Week One Observations

I won't be doing these every week, but Week One always has a lot of immediately digestable football food for thought.

1. Don’t get too excited about this Alfred Morris cat. Roy Helu is a better back – as is just about every other “starting” back in the league.

2. Do get excited about this RGIII cat. It’s all there. It’s already there.

3. Having said that, know that Mike Shanahan has long presided over shocking road wins against more talented teams, especially early in the season. Shanahan teams generally play to the level of their competition. Don't forget they started last season 3-1 and beat the Giants twice.

4. Vote no on Mark Ingram.

5.  Darren Sproles will run the kickoff out unless it’s impossible to do so.

6. The Saints were sloppier than a Joe on Sunday. It remains to be seen if that was an isolated incident or the habitual byproduct of, you know, not having a coaching staff.

7. Tamba Hali’s return gives the Chiefs a 5-spot bonus in the power rankings this week. They missed him desperately against Matt Ryan and the Falcons, whose first punt came with 3:11 left in the game, up 23 points.

8. Atlanta’s big win comes with two caveats: the Chiefs were missing some major pieces on defense and crucial cornerback Brent Grimes was lost for the season. Take the over Monday night against the Broncos.

9. Stevan Ridley’s week one performance will be written off by many fantasy pundits as a variant. His numbers will be dismissed by the “experts” as unlikely to recur thanks to his coach, who loves flipping backs in and out of heavy action in unpredictable and frustrating fashion for fantasy owners. But here’s the thing:

Ridley is really good. He’s much better than Danny Woodhead or anyone else the Patriots have. He can run, he can catch, he’ll play in the red zone. The Patriots are in part known for shuffling backs because they haven’t had an above-average back since Corey Dillon. With New England’s defense also improving, Ridley is going to do a lot of damage this season. The Patriots no longer need to chuck it fifty times a game to win.

10. LeSean McCoy, who had somehow fumbled just four times in his career despite his uniquely outrageous ball-carrying style, coughed one up early against the Browns. It will be interesting to see if McCoy will be asked to change his style should the fumbling continue.

11. Andy Reid, as he’s wont to do, forgot McCoy was on his team the third quarter of the Cleveland game.

12. Brandon Weeden is Colt McCoy in high heels.

13. Blaine Gabbert’s days as a laughingstock are over. Those days now belong to Weeden and Ryan Tannehill.

14. Kevin Kolb is and has always been better than John Skelton. Every stat except for winning percentage backs it up.

15. As mentioned in this space before, Mike Tomlin is one of the league’s worst clock managers. Tomlin has been lucky a blunder has never cost the Steel a high-profile game.

16. Love how Ray Lewis lost the weight drinking vegetable juice and bicycling. Love Ray Lewis.

Power Rankings:

1. New England (2)

2. San Francisco (16)

3. Green Bay (1)

4. Denver (10)

5. Chicago (5)

6. Atlanta (4)

7. Dallas (12)

8. Baltimore (15)

9. Pittsburgh (7)

10. New York Giants (8)

11. Detroit (13)

12. Houston (18)

13. Washington (21)

14. New Orleans (6)

15. Kansas City (9)

16. New York Jets (14) 

17. Philadelphia (3)

18. Tampa Bay (24)

19. Carolina (11)

20. Buffalo (17)

21. Jacksonville (23)

22. San Diego (19)

23. St. Louis (25)

24. Seattle (20)

25. Minnesota (28)

26. Cincinnati (22)

27. Arizona (30)

28. Indianapolis (26)

29. Tennessee (29)

30. Oakland (27)

31. Miami (31)

32. Cleveland (32)