5 NFL Teams That Want to Forget Week 1

Week 1 of the NFL season is always interesting. Sometimes the first week can provide accurate  clues to the upcoming season, and sometimes those first games become outliers—either an unusually good or uncharacteristically bad performance by a team whose true colors are not revealed until a few weeks into the season.

Last season in Week 1 Tennessee crushed the Oakland Raiders 38-13. It looked like it would be another dismal and hopeless season in Oakland and another season in which head coach Jeff Fisher would lead the Titans to better record than anyone would predict.

It didn't pan out that way. Oakland actually ended the season playing decent football and finished at 8-8, its best record since Rich Gannon led the Raiders to the Super Bowl with an 11-5 record in 2002. Tennessee, on the other hand, endured a miserable season that featured a public spat between quarterback Vince Young and Fisher. Both player and coach would be jettisoned at the season's end following the 6-10 finish.

This year's Week 1 featured some eye-popping blowouts. Some of these teams will easily forget this week's results, while others will view their Week 1 loss as the beginning of a long, tough season. 

Indianapolis Colts Lose 34-7 to the Houston Texans

Peyton Manning, the face of the Indianapolis Colts for well over a decade, heir to the "ironman" throne that was recently vacated by future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, and out for as much as three months and maybe more. 

Everyone knew he'd be irreplaceable, but no one knew how the rest of the team would fare without him. Would other players step up? Could Kerry Collins fill in and use his experience to guide the Colts through this rough period?

As of now the answer is a resounding "no." This was ugly on a number of levels.

First of all, the Texans didn't play that well. They were missing their best rusher, Arian Foster. Quarterback Matt Schaub threw two interceptions.

No worries, the Colts defense was more than up to the task of allowing other Texans to step up. Ben Tate, playing in his first NFL game after missing all of his rookie season with a broken ankle, ran for 116 yards and a touchdown. The Texans used this rushing attack to control the clock, resulting in a 36:44 to 23:16 advantage in time of possession.

Maybe Collins needs time to get up to speed, but he wasn't alone in looking awful on offense. The Colts didn't even score until early in the fourth quarter when Collins hit Reggie Wayne on a six-yard touchdown pass to make it a 34-6 game.

It's possible the Colts can turn this season around, but it's not likely. I'm sure they'll have much better showings than this debacle, but the outlook for this season is now officially "bleak" and the AFC South is now a wide-open race.  

St. Louis Rams Lose 31-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles

It started off so well. One play from scrimmage, at home. The first offensive series of a season that was filled with optimism for the Rams. Steven Jackson ran 47 yards for a touchdown, and just like that the Rams were up 7-0 on the most heavily hyped team in the NFC: the Philadelphia Eagles. 

From that point on it was all downhill. Jackson only had one more carry the rest of the day after sustaining an injury to his right quad. Wide receiver Danny Amendola sustained a stomach-churning dislocated elbow that may end his season. Finally, second-year quarterback and former No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford left the game in the fourth quarter after injuring his right index finger. X-rays have come back negative, but an MRI will be taken and as of now Bradford is listed as "questionable" for next week.

Even when Bradford was in the game he looked a lot like an inexperienced rookie as opposed to a maturing star in the making. His passes were consistently off the mark, the Rams were only 2-of-12 on third-down conversions and the team didn't score another touchdown for the remainder of the game after Jackson's initial score.

Quarterback Michael Vick, playing in his first game since inking his new $100 million contract, provided a few spectacular plays showcasing his amazing athleticism, but he looked far from worth the outrageous sum just handed to him. Vick fumbled once but didn't throw an interception. Actually, Vick had problems completing passes to anyone. He was only 14-of-32 for 187 yards, but he did throw two touchdowns, and in the end the Rams really did far more to lose this game than the Eagles did to win.

This was a very discouraging start for the Rams, but unless Bradford's injury is serious there's still reason for some optimism in St. Louis. The Eagles are a good team, so even though the loss was ugly it's only one loss. Bradford can and will play better than he did. The Rams play in a fairly weak division and should end up winning some games this year. How much of an impact on the team this loss has won't be known until that MRI comes back on Bradford.  

Atlanta Falcons Lose 30-12 to the Chicago Bears

Sometimes certain sports cliches can prove quite insightful. In Chicago today, the "dome teams don't always play well outside of domes" cliche proved very accurate. 

