NFL Week 1: Frankenstein's, er, Peyton's Return

Collinsworth played three games in Denver during his career...

7-149-0
10-141-0
8-138-2

Damn

 

Whatever your opinions of Collinsworth as an announcer, he was a damn good player in his time.

 

You don't have to tell a Steeler fan that.

One thing I have never seen before in a game happened last night was when Polamalu seemed to tackle Thomas with a joint lock (I know that term is wrong) when the receiver used a stiff arm on him.

It seemed very close to something Polamalu could have easily broken Thomas' arm with during the tackle, but I think it was legal.

I really don't want to see him try that again.

 

I think messing up the two minute warning is kind of like when we mess up the spelling of a word. By itself not a big deal, but it might mean a lack of attention to detail and problems when the big stuff comes up later.

 

Out of everything that happened with the refs yesterday, the only thing that struck me as something that wouldn't have happened with the regular crews is the extra Seattle timeout. The worst call was the flag pickup on the Packers' punt return -- they were correct to pick up the flag on the block in the back that they did call, but there was a far worse block in the back that they never called in the first place -- but that kind of stuff happens a half-dozen times a game even with the pros.

 

I noticed that, too. That, and it was way too damn easy for the Broncos to attack the Steelers wherever Polamalu wasn't last night. I don't know if Ryan Mundy is really that awful or if Ryan Clark is that good, but man the drop-off seems to be huge.

 

You can't be serious. That moron?

 

I didn't see that. I thought they did a pretty good job at keeping him upright.

The Packers D-line still sucks. The Niners ran all over them.

I'm still not convinced the Niners are the team to beat in the NFC. I think the passing game is dramatically improved, but can you count on Alex Smith to take you to the Super Bowl?

 

Has anybody here ordered the all-22 video from NFL.com? If so, what do you think of the service?

 

The messed up part is that if Green Bay has two cold weather games in the playoffs, I think they will lose one of them. Yet if they are at, say, Dallas, Atlanta and San Francisco (in any order), I think they will win the NFC with Rodgers playing ArenaBall all over the place.

Also, if you give Harbaugh weeks and weeks to gameplan against McCarthy, Harbaugh chews up Bubba. Packers had few answers on offense or defense. Late in the game, Rodgers had no time as the 49ers avoided the prevent and stayed aggressive.

 

Nobody is ever going to mistake McCarthy for Belichick. He works wonders with Rodgers, but the biggest knock on the Packers is that they can win big, but they can't win close. I don't know if that's true or not...

 

I guess this is going to be the question every year until he does actually get to the Super Bowl, but that was a different Alex Smith yesterday than anyone you've ever seen previously. Add in the Saints playoff game last year and that's two out of three huge games where he has been nails. He was not good against the Giants, but then neither were Brady or Rodgers.