Tuesday Mornings Thoughts: Week One NFL Review

The NFL's Week One saw many unexpected things. We saw a number of kickoff return records broken, both on the team level and league wide. We saw a rookie in Cam Newton throw for 422 yards.  We saw the last two Super Bowl MVPs in Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers put on a passing clinic in their opening night thriller on Thursday. 

Furthermore, we saw some of the preseason's top-ranked teams get blown out in nearly unwatchable contests (that being the Falcons losing to the Bears and the Steelers getting embarrassed by the Ravens). 

So, now that we're past the uneasy summer and the season has officially kicked off, what did we learn from Week One?  

We learned that Tom Brady, Rodgers, and Brees have not been impacted negatively by the NFL lockout.  Each of those guys were as crisp and sharp—timing wise—as they were last year.  Last night, Brady put up career numbers, throwing for 500-plus yards against a scrappy, underdog Dolphins team that many people didn’t give a chance to win. 

Meanwhile, Brees and Rodgers both looked like they were playing in a seven-on-seven drill where it’s just the quarterback and six receivers against seven defenders. It was a track meet last Thursday. where it seemingly appeared that both teams were playing to see who would get to 75 points first. 

There was a lot of good offense played this week, which tells me that with the new NFL collective bargaining rules for practice, defenses have not had a chance to gel and put their game plans together in real "game speed" situations. As there were a lot of missed tackles last Sunday. Tackles that I would argue were a result of a less than physical training camp and a shortened offseason.

We learned that the Philadelphia Eagles—aka the team affixed with the “Dream Team” moniker after being deemed such by backup Vince Young—even with a relatively decisive win, clearly still have a lot of questions that need to be answered  at key positions.

Mainly, at middle linebacker, where they have a rookie in Casey Mathews learning how to be a pro on the fly. However, the Eagles showed that early on they can still win with shear athleticism on both sides of the ball. 

Lastly, we learned that the Kansas City Chiefs may be the worst team in the league this year, and after losing their star safety Eric Berry for the season to a torn ACL, they my be worse off than I first thought. With the loss of offensive coordinator Charlie Weis (now at the University of Florida), the Chiefs may now be a talented team with no true identity. 

My Top Five Power Rankings:

1. Green Bay Packers  (To be the champ you must first beat the champ)
2. New England Patriots (Based on the new additions on defense they look strong)
3. San Diego Chargers (Even though they seem to fizzle at the end they looked good to start)
4. Baltimore Ravens (Defense, defense and defense is the key to their Super Bowl run once again)
5. Philadelphia Eagles (I think the defense will be what carries this team)