It Has Begun - NFL Week 1
 

We needed a thread.

In my basement, beer in hand, in front of my 55 inch flat screen. Kids in bed, life is good.

Enjoy the season boys, it's the best time of the year

LOL @ Ray Lewis being the guy to do one.

Ryan Seacrest?

game delayed for lightning and we have umbrellas?

This is the worst case of football blue balls I have ever had.

This delay is killing the NFL right now. They are going to be losing east coast viewers like crazy at halftime.

I'm putting ALL of this on Seacrest.

Ray Lewis thinks this is a conspiracy. Clearly the NFL changed the weather system to throw the east coast Ravens off their game.

Also, is Dungy drunk?

We'll see how you feel after Sunday night's game. :devil:

It has not begun.....

Whats with the patdowns?

I was wondering that myself.

I was wondering the same thing

I'll still feel like the fan of a team with 2 titles in the last 7 years.

I feel like this is an old school wrestling match and we're gonna see brass knuckles come out when the ref turns his back.

Oh my god, it's like no one has ever experienced weather before.

Broncos looked really confused on that drive.

Way too easy.

It's early but I didn't understand why the Broncos defense was rated so highly, even when Von Miller is back. Pretty mediocre across the board as far as I can tell

Good drive from the Ravens. The Broncos are going to have serious problems the first six weeks. Without Miller's pass rush, the defense is very, very, very below average. Flacco looks like Tom Brady. (OK, a Tom Brady that makes horrible decisions with the football, can't read a third down to save his life despite having 45 minutes to throw the ball and even attempted to give Denver a pick six on a play where there was no pressure) The point is, when it looks that easy for him, it's going to be an ugly six weeks. The offense better be ready.

My feelings on Flacco are well known and I fully understand if anyone disagrees with me.

But the last pass is what drives me crazy with QB's. That was not a difficult pass. It was easy. one on one coverage, no pressure at all, WR runs a great route and gets open. . . if the ball is where 75% of NFL QB's put it, Jacoby Jones is still running. Instead, he has to turn his body 180 degrees and catches the ball behind him for a nine yard gain.

That play design by the coach and the other 10 guys on the field was 70+ yards. Flacco turned it into 9.

I know the narrative will be he's playing great right now and he will likely have a monster game tonight. But I think you'll find the Denver D without Miller (and certainly without Champ) will be ripe for the taking by anyone. Missing passes like that kills offenses. The highest paid QB in the league should hit the guy on the run there.

hes also a bottom 10 QB, who had an outlier career high at the perfect time. everyone in the AFC north was thrilled when he resigned. hes A not good and B WWWWWAAAAYYYYYY overpaid

Flacco's making me wish I started him in fantasy right now. Which says more for the Denver D than for Flacco.

Whoops.

Yeah, that was not too good.

wow, what a pick

Wow. What a turn of events. Until then the Denver D had looked slow and Manning looked rusty. Ball game is on.

Alright, so Jacoby Jones is down, but Flacco needs to respond.

...and he misses a wideopen WR on 2nd down...

...and Dallas Clark to the rescue!

Dallas Clark doesn't look right wearing a numbering the 80s.

agreed

Flaccos muff punt plan worked!

Welker!

Wow, Welker.

Welker...really, dude?

Serves us right for adding Patriots. . . :)

<---watches everybody go sign Thomas for their fantasy football team

Heh, I have him.

...on my bench today. Pity. Though with any luck, I'll find a sucker who'll overpay in trade for him now.

Peyton is throwing to the wrong Thomas

Last year, I really thought Julius Thomas would break out in a huge way. He always looked good at training camp, ran good routes and had a ton of athleticism. I thought Manning would turn him into something special.

The Broncos instead brought in multiple tight ends and Thomas sat the bench. Honestly, I thought it was over for the kid. I thought if Manning couldn't turn him into something, nobody would.

