MINNEAPOLIS — It’s Week 2 in the National Football League and we’re here in the press box at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis for a pretty important matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings.
One of these teams will shuffle out of the Humphrey Dome with an 0-2 record and after both teams were borderline dreadful in Week 1, no one will be surprised which of these two teams it is.
As he was called in a headline in the Twin Cities Star-Tribune this morning, Indy’s Peyton Manning is the "rusty, slow, dangerous quarterback." Granted, he and the Colts were drilled at home by Chicago last week, but you can never underestimate the things Manning can do.
The Vikings, meanwhile, are a team that didn’t pass the consistency test last week in Green Bay. They lost 24-19, but had a dozen opportunities to win the game. In the end, quarterback Tarvaris Jackson threw an interception on the final drive to lose it.
One of these teams will snap out of it today and we’ll have all the action and colour right after the final gun.
In the meantime, here are the 10 things you need to know heading into Week 2. (By the way, go see Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Burn After Reading. Spectacular flick.)
1. By Tuesday morning, only 16 teams will be able to boast about having a perfect 2-0 record. That leaves at least 16 clubs at 1-1 or 0-2. Since NFL realignment in 2002, 42 of the 72 playoff teams (58.3 per cent) began the year at either 1-1 or 0-2. Four of the past seven Super Bowl champions began their seasons with a 1-1 or 0-2 record, including the Super Bowl XLII Champion New York Giants. In case you’ve forgotten, the Giants started 0-2 last season and coach Tom Coughlin nearly got his butt fired.
2. In case you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a scoop: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. However, the NFL still has plenty of durable quarterbacks. New York Jets QB Brett Favre (I still have trouble writing, "New York Jets QB Brett Favre), who goes head-to-head against Matt Cassel and the Patriots today (more on that later), holds the NFL record for consecutive regular-season starts with 254. Indy’s Peyton manning will start No. 162 here in Minnie today.
3. Speaking of Peyton, he’s had plenty of success against the Vikings. According to the league, Manning has thrown four touchdowns in each of his two career games against Minnesota. With a similar performance today, he can become the first NFL quarterback to pass for four touchdowns in three consecutive games against an opponent. OK, that’s an obscure milestone, but it’s still pretty good.
4. And on the topic of obscure milestones the Eagles Donovan McNabb can break a 22-year-old record this Monday night when Philadelphia plays the Cowboys in Dallas. McNabb, coming off a three-touchdown performance last week against St. Louis, needs two TD passes against Dallas tomorrow night to surpass former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski (1977-86) as the Eagles’ career leader. Oh yeah, and Jaworski will be covering the game in Dallas for ESPN.
5. When the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals meet up in the Cards home opener today, history suggests there will not be very many incomplete passes. Dolphins QB Chad Pennington (65.5) and Cardinals starter Kurt Warner (65.1) lead the NFL with the highest career completion percentages. That’s right, Pennington and Warner are 1-2 ahead of No. 3 Steve Young and No. 4 Peyton Manning.
6. Perhaps the most intriguing game of the weekend will feature the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Before the season began, this was going to be a matchup between Jets QB Brett Favre, the NFL career leader in all the major passing categories, against three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. But Brady’s gone for the duration (knee surgery) and a seventh-round draft choice from 2005 named Matt Cassel is the quarterback. Cassel, who backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert at USC, hasn’t started a game since high school. However, be fair. Brady was a sixth-round pick who carried a clipboard for a year before replacing the injured Drew Bledsoe. Favre, who now calls himself "a New Yorkian," was a second-round pick who was traded after his rookie year (and no starts) from Atlanta to Green Bay before he got his chance. This will be an intriguing matchup because after Brady’s success, you can’t write off Cassel quite yet.
7. Atlanta Falcons rookie QB Matt Ryan’s 62-yard touchdown pass on his first NFL attempt last Sunday was the first time a player threw a TD pass of 50 or more yards in the first quarter of his NFL debut since Roger Staubach hit Lance Rentzel on a 75-yard TD bomb on Sept. 21, 1969.
8. The Cleveland Browns will try to bounce back, as they did last year, from a 28-10 opening game shellacking at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and end an ugly streak. After losing 34-7 in their 2007 opener to the Steelers, the Browns roared back in Week 2 last year with a 51-45 win over Cincinnati, so they know a quick turnaround is possible (they eventually finished 10-6). Problem is, the Browns are playing Pittsburgh a team that has won nine in a row over the Browns and 14 of the last 15.
9. What a Monday night matchup. Last week, the Philadelphia Eagles amassed 522 yards of total offence while the Cowboys picked up 487, to rank 1 and 2 after Week1. That means, Monday will be the first time since Nov. 19, 2006 (Cincinnati, 545 at New Orleans, 513) that teams have met the week after posting at least 475 yards of offense.
10. Oh yeah, and the quarterbacks were pretty hot last Sunday, too. Philly’s Donovan McNabb threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns while three Eagles receivers (rookie DE Sean Jackson, Greg Lewis and Hank Baskett) each put up at least 100 receiving yards (the first time that has happened for Philly since 1960). Meanwhile, the Cowboys’ Tony Romo threw for 320 yards while putting together four long touchdown drives against the Browns.
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