Football season is officially under way. Some teams are happy about this, while others probably wish Week One never happened, as there were an unusual number of blowouts. Eight games were won by two touchdowns or more, compared to only three games won this way during last year’s opening week. Also, defenses looked particularly bad. Most people assumed the offenses would be sloppy as a result of the lockout, but the opposite happened. The average total number of points scored in each game was 44.31 this week, compared to 36.56 for last year’s Week One. Specifically, some individuals and teams especially stuck out this week and are recognized below. Some are admirable and some are lousy, but they are all deserving of their respective awards.
Player who earned his pay check: Tom Brady
For the first time in his career, Brady surpassed 410 passing yards in a game and he didn’t stop there. By the end of the Dolphins slaughtering, he had set a Patriot and Monday Night Football Record with 517 yards.
Team that’s “winning” (for now): Buffalo Bills
I would have been tempted to give the Bills this honor even if they had won by only one point, because I wouldn’t want to pass up a rare opportunity to give them positive recognition. Somehow, they trashed the reigning AFC West champs Kansas City Chiefs by 34 points, truly making them the team of the week. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick looked better than ever and the defense held KC’s offense to a measly 213 yards.
Player who should take a sick day on film day: Donovan McNabb
In his Vikings debut, McNabb looked less than impressive to say the least. He couldn’t get the offense going anywhere and ended up with an embarrassing number of passing yards: 39. To put that in perspective, Tom Brady threw for over 13 times more yards than McNabb.
Team with an Andrew Luck-worthy Performance: Indianapolis Colts
The Colts showed they are completely lost without their Quarterback and leader Peyton Manning. The offense only managed to scrape out seven points while the defense got run all over by the Texans’ back-up Running Back, Ben Tate. Looks like rough roads are ahead for the Colts as the Peyton Manning era comes to an end.
“Who Dat!?” Player of the week: Cam Newton
Many said Cam would never develop into a good NFL passer. They couldn’t have looked any more wrong after Week One. Cam threw for 422 yards, more than any other Quarterback in his debut, and had a terrific passer rating of 110.4. On top of that, he scored three touchdowns and looked like a franchise Quarterback.
MVP standings
- Tom Brady
- Aaron Rodgers
- Matt Stafford
- Lesean McCoy
- Darrelle Revis
