NFL Week 1: 3 Things I Noticed

The NFL posts will work the same way as the college football posts. I pick at least three things that stood out to me over the weekend and talk about it. One will always be about my team, the 49ers, unless they are on bye. And we're off!

1. San Francisco is not playing around.

I don't know if there is such a thing as a statement win in Week 1, but the Niners might have just invented it. The Niners/Packers game was arguably the best game of the weekend. It had everything you could want in a football game - big plays, solid defense, down-to-the-wire drama, and even some snarl. Colin Kaepernick beat the Packers with his legs last year in the playoffs. This time around, he beat them with his arm. Kaepernick was 27/39 for 412 yards, 3 touchdown's and more importantly, no picks. If he can keep that up all season, the Niners  look to be a lock to come to the Meadowlands in early February. Anquan Boldin was an absolute monster in his San Francisco debut; 13 catches for 208 yards and a touchdown!

Anquan Boldin had an amazing 49er debut. (Photo credit: Google Images)

That's one way to quickly endear yourself to the 49er Faithful. We're going to need him to be huge until Crabtree and Manningham come back from injury, but that doesn't mean that Boldin is our only weapon. Vernon Davis showed why he is the best tight end in football right now making 6 catches for 98 yards and 2 scores. Seems that any questions about his and Kaepernick's chemistry were answered in a big way on Sunday. Two things concerned me on Sunday. One of them was the running game. Gore and Kaepernick couldn't really get anything going on the ground all day. I don't know if the Packers defense keyed in on it or the offensive line wasn't doing enough to open up holes for our backs. Either way, the ground needs to get going if we're trying to get back to the Super Bowl this season. We also could have held the Packers to fewer points if our tackling was better. There were plenty of times our corners couldn't make a simple tackle and their receiver would break for a big gain. That can't happen. I like were this team is headed and I'm really looking forward to next week's game in Seattle.

2. The Ravens need help.

I knew the Ravens were going to have a rough time this year because of all of the players they lost (thanks for Boldin, by the way). I didn't think they were going to get stomped like that by Denver.

Tough times ahead for Flacco. (Photo credit: Google Images)

Peyton Manning was in some kind of zone on Thursday. He TORCHED Baltimore for 7 touchdowns; first time that's happened since 1969. Granted, Baltimore was leading at the half, but then Denver completely controlled the second half. That was helped by injuries to Jacoby Jones and Michael Oher, two huge losses for the Ravens. This pretty much leaves Joe Flacco with two offensive weapons, Ray Rice and Torrey Smith. Simply put, if opponents can slow the Ravens' run game and successfully double-cover Torrey Smith, the Ravens are going to have a hard time winning football games this year. If we get halfway through the season and Baltimore has a losing record, everyone's attention turns to Joe Flacco's insane contract. Is it fair to blame Flacco? Not really. Think about it this way - if you were him and Ravens ownership pushed that contract in front of you, would you sign it? If you said no, that's the wrong answer. It's not Flacco's fault if ownership that he was worth way more than he really is. So, if anyone is to blame, it's the Ravens' front office. I still think the Ravens will be in the hunt for a wild card spot, though. Their division is pretty bad this year outside of Cincinnati. They may be able to sneak into the playoffs at 9-7.

3. Week 1 overreactions are funny.

Three of the most over-reactive fan bases had their teams win this week. The Jets, the Eagles, and the Cowboys all are starting 1-0 this year. However, based on the reactions from the fan bases, you would think that they had just punched their tickets to the Super Bowl. I am not going to single anyone out, I'm speaking of the fan bases as wholes. So, if you didn't overreact, sorry, but you're getting lumped in with your crazy brethren. Jets fans are trying to think that they weren't handed their win on a silver platter from Tampa. If Schiano actually taught his players not to hit people when they're already out of bounds, you wouldn't be sitting here saying Geno Smith is going to lead you to the playoffs. Cowboys fans, you only beat the Giants by five even after they incessantly turned the ball over. If David Wilson could just hold on to the ball, you guys would have lost your fifth straight game to the Giants in "The House That Jerry Built." You can't only beat a team by five if you force THAT many tunrovers. You've got to capitalize on those chances and make them pay by scoring, even if it's a field goal. And judging by the reaction by Eagles fans, they just won the Super Bowl and Chip Kelly just got inducted into the Hall of Fame. You won a game no one thought you could win. Congrats, I guess. As teams watch more tape on as the season goes on, you guys will come back down to Earth. Maybe we'll even here clamoring for Nick Foles at quarterback and for Chip Kelly to be fired. I hope not because I like Chip, but Philly fans have a habit of overreacting, you can't argue with me there. Temper your enthusiasm, fans of teams that are 1-0. You've got fifteen games left; anything can happen.

