Week 1 in the NFL
Here are a few belated thoughts from around the league, since I've been off since the weekend. For what I wrote in Tuesday's newspaper about the Bears' opener, click here.
- Let's hold off on the parades for Kyle Orton. I've heard so many people, in the wake of Jay Cutler's awful start in Chicago, proclaim that Orton played great in leading his team to a season-opening win. Not really. Orton finished an OK 17-for-28 in his team's 12-7 victory at Cincinnati. He needed a miracle touchdown pass on a deflected ball to not only win in the closing seconds, but to score Denver's first touchdown against a poor defense. I was as disappointed with Cutler's debut as anyone, but you're fooling yourself if you pretend that Orton set the world on fire Sunday.
- There was at least one quarterback that started the season as poorly, if not even worse, than Cutler. Carolina's Jake Delhomme went 7-for-17 for 73 yards with four interceptions and no touchdowns before being yanked in a 38-10 loss to Philadelphia. It is the same Jake Delhomme, of course, whose Panthers were upset by Arizona in last year's playoffs when he couldn't take care of the football. Carolina won't live up to anybody's expectations, not even my own relatively low ones, if Delhomme plays like he has.
- Speaking of teams I picked to do poorly ... Seattle sure didn't look like the 5-11 team I picked them to be in smoking St. Louis 28-0. Matt Hasselbeck threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, and Julius Jones ran for 117 more yards. The defense kept Rams RB Steven Jackson in check and held St. Louis to 247 yards of total offense. It was just the lowly Rams, of course, but it was nonetheless an impressive debut for coach Jim Mora's team.
- Indianapolis, the New York Giants, New England and San Diego did about what I expected they would do ... win, but have all sorts of trouble doing so against teams in Jacksonville, Washington, Buffalo and Oakland, respectively, that all might be better than anyone thinks. Even Baltimore had to pull away late to secure a 38-24 victory against a team, Kansas City, coming off a terrible season and playing without its No. 1 QB, Matt Cassel. At least they all fared better than Arizona, as the defending NFL runner-up was upset 20-16 at home by San Francisco.
