Week 1 Sunday!

9/11 gear worn in today's games

Welcome to the first Sunday of Week 1!
There are 13 scheduled games today on this 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In honor of this day, players were given the go ahead to wear specially designed cleats and gloves. I'm expecting many stories today of how players and coaches lives were affected by that terrible day 10 years ago. Should be a pretty emotional day.

Peterson

Some news around the league today:
Viking's RB Adrian Peterson signed a mega-deal for 7 years, $100 million. Remember that he's a running back and their careers are generally short. We told you that Chris Johnson of the Titans signed a huge contract for $53.5 million. Well, this one dwarfs it. Everyone will be talking about this today. Also, Steeler's safety Troy Polamalu (he of the big hair) signed a large extension as well. The exact details have not been released, but he's expected to make over $9 million a year.

Polamalu

Games to watch today:

Atlanta Falcons/Chicago Bears (1pm ET, Fox)
Watch Bears QB Jay Cutler (ex-fiance of Kristen Cavallari) play agains the Atlanta Falcon, one of the best teams in the NFC.

Detroit Lions/Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1pm ET, Fox)
Everyone wants to see if the Lions are any good this year. (Usually, they're not.) Apparently the team is shaping up to be a good one and people are anxious to see if it pans out.

Pittsburgh Steelers/Baltimore Ravens (1pm ET, CBS)
These are two AFC powerhouse teams with a lot of talent. Watch for Troy Polamalu and his huge hair. Should be a good game.

McNabb

Rivers

Minnesota Vikings/San Diego Chargers (4:15pm ET, Fox)

Everyone will be watching Adrian Peterson on the Vikings as well as QB Donovan McNabb. Watch for Philip Rivers on the Chargers.

New York Giants/Washington Redskins (4:15pm ET, Fox)
These are NFC East rivals. Rivalries are always fun.

Night game:
Dallas Cowboys at NY Jets (8:20pm ET, NBC)

Sanchez

Battle of the hot QBs! Cowboy's Tony Romo vs. Jet's Mark Sanchez.
You have to wait all day for it but it will probably be worth it!

Until next time...

Romo

Game 1 Recap

Good morning! Did everyone survive the first night of football season? I watched most of the game and it was pretty good. High scoring battle of the QBs, just as I predicted. To get you through the morning, here's a recap and let's figure out 'What to say to a Dude' so you can look super educated.

First things first. Packers won, 42-34. This means you should console your Saints fans and high-five your Packers fans. Both quarterbacks (Aaron Rodgers of the Packers and Drew Brees of the Saints) had statistically great games. This is important for fantasy football. For example, my husband didn't care who won or lost last night, as long as his Barbies...er, sorry...players did well.

Couple of things the boys will be talking about today.

Cobb

1. Randall Cobb, a Packers rookie wide receiver (say that 5 times fast!) caught a touchdown from Rodgers and ran a kickoff back 108 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. 108 yards. If we do our math on this one, the field is 100 yards long so he was all the way in the back of the 10 yard endzone. This is a big deal because it ties the NFL record for longest kickoff return in history and most people wouldn't try to run the ball from way back there--they'd ask for a 'fair catch'.
Extra Credit: he ties New England's Ellis Hobb's record set in 2007.

Sproles

2. Tiny Saints running back Darren Sproles was a force in last nights game. He was like a little Mighty Mouse. The guy is only 5'6" and trust me, he looks TINY on the field next to all of those beasts. BUT, he can run like a freaking cheetah! He ran a punt back for a touchdown and was a great playmaker in last night's game.

Ingram

3. Remember Mark Ingram from yesterday's post? Everyone was watching to see how he'd do. Well, he did ok, however he royally messed up the last play of the game. Ouch. The Saints had one play to tie it up with 1 yard to go (for a touchdown) and a few seconds left. Brees handed it off to Ingram and he didn't make it into the endzone. Everyone will be asking, 'Why wouldn't they just give the ball to Brees so that he could make a better decision? Why hand off the ball to the rookie?' This will be one of those morning watercooler conversations for sure.
What to say to a Dude: "Why'd they hand it off to Ingram? That was dumb. Shoulda given it to Brees."

In other news, Peyton Manning had yet another neck surgery yesterday which might be a season-ending event. It usually takes 8-10 weeks to heal from something like this so it's not looking good for the Colts.

Now go forth and impress your football fans!