College Football Week 2: 3 Things I Noticed

I know what you're probably thinking: "College?! The NFL started yesterday!" Relax, there's still the games tonight. THEN I will talk about Week 1 of the NFL season. Until then...

1. Gary Nova is still mediocre.

Yes, Rutgers beat Norfolk State 38-0. No, the scoreline is not indicative of Nova's poor play. His line would have been awful even if we were playing an FBS team, but we were playing an FCS team (a bad one at that), so it makes it look just that much more terrible. Nova threw for (wait for it...) 150 yards on 12 completions with a touchdown and a pick. He did that against an FCS team. What happened to the Gary Nova who was slinging the ball all over the field against Fresno State? Seriously, where is the consistency? He couldn't even put together a decent drive.

One of PJ's 3 scores. (Photo credit: Washington Post)

He only looked good when we had a short field after a Norfolk State turnover. Once again, it looks like Gary Nova will be the reason Rutgers either goes far or falls flat this year. However, remember how I said I was worried about the defense? That zero on the Norfolk State side of the board makes me feel a lot better. That is supposed to happen against an FCS team. No offense to the directional Michigan schools, but next week should be another game where the defense has a chance to gain more cohesion and chemistry ahead of the Arkansas game. Our running game is also coming together very nicely with Paul James cementing himself as our number one back. The walk-on has supplanted the 5-star recruit at the top of the depth chart. You have to capitalize on your opportunities, and PJ is doing just that. 18 carries for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns is a line any back would love to have. Let's hope this team keeps trending upward as the season goes along.

2. This just in: Oregon scored again.

Last week, I talked about Clemson's chances at a National Championship. This week, Oregon caught my attention. We all know about Oregon under Chip Kelly being this unstoppable offensive force that would just run through almost any defense thrown at them. Mark Helfrich was promoted from offensive coordinator when Chip Kelly left for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he seems to have picked up right where Kelly left off with 125 points scored over the first two games.

(Photo credit: Google Images)

Now, their schedule has a few games to pay attention to as the season goes along. The first is the October 12th game at Washington. That new stadium already claimed Boise State, and that crowd will surely be rocking when the Ducks come to town. Next is the November 7th showdown at Stanford. This game will essentially decide who goes to the Pac-12 title game from the North Division and has given us some great football the past few years. And as always, you can never overlook the Civil War. The Beavers will roll into Eugene on November 29th. No matter how good/bad either team is, this game is always fun to watch like any rivalry game. Oregon is another team I hoping can throw together a season worthy of a National Championship berth so that crystal football can finally leave SEC country.

3. Conference realignment claims another rivalry.

This week was the last time for the foreseeable future that Notre Dame and Michigan will play a football game at the Big House. This is because of Notre Dame's agreement with the ACC. They moved all of their other sports except football and hockey (ACC doesn't have hockey, Notre Dame moved to Hockey East) to the ACC. The ACC agreed to let Notre Dame keep it's independence only if they played 5 ACC schools per year. This left Notre Dame with a decision to make: which rivalry gets put on hold? USC, Stanford, and Michigan State were all obvious ones to keep. The decision came down to Purdue or Michigan. Honestly, I would have told Purdue to kick rocks if I was Notre Dame.

It's sad to see this go. (Photo credit: Yahoo!)

No one outside of Indiana cares about that game. If Notre Dame wants to call themselves a "national program," they need to have national rivalries. Notre Dame/Purdue doesn't have national appeal. I really think it came down to the fact that there's a trophy involved (Shillelagh Trophy) with the Purdue rivalry,which is why that one was kept. Now, I love conference realignment as much as the next guy. It's fascinating to follow, but it's claimed a bunch of historic rivalries. The Lone Star Showdown (Texas vs. Texas A&M) is no more. The Border War (Missouri vs. Kansas) is done. The Backyard Brawl (Pitt vs. West Virginia) is over. It's a sad sight to see because these rivalries and ones like it are what make college football as awesome as it is. I hope that these rivalries can start back up some point soon.

