What a weekend! I just love “Week 1” in the NFL, the teams are full of confidence, intensity is high, the TV coverage is ample and SuperZim’s Top Ten is back for another year! Each week, be sure to check in here, as I bring forth ten (or so) random things I noticed while watching this weeks NFL games, some are comical, some are factual, but they are always entertaining. So without further delay, here we go…

Number 10...

Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals on winning their season opener for the first time since 1845 or something, Cincy dealt the hapless Pats a 23-17 loss and looked surprisingly decent in the game. Corey Dillon gained 100yds again, and Jon Kitna won his 1st start as a Bengal. Are things on the upswing for the NFL’s worst franchise? To put it mildly… no. Not a chance. I’ll say it now, the Bengals have as much of a chance of winning the SuperBowl, as Ben Stiller’s “Zoolander” does of winning the Oscar for Best Picture. I think the Bungles beat a Patriots team that has too many new faces and too many distractions to win games yet, and woe are those Pats, having to play in the always tough AFC East.

Number 9...

Did we see a prelude to a fantastic playoff match-up when we watched the Philly – St. Louis game? Maybe, just maybe. Donovan “Money” McNabb (I call him Money, because that is what he is… Money. Please tell me you have seen Swingers and can relate to that comment…) was outstanding in this game, almost leading his team to a late game comeback, but Warner (concussion talk be damned) hung in there to lead “the Greatest Show on Earth” to an overtime win. Both QB’s threw for over 300yds passing, but neither RB’s gained over 100yds rushing. What does that tell you? Neither team’s defense is where they want it to be just yet, and that should be cause for concern for Eagles coach Andy Reid, because, as a rule, most defensive units perform better than their offensive counterparts early in the year. But then again, maybe Reid shouldn't get too worried over it, after all, St. Louis’ offense usually blows up for like 40+ points per game, so holding them to 20 is a positive. On the other sideline, the Rams new defensive team should be damn proud, because they stuffed Duce Staley for only 9yds on 9 carries, and held Money McNabb in check for the first three quarters, their 4th qtr collapse will not happen again, as this team will only get better when the start to gel.

Number 8...

Did anyone watch that Seattle – Cleveland game? I didn’t think so. Nytol should take notes from this game, on how effectively to put people to sleep. Yawn… I am getting tired just thinking about that 9-6 stinker.

Number 7...

Those Dallas Cowboys put quite the scare into the perennial SuperBowl favorite Tampa Bay Bucs, didn’t they? I find it quite humorous that a team with no chance in hell of succeeding this year, almost pulled the upset of the year. How bad is Tampa Bay’s offense? Well, I’ll put it this way. Dallas damn near won the game behind a QB who only went 9-19 for 34yds with 2INTs! Does this close game mean there is reason to smile in Cowboy-land? Nope. It means there is reason to frown in Buc-land. That offense, behind their savior Brad Johnson, better start rolling, or Tony Dungy is gonna bump into Marty Schottenheimer in the old unemployment line (I know, I know, Schotts isn’t unemployed, but trust me, it is only a matter of time…)

Number 6...

Speaking of Washington, I wonder how that 30-3 beating that the Bolts laid on them is sitting right now? How bad are things there? Well, the usually sure handed Stephen Davis fumbles on the 3yds line, effectively snuffing out a potential scoring drive, and get this, Jeff George played SO bad that he was replaced by a QB (Tony Banks) who was CUT by the worst team in the league (Dallas)!!! Wow. I can see little Danny Snyder powering on his PS2 to load up Madden 2002 to figure out his next personnel moves right now. I don’t think that this win by San Diego can be filed under that “Only won because their opponents are in such dire straights” column, I think this San Diego is gonna make some noise this year. Flutie wins games, period (here that Buffalo front office? Nice choice by the way!), LaDanian Tomlinson looks to be the real deal with 36 carries for 113yds and 2TDs, and Junior “Say-OW” Seau finally has some help on the defense. Things are looking up in Diego people, believe me (take a look at their schedule if you dare to doubt me).

6A...

