Week One NFL Open Thread
The Ravens host the Bengals at M&T today as the NFL Season kicks off in earnest. Or to put it another way, the Joe Flacco era is officially here for better or worse.
For the record, I’m more or less on board with what Drew wrote in his blog, which is that his gut tells him the Ravens will win this one.
Division-wise, the Steelers host the Texans while the Browns host the Cowboys.
Here’s a thread for all the games today. Justin will, of course, have his unique take on the Ravens at some point tomorrow.
(Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)
the kid can play. and if the defense can stay healthy who knows what crazy shit can happen.
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn tom brady OUT FOR SEASON with torn acl
Currently, the Ravens have more September wins than the Orioles.
Anyone heavily invested in Randy Moss or Tom Brady for their fantasy teams should be really upset right now.
I know that my autodraft team that has not one but two stud WRs from Cincinnati and a one Mr. Welkah from New England is really hurting today.
There will be a mad dash for Matt Cassel on fantasy waiver wires all across the country this week. Here’s to the Brady owners who were smart enough to draft a solid backup.
Even bigger is that Brady’s injury completely rewrites the NFL playoff map. Who’s the AFC favorite now?
You have to figure Indy and San Diego are up there (even with their losses today). Pittsburgh and Jacksonville are in the mix. And, someone’s going to surprise us. Maybe Denver? Buffalo? Cleveland or Cincy? The Ravens? You never know.
Or perhaps I’m crazy. Maybe Matt Cassel is Tom Brady II and the joke’s on us.
Brady’s injury is especially helpful to you, Neal, since your Steelers will surely benefit from the anticipated drop off of the Patriots.
I still have the Patriots picked to win over the Jets next week… with Favre and without Brady or not. Cassel still looked okay, and Jets edged a win out over MIAMI.
@ Drew: maybe, but if the Pats go down the Steelers are still just fourth or fifth in line at best.
And, by the way, you’re not breaking any news.
@ Greg: Pats-Jets is going to be a dogfight. I didn’t realize until today that Cassel was the backup to Palmer and Leinart at USC. The backup QB at USC is probably good enough to start at more than half of the other D-I schools, I’d imagine, so who knows what this guy can do?
I wasn’t trying to break any news, everyone knows that Brady is done for the year. Or at least that’s how it’s being reported.
I was merely saying that you, chief among others, should be pleased given that the team you root for in Pittsburgh may benefit as much as any other team in the league…particularly because they play New England this year.
drew i rarely get to listen to your show but i did for a bit this morning. i’d have to take a valium to deal with with some of the “fans” of this city. i don’t know how you do it.
did you ever say “fuck” or “asshole” at least?
That got caught for a sec in the spam filter, BBM, but it’s rescued now.
Yes, I say both all the time. I mute the mic (like, today, for instance) and say, “is this fucking guy for real, or what?”
I said dick a couple of times last week but you’re allowed to say that now…you can call a guy a dick but you can’t say “suck a …”
can’t you just say “suck a vick” or something?
Wait…wut
Neal’s a Steelers fan?
“Wait…wut
Neal’s a Steelers fan?”
hahaha
@ xi0: It’s true — I talked about it here last season. It’s not a secret.
Here’s the basic recap: I was born in Pittsburgh, and my family moved to MD during the dead zone between teams. I followed the Steelers cuz I was born there and the ‘Skins cuz they were here.
I still follow the Ravens, though, and I hope they do well. But, this is why I brought Justin in to do the game recaps, because he’s a bigger fan than I am and I wanted to make sure that true-blue perspective was represented here.
I lost a lot of respect for you Neal, lol
Why aren’t you a Pirate fan then?
I was here (and ten years old) for the “Why Not?” year and I went to games back at Memorial Stadium. I fell in love with the Orioles, and that was that. Same thing probably would have happened if there had been a football team here then, but such is life.
Also, I live in and love Baltimore City, which has a lot to do with why this site exists. That’s kind of a separate thing from rooting for a team, at least to me.
Not saying one has to live in the city to talk Baltimore sports, just saying that it’s part of where I’m coming from.