College Football Week 1: 3 Things I Noticed

Since there is so much that goes on during a weekend of college football, I'm going to try to narrow it down and pick (at least) three things that stood out to me during the weekend. One of them will always be about Rutgers unless they don't play. I may add more if I think it's important. On that note...

1. Rutgers is going to have an interesting year.

Our first game versus Fresno State was a wild one for sure. With a 52-51 final score in overtime, how could it not be? I've told a bunch of people this, but this is the first time in YEARS that I felt good after a loss by one of my teams. I'm extremely happy at the fact that we were able to hang with one of the best offenses in the country! Last year, I think we may have put up 30+ points twice.

(Photo credit: Google Images)

Rutgers couldn't move the ball to save their lives last year. Now, it looks like we're going to be able to put some points on the board if the defense is slumping. Speaking of, that's one thing I'm going to keep my eye on. Our defense did give up 52 points, very un-Rutgers of us. Hopefully, it was just first game rust coupled with the fact that we were missing some key guys. Our high number of penalties was very disappointing. If we took even half of the penalties we did, we win the game. However, not all of the penalties were warranted. The refs were ATROCIOUS in that game. Phantom unsportsmanlike conduct calls and missed holding calls all over the place. I can see Rutgers having an interesting year. I hope the fans are ready for it.

2. Johnny Manziel is an ornery son of a gun.

When someone described Johnny Manziel as "that girl on a reality show that is not there to make friends," I laughed pretty hard. The game against Rice proves that. When Manziel finally got into the game, he showed off why this is his Heisman to lose this year. However, his attitude is going to turn off a lot of people. There were two instances that stood out to me. One was when he was taken down while scrambling on a broken down play. The Rice defender chirped at him a bit and as they went back to their huddles, Johnny Football made a gesture as to say, "I wouldn't sign an autograph for you."

"Umm, scoreboard." (Photo credit: SB Nation)

Now he's mocking the NCAA allegations. But wait, there's more! I don't really like that first one, but I wish more players did this taunt. On a play later in the game, two more Rice players got in Manziel's face. Johnny then directed their attention to the scoreboard, essentially telling them, "Keep talking. It's not going to change the score." I LOVE that, and I wish it happened way more often, penalties/fouls/violations be damned. No offense to Rice, but it will be interesting to see how Manziel acts on a bigger stage against a more worthy opponent. One false move and someone could take him right out.

3. Clemson is serious.

Dabo Swinney is one of my favorite coaches in college football, and he's got himself a quality squad this year. You don't accidentally beat a top-5 team from the SEC; you have to be a great team. No one is worried about Clemson's offense. We all know they can pretty much score at will. Tajh Boyd had five touchdowns against an SEC defense. God help the ACC...

(Photo credit: USA Today)

However, their defense did give up 545 to the Bulldogs. Good thing their offense can score a ton of points because there will be some games where they're going to need 35+ points to win. If Clemson can tighten up their defense, I can see them being a serious contender for the National Championship. Looking at their schedule, I see only two games that could give them trouble. The first game is the October 19th match-up with Florida State. I think Clemson has the upper hand in this one because the game is a home game for the Tigers and Death Valley can be a harrowing place for an opponent. The other game is on November 30th. It's the Battle of the Palmetto State against South Carolina. It's always a huge game for both schools. This year, the Gamecocks are home. If Clemson rolls into that game undefeated, all eyes will be on Williams-Brice Stadium because that game will have National Championship implications.

Bonus: FCS teams came to play.

Towson, North Dakota State, Eastern Washington, McNeese State, Eastern Illinois, and Northern Iowa, all beat their FBS opponents last week. Remember when these games weren't worth the price of admission? You can thank Appalachian State for this. If not for them going into the Big House and upsetting Michigan back in 2007, you probably don't see this happen. Now, you've got six FBS schools with egg on their face because they lost to an FCS school. These games aren't to be take lightly any more, and I hope Rutgers realizes that this Saturday when Norfolk State comes to town.