Week 1 NFL Notes

NFL Week One’s Most Impressive Teams

Pittsburgh Steelers – The Steelers played a tough team in their Thursday night opener in the Miami Dolphins and came away with a 28-17 win. Beating a good team is always impressive but you must consider the fact that Pittsburgh took on the Dolphins without starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Without him, this strikes me as a very impressive victory for the reigning Super Bowl Champs who were forced to go with Charlie Batch as their quarterback to open the season.

Chicago Bears – With high expectations this season, the Chicago Bears came out firing on all cylinders this past Sunday thumping Green Bay 26-0. The defense was dominant giving Brett Favre no room to work and looked like last season’s number one defense. What was more impressive was the play of quarterback Rex Grossman who put away any doubts that he should be the starting quarterback in Chicago instead of Brian Griese. Grossman threw for 262 yards and completed 69% of his passes. His play is vital to Chicago’s success this season.

Baltimore Ravens – The Baltimore defense was stifling on Sunday as they allowed no points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 27-0 victory. The defense only gave up 142 total yards, yes total. They were dominant against the run allowing Cadillac Williams just 22 yards on 8 carries. Steve McNair did his job of managing the offense and making sure the Ravens put points on the board. This is a team to keep an eye on this season as they have a great defense and McNair can only help their chances.

St. Louis Rams – The St. Louis Rams played a very good Denver Bronco team and came up with a big win to start the year. They pounded the rock to the tune of 125 yards and all signs indicate that this is one of their initiatives on offense this season. The defense gave up 161 yards rushing but held Denver to just 10 points in an 18-10 victory. Jeff Wilkens kicked 6 field goals in the win so the offense will have to do a better job of getting the ball in the end zone if they want to make the playoffs in 2006.

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