I'm parked in front of a television for about 10 hours every Sunday. I make observations, I take notes. Monday afternoon, we season to taste and serve them to you.

• Pierre Garcon(notes) didn't have a memorable opener, dropping 2-3 passes at Houston (depending on your grading) including one in the end zone. Meanwhile, Austin Collie(notes), Reggie Wayne(notes) and Dallas Clark(notes) combined for 28 catches. You don't lose a team's trust or a quarterback's trust from one bad game, but Peyton Manning(notes) was clearly steamed at Garcon on Sunday and made no attempt to hide it. The kid better get his Mojo back soon, because Manning isn't lacking for quality weapons.

I was surprised that so many pundits took shots at Wayne all summer, essentially suggesting that he's an ordinary talent simply riding Manning's coattails. Go watch Wayne's second-quarter touchdown again; he's always been grossly underrated as a technician. You'll never take a loss on this investment.

• Michael Vick(notes) played considerably better than I expected in his Sunday stint, and it's clear he hasn't lost much, if any, of his speed. But he's never going to be someone who excels as a timing passer – he's the type of quarterback that needs to see players open before he's comfortable pulling the trigger – and defenses that are prepared for a full day of Vick will have a significant advantage over where Green Bay stood on Sunday.

• Brett Favre(notes) looked like a quarterback that met his receivers about 10 minutes before the Thursday night opener. Minnesota gets an extended work week at the perfect time; Favre needs to get some timing down with his teammates. Greg Camarillo(notes) could make a run at 70 catches once they figure out how to use him.

• John Carlson's(notes) day doesn't look like much (three catches, 36 yards) but I was encouraged by how he was deployed, regularly freed from his stance and basically used as another receiver. Much better days are ahead.

• The best time to trade Wes Welker(notes) is probably this week. He's coming off a two-touchdown game but we know he doesn't have the ideal skill set to be a dominant touchdown guy. The Patriots are going to use their young tight ends often around the goal line, and you know eventually Randy Moss(notes) is going to be mollycoddled. This is not a call to sell Welker at all costs, but he's on a glamour team and he's coming off a two-score game. See if anyone out there needs a receiver.

• I've been a Vince Young(notes) backer at times to the point of being a sympathizer, but I wish he hadn't learned his throwing mechanics at the dart board.

• Matt Moore(notes) made a couple of good throws at the end of the first half (against a cushy New York shell), but otherwise it was a hellish day for him in the swamps of Jersey (14-for-33, 182 yards, four sacks, three picks, 32.6 rating). He clearly had no idea what he was seeing for most of the day, and that was before he suffered a concussion. I'll be shocked if Carolina can cobble together a winning record considering that their quarterbacks are Moore (nine pro starts) and Jimmy Clausen(notes) (maybe he'll be something someday, but he's still a project right now). And obviously this team hasn't had a legitimate No. 2 wideout for several years.

• I've heard some people worried that Hakeem Nicks(notes) only had eight targets in New York's opening win, but so what? When you score three times, they tend to throw you the ball more in coming weeks. Nothing to worry about here. I also think this could be the year Eli Manning(notes) climbs into the second tier of fantasy quarterbacks, especially given how messy the New York rushing game looked in the opener. (That said, the Kevin Boss(notes) injury was also on Manning – when you overthrow people in the middle of the field, you're inviting defenders to take a kill shot on a defenseless player.)

• The Rams didn't have a clue what they were doing at the end of their loss to Arizona – you can tell Steve Spagnuolo wasn't in a lot of close games last year – but otherwise I was impressed with the Sam Bradford(notes) debut. He's got the full package: the arm, the vision, some mobility, obviously a quick learner. I was also surprised at how quickly this team got Mark Clayton(notes) acclimated into the offense; it's very difficult to do that with a new receiver.

• Steve Breaston's(notes) offensive day (7-132) gets him into the headlines, but his field awareness is what I'd prefer to talk about. Breaston made the biggest play in Arizona's victory, racing down the field and stopping Rams DL Clifton Ryan(notes) just before the lumbering Ryan got into the end zone on a fumble runback. Breaston never gave up on the play and when he got close to Ryan, he immediately shifted into tomahawk-chop mode. Ryan, meanwhile, forgot the first rule for all defensive players – worry about possession first, and glory second.

• The Lions aren't going to be a pushover this year, no matter how messy the offense gets at times. The defensive line is vastly improved (mostly due to Kyle Vanden Bosch(notes) and Ndamukong Suh(notes)) and that's going to make the secondary look better, down the road anyway. I'll be very surprised if they don't win at least 5-6 games. I can't wait to see how Jim Schwartz's plucky group fares against Philadelphia (and probably Vick) in Week 2.

There's nothing new to add on the Calvin Johnson(notes) play, it's been well documented. Basically this is 2010's version of The Tuck Rule – the officials called what was in the book, properly, but the rule is completely illogical. Here's hoping they revisit it during the year.

• Normally it's smart for an offense to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 (considering the point equity that ties into that field position), but Lovie Smith was crazy to risk it against the Lions in the fourth period, trailing by a point. First and foremost, Detroit's offense had been stagnant for the entire second half to that point; any lead over the Lions looked like a potential game-ender. And second, it was painfully clear that the Chicago offensive line couldn't handle the penetration of the Detroit defensive line, especially from in close. Smith got bailed out by Jay Cutler's(notes) gorgeous touchdown pass to Matt Forte(notes) later in the quarter, but it shouldn't have come to that.

• Sixteen touches for Joseph Addai(notes), one for Donald Brown(notes). Handcuffing remains one of the most overrated fantasy concepts out there. Sure, if Addai gets hurt, I see the case for Brown, but it's very unlikely Addai will lose his job in any other manner.

• The Steelers clearly need Ben Roethlisberger(notes) back if they're going to have designs on a deep playoff run, but Troy Polamalu(notes) has always been this team's most irreplaceable player.

• The Bengals were basically demolished from the moment they got off the boss at Foxboro, and even then Cedric Benson(notes) received 16 touches and one touchdown. Fantasy floor is a beautiful thing.

• Kudos to Washington for finding a way to put away the Cowboys, but let's not forget that Dallas had seven more first downs and 130 more yards from scrimmage. Clinton Portis(notes) was plodding all night, and Donovan McNabb(notes) didn't look crisp either.

• Kyle Orton(notes) is never going to be an MVP or a superstar, but I'm convinced he can be an above-average quarterback. He made one game-killing throw at Jacksonville, but otherwise I was impressed with his decision-making and accuracy. And even if this doesn't steer you to pick up Orton, at least he's capable of giving us some fantasy-viable receivers in 2010.

• I'd still take San Francisco to win the NFC West today, and sometimes you're going to get clocked on the road by a division rival, that's just how it goes. But it's clear by now that Alex Smith is never going to be all that comfortable working in a traditional offense; he prefers to operate a spread offense out of the shotgun, and that's not how the Niners will play until they're absolutely forced to.