Welcome, Class of 2006


Reggie Bush; 1st NFL TD is a game-winning 65 yard return...

Is this just the beginning of Reggie Bush's coming-out party or simply a symptoms of his true use in the NFL, as a special teams explosion, an uncoverable back coming out of the backfield to catch passes?

Matt Leinart lost his inaugural start, not surprising perhaps, even at home because after all, he plays for the Cardinals. Still, he three a pair of touchdown passes on his first five throws as an NFL starter. Watch this space.

Vince Young nearly led the pitiful Titans (is there a more incongruent nickname in the NFL?) to an upset over the Mighty Colts, but he scored his career touchdown on a 19-yard first-quarter run and his output as a passer, just 10 of 21 for 63 yards is indicative of the rumour that he is more a runner than a passer, a lower grade and less explosive Michael Vick, but this was only his second game.

TAKING THE NFL TEMPERATURE:

Demise Of The Steelers

Their loss to the Chargers, shredded defence by Phillip Rivers, is another stake in the heart of the defending Super Bowl Champs, the third straight loss and with their lone victory being over the lowly Dolphins, even the one victory looks pretty stale.
The illusion that Big Ben was not effected by his nearly fatal motorcycle accident is fading perhaps as rapidly as his memory - then again, maybe the mystique was already being defogged in the Super Bowl so perhaps this is just the beginning path down the long road to reality.

Shocking The Bills

Granted, the Bills aren't on anyone's Top Ten list and they were playing on the road but they let the game get away from them early with a series of failures - the first being a muffed fake punt effort in their first offensive series. You could just see the air leeking out of their balloon. Does this mean the Bears are the best team in football right now? There will be even more bandwagon jumpers after this performance and the fact that they play in a weak division will help lead them to homefield advantage in the playoffs but I seem to recall the Panthers embarassing them at home in the playoffs only last season. The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned.

Giants Week Off Fortuitous
I wasn't surprised by this victory nor the margin of it. The Giants have historically taken it to the Skins, especially at home. Add to history the sense that the Giants were fading fast making this a match of desperation and add to that the reality that the Redskins offence is not really as good as it looked the last two weeks with a fragile QB, questionable running game and a one man mini receiver, you had all the ingredients for this kind of result.

4-1 Rams?

Not a mirage until you look at who they've beaten: Green Bay, Detroit, Arizona and a notoriously slow starting Bronocs team in Week One. If they come out of their next four games (v Seattle, at San Diego, v. KC and at Seattle) then you can come running down from the lanes of St Louis with a convincing product. Until then, I'm withholding my enthusiasm.

Jets losing by 41 to Jacksonville
This to me was the most shocking result of Sunday. The Jets have been a fighting team, innovative and suprising despite dire predictions by most of the football critics and although a victory wasn't necessarily the probable outcome, getting tossed like this, like a bag of fast food rubbish out the window of a fast moving vehicle on the side of motorway, will cause many to say "I told you so." But the Jets will bounce back from their worst loss in 20 years. Hosting Miami and Detroit and visiting Cleveland will right this usually steady ship.

"It was just a plain ol' butt-whipping they laid on us," Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma said.

Pennington finished 10 of 17 for 71 yards. He was picked off three times and sacked three times.

"I don't think there wasn't anything positive coming out of this game," coach Eric Mangini said.

*****

Indy Escapes

Put this one down to one of the mysteries of the football universe. The Colts should have won this game handily; as they double digit line suggested and yet they were inexlicably stymied by a team that had looked utterly hopeless against the Cowboys, a far inferior team. Two losses wherein the victor scored at least 40 points and no victories on the horizan? Was it just one of those any given Sundays? Impressively, despite all the signs of upset being present, the Colts managed to squeak one out. Pinched victory. Every team gets them during the course of the season.