In Number 6, I made mention of Madden 2002 for PS2. Here is my question, has there ever been a better football video game? Well, maybe not, but there is one that comes dangerously close, in fact, I think it may even be better. That game is Super Tecmo Bowl for the Super NES, remember that game? It was the greatest thing in the world when I was younger, it kept stats as you played in season mode, you could trade players, you could customize your playbook on both sides of the ball, and it was fast, real fast. The best thing about that game was how the field was displayed, unlike the Madden games where the field is viewed a field level from behind the offense, in Tecmo Bowl the field was viewed from left to right from high above (it looks like the common camera view from most TV games). What a great game, I mean, where else could you trade away Joe Montana and still have Steve Young throw for like 6000yds with 115TD passes, Jerry Rice have 2500yds receiving with 67TD’s and have Roger Craig rush for about 2300yds, on the way to a 16-0 season? What a great game…

Anyway… I digress…

Number 5...

How bad did Tennessee look on Sunday night? How about bad enough to make Jay Fiedler look really, really good? Steve McNair was brutal, Eddie George couldn’t get anything going and sometimes looked a little tentative, and their receivers… well… McNair cant throw the ball down field, so we didn’t get a look at them. One player who looked good for the Titans was Jevon Kearse, that dude looks to be faster than last year, and he was absolutely everywhere for the Titans defense last night, if you watched the game you would have noticed that if Kearse wasn’t in on the tackle, he was very nearby, on every single play! That cat just doesn’t stop. Speaking of everywhere players, did you see the game Zack Thomas had last night? Playing virtually unblocked the entire game, Thomas kept Eddie George in check (18 carries, 49yds) and even managed to get an interception and take it to the house for a TD! What’s amazing is that that was Thomas’ 4th career interception for a TD, that is impressive for a 6th year man with only 10 career INT’s to his credit.

5A...

Another aside, sorry folks, the old noodle is on spin cycle this morning. Speaking of Jevon Jearse, the best commercial on TV right now is the DirecTV one with the guy standing in Kearse’s living room reading off the features and bonuses of DirecTV and Sunday NFL Ticket and when he is done Kearse gives the install guy a hearty slap on the butt and says “Good effort!”. Hilarious. The look on the guy’s face is priceless! I laughed out loud at that one, and it takes a lot to make me laugh at a commercial. Another good one along the same lines has Ricky Williams in it, dancing to the Dr. Hook theme while the DirecTV install guy is hooking everything up. Too funny. Anyone seen those commercials? Please tell me I’m not the only one…

Number 4...

Indianapolis laid “the Beats” to the J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets! Four TD’s on offense, one on special teams and a defensive TD, what a complete game that was. Indy’s defense isn’t all the way there yet, but they looked strong against a surprisingly good Jets team. But with the Colts, its all about offense with Harrison, Manning and the Edge. How good is Edgerrin James? Well, leading the league in rushing in your first 2 seasons is nothing to sneeze at, and his maturity is only going to make him better. James made a play on Sunday that made me sit up and think, this guy is special and is going to be for a long time, here is what happened…

The Colts were on the Jets 10 or so and looked poised to go in for a major, when Manning drops back and whips a dart to James coming across the middle at the goal line, the ball goes through James’ hands and is picked off by the Jets linebacker Marvin Jones, who runs it out to the 15 then fumbles it trying to make a move, where Manning promptly recovers the fumble… (uh oh... mind drifting again...)

Did you ever notice the power that TV commentators have over the game? If you are watching basketball and you hear an announcer say, “Vince Carter has made 36 straight free throws…” you can bet your bottom dollar that he will miss right after that comes out of the commentator’s mouth. It’s weird, it’s uncanny, it’s oddly entertaining. Case in point this weekend, when just seconds before Manning had that pass deflect off James’ hands and be intercepted, the CBS commentator’s showed a stat saying that Manning went the entire 2000 season without throwing an interception in the Red Zone. You all know its true people, don’t try to deny it, the commentator’s are always jinxing players with comments like that. I think they should keep that stat, how many times a commentator’s comment jinxed a player within 60 seconds of saying it… or something like that…

OK! Anyway, right after Manning recovers the fumble on the Jets’ 22 yard line, the Colts come to the line, and you have to think that Edgerrin James must be pissed having cost himself, his QB and his team a sure TD. So what does he do? The ensuing play, he rumbles down to the goal line with a hard fought run and then punches it in two plays later. That is special. The ability to come back after making an error and perform like that is something you just cant teach.