Fast forward to this season, I saw he won the starting job and I shrugged my shoulders. I figured with Welker there, the TE would be taken out of the offense and Thomas might get a catch or two a game.

One game does not make a career, but this is what I thought we could see last year when I actually drafted this kid in the later rounds for all my fantasy teams.

Go figure.

has Monte ball even had a touch?

Not in my leagues buddy. :cool:

I've now had 2 texts from co-workers saying, "Why didn't you start Thomas, man!??!"

Started Thomas in a fanduel league; that is paying dividends so far. Might turn my 2 dollar bet into 50.

In other news, has Ray Rice lost a step or something? What is the deal with the Ravens pretty much refusing to use him?

Edit: Nevermind, I guess he has 12 touches.. Just seems like he isn't being featured enough, given their shitty receiver situation.

Manning's velocity is a littler lacking...

Well that was an ugly drive.

Julius Thomas is sitting on someone's bench in our league. I have a feeling everyone rushes to grab him, but I don't see him keeping this up. Welker, Decker, DThomas. Too many weapons for Julius to get a lot of touches long term. But he does remind me of a young Antonio Gates with his raw athleticism.

Hehas40yards and a TD. Seems like they are using him a lot.

So I started the wrong bronco receiver named Thomas tonight.

Like seeing Dallas Clark doing well (except for the drop, but he did bail them out on that drive earlier). One of my favorite Colts ever. Stand up guy, donated for many years to our school's auction.

Well, that drop wasn't great.

Montee ball fantasy owners not happy right now

Ouch Dallas Clark.

and he tries to make up for last years boneheaded play. That was a textbook hit. It shows how you can hit hard and still be clean in this league.

Be surprised if we see Clark after that hit. His bell was rung.

What is scary is how Denver may look in 4-5 weeks once all these guys get their rhythm going. Could rival Manning's weapons in 2004/05.

Speaking of hits... anyone think that earlier hit on Trindon Holliday shouldn't have been a penalty? It looked bad because Holliday weighs 155, but I don't think he'd actually stepped out yet.

Yeah, if Thomas, J. becomes a guy other teams have to seriously account for, that passing game is going to be deadly.

You add Julius Thomas, who isn't just a threat at TE, but a deep threat, and this offense goes from great to potentially historically great. Ball will get carries and I believe he'll play well. Hillman is great used in spurts. Moreno can catch and run out of the backfield. Then you get to D. Thomas, Decker, and Welker? I mean, it gets truly frightening.

The Donkies had 67 yards on their first three drives, zero points.

They have 255 yards and five TD's on their last six drives.

Manning is 15-19 with 5TD passes in those drives.

The offense could be pretty damned special.

I thought he stepped out, but I didn't rewind and look at it frame by frame.

When a guy has given up and slowed down, you simply are not going to get that call a lot of the time if you take a shot.

I tend to agree - the Ravens really should have paid Boldin. They have a couple of nice deep threats but they are sorely lacking the guy who can get open for Flacco or make a bail out catch. Of course, it would have looked better with Pitta but still.

That's the type of shot I believe deserves suspension every bit as much as the helmet to helmet hits. It was not necessary and clearly cheap. It's fine to give a guy like that 15 yards, but if you truly want to make the game safer, you sit guys who do that. I don't care if it's a Broncos, Raven, Raider or college player. That type of behavior should be punished harshly.

It could very well be. And it's early to get excited, but this could be an incredible team. I remember the 2004 Colts when Manning had 49 TDs. Harrison, Wayne, and Stokley all had 1000 yes and 10 TDs at least. After that, Clark was still young, Pollard was okay. Edgerrin was in his prime, but Denver has incredible depth in the backfield. This Broncos team is probably deeper.

This might solve my indecisiveness on who to play in Madden 25. I was wanting to move the Jags to London, but wow. This team is going to be fun to watch.

And this is only the first game. Damn I've missed football.

The Broncos are playing without their two cornerbacks. They are without their best pass rusher. Dallas Clark has not been horrible tonight, so I think he's replaced Pitta just fine.

