NFL Playoff Hopefuls Look to Build Momentum Following Week 1 Disaster
What a difference one week makes.
Every season brings its own surprises, none more so than the first week of the season. Perennial losers upset playoff teams, and some player comes out in grand fashion.
But the teams who come up short in week one find themselves with a lot of questions, especially those who were expected to be competing come January.
This year brought its own share of surprises, which in itself is the smallest surprise of all. And starting out 0-1 is never a comfortable position; not for the players and certainly not for the coaches at the heads of these teams.
The only real way to answer those questions is to come out and perform the next week, which good teams strive for and great ones achieve.
So that brings us to Week 3. These teams have started to wash the foul taste of Week 1 from their mouths and must now build the momentum necessary to carry them through the season and, hopefully, into the playoffs.
Whether or not they’ll be able to do it, however, is what the NFL season is all about.
Indianapolis Colts
1 of 4
While few people could really question the capabilities of the Colts, it was certainly an eye-opener to the entire sports world as the Houston Texans rode on the shoulders of second-year running back Arian Foster to a 34-24 victory.
Indianapolis has been historically anemic in the run game – both in creating it and preventing it. Against Houston, they only produced 44 yards on the ground. Furthermore, Colts running back Joseph Addai has been unable to break the 1,000 yard rushing mark since his second year in the league.
The Colts came back strong last week with the latest Manning vs. Manning duel. Even though Peyton passed for 200 fewer yards, Indianapolis gained 160 yards rushing while limiting the Giants to 120.
This afternoon, the Colts will meet up with the Broncos at Mile High. And while the race for the lead in the AFC Central has tightened up with the emergence of the Texans (finally), the Colts have an opportunity to keep things moving against a Denver team missing their star pass rusher, Elvis Dumervil, and starting running back, Knowshon Moreno.
New York Jets
2 of 4
For a team that was one game away from the Super Bowl, the Jets came out truly flat on their Monday night season opener. Against a Baltimore defense this sportswriter believes is a shadow of its former self, Mark Sanchez’s offensive squad couldn’t seem to move the ball. With an opportunity in the fourth quarter to get into field goal range, the Jets instead watched their chance die as tight end Dustin Keller stepped out of bounds short of the first down marker on fourth and long. The 10-9 defeat by the Ravens wasn’t nearly as close as the score implies.
The following week brought the rival Patriots, whose young secondary was a huge contributor to New England’s 24-3 halftime lead against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 (another playoff team who found themselves in the cellar after their opener). However, what seemed impossible against Baltimore was almost child’s play against New England. Sanchez completed 70% of his passes for 220 yards, while Keller, the Jets’ Week 1 goat, brought in seven receptions for 115 yards.
The Jets have a tall order this week, as they face a 2-0 Miami team who’ve made serious upgrades both on offense and defense.
San Diego Chargers
3 of 4
Kansas City has been one of the most moribund franchises in recent history, and still has a ways before they could be considered a solid competitor. Whatever their previous record, though, it doesn’t change the 21-14 stunner San Diego felt on Monday night. Rookie Ryan Mathews couldn’t get much anything going on the ground as Kansas City used opportunistic plays and a much-improved defense to shut down a team that’s been penciled in as the AFC West champion for the better part of a decade.
Even before the whistle was blown to close out Week 1, Chargers fans were beginning to speculate on whether Norv Turner could make something better out of this team, or if the club has been merely taking advantage of the work of former head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Turner’s time with San Diego has been considerably more successful than his previous forays into head coaching, but losing their opener to the Chiefs definitely raised a few more questions.
Turner’s team answered them with authority, though, in Week 2. And while the Jaguars seem to have some dysfunction of their own, you don’t hang 38 points on a team and limit a top five running back to only 31 yards without doing something right.
This week, the Chargers face a Seattle team who brought some surprises of their own to start the season.
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San Francisco 49ers
4 of 4
In my opinion, no Week 1 game was more of a shocker than the complete and utter dismantling of the 49ers by the Seattle Seahawks. Considered the NFC West front runner following Kurt Warner’s retirement (and subsequent fallout in Arizona’s quarterback depth), the 49ers have one of the most complete teams on paper. With an improved Alex Smith who is now surrounded by talented playmakers on offense, San Francisco was expected to light up the scoreboards. Their defense, meanwhile, has playmakers in every position group, not to mention their head coach, who is one of the greatest linebackers of all time.
None of that seemed to matter, though, as Mike Singletary’s team was decimated by a Seattle team who hasn’t been able to get much right since their Super Bowl loss in 2006. The Seahawks shut down Frank Gore, limiting him to 38 yards in a 31-6 loss that’s led to more questions about Smith’s ability, the impact of Glen Coffee’s unexpected retirement, and the firing of a Bay Area sports anchor.
The following week might have brought another loss, but it gave a lot more to build on than the 49ers’s opener. Against the reigning champion Saints, the Niners held on until the last second, when New Orleans kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to win 25-22.
The last time someone came that close to beating New Orleans, it was the NFC Championship.
San Francisco has a slight hole to dig themselves out of, starting out 0-2. However, they will have plenty of opportunities to do just that. San Francisco is playing in arguably the weakest division in the league, as Arizona attempts to cope with losing their Hall of Fame caliber, while St. Louis and Seattle work on rebuilding – regardless of how Week 1 turned out.
Speaking of rebuilding teams, the 49ers face the Kansas City Chiefs, who are on their way up but not nearly as good as their record. Unless Kansas City can stop Gore like they have their last two opponents’ running backs, San Francisco should be able to get more than just a moral victory this time.
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