The oldest rivalry in the book

The Bears and Packers square off tonight for the 185th time. Wow that's a lot of games! Jay Cutler has his old-new favorite target Brandon Marshall, a healthy Matt Forte, and as always a strong defense. The Packers have listed Greg Jennings as doubtful and while that's a fairly big loss this offense has depth at the receiver position. But I think the Packers secondary is in for a tough night going up against this dangerous Chicago offense. Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery are tall and strong receivers that can out-muscle and out-leap defenders. Add the Matt Forte into the mix and you get a balanced attack.
After losing to the 49ers on Sunday it's hard to vote against Green Bay playing at home tonight but I just have a feeling they're going to come up short tonight. Bears 27 Packers 24

I could get use to these replacement refs

Like the usual referees, the replacements made some mistakes. However, they officiated a lot better than I expected them to. A true luxury from these replacement refs is that we're seeing much less defensive pass interference calls compared to previous seasons. Wide receivers are by far the whiniest players on the field constantly complaining to the officials. If I had a nickel for every time I saw a receiver drop a ball, throw his hands in the air and look towards the referees resulting in a defensive pass interference call, I wouldn't still be living with my rents. Hopefully the league doesn't do or say anything to change that part of the game... again. 

Pats defense and running game shine in season opener

There were two eye openers in the Patriots victory against the Titans: 1) Stevan Ridley is a quality back and 2) This young defense looks pretty good. Ridley ran for 125 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries and caught two passes for 27 yards. He showed good vision and burst through the line of scrimmage and used his blockers very well. I was very impressed by his performance. On the other side of the ball the defense was pretty good. Their first first three draft choices from April (Chandler Jones, Donta Hightower, and Tavon Wilson) made big plays. Chandler Jones strip sacked Jake Locker and the fumble was recovered and taken in for a touchdown by Hightower. Tavon Wilson recorded an interception. The pass defense needs to improve but as far as stopping the run goes, they were phenomenal holding the Titans to a mere 20 yards rushing. There will obviously be games where the defense struggles but from what we saw yesterday this defense is much improved from last season.

RG3 shines while his fellow rookie quarterbacks struggle

Five rookie quarterbacks started week one; Robert Griffin III (WAS), Andrew Luck (IND), Brandon Weeden (CLE), Ryan Tannehill (MIA), and Russell Wilson (SEA). But only Robert Griffin III came out victorious and put on a stellar performance completing 19 of his 26 passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions as he lead the Skins to a 40-32 upset victory in the Saints' Super Dome. Griffin didn't look like a rookie yesterday, but a four year veteran. His fellow rookie signal callers, well they had rookie written all over them. Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, and Ryan Tannehill each threw three interceptions. Russell Wilson threw only one pick in his struggling debut against the Cardinals.

Bounty Gate conclusion?

The suspensions of Johnathan Vilma, Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, and Will Smith have been overturned and all are eligible to play this Sunday. Initially the Commissioner suspended Vilma for the entire season, Hargrove for 8 games, Smith for 4 games, and Fujita for 3 games. This is huge for the Saints now that Vilma is back to lead the defense. We'll probably hear more about the bounty gate scandal throughout the season as Commissioner Goodell will look to prove there was intent to injure among the Saints players.

Refs did well in season opener

As I've said before, I thought that these replacement referees were going to be as mediocre as they were in the preseason but that clearly wasn't the case. I was very impressed by the officiating crew last night. The defending Super Bowl champion Giants opened the season against their division rival Cowboys in a nationally televised game putting that much more pressure on this crew of replacement officials. They brought their A game and did a hell of a job. Yes, there were some missed calls but you'll see that in every game regardless of who the referees are. If these replacements continue officiating this well we can expect the lockout to go on for awhile.

Demps on IR

I stated that I believed Patriots running back and former Olympian Jeff Demps was going to be a weapon for New England this season but that will not be the case this season as Demps has been placed on injured reserve with a lower leg injury; boy was I furious when I heard about that. We'll have to wait until the 2013 season to see him in action.