Can I tell you a secret? The Monkey and I were secretly hoping for the Minnesota Vikings to defeat the Packers purely out of unwarranted dislike for new Green Bay starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Why do I not care for this young lad, considering he and I have never met and he has done no personal harm to me that I am currently aware of? The answer to that question might not matter, if I only I recognize that this manner of thought (wishing for another being’s failure) isn’t doing much to make the world a better place. Only now, after an entire summer of me and my Monkey holding Rodgers and the Packers in a bad light ever since the Brett Favre Saga, can I freely redirect my NFL-loving energy and interest in a positive direction for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Does this mean I suddenly join the Aaron Rodgers Fan Club Space Craft, piloted by none other than Chief Rodgers’ Enthusiast “Jaws” Jaworski? Does this mean that I no longer wish Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy realize the errors of his ways?

Read below to find out…

Giants Rattle Reeling Redskins

By now you probably know that I am partial to the Washington Redskins and was understandably pumped when the NFL decided to pair up the Skins with the Superbowl Champion New York Giants for 2008’s Thursday Night season opener. Living in New England, it’s a rare thing for me to get an opportunity to see my boys grid it out on the local TV up in the Boston area. The fact this was a nationally televised game made this evening a very special episode of Thursday Night Football in mine and the Monkey’s eyes. So special, that despite having to leave for a three-night trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for the ABC Show in support of our website, OrganicGreenMommy.com, I was glued to the TV instead of packing my bags and oh, by the way, preparing our home for an inspection after recently going into contract to sell.

Earlier in the evening, I foolishly misread kickoff time to be 8pm and found myself in my local Radio Shack buying gear for my video camera. Driving back to my house I flipped on the radio and learned that Redskins were already down by a score in the first quarter and were about to be down by more. By the time I finally found my way to the living room easy chair, the Giants had increased their lead again.

The Redskins offense literally did not show up at all in the first half of the game, flustered by the ferocious Giants D. Eli did a great job of connecting  with his go-to receiver Plaxico Burress, especially in the first half, but did not put up a huge game statistically when all was said and done.  Truth be told, Redskind Quarterback Jason Campbell finished with a better quarterback rating than victorious Eli Manning, registering a 81.2 rating, as compared to Eli’s 61.1 rating.  If Eli does not run a clinic this weekend against the St. Louis Rams, I would be worried, were I a Giants fan.

The Redskins D turned up the heat a bit in the second half, shutting down the Giants completely. Only problem was the Redskins offense failed to make a first down in the third quarter and only found its rhythm once the game was out of reach. To make matters worse, freshman Head Coach Jim Zorn poorly handled his play selection and clock management.

They played with a glaring lack of urgency in the final drive of the game and must practice more situational play calling and game planning if he wishes to have any hope of delivering a plus .500 season. Truth be told, the Giants may even have more to worry about than the Redskins, considering their failure to truly capitalize on the Redskins’ ineptitude. After all, they kept the game mathematically within reach for the clearly out-matched Burgundy and Gold until the closing seconds.

Favre Magic Comes to Miami

I managed to see the fourth quarter of this game over lunch at the trade show in Las Vegas. When I caught a glimpse of the roughly two-dozen flat screen TV’s hanging over one of many food courts at the Las Vegas Convention Center, I was tickled to see Favre and the Jets clinging to a fourth quarter lead while discarded former Jet Chad Pennington finally got his groove on when it mattered most. Although I later learned that Pennington didn’t have the greatest game in the earlier quarters, I felt that he appeared confident and passed accurately, aided by his trademark gentle touch and smooth release.

New Favre teammate Darrelle Revis bailed out Brett with a last second end zone interception to seal the win, and I was actually torn by the result, quietly hoping the best for Pennington in his new role in Miami while simultaneously visualizing a Favre win in his first game with Gang Green.

Later, in my hotel room, I got to see Brett’s highlight reel, filling in some of the details from earlier in the game, including both of Favre’s ridiculous touchdown tosses. With the New England Patriots vulnerable now that 2007 MVP Tom Brady is out for the season, the New York Jets could easily capture the AFC East, securing a playoff spot for Favre and his new team.

