I was going to call this post Monday’s Insights, but this first weekend of the NFL has made it perfectly clear to me that insights are an endangered species. The Vikings were the latest problem. I have been high on this team for more than a year now. Tonight they rewarded my faith by looking very, very average. Tarvaris Jackson made it increasingly difficult to imagine he has a bright future with a lackluster performance that was short of compelling excuses. Adrian Peterson was Adrian Peterson, with 103 yards and a touchdown. I have one huge question for the Minny staff after watching the game – why in the world did Peterson only get 19 touches? He was effective. Not much else was. What were you waiting for? You only lost by five, so another 10 carries could have made the difference.

I have to give Aaron Rodgers credit. 18 of 22, 178 yards, a touchdown. 35 yards and a TD on the ground. Nothing wrong with that. Much, much better than I expected of him. Another brilliant insight on my part.

It’s only halftime of the second game, but I have seen enough to emphatically declare Oakland a total nightmare. They look dazed and confused, they are getting torched by Eddie Royal, a rookie receiver, DeAngelo Hall is embarrassing himself, there appears to be no gameplan, and no ability to achieve it even if there was one. Lane Kiffin is in a terrible situation, but he still should be embarrassed by the team he put on the field.

I find the Seahawks receiver situation hilarious, and I know that that might make me a bad person. Nate Burleson tripped over his feet in Buffalo and tore his ACL. Bye-bye season. That’s too bad – he’s a good receiver and he had a TD already. Burleson joins pretty much every other receiver the team has on the injured list. Bobby Engram won’t be back from a broken shoulder until next month. Deion Branch is out indefinitely with knee problems of his own. Ben Obomanu is on the IR. The team now has three active receivers on the roster, and I guarantee that casual football fans will never have heard of any of them. THe team is looking for a veteran, shifting players off the practice squad, and apparently seriously considering moving backup QB Seneca Wallace over to wideout. Very, very strange situation.

I caught Roger Federer’s final at the U.S. Open this afternoon. Ridiculously, indescribably dominant. He made Andy Murray look like a little girl. That should shut the critics up a bit. It was getting frustrating hearing how he was done – he ended the year with a grand slam, two more grand slam finals, and a semi in the fourth. Not bad for a guy with mono. The good part of the criticism was that you could bet on him in the final at -190. That’s a ridiculous price for the guy, and one I jumped at.