Game Day Thoughts

Quite a finish in the Minnesota Vikings-Jacksonville Jaguars game. Jaguars take a 23-20 lead with 20 seconds remaining. Vikings force tie and win in OT, 26-23. Incredible finish. The refusal to quit in the Vikings was nice to see after the ridiculous second half collapses that marked the start of last season. Nice win. Nice start to the 2012 NFL season.

Welcome back Adrian Peterson!!! My goodness, it was nice to see him back. 84 yards and 2 TDs. He looked real close to his usual awesome self.

Jaguars safety Dawan Landry should be penalized, fined, even kicked out of the league for grabbing onto and holding onto Peterson's left leg. That just ain't right.

Defensive end Brian Robison was terrific. With the attention paid Jared Allen, Robison could have a huge year.

Percy Harvin: no migraines in over a year. Knock on wood! In his three seasons, migraines have been the only thing to slow him. He's a beast!

The Vikings can not afford another slow start to a game like they had yesterday. Quarterback was shaky, at best, until the last drive of the first half. He was clutch the rest of the way. Touch throws and incredible poise. It's was beautiful to watch him calmly move the team into field goal position in the last 10 seconds of regulation time. Those two throws were the difference between a 1-0 and an 0-1 start to the season. He looked like a veteran in OT.

Linebacker Chad Greenway was all over the field. Especially at the end of the game. It may have been the most fired up that I've ever seen him. He wanted to tear something up during the OT coin toss.

It's incredible to see an active, smart, sure tackling Vikings secondary. Antoine WInfield is a nice stabilizing, veteran presence. It's the youngsters that are a revelation. Corners Chris Cook and Josh Robinson and safeties Harrison Smith and Mistral Raymond could be together making an impact for a long time. The secondary has been a complete disaster for two ugly years. What a relief!

Receiver Michael Jenkins made some nice plays. The Vikings are trying to bide their time as best they can unitl explosive Jerome Simpson comes back from a three game suspension. One down. Jenkins made the plays to keep drives alive. It was nice to see.

Oh my, those Vikings rookies :

Matt Kalil had a perfectly quiet game. Pretty much what you want to see from your left tackle. He also blocked an extra point.

Safety Harrison Smith knocked down a pass in OT that prevented a first down and perhaps much more. He played smart and he made tackles.

Josh Robinson made a key third down stop. He may have secured the nickel job. Speed can make up for many of the mistakes that a rookie corner might make. Robinson has elite speed.

Kicker Blair Walsh may have had the best game of them all. Four field goals doesn't even begin to describe his impact. One of those, a 55-yarder, forced OT. The last of those four, s 38-yarder, won it in OT. Except for a late squib kick, all of his kickoffs were deep in the end zone. Incredible start.

None of these kids looked like rookies out there. Before this year is done, I expect fellow rookies, receiver Jarius Wright and tight end Rhett Ellison, too make their presence felt.

Blair "frickin" Walsh!!!

There was another team on that Mall of America field.

Blaine Gabbert looks like a completely different quarterback from last year. He has a very bright future. Thankfully, his nice late game drive wasn't the game winner that it appeared to be. With dynamic rookie Justin Blackmon, Laurent Robinson, Mercedes Lewis, Rashad Jennings and the incredible Maurice Jones-Drew, Gabbert has some real nice weapons. With an already solid defense, especially the front seven, the Jaguars are an ascending team.

Wow! Washington and Robert Griffin III made a week one statement with their win over the Saints. It's way too early but the Saints loss and the Falcons dismantling of a real talented Chiefs team might be a sign of a change in the NFC South. The Falcons and the Saints have traded punches for a couple of years. It's one of my favorite rivalries right now. You never count out a Drew Brees-led team but I still put the Falcons as the team to beat down there.

It's tough to follow much of the action opposite a Vikings game but I try. The Redskins-Saints game was a mild surprise. No upset is really a surprise when a young talented team like the Redskins gets on a roll. RGIII will do some damage as a rookie. The Jets taking apart a Bills team with high expectations was a bigger surprise for me.

Great game between the Packers and 49ers. Wouldn't be too much of a shock to see these two teams play for the conference championship. Still, I like that the Packers are looking up at the Vikings in the division.

Shocking. 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree actually looks interested in playing football. He looked a little bit like the playmaker that he was drafted to be. That guy is a puzzle. A talented puzzle. If he can play to his talent, the 49ers could be as scary on offense as they already are on defense.

The Madden/PS3 commercials with Ray Lewis and Paul Rudd are hilarious.

I love watching Aaron Rodgers throw the football. I loved it more when he did it for Cal. Even the one he threw right to Navarro Bowman was pretty. It's been a while since I've seen him make a throw right to a player he shouldn't.

I really like Packers receiver/returner Randall Cobb. He returned a punt for a TD yesterday that was aided by an illegal block that was called then not called. That big play pumped some life into the Packers. Cobb is a difference maker. On a team filled with playmakers, he scares me the most.

49ers safety Donte Whitner is going to get a bunch of fines. He's a big hitter but he takes a lot of shots when players shouldn't.

Frank Gore rarely ceases to amaze me. He doesn't look like he runs well but he always does.

It's great to see Peyton Manning playing football again. Playing great too.
Manning ran for 10 yards better than I've ever seen him run. Those neck surgeries might have made him a better athlete.

It still fascnitates me how nimble Ben Roethlisberger really is.

Broncos running back Willis McGehee has been running for a while now. He still runs hard.

The Broncos and Steelers capped off a terrific day of football with a terrific football game.

The NFL should go back to one Monday Night game on the opening weekend. Sunday is the best day for football. Always has been. Always will. The more games on Sunday the better.

Excellent words from Bob Costas on the legacy of former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell.

I don't think that I've ever seen more 2-pt conversion attempts in one day of football.

Like the Wednesday night game, I was pleasantly surprised by the replacement officials. There were some missed calls but there always are. The mess that we saw through most of the preseason was nicely missing. The play wasn't disrupted by indecision. In the action that I saw they all seemed to know what they were doing. The lockout still has to end as soon as possible but my worries about the replacement officials is greatly lessened.

Blair "frickin" Walsh!!!

Woohoo, Vikings are 1-0! Next week is bad news for the Indianapolis Colts.