NFL Week 1 in the Books

Ahh, the NFL hath arriveth and I couldn't be happier. To kick things off, my Jets looked PHENOMENAL. Not only did they silence everyone's darling pick in Houston, but they shut down that seemingly unstoppable offense in Houston, where the Texans are supposed to be good. Rex Ryan has worked wonders with that defense, even without starters Shaun Ellis and Calvin Pace in the lineup. Oh yeah, and there was a good-looking guy from USC who announced himself to the NFL. His stat line won't jump off the screen at you [18/31, 272 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (that's 12 fantasy points in a standard scoring league)], but what blew me away was his poise and pocket presence. He seemed to be able to sense the rush at all times and avoid it without actually seeing it, which led to the following exchange between myself and my college roommate Curly, a fellow Jets fan:

Me: I'm totally gay for Mark Sanchez...no homo.
Curly: Yeah, me too. He has some sexy hands and a delicious right arm.
Me: It's the way he moves his feet that makes me go from six to midnight, though.

The moral of the story: Mark Sanchez is going to be a stud in the NFL and already has Jets fans salivating.

OK, enough about how happy I am for this Jets season and the way it could turn out. On to other reactions:

Don't let the crazy ending to the Denver-Cincinnati game fool you...both teams are brutal, really, really brutal.

Despite having 31 first downs, 501 yards of total offense, and possessing the ball for just under 40 minutes, it took Baltimore until the 58-minute mark to take the lead for good against the Chiefs, whose comparative stats were: 9 first downs and 188 yards of total offense (with a paltry 29 yards on the ground). I can hear Kansas City fans praying for Matt Cassell's return to get the defeated Brodie Croyle (literally defeated, as in he's 0-9 as a starter in the NFL) off the field. It's going to be a long season in KC.

The Patriots and Chargers played awfully. Both should have lost the games they played, but were saved by the fact that they played teams that suck worse on a good day than either of those teams does on a bad day. I've always said that "good teams find ways to win games, but bad teams find ways to lose them." On Monday night, the latter was in full effect. Buffalo may not win more than 4 games all season and TO will struggle and whine in the cold weather...I'm excited. Also, as long as Al Davis is owning and operating the team in Oakland, I'm excited.

Calvin Johnson is awesome. But the Lions' defense is better at being bad than Johnson is at being good. Detroit is headed for another last place finish in the NFC North.

The NFC West may be more miserable this year than it was last year. The Cardinals have proved that they do, in fact, suck. Their run to the Super Bowl was a product of the offense firing (not clicking, since that's not what a cylinder does) on all cylinders and the defense making enough stops to win. Oh, they also got to play against Jake Delhomme in the playoffs. They'll go 6-10 this year and Seattle or San Francisco will win the division at 8-8 and get crushed in the playoffs. Also the Rams will finish with the league's worst record.

I have some more reactions, but will end now so I can get to making my spread picks.