It's Only Week One, Folks: There Is Still a Lot of Football to Be Played

Week One is in the books, and each game had a little different story to it.

Brett Favre's first game as a Jet. The Aaron Rodgers Era in Green Bay. Tom Brady, out for the season.

On and on, each city, something different. But where might we be looking too much into things. This is Week One of 17. We as fans must do as players must do. Take the win or loss in stride and move on to next week.

The Cowboys gave it to the Browns in Cleveland Sunday afternoon. And after the game, everyone was down on Cleveland. Hello, everyone? We knew Dallas was a better team than Cleveland was.

Many people said Dallas was one of the best in not only the NFC, but NFL. The Browns probably play one of the hardest schedules in the NFL this season. They have some of the best non-conference opponents (Cowboys, Giants, Jaguars, Colts, Eagles, Redskins, Broncos, Bills, Texans, and Titans). I'm not saying they are a Super Bowl team, but please people, cut them some slack.

I believe Cleveland is an 8-8 team with the possibility of being a 10-6 team like last year. It will be a tough test, but let's not go off saying they are not a good team like some in the media are talking about.

To all of you Bears fans: Please don't take your win over the Colts as some sort of sign that your team is going back to the Super Bowl. They beat a rusty, shaky Colts team.

Peyton Manning took the field for the fifth time (that includes the four practices he had in training camp) since last season. Marvin Harrison is coming back from a season-ending injury last season, and the Colts were breaking in a brand new center for Manning to get used to.

Yes, the Bears ran the ball effectively against one of the worst run-stopping teams in the league. And they stopped Joseph Addai, in an offense that is based around Manning who wasn't at 100 percent. Get back to me in Week Eight and tell me if I should book my flight to Tampa.

The New England Patriots are not done for the season, as their quarterback is. The Patriots are still the best team in a pretty mediocre division. Sure, the Bills are on the upswing, and the New York Jets have the aging arm of Jet...I mean Brett Favre.

Even with Cassel under center, the Patriots have a potent running attack, and, oh yeah, they have this receiver that's pretty decent, as well. Sure their linebackers are getting up there in age, but they are still probably the best linebacking corp in the league.

So, just as we all don't take too much into consideration the college football rankings until about Week Four, we should take a step back from all of our quick guns on outcomes from Week One and think about what we actually know about these teams and situations.

Think about the past and remember, teams don't just get good overnight.