Week 1 round up

Okey dokey, time to round up Saturdays pre-season action: Lions 7 @ Steelers 23: Probably the most exciting thing to happen at this game was the threat of lightning which caused the game to be stopped temporarily. Whether that was caused by God trying to punish Ben Roethlisberger or just the static from Troy Polamalus hair is as yet unknown. Dennis Dixon shined going 6/7 for 128 yards and a TD, as well as rushing 6 times for 31 yards. Steelers RB Issac Redman also caught the eye with 60 yards and a TD off 15 carries (so much fun watching him bounce off defenders, or vice versa). Worrying for Detroit fans will be the general lack of scoring on their behalf. Matthew Stafford hooking up with Calvin Johnson produced their only score, as Stafford went 8/11 for a TD and 1 INT. Other that, an unremarkable game. Browns 27 @ Packers 24: The difference in class is apparent. Aaron Rodgers 12/13 for 159 yards and a TD. Colt McCoy, 5/10 for 25 yards and 2 INTs. Brett Ratliff, 7/15 for 51 yards. Jake Delhomme, 6/7 for 66 yards. Only Seneca Wallace came close to being on par with his 2 TDs. Better news on the ground for Cleveland with Jerome Harrison rushing for 25 yards and a TD off of 7 carries. An important point here is that his longest carry was 5 yards, meaning the other 20 yards were spread evenly and consistently across his six remaining carries. In general the Browns receivers did well with their limited time which is a big positive to take forward. Defensively the credit goes to 2nd year Green Bay Corner Brandon Underwood with 5 solo tackles, an assist and 1 INT. Marcus Benard stood out for the Browns with 5 solos, 3 assists and a sack/fumble. Texans 16 @ Cardinals 19: Not exactly shootout material, but some good gains were had through the air. Derek Andersons 2 interceptions will hardly inspire Cardinals fans who aren't expecting much out of rookie Matt Leinart. Rookie John Skelton fell just 4 yards shy of Andersons 88 total yards, though it only took him 5 completions (out of 6 attempts) compared to Andersons 13/22. At least both threw TDs. The show was stolen though by two rookie LBs, both named Daryl, (though the Texans one spells his name with an extra R). Darryl Sharpton (Texans) produced 7 solo tackles and a pick, while Daryl Washington (Cardinals) delivered 9 solos and 4 assists. 2 sacks from Texans defensive end Mario Williams will also be greeted well in Houston. Vikings 28 @ Rams 7: Some believe that the Vikings may give Sage Rosenfels the chance to shop himself around. 23/34 for 310 yards and 3 TDs may just do the trick. He certainly gave the Rams a pause for thought as their best QB, (expensive) rookie Sam Bradford went 6/13 for just 57 yards. Vikings TE Garrett Mills also impressed with 4 catches for 106 yards and a TD. Defensively the Vikings generated 6 sacks, which is further proof that the 4-3 defense is not dead by a long shot. Cant say as the Rams will be particularly pleased with this result, even though it's just a pre-season game. Bears 10 @ Chargers 25: No picks from Jay Cutler which is always a bonus. Dan LeFevour did himself few favours though going 2/10 for just 21 yards. The biggest difference was on the ground though, as the Bears struggled to generate any rushing yards. Meanwhile the Chargers new toy Ryan Matthews put up 50 yards off just 9 carries. On the other side of the ball the Chargers will be pleased to have created 5 sacks without Shawne Merriman, while the Bears will still have to wait to see if Julius Peppers can provide a spark for them. Titans 18 @ Seahawks 20: Having struggled in training camp Charlie Whitehurst will be pleased with his 214 yards and 2 TDs (not the interception though). Meanwhile, with the Titans looking for a new backup to Chris Johnson after the departure of LenDale White, Javon Ringer did himself a few favours by taking 7 carries for 60 yards. Neither teams defense really produced any stand outs, though Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor did come up with a pick, which is only relevant in light of the mention I gave him after the DB drills at the combine, which can be found here: http://keepingthechainsmoving.blogspot.com/2010/03/group-10.html 49ers 37 @ Colts 17: Technically a Sunday game, but it's done so we might as well look at it. And you know, it must be frustrating being a Colts fan. You watch Peyton Manning walk out there and go 8/10 for 91 yards, with the drive capped by a Joseph Addai TD. Then Manning leaves and you watch Curtis Painter take the field, who promptly goes 9/19 for 64 yards and 3 INTs (plus a fumble). I don't think disheartening is the word for it. Still, it makes you understand better why HC Jim Caldwell chose to sacrifice a 16-0 season in favour of guaranteeing Mannings health for the play offs. On the other sideline, David Carr applied pressure on Alex Smith by completing 9/11 for 98 yards and 1 TD. The show stopper though was 49ers RB Anthony Dixon. Given the retirement of Glenn Coffee (to go and take religious orders), Dixon is expected to step up and be the number 2 behind Frank Gore this year. And when your number 2 is rushing for 100 yards and a TD off 21 carries, that's comforting. Defensively not much going. 49ers LB Bruce Davis and Mike Balogun combined for 9 solos and 3 assists plus a pick (Balogun) and a sack (Davis). For the Colts it was rookie LB Pat Angerer who stood up, with 5 solos, 3 assists and 2 sacks. Wellll, that's almost all the games done in week 1, just the Broncos @ Bengals to go which is on now. Currently Broncos 14, Bengals 17. Carson Palmer 12/15 for 105 yards. Kyle Orton 8/13 for 84 yards and 2 TDs. Brady Quinn was 2/8 for 5 yards and a pick, but he's currently putting together a drive before the end of the half that's already gone from their own 28 down to the Bengals 11. I see as well that the Bengals running game is already gashing the Broncos, with the reverse not being true. Anyway, that's enough for now. Oh wait! I'd just like to take another opportunity to pour more criticism on Akamai, the people who provide video services for NFL.com. Generally speaking their service is terrible. Recently I've come to believe this was entirely down to their attempts to put out HD video, but I've now realised that it's just all the video content they produce. Nice work Akamai. Pat on the back for F%*£ing up something that previously worked absolutely fine. I'll be back a little later to round up this final game. Till then, Have a great day everyone.