If Boldin means that much to the team, they were in serious trouble to begin with. If there is anything wrong, I'd say it's Jones being out. That said, Flacco should be torching this defense. They can't run the ball, which is not Flacco's fault. They can't throw the ball, which is.

I just hope the Broncos don't get complacent here. The defense is still weak. Flacco has big plays in him. This game is not over yet.

They can't throw the ball because they have nobody who can get open on those intermediate routes. 2 deep guys is not that hard to take away if you can't hit the 10-15 yard routes and run the ball.

And yah, I think Boldin means a lot more to them seeing as he more than doubled Jones' production last year and was massive in the playoffs. It's a huge hole for them to fill, even if Jones was on the field.

No amount of money will keep me from the Broncos-Colts game this year….although I can imagine some crazy money is going to be thrown around for tix.

I would agree that Denver's D is suspect. The tackling was awful early and really only changed once the Ravens lost Jones and Oher. They have the potential to improve since they are missing some of their best players.

Well, scratch my concerns. They don't have a prayer of stopping this team.

374 yards and 6 TD's. . . with over 300 yards of that and all the TD's in just under 2 quarters. Damn.

And the Decker/Thomas combo have five combined catches. Nice win, doesn't make up for Moore being an idiot last year, but I'll take what I can get.

Bad Flacco! Bad.

Well that's a thumping continuing

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Followed by the revenge of the Plaxico play. hahaha

People with the Denver D scream.

wut? just stopped watching.

wat wut?

He so obviously dropped that ball early I can't comprehend how Michaels/Collinsworth didn't notice it right away. Sucks that the Denver player got hurt trying to pick up the ball in the end zone, but good job by Stokley not giving up on the play.

Ugh, Broncos fans not in fantasy are pissed. Woodyard is critical this year. That would be a very bad injury.

It goes from 49-17 to 42-24 and now we have to keep the starting offense out there. Just a horrible football play. I like the kid and how he plays, I'm glad we had a large lead when he did it.

Still, silly and stupid. A play you just cannot make.

I hate when teams take their foot of the gas. 8 minutes. 3 scores. Not impossible.

Did Collinsworth really just say that it was a few minutes away from one TD making it a one score game?

Ummm, it's not one score, it's three. I understand it's not a game again because of the screw up, but this isn't exactly nail biting time either. Not yet anyway.

GAME OVER

SEVEN TDS! And it doesn't even feel like it. Amazing performance by Manning.

And somehow, Damaryius Thomas has me a "quiet" 36 fantasy points.

Holy shitballs. Manning with a team like this might throw 60 TDs.

This Manning guy isn't bad

They should go for 8, fuck it.

Manning has the best receiving corps he has ever had this year.

How would you like to be the WR who played and didn't catch a TD pass the night he threw 7?

Looks like Decker will be the forgotten man

:( for my fantasy team.

Go for eight!

Seriously. This could be pretty scary this year.

Glancing through my fantasy league….people that started someone from Denver scored a total of 152 points tonight (Manning had 65 alone)

Decker had some drops tonight. He was targeted 7 times. I think Decker will have a couple of monster games. If you have a choice of who to go man on, do you pick either Thomas or Welker? I think you make Decker beat you.

Nice start for the Donkies. Very good offense.

So, sitting Peyton for Kaepernick was a bad idea.

Thursday's opener has pretty much already wrapped up 3 of the 6 games in my league.

I didn't see any "running up the score" haranguing this morning. I must have been looking in the wrong places.

Someone in one of my leagues is from Colorado, and like half her team is Broncos. Glad I didn't play her this week.

I was joking. If I was coaching, Peyton would have been on the sideline at that point.

Always.

Besides, as Collinsworth astutely observed, the Ravens were one TD away from making it a one-score game at that point. :D

Two score game with 4:30 left? Zero chance I ever have Peyton on the sideline in that situation.