In a previous post, I spoke of the Football Gods seeking to smite the Green Bay Packers with defeat this season, but now I realize the opening salvos of their master plan revealed: to pit Favre against his former team in the Superbowl, the only game this season that Favre could possibly exact “revenge” on the Packers. A Packers-Jets Superbowl is certainly unlikely, but not impossible. The Colts looked weak against the Bears on Sunday night, we already know about the challenges the Patriots could possibly face without Brady under center, and Chargers could again be on the verge of another colossal choke.

Could the Jets be a serious contender this season? No doubt about it.

Rodgers Quiets the Beast…For Now

Ron Jaworski could barely contain his enthusiasm for Rodgers’ performance on Monday Night against the Vikings. Despite some of the negative remarks I reserved for the Green Bay Packers over the summer, it’s difficult to argue that it’s not “so far, so good” for Aaron and the Packers with game one behind them.

(Note: When I went back and re-read my post predicting a 6-10 Packers finish, I realized that I am still technically, albeit somewhat, “accurate” in my overall opinion about the Pack’s chances this season, as I had noted that the Vikings would “likely sweep” the Packers in 2008. If the Vikes win the next one I won’t be entirely wrong in my prediction, with “likely” being the operative word. I will keep you up date on the accuracy of my prediction as the season progresses in this series.)

I gotta admit, Rodgers played virtually flawlessly for a “fourth year rookie,” and his supporting cast certainly stepped up to the plate in the victory too, as I now take a moment to apologize about mixing sport metaphors.

My earlier post also mentions that the Vikings last year were a quarterback away from being a playoff team, and unfortunately that still appears to remain the case. And yet, I’m starting to like Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson. The guy gets no respect. Sometimes, when I watch young Action Jackson play, I squint my eyes, just enough to obscure his form but still see his jersey number 7, urging me to remember vanquished Falcon Mike Vick in his early days. Tavaris has excellent running skills and seems to be a smart football player. I think one of his greatest weaknesses, however, is his accuracy, as he made several decent reads yet failed to hook up with his receivers on numerous occasions.

I think he might have a future ahead of him, provided his coaches either:

1) give him the chance to continue to develop at the expense of losing some games here and there, or

2) utilize him according to his strengths, a la Bill Cowher’s deployment of Kordell Stewart back in 1995 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he lined up all over the field, including wide receiver. I’m not aware of Jackson’s catching abilities, but there is no doubt he can run. He has the potential to be Vick-like in his ability to run a run-oriented offense similar to the Atlanta Falcons’ ground-gnashing attack conceived by former Head Coach Jim Mora.

Raiders Look Silly in Broncos Slap-Around

This game kept me up until after midnight this past Monday night, despite the fact that after returning from my trip to Las Vegas I had just a single night at home before packing my bags again for a three-day trip to Rhode Island. These are two teams that for some reason I can conjure little concern for, other than noting my Aaron Rodgers-esque dislike of Jay Cutler, for no reason other than Head Coach Mike Shannahan’s decision to dump playoff quarterback Jake Plummer in exchange for Cutler during the 2006 season. I felt that Plummer took the fall for the Shannahan Regime after losing the 2005 Championship Game back in 2005, despite compiling one of the best seasons of his often controversial career. For this, I wanted to blame that genius Mike Shannahan for ending Plummer’s career. Suddenly I realized that in a way, I was also blaming Cutler himself for Plummer’s benching. More accurately, I was hoping for Shannahan to be wrong, and for Shannahan to be wrong, Cutler had to fail. In his textbook performance, Cutler, like Rodgers, silenced the Monkey in my mind that secretly hoped for their collective failure, in vain hopes of proving their coaches wrong to hand the reigns to these mostly unproven quarterbacks. The success that both of these quarterbacks achieved in Week One indicates that their coaches saw something excellent in practice when they made their move to promote the former bench-warmers to starters. For that, I’ll tip my hat to Coaches McCarthy and Shannahan for the time being.

On the other side of the Cutler Clinic were the hapless Oakland Raiders, looking like lost little children under seemingly juvenile second year Head Coach Lane Kiffin (aka Youngblood). Jamarcus Russell was unremarkable and top draft pick Darren McFadden a non-factor. I feel bad for those guys and don’t see much hope of improvement during this season. This AFC West matchup was a beatdown from jump, but another AFC West rival had better have taken notice of the Broncos, Cutler, and his high-flying rookie receiver Eddie Royal. The Chargers’ 2007 Division Championship will be sorely contested by the Broncos this season and I look forward to their Week Two matchup.

Until next week…

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