi Okoye
showed a sign of life with a sack. Ryan
lost one fumble and tossed the pick-six to Urlacher.
As
many teams are saying this Monday morning, it’s just the first game in a long
season. If I’m the Falcons, I’m actually
not all that worried about this game.
Ryan repeatedly found his favourite target, Roddy White, who finished
with 8 catches. TE Tony Gonzalez proved
he’s not done yet with 5 catches for 72 yards.
Rookie receiver Julio Jones was everything he was expected to be as he
grabbed 5 passes for 71 yards. In all, 6
Falcons receivers had at least 3 catches.
Defensively
the Falcons were a couple missed tackles away from making it the Robbie Gould
Show. After the half the Bears scored
just one offensive TD, on their first drive of the half, punting 4 times and
tossing an interception that Kroy Biermann returned for a TD. They could have won this game and should have
been a lot closer.
This
offense is too good to go 0-2 in the red zone again and be kept out of the end
zone too many more times this season.
They’ll get it together, but they better do it quickly. Philly comes to town next week.
Offensive Players
of the Weekend
Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers
How can Newton not be the top offensive players of the
weekend. What he did was
spectacular. His 422 yards passing was a
rookie debut record and he did a lot of damage from the pocket. 3 total TD on the day and a lot of hope given
to Panthers fans.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Buffalo Bills
As spectacular as Newton’s day was, Fitzpatrick’s may
have been even better. Just 208 yards
passing as they went up early and turned to Fred Jackson but Fitzpatrick tossed
4 TD passes to three different receivers.
Fitz may have resurrected the career of TE Scott Chandler (2 TD catches)
Cedric Benson, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
We should see lots of Benson this year as the Bengals are
expected to give him the rock 25 times a game.
Guess how many carries Benson had against Cleveland? 25 exactly.
Benson ran for 121 yards but gets the nod thanks to his late TD rumble
that killed any comeback dreams for the Browns.
Defensive Players
of the Weekend
Henry Melton, DE, Chicago Bears
Melton got to Matt Ryan repeatedly as the Bears won
30-12. Melton came up with two big sacks
and hit Ryan 9 times total. Fellow pass
rusher Julius Peppers also turned in 2 sacks of Ryan, ensuring that Melton saw
single blocking throughout the game. But
the third-year pass rusher is proving that the Bears have more to throw at
offenses than just Peppers.
Terrell Suggs, LB, Baltimore Ravens
Suggs was a major force against the Steelers, getting to
Roethlisberger 3 times in the game and caused 2 fumbles, both of which were
recovered by the Ravens, 2 of the Steelers 7 turnovers in the game. Suggs needs just 9 more this year to reach
his career high and go to another Pro Bowl.
He’s on his way after this one.
Jason McCourty, CB, Tennessee Titans
The third-year corner looks like he has a solid grasp on
a starting spot in the Titans secondary after finishing with 5 solo tackles, a
pass defence, a sack and a forced fumble.
His sack and FF came on third down early in the second quarter with the
Jags on the Titans 20 yard line and up 7-0 at that point. Another score there would have put Tennessee
down and out.
Special Teams
Players of the Weekend
Ted Ginn, WR, San Francisco 49ers
In the span of a minute, Ginn saved the 49ers day, a day
in which the offense generated a total of 209 yards. The Seahawks had just 219 but were in
position to win after coming back from a 9-point deficit to make it 19-17 late
in the 4th. After Doug
Baldwin’s 55-yard TD catch, Ginn took the ensuing kick-off 102 yards to put the
49ers ahead 25-17. After a quick 3 and
out from the Hawks, Ginn grabbed a Jon Ryan punt at the San Fran 45 and raced
55-yards for another TD and the end of the Seahawks day.
Nick Folk, K, Dallas Cowboys
On the anniversary of 9/11, in New York, primetime game,
whole nation watching, Folk made the biggest kick of the day, a 50-yard FG with
27 seconds left to cap a 17 point 4th quarter comeback for the Jets. Folk was 2-fer-2 on the day.
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