Welcome to Teddy’s unique look at the NFL. Teddy watches games all weekend long; typing furiously on his laptop while giving you the key info that the box scores and game recaps simply don’t have. Today: NFC tidbits from the opening week of the young season.
Bears:
The offensive line protection was there for the pass, but they couldn't move the pile when trying to run the football, particularly in the red zone. They had four red zone drives without scoring a touchdown. It didn't take long for Jay Cutler to start making mistakes, throwing into triple coverage on his second drive, resulting in an ugly interception. Their second scoring chance ended up with a lost fumble in the red zone. The third scoring chance ended with another fumble.
They're not taking shots downfield in Mike Martz's offense, no trust for the rebuilt offensive line, lots of short three and five step drops. I didn't think that Matt Forte had the speed to outrun an entire defense, exactly what he did on his 89 yard catch and run dump-off pass touchdown.
Bucs:
It's pretty obvious that from a pure 'talent' perspective, this team is behind most others in the NFL on both sides of the football. That being said, they clearly have bought into what head coach Raheem Morris is selling – energy and effort were good throughout, even when they were trailing by double digits.
QB Josh Freeman was not in sync with his receivers, lacking chemistry after sitting out most of the preseason. He’s a pretty darn good runner though. Freeman is not gripping the ball firmly with his bad thumb - he's got no zip on his throws, and he consistently missed open receivers, including a sure TD in the fourth quarter.
This team has no idea how to close out football games, with numerous gaffes clinging to a three point lead late.
Cardinals:
This team lost a ton of star power in the offseason, but they still have playmakers on both sides of the ball. Pro bowl safety Adrian Wilson had a blocked field goal and a brilliant interception on the first two defensive drives of the season, followed by an impressive sack later.
New QB Derek Anderson was throwing into traffic, missing receivers, not hitting guys in stride. How he won this starting job I'll never understand. He's going to get these receivers hurt, forcing them to stretch to catch balls in vulnerable locations. Anderson and Larry Fitzgerald clearly have no chemistry together just yet. Fitzgerald's negative body language speaks the whole story.
Last year, this team dominated St Louis twice with Kurt Warner at QB, extending their winning streak against the Rams to seven games, five of those wins by double digit margins. This year, with Anderson, misfiring repeatedly, they had to rally late to steal a victory. Even the game winning TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald was a very poor throw.
Eagles:
This team still loves to blitz on defense, creating a turnover on the Packers first possession with their pressure. They kept shuttling Vick and Kolb in and out of the game; I really think it hurt their offensive rhythm. Their entire passing game consisted of two short completions to Jeremy Maclin on their first four drives (eleven total yards, and Kolb was sacked twice for -17 yards).
The offense didn't start to work at all until Kolb got hurt and Vick had a chance to get into a rhythm. But Vick was under pressure -- very poor offensive line play. This defense got gashed all afternoon long, unable to stop the run, with poor coverage in the secondary. The Eagles didn't get burned deep until their run defense came unglued -- then everything came unglued.
Giants:
Eli Manning's first pick of the season was all on Hakeem Nicks. But Nicks made a nice TD catch shortly after; a perfect strike from Eli. Then he caught two more TD’s – redemption granted! But this receiving corps was simply not very good today – too many dropped passes. All three of Manning’s interceptions came off of deflections.
This defense is back, after last year's second half collapse. We saw a beautiful tackle from safety Kenny Phillips (played in only two games last year) to save a sure touchdown. The Giants DB’s picked off three Panthers passes in the end zone. New York had -2 yards rushing at halftime -- this offensive line didn't play together in August, and it showed. But they really stepped up their level of play at halftime, dominating the trenches in the second half and running the football effectively.
Lions:
The worst defense in the NFL last year didn't look all that much improved, struggling repeatedly to stop the pass. All the money they spent on the defensive line in the offseason didn't result in a good pass rush against a weak offensive line. But Ndamukong Suh blew up the line of scrimmage repeatedly in the red zone – great defensive intensity by the goal line on three different drives.
Jahvid Best is a downright scary weapon, and the Lions were comfortable giving him the ball in the red zone. Where's the deep passing game? Even without Matthew Stafford in the lineup, backup QB Shaun Hill is capable of throwing downfield, but the Lions wouldn't call any deep passing plays.
Once again, Detroit’s offensive line isn’t capable of opening up holes for the run, or protecting their quarterback enough to throw deep routes.
Packers:
It’s very difficult to stop this passing game on third down – they’re as good as any in the league. Aaron Rodgers is devastatingly effective as long as he has protection. Protection was an issue, however -- this offensive line got abused by the Eagles blitzes. Rodgers is a much better runner than he gets credit for, the second leading rusher on the team last year. Once this offense got going after a sluggish start, it was nearly unstoppable.
I've still got all kinds of questions about this secondary. And these linebackers. And this defensive front. The Pack gave up more than seven yards per carry and allowed Michael Vick to have a career half against them, two very worrisome issues.
Panthers:
This offensive line was an elite unit last year and they sure look like an elite unit here. DeAngelo Williams had huge holes to run through. But Matt Moore did not look good, throwing a particularly ugly 'chuck it up for grabs' pick in the end zone, killing a scoring chance. He threw two more end zone picks before the day was through, simply unacceptable.
We didn't see Steve Smith at all during the preseason, still recovering from his offseason injury. Smith looked just fine here, once again the Panthers leading receiver.
This defense is ultra aggressive -- very fast, flying to the football. The rebuilt DL was dominant early, but they got pushed around after halftime. This team did not look like a 201 sleeper in their opener.
Rams:
St Louis is finally getting some dividends from former #1 pick Chris Long, who's largely been a non-factor in his first few years in the league. Long was a monster on the defensive line of scrimmage here, requiring double teams and triple teams to keep him out of the backfield.
Sam Bradford at least has a couple of weapons to throw too. Ravens cast-off Mark Clayton, Laurent Robinson, rookie Mardy Gilyard and former Texas Tech star Danny Amendola (before he got hurt) were able to make up for the season ending injury to Donnie Avery.
Bradford was decent; the prototypical rookie QB making his first career start. We saw lots of dinks and dunks, averaging less than five yards per attempt. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Bradford didn’t come through, looking very green running the two minute drill. But he did show poise in the pocket -- no happy feet here.
This run defense got gashed to the outside repeatedly, and the pass coverage was every bit as bad.
Seahawks:
This defense looks much better than last year; a ‘night and day’ difference. A healthy Lofa Tatupu was all over the field. Rookie safety Earl Thomas was dynamite. They walled off the end zone in red zone situations, stuffing San Fran on three different first half drives.
Matt Hasselbeck showed nice chemistry with his receivers -- seven different guys had catches with his first eleven completions. This crowd definitely had an impact on the game; legitimately a '12th man'. We didn't see any extended drives and the Seahawks couldn’t run worth a lick; two major concerns going forward.
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