Dave’s Football Blog

Peter King of Sports Illustrated reminds people not to get too worked up over Game 1.

Lest you take the first game of the season as some indicator of January success or failure, let me remind you of these scores from opening weekend 2003:

Buffalo 31, New England 0.

Atlanta 27, Dallas 13.

New York Giants 23, St. Louis 13.

Pittsburgh 34, Baltimore 15.

And, on Monday night, Tampa Bay 17, Philadelphia 0.

The Bucs went on to win seven, Buffalo and Pittsburgh six, Houston five and the Giants four. The five losers made the playoffs. The Patriots, you might recall, had a pretty decent year. After such decisive openers, the fortunes of all 10 teams turned radically in the next four months.

Len Pasquarelli of ESPN suggested in this column that it was “remarkable” that John Fox would attribute this loss to just a couple of turnovers.

What’s so remarkable about that? Green Bay scored 14 points off those two turnovers. Take away those 14 points, and the Panthers enter the 4th quarter down only 10-7 with a shot at winning the game. Sure, Green Bay dominated over facets of the game, but those two turnovers were a lot more crucial than Pasquarelli suggests.

In the meantime, Karl Hankton may be on the roster, but he won’t replace injured WR Steve Smith in the starting lineup. Head Coach John Fox is taking a closer look at Keary Colbert, a rookie from USC whom the Panthers took in the second round. Of course, Carolina would love to have that other receiver from USC right now, too, but I doubt Paul Tagliabue is going to make any exceptions here.

Also, look for another rookie, cornerback Chris Gamble, to return some kicks, though I suspect Rod “He Hate Me” Smart, third-string running back and special teams specialist, will field his share of kicks as well.

Oh, and if you’re a fantasy football guy, start Stephen Davis next week. Green Bay’s defense prevented Davis from getting into any sort of rhythm. He won’t have that kind of trouble against Kansas City. Denver RB Quentin Griffin, a 4th round draft pick from Oklahoma who played sparingly as a rookie last season, gained 156 yards on 23 carries against the Chiefs. Davis and DeShaun Foster will combine for at least that much in Week 2.

ESPN is reporting that Steve Smith broke his fibula after Hannibal Navies fell on his leg in the fourth quarter of last night’s Panthers-Packers game. They’re not saying if he’ll be out for the entire season, but don’t expect him back for a while. Expect to see a lot more of Karl Hankton in the coming weeks.

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

Well, that could have been better…

Carolina turnovers: 2. Green Bay points off turnovers: 14.

Ahman Green: 33 carries, 119 yards, 2 touchdowns. Stephen Davis & DeShaun Foster: 12 carries, 38 yards.

Those two stats pretty much tell the story. The Panthers offense just never got into a rhythm in this game, while Green Bay took advantage of some bad Carolina mistakes. Oh, and to add insult to injury, Carolina receiver Steve Smith got his ankle rolled late in the 4th quarter and had to be carted away. No word on his status yet.

Next week, Carolina travels to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. Somebody’s going to be 0-2 after that game. Let’s see how this offense does against a team with no defense…

This is where I remind people that I did pick Green Bay to win the NFC North division title.

Sigh.

You can’t turn the ball over and expect to win the game, especially against Brett Favre on a Monday night.

Is it just me, or are those McDonald’s Chicken Selects ads the most annoying ads in the world? I wouldn’t eat those things just because of those stupid, stupid ads.

ABC showed Condoleezza Rice in one of the luxury boxes. Why do I suddenly fear that the fix is in?

Al Michaels suggested that these were two heavyweights feeling each other out. If that’s the case, then the Packers clearly won the first quarter, even though they only finished it 3-0. They moved the ball better, and they kept the Carolina defense on the field as long as possible — so much so that they had trouble stopping Ahman Green throughout the half, who had 54 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. John Fox challenged one play just to give his team a long time out…

Jake Delhomme hasn’t looked bad, though, and while the running game is struggling a bit — only 34 yards so far for Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster — the Carolina offense is setting up plays to exploit some of the Packers’ weaknesses on defense. Still, they need to make some adjustments to handle this aggressive Packer blitz in the second half. The Panthers look a little off.

Of course, they looked a little off in the first of half of their first game last season, and they’re only down by three right now. Don’t nobody move…

In response to an earlier comment from Angela, girlfriend of a fellow diehard Steelers fan:

Personally, I think Jerome Bettis should have retired two years ago. Injuries have made him far too slow, and he doesn’t have the stamina he had during his heyday with the Steelers. On the other hand, he is clearly Bill Cowher’s guy, and as such, Cowher will stick with Bettis until he proves himself utterly useless. Cowher did the same with Kordell Stewart, much to the Steelers’ overall detriment.

As far as the Staley-Bettis arrangement goes, though, from what I’ve heard, neither player has a real problem with it. Staley reportedly has a lot of respect for Bettis, and since he still gets to be the every-down back that Andy Reid never let him be in Philadelphia, he can pile up the yards while letting the old workhorse pad his stats a little and make his case for the Hall of Fame. If they don’t have any problem with it, then neither do I, as long as it works. Staley will get his scores before the season’s over, though.

Quite honestly, the only people who are going to have trouble with that arrangement are fantasy football owners. It’s one of those split-the-vote situations that doesn’t make either player a really good fantasy pick. 1 yard and 3 touchdowns? How often does that happen?

Yesterday, I set my cable company-supplied DVR to record ESPN’s NFL Prime Time. When I got home last night, Prime Time was nowhere to be found, despite the fact that I clearly added to my “Programs to Record” list.

Now you know why I call it the bastard box…

Click here for final game stats from NFL.com.

Stuart Scott is going to chirp a bit about Steelers placekicker Jeff Reed being a Tar Heel, but that’s okay. Reed’s 42-yarder, capping a drive powered by more strong running from Duce Staley and some quality catches from Hines Ward, won the game in the closing seconds for Pittsburgh.

Notable statistics:

• Tommy Maddox: 13-for-22, 142 yards passing, plus 13 yards rushing on two scrambles, both of which led to first downs.

• Staley: 23 carries, 91 yards. Duce looked very solid today.
• Jerome Bettis: 5 carries, 1 yard, 3 touchdowns. Put that in your fantasy stats…
• Ward: 7 receptions, 99 yards. Hines is the man.
• Steelers defense: 61 yards rushing allowed, plus two interceptions.

The secondary was faked out twice by Rich Gannon, whose pump fakes set up both of his touchdown throws in this game. Pittsburgh’s secondary still looks like a problem. If the blitz ever falters — which it didn’t today — that will be trouble in future games. Today, though, they got the W, and that’s what counts.

Next week: the Baltimore Ravens, who were upset by the Browns in Cleveland today. The Ravens rely almost exclusively on RB Jamal Lewis, who gained only 57 yards against Cleveland today. I know this is a rivalry game, but I really didn’t think the Browns D was that good. Next week should be interesting…