NFL Week 1 Review:Rodgers Passes the Test

Okay so this is my favorite time of week, well second favorite time behind the weekend. Monday Night Football is done and now we can get down to the nuts and bolts of the weekend that was in the NFL. This is the Walker-Sports recap, a place where we look at the best and most influential games from the weekend that was. And after this past weekend, we may have to go into OT, to cover it all.

Patriots 17 vs. Kansas City Chiefs 10: The Patriots came away with a win in this one not surprisingly. Although they were unable to cover the 16 point spread, but I digress. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they story emerging from this game and from the entire weekend were Tom Brady and the knee injury he suffered. Brady went down early in Sunday’s game with a knee injury that we have found out will sideline the Pro-Bowler for the remainder of the season.

More importantly the injury to Brady shakes the entire NFL. All of a sudden the race in the AFC is wide open. The Patriots were the favorites to repeat as AFC Champions, but with Brady sidelined, it is not even a give that can win a revamped AFC East. There is not doubt that teams around the AFC breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the big bad wolf is gone. Now I am not saying that the Patriots are done, but they will have to work hard to even sniff the amount of success they had last season. Early favorites to replace the Patriots as beast in the AFC are , and Indy.

Jets 20 vs. Miami Dolphins 14: While I promise that Walker-Sports will not drool over Brett Favre like so many other media outlets will do this football season, I cannot help but mention him at this time. The Jets won a close one against a still lowly Miami Dolphins team on Sunday. And while a win is a win, and the Jets need all they can, they way they won the game and what it will do for the Jets mentally cannot be undersold.

Brett Favre won this game in typical Brett fashion. He was falling backward and heaved up a hail marry like pass that was complete for a touchdown. The exact pass that every coach cringes over when their young QB tosses it, but someone it always works out for number 4

Brett was able to show the Jets and their fans exactly what the Favre magic is all about. They were able to come away with a close win in a game that honestly they would have lost a year ago with Pennington at the helm. Brett made a believer out of everyone that not only can he still play, but he will bring that intangible aspect and a swagger that the Jets desperately need.

Packers 24 vs. Minnesota Vikings 19: Now we couldn’t talk about Brett Favre without bringing up Aaron Rogers. Rodgers got his first NFL start on Monday night and he performed very well considering the circumstances. was efferent with his passes. He did an amazing job of reading his progressions on the goal line and that led to a TD pass. He even ran one in for a TD and got to take his first Lambou Leap. More importantly Rodgers was able to outshine Brett’s performance from the day before and for the time being he was able to silence the critics. This will be a week by week process for the young QB as he struggles to step out of the shadow of the Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

On the other side of the field, I really hope all that Vikings as a sleeper team has been put to rest. Tarvaris Jackson proved to the world that he is not a serviceable NFL quarterback. He was okay at times during this game, but generally he was horrible. reminds me of Akili Smith when he played with the Bengals. lacks the fundamental skills to play the quarterback position in the NFL. His football is completely out of whack and as a result it is killing his throwing technique. He is throwing balls at his receiver’s feet because it he is trying to pull the ball and throw across his body rather the keeping everything in a line. What this all means for the Vikings is once again teams will put 8 or 9 guys in the box because they know Adrian Peterson is the only threat they have to worry about on offense. The Minnesota Vikings should honestly consider using Gus Ferrotte as a stopgap or even giving Chris Simms a workout to come in and fight for the job.

Panthers 26 vs. San Diego Chargers 24: The Carolina Panthers are back, and the rest of the NFC South should be put on notice. I will be the first to admit that I underestimated the potential of this team, but I loved what I saw on Sunday against the Chargers. The Panthers are playing John Fox football; they are big and physical upfront on defense and controlling the line of scrimmage. The Panthers kept LT under 100 yards in Sunday’s game. On offense DeAngelo Williams was solid picking up 86 yards on 18 carries. However, the most important factor emerging from Sunday’s game was Jake Delhomme is back and he is healthy. He proved that when he was able to buy time and then throw a pass with plenty of zip on it to win the game. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of a football player having Tommy John surgery but to these points the results look positive for Delhomme. If he is able to regain his form, the Panthers will be a very dangerous contender in a wide open NFC South.

The San Diego Chargers lost their season opener, feels like we say that every single season. LT ran for 97 yards and looked solid but not great. The days of 30 TD’s on a season are long behind this back. I fear he will never be the football player he once was. Lucky for the Chargers, Philip Rivers is emerging as one of the great QB’s in the NFL. 12/27 217 yards and 3 TD’s a solid days production. There is no doubt that the San Diego Chargers are Philip Rivers team, and their success will be based on how he is able to lead them through the season, not on LT’s ability to run the ball.