Week 1 - Mon Sep 8 10:53:47 PDT 2008

From: Jeff
To: mnf@doobie.com
Subject: It's Monday...

...and apparently, this was the weekend of the quarterback.

So... the Eagles are looking better than they have in years, starting their season with a 38-3 rout of of the St. Louis Rams. Donovan McNabb played long enough to throw for 361 yards, three touchdowns, and chucked three 30+ yard passes. Then he sat down, and let backup Kevin Kolb finish up. But that's hardly the story. The Eagles pretty much dominated this game from start to finish. They're healthy, well coached, and have a substantial amount of veteran talent, and wow did they look good out there. That said, they were playing the Rams, who looked worse than ever. Next week, the Eagles go to Dallas, on Monday night, where one of them will take control of the NFC East, and we'll see whether they're for real.

Aah, the Cowboys. They went to Cleveland this week, and spanked the Browns 28-10, almost entirely on the ground game. The Dallas offensive line is tight, and as more teams move towards the West coast offense (and thus, more teams move towards defending against the West coast offense), you'll find that the handful of teams that can move the ball both on the ground and the air will have a clear advantage. QB Tony Romo was looking pretty good out there too (24 for 32, 320 yards, 1TD, 1 Int). But, he earned these numbers by throwing the ball to essentially everyone on the field (seven offensive players had at least one catch)... this is a big deal, especially as players start to succumb to injuries. Cleveland will host the Steelers next Sunday.

Our own San Francisco 49ers looked downright terrible out there, losing to the Arizona Cardinals 23-13. Someone needs to tell QB J.T. O'Sullivan that his name has too many punctuation marks. No, wait. Someone needs to tell him that three turnovers in a game is three too many (we'll forgive the other two that the rest of the team gave up). Beyond that, the less said about this game, the better. The niners go to Seattle next week. The less said about that, the better.

Speaking of downright terrible... did you see the Colts try to break in their brand new stadium? The temporarily gimpy, yet perennially douchey Peyton Manning is looking like his knee is going to be a problem all season. The porous offensive line in front of him... they're definitely going to be a problem all season. They got beat by the Chicago Bears, 29-13, and really, it could've been much worse. The bears dominated this game from start to finish.

I'm sure that you all wondered when I was going to mention the Patriots. This week, Brady and the Pats opened their season at home against the Chiefs. This game had a 17 point spread, which, with a 17-10 victory, the Pats failed to cover. But that's not the story of this game. The story of this game is Tom Brady's season-ending left knee injury. This is after skipping the preseason with a right foot injury. Remember all of those years that the Eagles sucked because McNabb was constantly hurt or recovering? Say hello to the 8-8 Patriots.

Speaking of recovery, how about those Atlanta Falcons? After a season dominated by the Michael Vick fiasco, capped off by Bobby Petrino 's late-season behavior (which earned him the douchebag of the year title), it was unclear what was going to burn off all the bad karma. Rookie QB Matt Ryan may have answered that question. The very first time he threw the ball as a professional player, Ryan found Michael Jenkins on a 63 yard play for a touchdown. That was the sign of things to come. The Falcons started the game with a 21-0 lead, on their way to a 34-21 thumping of the Detroit Lions. Remember that comment about teams that can move the ball on the ground? Michael Turner (formerly a backup player on the Chargers' bench) ran for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta goes to Tampa Bay next week (hurricane Ike permitting). Detroit hosts Green Bay.



Which brings us to tonight's games.

The Games:

Tonight, the 0-0 Farveless Green Bay Packers host the 0-0 Minnesota Vikings on the thawing tundra of Lambeau field. This represents the beginning of the Aaron Rogers era in Green Bay, and it remains to be seen whether that's good or bad for the cheese heads.

Also tonight, the Denver Broncos are going to Oakland, where they'll certainly receive a fitting welcome from the Raider nation. Whether the Raiders themselves are actually going to show up and play remains to be seen. It's also unclear whether ESPN is going to buy the hundreds of remaining seats at the Coliseum – which otherwise will prevent the game from being televised locally.

So, we might get a doubleheader. We might not.


The Line:

The Packers are favored by two, the over/under is 37.5

The Broncos are favored by three, the over/under is 41.

On Thursday, the Smart Money did not look all that smart, since neither the Giants nor the Redskins have shit for offense. It is now 0-1, representing a 100% loss. In the same timeframe, the S&P 500 has gone up 1.5%

Tonight, the Smart Money takes the Packers and the over during the first game... and (curiously) the Raiders for the late game.


The Bar:

Well, tonight, we have a cavalcade of sports. In addition to the two NFL games, there's a Giants game at 7:15 (There are $7 tickets available), and the US Open final, which starts at 2:00. So, we need to go to a bar with a lot of TVs. In the past, this one's treated us well in this situation:

Greens Sports Bar.
2239 Polk Street, near Green.

Steps from the 19 Polk.
Within a block of the Van Ness busses: 47,49,76, and within a block of several Downtown/SOMA Union street busses (41, 45)

Kickoff is at 4:00, then again at 7:15.

See you there?

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