THE NFL SEASON kicked off with a bang on Thursday night when Peyton Manning threw a record-equalling seven touchdowns as the Denver Broncos put the defending Super Bowl champions, the Baltimore Ravens, to the sword.
It was an odd game, with uncharacteristic mistakes from a Ravens team that has for so long been built around doing the simple things right and, while seven touchdowns flatters any quarterback, there’s no doubt Peyton Manning laid down a marker for the rest of the year.
This Sunday sees little in the way of marquee games, strange given that it’s the first week of the season, but there are two or three that stand out for various reasons.
Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers (-4.5), 9.25pm
The last time these two met, Green Bay gave up 579 yards to Colin Kaepernick’s seemingly unstoppable offence and though the Packers have added the speed of Datone Jones to their defence, there should still be plenty of holes for the 49ers to exploit.
For their part, Green Bay will have Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin in the backfield to help take some of the pressure off Aaron Rodgers but both could struggle to find any significant gaps in San Francisco’s disciplined front seven.
When Rodgers does decide to throw the ball, he’ll have the memory of 51 sacks last season in the back of his mind. That won’t be fun to think about when rookie left tackle David Bakhtiari is trying to stop Aldon Smith. The outside linebacker had 19.5 sacks to his name last year and will look to beat that number in 2013.
Verdict: Kaepernick won’t have Michael Crabtree as a safety net for this game and it remains to be seen if he can gel with another receiver as well this year. However, the 49ers should still cover the spread at home. San Francisco by 5+
Cincinnati Bengals (+3) @ Chicago Bears, 6.00pm
I feel like I’ve been waiting for the Bengals to have a break-out year for ages now but something – and no, it’s not Hard Knocks – tells me that this could just be their year. They certainly have a good record on the road to NFC teams lately, winning five of their last six and have only lost once in five visits to the Windy City.
Many in Chicago will be hoping that Jay Cutler, in a contract year, can put together the kind of season that saw Joe Flacco lead the Ravens to an NFL championship last year but it remains to be seen if Brandon Marshall can improve on, or even match, his 118-catch, 1,500-yard performance of last year.
The Bears will also line up without Brian Urlacher on defence and the 13-year veteran’s absence could be exposed by AJ Green through the air and exciting rookie Giovani Bernard on the ground. Whatever happens in this game, expect both teams to be in the mix in their respective conferences come December.
Verdict: One of the tougher games of the weekend to call but the Bengals’ record on their cross-conference travels tips this one in their favour for me. Cincinnati by 3.
New England Patriots (-9.5) @ Buffalo Bills, 6.00pm
Despite the fact that a lot of their attacking threat has been traded (Wes Welker), hospitalised (Rob Gronkowski) or charged with murder (Aaron Hernandez), few are willing to write the Patriots off this year because they still have a certain Tom Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick has given him a whole range of new toys to play with.
The Bills have offensive weapons of their own and, as I wrote on Thursday, I fully expect them to give CJ Spiller as many touches as he can handle as they look to ease rookie quarterback EJ Manuel into first-year head coach Doug Marrone’s system.
Both teams have issues on defence but Buffalo will feel Jairus Byrd’s absence greatly as the 26-year old ball hawk would have hoped to play a key role in intimidating some of the Patriots’ rookie receivers. However, a plantar fasciitis injury rules him out of the game.
Verdict: The Bills have lost a whopping 23 of their last 25 games against New England and I fully expect the Pats to continue their dominance of the AFC East this Sunday. Patriots by 10.
Everything else:
At the request of some readers over the past few seasons, I’ll now base my pick, the team in bold, on whether they’ll beat the spread, rather than win the game. All games kick off Sunday at 6pm Irish time unless stated.
Tennessee Titans @ Pittsburgh Steelers (-7)
Atlanta Falcons (+3) @ New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.5) @ New York Jets
Kansas City Chiefs (-4) @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins (+1) @ Cleveland Browns
Seattle Seahawks (-3.5) @ Carolina Panthers
Minnesota Vikings (+5) @ Detroit Lions
Oakland Raiders (+10) @ Indianapolis Colts
Arizona Cardinals @ St Louis Rams (-4.5) – Sunday, 9.25pm
New York Giants (+3.5) @ Dallas Cowboys – Monday, 1.30am
Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington (-3.5) – Tuesday, 0.10am
Houston Texans (-4) @ San Diego Chargers – Tuesday, 3.20am
Serious atmosphere here in Cavan. This is exactly where you want to be playing the All Ireland Champions. Whatever the result these games against the top 4 will stand to us in the summer months
It’s exactly the gate the county board needed as well
Mind blowing that people would actually travel to watch that rubbish sport.
@Ordinary lad: the much “hyped” Irish Rugby team lost yesterday. How much money do those lads earn?
Mind blowing that someone would take the time to open an article about a sport they consider to be ‘rubbish’ and then take the time to comment on it.
How can a team that receives €120k in funding compete against a team that receives €1.4million
Hahaha give over Al . Deep down you love the gaa
@Alan b..: Sure all the money we’ll be spending here we’ll double that funding for you pal ;)
a decent workout so far get rid of the Jamaican rum and redstripe against another nordie team who’s sole intention is to pull drag and hit off the ball.
Don’t know what game your watching. The hits off the ball have been 50:50.
Eh cavan is in the south of Ireland Einstein
fergal reilly should count himself lucky to share a pitch with these wonderful dublin footballers instead of going around like a drunk at a wedding looking for a fight.
That was stared by the Dublin man on the ground. You’re incredibly anti ulster football
And then mdma was the first man to get involved.
And who look for a figth at a wedding
ah lorcan stop it now.
fergal reilly would.
it’s north of me ya tit
@Alan b..: that explains why the dubs were late they looked at a map and headed north. When did this geographical transplant take place.
don’t be a tit like alan cavan play in ulster which is up north so they are nordies.
Cavan is not in Northern Ireland you don’t cross the border or use sterling
I didn’t say it was in Northern Ireland .
What do you mean by nordie then?if you are calling them that cos they’re north of you does that mean someone from cork would class Dublin as a nordie team
if they wanted to yes beacuse they would be northern to a Cork person now cavan is in ulster and part of the Republic of Ireland beacuse the brits didn’t want the kip so yes you are nordies which we where stuck with.
Stop you’re just embarrassing yourself
What part of Dublin are you from?
what difference does it make?
cavan play in the ulster champions with the other 8 nordie counties it’s no big deal just accept it is the way it is don’t be embarrassed alan.
All the complaints about dublins fans. Have any other county brought a few thousand fans with them today ?
@Gavin Byrne: In comparison Dublin have a fan base of about 10 times what other counties have. So of course they will bring large numbers with them.
Fair play today they really brought a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of money to Cavan town today
That a few time in the last three years the cavan has been delayed because of the fans.
If the dubs can’t make it to croke park on time how do you expect them to make it to cavan on time
@Lorcán Coyle: Should know by now that nothing in Cavan ever starts on time, nearest fifteen minutes, sure that’ll do.!!!
Ref jersey looks too like Dubs
We’ll save that excuse for later
Massive achievement if Roscommon can some how stay up in Division 1.
Lorcan are u watching the match