Andy Richardson

It’s a new year, and yesterday was a brand new day of football. And although you might not have seen much coverage, a lot of other stuff happened besides the league MVP being lost for the season. Up is down – the Colts, Jaguars, Chargers and Seahawks all lost – and down is up, with the Falcons and Ravens winning their openers with new head coaches and rookie quarterbacks, something that maybe has never happened before. With that, a quick whirlwind tour through the games I followed the closest yesterday….

Patriots-Kansas City: Quickly on the actual game, I might need to reevaluate the Kansas City defense, which looked pretty aggressive and capable out there. Anyway, I’m not going to claim I feel as bad as anyone else about the Brady injury; Patriots fans and those who drafted him feel a lot worse. It’s a shame, though, because I was just hoping the Patriots would perform poorly this year – not lose key players to injury. Nobody wants to see that.

That said, there was a lot of talk on postgame shows about the league and other teams and players being saddened by the thought of Brady being out for the season. Really? Are the Bills and Jets sad about it? The Colts or Chargers? Do the Bears or Vikings care? My guess is no. I don’t think anyone hates the guy personally, but I doubt the Patriots are a particularly popular team, or that anyone feels too badly about them having a little misfortune. It’s always a shame when a great player gets hurt, but the league goes on, and you know what? The AFC East (and the AFC) just got a whole lot more interesting.

And oh yeah, I guess the Fantasy Index cover jinx theory is alive again.

Jets-Dolphins: Case in point; suddenly the Jets might actually be playing for a division title and not just a wild card. Not that they looked particularly good in Miami. They got off to a nice start, with a Favre bomb to Cotchery reminiscent of the one that beat the Broncos a year ago, but after that were shaky on offense, and nearly lost the game on defense. But, they ran the ball successfully (100-plus yards and a TD for Thomas Jones), passed the ball effectively when they tried, and made the big defensive plays when they had to, including playing the run far better than they did a year ago. Lost in the box score will be rookie cornerback Dwight Lowery’s play, but he was huge, batting down potential touchdown passes on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter. With last year’s top pick Darrelle Revis at the other corner, they might have one of the better young tandems in the league. (Lowery was replacing the injured Justin Miller, but maybe he’ll remain in the lineup anyway.)

As for the Dolphins, well, this wasn’t going to get better over night. But there were positive signs. Good running back tandem. Pennington will win them some games. And they’ve got a nice young tight end in Anthony Fasano, who will be one of the most-added players in fantasy leagues this week. (After I guess Matt Cassel.) And should be, because it doesn’t look like the Dolphins will have any big-time wide receivers this year.

Jaguars-Titans: I’m not trying to be flip when I question whether the Titans will suffer that much without Vince Young. (Reportedly out 2-4 weeks with an MCL strain, which makes him a lot luckier than Tom Brady.) I don’t know if it’s his decision-making or his accuracy that’s letting him down, but Young throws interceptions where it’s unclear what positive result he was hoping they’d yield. The guy wins games and maybe his dual-threat ability keeps offenses off balance, but more often than not he doesn’t look like much of a quarterback. The Titans have a seriously great defense and what might turn out to be the best running game in the league (a remarkable debut for Chris Johnson, who is looking pretty special – and pretty sweet as a mid-round pick), so I think they can do OK with Kerry Collins at quarterback.

Then there are the Jaguars, and everyone will bail on them this week. Don’t. They’ll be fine. Maurice Jones-Drew, too – he appeared to get robbed of a short touchdown on a questionable ruling. They started off very slowly last season, too, and things got better.

Cowboys-Browns: When people say the preseason doesn’t matter, which they always do, I point to this game and the Giants-Washington game Thursday night. Because Washington’s offense really struggled in the last few preseason games, so their 7-point showing at New York wasn’t surprising. And the Browns’ defense also looked awful in the preseason, so seeing them get lit up in a game that really wasn’t as close as the 28-10 was also predictable. Bad defense. Brutal schedule. This team is going to struggle to finish 8-8.

Watching the Cowboys, I’m always impressed by Tony Romo. Makes a lot of good decisions. Gets up from big hits. Keeps both Jessica Simpson AND Terrell Owens happy (Owens was inches from a second touchdown) – tough to do, I’d imagine. And the guy was undrafted, which is just crazy. Anyway, he, Owens, and Jason Witten are going to have huge years, again. Patrick Crayton probably too, who I knocked in Saturday’s preview column. Regarding the Browns, well, their offense should be fine. Still like Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards, and Kellen Winslow. But I don’t think this group is playoff ready just yet.

Bears-Colts: Seeing Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber in the studio, I wondered if Bettis said to Barber off-camera, “See, you’re supposed to win the Super Bowl and THEN retire.” I enjoyed the reunion of Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick, particularly the inclusion of a clip showing Brady having to walk down stairs after his knee injury – this is the stuff you don’t get with every clip show. There’s way too many talking heads in the studio, of course, but Patrick and Olbermann can stay.

As for the game itself, I thought Peyton Manning looked fine. It’s the rest of this team I’m not so sure about. The offensive line (missing two injured starters and departed free agent Jake Scott) couldn’t protect Manning or help the team convert any short-yardage plays. Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai got banged up. Both Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison had balls glance off their hands, with Harrison also fumbling away a reception. (Wayne’s was an overthrow, Harrison’s wasn’t.) And the run defense got chewed up by Matt Forte, who showed far more in the first half than any of the Bears’ other running backs over the last decade have managed cumulatively. Not Tony Dungy’s finest game, either. I think the Colts will be OK, but clearly they’ve got some work to do.

As for the Bears, well, maybe running the ball, playing good defense, and throwing almost exclusively to the tight ends (often lined up wide) is enough to win them some games this year. It was on Sunday. As they say, you should stick to your strengths. One of mine has always been a clever ending

Andy watches as many games as he can each Sunday. If you do the same, feel free to add your own observations from the previous day’s games below.

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