NFL Regular Season Week 1: Most Shocking Performers from Sunday's Games

The first full day of NFL football is over and to say that Sunday was a day full of shocking performances would be quite the understatement.

Nobody could have predicted everything that happened yesterday. Teams that looked to be Super Bowl contenders fell flat on their faces (Atlanta Falcons). Other teams that already have their season written off (Buffalo Bills) looked extremely impressive.

Not to mention we got to see that Peyton Manning has deserved the MVP every season of his career and should probably win it this year if the Indianapolis Colts go 0-16 without him.

From Cam Newton's incredible performance to Donovan McNabb's lackluster play, here are the most shocking performers from Sunday's games.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. St. Louis Rams

Most Shocking Performer: Michael Vick

While many people are going to say how great of a performance Michael Vick had in his opening game against the St. Louis Rams, I actually believe the exact opposite.

The most telling statistic of Vick's performance was his 43.8 percent completion percentage. Throughout his entire career with the Atlanta Falcons, Vick's problem has always been his accuracy. He never completed more than 60 percent of his passes with the Falcons, so his career high 62.6 completion percentage last year was rather shocking.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the offensive line for the Philadelphia Eagles is going to struggle, which will keep Vick from completing a high percentage of passes. Vick had a good game, but if he wants to beat the truly elite teams in the NFC, he will need to complete more than 43.8 percent of his passes.

Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Most Shocking Performer: Ryan Fitzpatrick

Raise your hand if you thought Ryan Fitzpatrick was going to throw for over 200 yards with four touchdowns and zero interceptions? There probably aren't any hands being raised right now.

What makes Fitzpatrick's performance so shocking is the fact that he had this nearly perfect game against two very good cornerbacks in Brandon Carr and Brandon Flowers. Had Fitzpatrick shredded the Houston Texans secondary, maybe it wouldn't be so surprising, but the Kansas City Chiefs have two of the best young cornerbacks in their league.

I nearly had to put the entire Buffalo Bills as the most shocking performers because of their 41-7 beating of the defending AFC West champions. Watch out Tom Brady, there might be another top quarterback in your division.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Chicago Bears

Most Shocking Performer: Matt Ryan

"Matty Ice" is supposedly one of the most clutch quarterbacks in the NFL today. However, his two turnovers and zero touchdowns seem to paint a different picture.

The Atlanta Falcons were the team to beat in the NFC South, but after they were crushed by the Chicago Bears by a score of 30-12, who knows how good this team really is.

It is hard to place the blame on any one player's shoulders, but I certainly expected to see more out of Matt Ryan. He completed a high percentage of his passes for 319 yards, but to not throw any touchdowns is shocking to me.

Detroit Lions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Most Shocking Performer: Matthew Stafford

I knew that Matthew Stafford had all the tools to be a great NFL quarterback, but I expected it to take a few weeks for him to demonstrate that.

Luckily for the Detroit Lions, Stafford came out Sunday and put together one heck of a performance. He was extremely accurate, completing a ridiculous 72.7 percent of his passes. However, the most impressive thing to me was how easily Stafford found his top target, Calvin Johnson.

If this shocking performance by Stafford is any preview of what we will see the rest of the year, the Lions could surprise all and make a deep playoff run.

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans

Most Shocking Performer: Chris Johnson

If I were the Tennessee Titans, I would feel like I just totally got ripped off by Chris Johnson.

I mean, the man signs a monster contract and comes out and plays an absolutely horrid game. His entire performance was uninspired and it makes you wonder if this is what we will see out of Johnson for the rest of the year. He only had 24 rushing yards and 25 receiving yards and looked a step behind all day.

Part of the problem was that Johnson only got nine carries, but a 2.7 yard per carry average is very shocking.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns

Most Shocking Performer: Cedric Benson

It was a toss-up between Cedric Benson and Andy Dalton for most shocking performer in this game. Benson eventually won out because he simply had a better game.