The Atlanta Falcons are coming off a 13-3 season that ended with a tough home loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the second round of the NFL playoffs. The Chicago Bears reached the NFC Title game last season losing at home to those very same Packers.

Both teams have high expectations for the 2011 season and both still should. It's just that one of these teams absorbed a pretty brutal beating earlier today.

The Chicago Bears have always been a team known for its defense. Today they showed why. The Falcons scored some points, but the offense never scored a touchdown. All it could muster was two field goals. Bears defensive star Brian Urlacher was dominant with 10 tackles, an interception and a recovered fumble for a touchdown.

The Falcons had issues with their offensive line, which allowed five sacks and 11 hits on Matt Ryan. This tough loss for Atlanta is unlikely to be a sign of things to come. As the season progresses, this may prove to be just a bad week for a good team, but either way Atlanta will want to put this day behind it.  

Pittsburgh Steelers Lose 35-7 to the Baltimore Ravens

This was one that not many saw coming. One of the NFL's best rivalries and a rematch from last season's playoffs when the Steelers beat the Ravens 31-24 in Pittsburgh. Today's game was in Baltimore, but surely it would be a tight game. These are both good teams and they seem to always play close games. 

Not today. Today it was all Baltimore. Both the Steelers and Ravens have well-deserved reputations for hard-hitting, aggressive defense. This matchup featured veteran defensive stars Ray Lewis and Ed Reed combining for three interceptions and 13 tackles. Terrell Suggs had three sacks.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger isn't known for putting up gaudy passing statistics, he's known for playing smart, mistake-free football and being very tough to take down for a loss. Today both those attributes were missing. Tipped balls, bad passes and futile attempts at pass protection created a surge in momentum for the Ravens that the Steelers were totally helpless to stem.

Most concerning for the Steelers was that down the stretch in the game the team actually looked somewhat flat and disinterested. It was caught completely off guard by a faked extra point attempt in which the Ravens almost walked untouched into the end zone for the two-point conversion. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin—normally a stoic sideline presence—even made overt displays of frustration.

All in all, a very bad day for the Steelers, but don't get too excited Ravens fans. The Steelers will probably be right near or at the top of the division by the time the season nears its conclusion. Today's game will be but a distant memory.   

Kansas City Chiefs Lose 41-7 to the Buffalo Bills

Worst loss of the day. It's really not even close.

Of the four games discussed already three teams lost on the road, only the Rams were losers at home and they lost to a team that went to the playoffs last season and is predicted by many to make another deep playoff run this season. 

This game also featured a team that made the playoffs last year: the home team, the Kansas City Chiefs. They faced off against a Buffalo Bills team that went 4-12 last year and hasn't made the playoffs since 1999. 

The Chiefs were one of the real nice surprise stories of the league last season. They went 10-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2006. This season opened with high hopes for another AFC West title and another playoff run. The bulk of last year's team was back and an injury to starting quarterback Matt Cassel, which had the potential to cause him to miss the opener, turned out to be not as serious. Cassel would play against the lowly Bills in front of a sold out Arrowhead Stadium in and the Chiefs would win easily.

It was an easy victory, but not for the Chiefs. The Bills totally dominated the Chiefs and won a laugher, 41-7. It was 20-0 with 1:46 left in the first half before Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles scored the first points of the season for Kansas City, a six-yard touchdown pass from Cassel.  Would this be the start of a big second half comeback? No, not even close. The Bills scored 21 unanswered second-half points. Sometimes numbers don't tell the full story, but not in this game.

Total yards: Bills 364, KC 213. First downs: Buffalo 23, KC 13. Time of possession: Buffalo 37:02, KC 22:58.

There were plenty of people who felt last season's 10-6 record was a bit of a fluke. San Diego was picked by many to win the AFC West this season despite the fact the Chiefs are the defending champs. It's only one game, but unless Buffalo is a lot better than most people think, Kansas City may be in a bit of trouble.

Each team only gets eight home games a year. Opening day against a 4-12 team should really be win. Even if you lose, losing 41-7 to any NFL team at any time is troubling. The Chiefs may want to forget this game ever happened but the real concern is that this is a trend and not a fluke.

The Chiefs have a tough road game against an up-and-coming 1-0 Detroit Lions team next week. That could be very ugly if the Chiefs show up and play like they did today.