The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Sorry to my readers (if I have any) about the delay between posts. My computer has been on the fritz, so it’s been difficult tending to the blog.

Instead of highlighting every QB each weekend (what I tried to do last year), I will talk about the QBs that were the most impressive and QBs that were the most depressive. Without further ado…

The Good

Ryan Fitzpatrick – I talked him up in my season preview, and for once I predicted something correctly. He put up the best numbers of any QB on Sunday, completing 17 out of 25 passes for 208 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, and 133 rating. This was a meaningful win for the Bills, who were 4-12 last season. The Chiefs were playoff team last year, and the Bills dominated them in the worst home loss at Arrowhead Stadium in 35 years. Fitzpatrick made some excellent passes in this game. His touchdown to Stevie Johnson to make the score 14-0 not only showed his impeccable accuracy, but it told the Chiefs that this team isn’t your mother’s Bills. Then after the Chiefs scored to make it 20-7, Fitzpatrick hit Scott Chandler (who?) for his second TD of the day and Donald Jones with a really tough pass to make it known that the Bills offense can be high-powered.

Cam Newton – This may have been the offensive surprise of the day. No one, myself included, gave Newton a shot. He shamed all the doubters and set the record for passing yards in a debut with 422. He also tossed two touchdowns to Steve Smith and ran one in from the one yard line. Besides his one INT and an excessive celebration penalty, he looked poised and unafraid. The Panthers lost to the Cardinals due to a punt return for a touchdown, but Newton impressed a lot of people. We will quickly find out if he can roll with the big boys when the defending Super Bowl champion Packers come to town next week.

Kevin Kolb – On the other side of the Panthers-Cardinals Matchup, there were many questions about Kolb’s legitimacy as a starter. The Cards gave a lot for him, so the pressure was on Kolb to make a quick impression. He did. With 309 yards passing and two long TDs (70 and 48 yards) in only 27 attempts, Kolb has the Cardinals believing that their offense is back in business. Next week he’ll face a Redskins defense that looked extremely tough against the Giants

Rex Grossman – Speaking of the Skins, their QB carried his preseason success over to week 1 of the regular season. I slammed Grossman in my season preview, and he proved me wrong this week. He took advantage of a decimated Giants defense and threw for 305 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs for a 110.5 rating . One throw that stuck out to me was a deadly accurate strike to Anthony Armstrong at the beginning of the second quarter. Armstrong was covered well by Antrelle Rolle, but Grossman lead him perfectly so he could make the diving grab. Additionally, the Redskins hadn’t beaten the Giants in six tries, so Grossman’s performance really shined for the Skins fans.

Matthew Stafford – As I (and every expert) say, if he stays healthy…look out NFL. He torched the Tampa Bay pass defense for 305 yards and 3 TDs. This is no small feat. The Bucs allowed the seventh least pass yards last season and they were playing at home. Stafford did throw a pick-6, but it was a good pass that was deflected by TE Tony Scheffler and Aqib Talib was right there to take it to the house. Stafford dominated otherwise, and the Lions won the game 27-20…a fantastic way to start a hopeful season. Many experts and fans think this is the year the Lions return to the playoffs. If Stafford hangs around, they just might. They host the Chiefs next week.

Joe Flacco – This was too big of a performance to exclude from the list. Flacco had never beaten a Roethlisberger-led Steelers nor had he truly dominated the Steelers D in his 3 year career. That all changed yesterday. His first pass attempt of the season was a 27 yard TD to Anquan Boldin. It was one of the most beautiful passes of Flacco’s career, and it set the tone for the rest of the game. He followed up with a TD to Ray Rice and an amazing touch pass to TE Ed Dickson in the corner of the endzone (over Troy Polamalu no less) to total three TDs on the day. It was his best game against Pittsburgh by far and it helped the Ravens to their largest margin of victory against the Steelers in franchise history.

Tom Brady – 517 yards…4 TDs…10.8 yards per attempt. There is no slowing this guy down. Although he threw his first regular season pick since week 4 of last year, Brady controlled the Dolphins defense on nearly every drive of the game. The 99 yard TD to Wes Welker was nothing short of magical. Brady led the Pats offense to an average of 32 points per game last year. It looks like he intends to keep that going.

Chad Henne – Yes, he lost. But he also threw for a career high 416 yards on a tough Patriots defense. He gives Miami fans hopes for an explosive offense this season. He came out strong on the first drive…taking the Dolphins 84 yards and capping it with a QB draw for a TD. He could prove a lot of skeptics, myself included, wrong.

The Bad

Donovan McNabb – I thought he would come out swinging for the Vikes. Boy, was I wrong. Minnesota only managed 43 offensive plays against San Diego…leaving McNabb with a paltry 7 completions out 15 attempts with 39 yards passing. That’s 2.6 yards per attempt. He managed to fit both a TD to new addition Michael Jenkins and an INT to linebacker Shaun Phillips (who only has 5 in his 7 year career…yikes!). Things will not get any easier next week against an angry Buccaneers defense.

Matt Cassel – He was a model of efficiency last season. While he did complete 61% of his passes on Sunday, they only counted for 119 yards on 36 attempts. That is not how to get the job done…especially against a Bills team that was ranked 28th in points allowed and 26th in passing TDs allowed last season. He even got fair ground support from Jamal Charles and Dexter McCluster (108 yards rushing). If the Chiefs are going to make the playoffs again this year, Cassel will have to help his team out.

The Ugly

Ben Roethlisberger – He usually eats the Ravens for breakfast, but he will have trouble digesting what happened on Sunday. Big Ben threw 3 INTs (he had 5 in 12 games last year) and fumbled the ball 2 more times…leading the to 21 points for the Ravens (who won 35-7). It was definitely one of the worst games of Roethlisberger’s fine career. I wouldn’t read too much into it though. Ben is too good to let this affect his play for the rest of the season.

Tony Romo – If you look at the stat sheet, Romo didn’t look so bad. 342 yards, 63% of his passes completed, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 101.9 rating. Luckily, that’s why we have the “eye test.” I watch the game, and while Romo made some great throws and had Dallas attacking early, completely collapsed in the fourth quarter. After completing a huge 64 yard pass to Jason Witten, Romo had his Cowboys up 24-17 at the 3 yard line with 10 minutes to go in the game. After a couple failed attempts to get in the endzone, the Cowboys decided to try another pass play to score. Romo couldn’t find an opening, so instead of throwing the ball away, Romo dives forward with the ball exposed and naturally he fumbles it. The Cowboys could have gone up two scores, but now the Jets have the ball back. Fast forward to after the blocked punt that tied the game for the Jets. Romo has a minute (and 2 timeouts) to get a game winning field goal. He throws a pretty awful INT to Darrelle Revis (who had 0 last year) that set up the game winning FG for the Jets. To put the icing on the cake…with 8 seconds left, it appeared that Romo was not expecting the ball to be snapped to him. It hit him in the chest and fell to the ground, effectively ending any winning chance for the Cowboys. Ouch.