Number 3...

I cannot go without mentioning the 95yd fumble return for a TD by the Colts’ Chukie Nwokorie. The Jets were on the Colts 5yd line and were primed to go in for a score to make the game interesting (it would have been 38-31 had they scored, instead it ended up 45-24), when some lineman doubling as a fullback brushes into Testeverde causing him to screw up the play, and as he went to hand it off, Nwokorie steps in and literally takes the handoff from Testeverde! It looked hilarious! But not nearly as hilarious as Nwokorie rumbling, bumbling and stumbling down the sidelines en route to his first ever TD! And did any of you notice how utterly pathetic Vinny Testeverde looked trying to tackle Nwokorie? Vinny had like three chances to bring the big man down, but instead he made some silly spin-him-around-and-then-try-to-get-behind-him-again-to-drag-him-down type of move, I’ll bet old Vinny will be the butt of more than a few jokes at the film sessions this week!

3A...

Last time, I promise. But I just have to say this. Is there a funnier sight in all of sports than that of seeing a QB trying to make a tackle or block? I mean, they always just throw themselves at the feet of the opponent trying to knock them down, or if they feel really agressive, they try to put a hit on the guy, promptly displaying their poor tackling form and why they are a QB in the first place. Seriously, I dont think there is anything funnier than that, well except maybe seeing Cecil Fielder hustling to beat a ground ball, or maybe seeing goalies fighting eachother (why do goalies fight eachother anyway? I mean, there is all that padding, and such a long skate...), but neither of those things made me laugh the way I did seeing ol' Vinny trying to tackle Chukie Nwokorie on Sunday.

Number 2...

New Orleans vs. Buffalo. If there ever was a game that could be called “A Tale of Two Halves”, this is it. Buffalo dominated the first half with a running game and some short passes, on the way to a 6-0 lead. The most amazing stat of the fist half? Time of possession. Buffalo had the ball for 21:53, while the Saints only had it for 8:07. Aaron Brooks looked terrible in the first half and Ricky Williams gained only 5yds rushing! I was thinking to myself, oh my God! The Saints look terrible! But then halftime came, and went, and so did the Bills’ chances of winning this game. I don’t know what Coach Haslett said to his troops at halftime, but they came out looking completely different. Brooks settled down and showed why he was named their starter, Williams gained 88yds in the second half and ran harder than I have ever seen him run and the defense took Rob Johnson and the Bills completely out of their game. Sammy Knight picked off Johnson three times and the Saints went on to score 24 unanswered points. I haven’t seen a turnaround like that since the Bills came back from 31 to beat Oilers in the AFC playoffs a while back.

Number 1...

As per usual, I reserve the Number 1 slot for comments on the 49ers game, and this one deserves its lofty position. The Niners beat the Falcons 16-13 in an overtime thriller that saw the Niners come back from a 13-3 deficit in the 4th quarter. Jeff Garcia was his spectacular self, throwing for 335yds and a TD, Garrison Hearst continued his improbable comeback with 72 all purpose yards, and the receiving corps, now Jerry Rice-less, came up very big. Terrel Owens had 7 catches for 93 yards and J.J. Stokes had 5 catches for the same yardage, but he added a 4th quarter touchdown. Tai Streets set up the game winning FG with an exhilarating 52yd catch and run, en route to his 3 receptions for 81 yards. The Niners could have won this game had Garcia not overthrown Streets twice in the endzone late in the game, but hey, we will take a win any way we can get it. The Falcons rookie prize, Michael Vick (or Mike as he has asked to be called), was very ineffective in his pro debut, Vick went 0-4 passing, but did flash his brilliance gaining 32yds on the ground. Bottom line is, the Niners won an ever important divisional game and now sit at 1-0, with the enigmatic Saints about to come marching in, let’s hope the Niners can force those same Saints to go limping out…