It was supposed to be a great game on the first Sunday afternoon of the NFL season between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers. Instead, The Eagles made the Panthers look more like kittens, as they went on to an easy 38-10 victory.
After taking a 7-0 lead on a DeAngelo Williams 11 yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the Eagles reeled off 31 consecutive points, 28 of them in the 2nd quarter. After the always reliable David Akers made it 7-3, the walls all came down for the Panthers. Linebacker Trent Cole started the fireworks by blitzing up the middle untouched and hammering Delhomme to force a fumble. Victor Abiamiri scooped up the loose ball and dove in for a TD from the 2 yard line. Minutes later, Desean Jackson returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown, and the rout was on. Donavan Mcnabb added two short touchdown passes in the quarter to make it 31-7, before the ageless John Kasay's Field Goal made it 31-10 at half time.
The Eagles scoring was set up by a ferocious defence which totally dominated the football game. They were relentless in their pursuit of Delhomme, as they sacked him 3 times and forced him to throw 4 interceptions. The Eagles finished with 5 sacks and 5 interceptions with relentless blitzing the Panthers had no answer for. They battered and demoralized the bewildered Delhomme who started his second consecutive terrible games going back to last season's playoffs. Despite having offensive weapons in Steve Smith and DeAngelo Williams, the Panthers offence was never able to get on track after their initial 70 yard drive which yielded their only TD, as the Eagles defence forced them in to mistake after mistake. Delhomme struggled terribly and was mercifully pulled in the second half. He finished with an anemic 73 yards passing and 4 interceptions on 7 of 17 passing, as well as a fumble which was returned for an Eagle TD. What was supposed to be a clash of two of the better teams in the NFL turned out to be a one sided beating. Mcnabb needed only 79 yards passing with 2 TD's and 27 yards on the ground with a TD to get the Victory. Mcnabb later injured a rib and left the game, with the suspended Michael Vick watching intently from the press box.
Both teams must address their QB issue next week. Donovan Mcnabb is nursing a cracked rib and his status is unknown for next week. With a dominating performance by the Eagles defence in the opening game, Eagle fans have good reason to be optimistic this season. As for the Panthers, Jake Delhomme is nursing a severely bruised ego, as his confidence must be at an all time low. Delhomme needs to rebound and get the dangerous Steve Smith and the sure handed but aging Muhsin Muhammed in to the game. The speedy DeAngelo Williams must also play a larger role. On the defence, they need more from their All-pro defensive end Julius Peppers. Peppers was good on Sunday, registering a sack and 4 tackles, but the Panthers need him to be dominant as he is capable of in order to give the Panthers a much needed spark.
Until next week... GB
It was a classic battle between long standing divisional rivals. The Tennesse Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers, faced off against the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Dating back to the late 70's, there has never been any love lost between these 2 teams. The Earl Campbell led Oilers had numerous classic battles against the vaunted "Steel Curtain" of the Pittsburgh Steelers, including a 1980 Conference Final which the eventual Super Bowl winning Steelers won 27-14.
The 2009 inaugural NFL match up began as a defensive struggle. Both sides made big plays, none more spectacular than the one made by Steelers bruising safety Troy Polamalu. With the Titans pinned near their own end zone, Titans running back Chris Johnson received a hand off to the left of Titans QB Kerry Collins. As the speedy Johnson attempted to turn and gain some yardage, Polamalu appeared out of nowhere like a heat-seeking missile, taking the legs out from Johnson. It was spectacular and violent, and the Steelers crowd loved it. Polamalu would later make a one-handed interception before leaving the game with a knee injury.
Kerry Collins was efficient in the first half, moving his team down the field for 2 field goal opportunities. The Titans failed to capitalize, as Rod Bironas missed one FG wide, and had another blocked. Both teams traded touchdowns in the final 90 seconds in the first half, including Ben Roethlisberger hitting Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes for a 34 yard TD. Kerry Collins connected with Justin Gage with 48 seconds remaining in the first half on what would be the last TD of the game.
The second half was as brutal as the first. Both teams failed to establish any running game, and it became obvious it was to be a duel between Collins and Roethlisberger. Although the Titans sacked Big Ben four times, including a crunching hit by Javon Kearse which left Roethlisberger visibly shaken, the big man stood his ground and eventually took over the game. The offensive line settled down and he had lots of time to throw, however the Titans inexplicably stopped blitzing by the fourth quarter. By the end of the game, he had accumulated 363 yards on 33 of 43 passing. His passes were sharp and crisp, giving receivers Hines Ward and Holmes over 100 yards receiving. As the game went in to OT and the Steelers won the coin toss, the outcome was inevitable. Roethlisberger quickly drove his team down the field and set up Kicker Jeff Reed for a wining 33 yard field goal, giving the Steelers a 13-10 victory.
It was a hard fought and possibly costly victory for the Steelers. Safety Troy Polamalu will reportedly miss the next 3-6 weeks with his knee injury, although he will be re-evaluated shortly. Polamalu led his team in tackles despite playing only in the first half. For the Oilers, the 2 missed field goals were costly. They must re-group and continue to play solid football. They do not have any real weapon at Wide Receiver, although Roookie Kenny Britt looked impressive in his first NFL game. The Steelers must address their running game which yielded only 36 yards, but with Roethlisberger constantly improving, and with their bone crunching defense in place, they will most certainly be a threat to repeat as Super Bowl Champs again.
To anyone interested in all kinds of trivia, I have come across a website that could be very interesting to a lot of people. As I was listening to the Team 990 radio a few days ago while driving home, somebody mentioned the "Sporcle" website. (www.sporcle.com). After listening to P.J Stock take some calls concerning the future captaincy of the Montreal Canadiens, I decided to check out the site myself. I have to say it's a very cool site. The sports trivia is really interesting, and since your given a time limit to answer, it makes it all the more challenging. One of the questions is to name all the 500 Goal scorers in NHL history. Being a big hockey fan, I thought it would be a cinch! As time ran out, I realized I still had some empty places, including a 640 goal scorer!! I quickly realized I had forgotten Dave Andreychuk!! For anybody interested, it's really cool and keeps you sharp, many different subjects. Still waiting for the Hockey season to begin!!
