Thoughts on early NFL action

                                          (Photo is courtesy of the NY Times)

Hey, guys. I apologize for my lack of a blogging presence lately. The combination of school, running a newspaper sports section, computer troubles and being so damn handsome and charming have taken up most of my free time.

Anyway, I have some short thoughts on the early NFL action.

1.       Peyton Manning is not to be believed. I’m having trouble remembering a team with playoff hopes starting a 38-year old quarterback on purpose, save for Brett Favre. And he’s had the best two weeks you could have to open a season. First, he bent over the defending Super Bowl Champions and made them call him “Heisenberg.” Which must have been awesome for him because: he threw seven touchdowns, he beat the loudest, proudest, most arrogant group of pricks in the league, he avenged last year’s playoff disaster and he threw SEVEN FREAKIN’ TOUCHDOWNS. He then showed the little brother who’s boss for the third time in a row while making sure the ridiculous “which Manning had the better career” nonsense is never brought up again. All this while watching Tom Brady start to look ordinary. Long live the king.

2.      After this week’s Browns/Colts trade, you could go on plenty of sites to find people defending the trade from the Browns perspective. And while they’re right (Richardson isn’t that good, you can find an rb anywhere), there hasn’t been nearly enough criticism of the Colts. Because as has been made clear, you can find a competent running back ANYWHERE. Do they expect us to believe they couldn’t find a running back of similar value for a fourth or fifth-round pick? Richardson is a 3.5 yard per carry guy. How hard is it to find a guy like that? And the whole “he only sucked because he was on a shitty team” narrative is dumb. The Bills have 1000-yard rusher just about every year. Bad teams have great running backs all the time. Hell, Peyton Hillis was a 1000-yard rusher for this team three years ago. Enjoy a season of 20 rush, 65 yard games, Colts fans.

3.      While there’s been plenty of talk about the Dolphins and Chiefs being undefeated, there hasn’t been nearly as much about the Bears and Saints. Both have received little buzz despite the fact that they could both easily be playoff teams. The Bears were a game away from the playoffs each of the last two years. They still have a great defense, a pretty good quarterback and a fun new coach. And did everyone forget the Saints were 13-3 two years ago? They have the league’s best offense, a top-five quarterback and Sean Payton. They’re a playoff team for sure.

Enjoy this week’s action, peeps. Stay hungry, my friends.