After all of the offseason drama from Benson, it was very shocking to see him play at such a high level. He averaged nearly five yards per carry and also had one touchdown. The Cleveland Browns just didn't have an answer to him all game long.

With the Pittsburgh Steelers losing 35-7 to the Baltimore Ravens, could the Cincinnati Bengals and Cedric Benson be the second best team in the AFC North?

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

Most Shocking Performer: Ben Roethlisberger

This isn't the type of performance you expect out of a team that made it to the Super Bowl last year. You expect this from some cellar dweller team, but not the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ben Roethlisberger is known for showing up in big games, but in the biggest season opener in recent memory, he looked awful. He had three interceptions, a low completion percentage and was sacked four times. He didn't look anything like the player he was last year.

After this game, I think we all know who the team to beat in the AFC North is this year.

Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts

Most Shocking Performer: Matt Schaub

Matt Schaub doesn't make this list for a good shocking performance.

Even though the Houston Texans won easily over the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts, it would have been nice to see Schaub have a better game. In fact, it was really shocking to not see Schaub put up the numbers that we have come accustomed to the past few seasons. He had two interceptions and only one touchdown and had a difficult time finding anyone not name Andre Johnson.

The win is huge for the Texans, but I would feel much better about this team if Schaub had come out and put together a great game. His mediocre performance was shocking.

New York Giants vs. Washington Redskins

Most Shocking Performer: Rex Grossman

Why does Rex Grossman do this to us? Why can't he just decide if he wants to be good or terrible?

I've said numerous times before that I think Grossman is one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL and while I'm not necessarily moved away from thinking that, one foot is starting to move in that direction. His statistics of 305 yards and two touchdowns looked more like something we would see from Drew Brees.

On top of that, he threw zero interceptions. That's right, zero freakin' interceptions. Are we still on the planet Earth? Absolutely shocking.

San Diego Chargers vs. Minnesota Vikings

Most Shocking Performer: Donovan McNabb

I don't think this is what the Minnesota Vikings had in mind when they brought in Donovan McNabb. In fact, I feel fairly confident that I could have thrown for more yards than McNabb did.

We all know that Minnesota's offense is going to be built around Adrian Peterson, but there is no way a team can win a game when their quarterback completes only seven passes for a whopping 39 yards. You read that last stat right, McNabb only threw for 39 yards all game long.

Hopefully this isn't how McNabb's career ends, but it was extremely shocking to see this poor of a performance yesterday from him.

Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals

Most Shocking Performer: Cam Newton

Ummmm, are you kidding me?

It literally took me three hours just to pick my jaw up from the floor because I was so shocked by Cam Newton's performance. 422 yards and three total touchdowns in a rookie debut in just unheard of.

Not only did Newton completely silence his critics, but if he even comes close to playing at half the level he played on Sunday, he will have the greatest rookie season by a quarterback in NFL history.

Everyone saw the potential of Newton, but no one thought he would tap into it so soon.

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers

Most Shocking Performer: Ted Ginn Jr.

The last time I checked the score of this game was when the Seattle Seahawks scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to make it a 17-19 score in favor of the San Francisco 49ers. I checked back 10 minutes later and the final score was 33-17 and I wondered what the heck happened.

Well, Ted Ginn Jr. happened. Not only did he return a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown, but he also took back a punt 55 yards for another score.

We expected poor quarterback play from Tarvaris Jackson and Alex Smith, which we certainly got. However, we were shocked to see Ted Ginn Jr. score twice in under two minutes to seal the game. For a player who has been quite the disappointment since being drafted, it was fun to watch Ginn Jr. with the ball in his hands.

Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets

Most Shocking Performer: Plaxico Burress

Whenever a player comes back from a two-year hiatus from the NFL and has 72 receiving yards and a touchdown in his first performance, it will always be the most shocking performance of the game.

Plaxico Burress only had four receptions, but he made each of them count, including a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to put the New York Jets back into striking distance.

If Burress continues to play like this for the rest of the season, the Jets got the steal of free agency.