1 (1) San Francisco 49ers - An excellent win in Green Bay keeps the 49ers top of the pile. Their defense had a great day as expected but their offense looked very slick too. Alex Smith had a good game, their running was very strong and their key receivers all grabbed a few catchs each. Special mention for David Akers, 63 yard field goal.
2 (2) New England Patriots - A comfortable win in Tennessee. Brady was solid and Lloyd, Gronkowski and Hernandez all linked up well with him. Stevan Ridley had a great game, running for 125 yards of 21 carries. Coach, Bill Belichick will also be happy with the defense. Pass defense might need some work but they restricted Tennessee to 1.3 yards per carry on the ground.
3 (5) Baltimore Ravens - A fantastic second half performance saw the Ravens blow out the Bengals. Midway throught the 3rd quarter the score was 17-13 to Baltimore. 27 unanswered points later and it was a blowout victory. Flacco had a solid game at quarterback and they barely had to use Ray Rice with him only getting ten carries, albeit he took two of them in for touchdowns. On this form they are a serious contender.
4 (3) Green Bay Packers - A bad day at the office for the Packers. Their running game never got going against a tough 49ers defense and Aaron Rodgers wasn't at his best either. His interception was very poor and completely unlike him. The defense doesn't look to have improved a great deal from the one that gave up the most yards in the league last year.
5 (4) Pittsburgh Steelers - A disappointing start for the Steelers. Roethlisberger was far from his best and the running game never got going at all. Rashard Mendenhall's return within the next week or two should see the running game improve but the passing game will concern the Steelers. The defense didn't have a bad game, they were just beaten by a great quarterback.
6 (6) Detroit Lions - A somewhat unconvincing victory for the Lions. It took a touchdown with 10 seconds left to beat the Rams and if they are going to have as good a season as many people predict then they will have to be much better. Quarterback, Matt Stafford, was intercepted three times and he needs to learn to take care of the football. Stafford did put up some huge numbers, throwing for 355 yards but three interceptions and only one touchdown is not a good stat. The Madden curse doesn't look to have hurt Calvin Johnson yet. He caught six passes for 111 yards.
7 (8) Atlanta Falcons - The Falcons picked up a comfortable win in Kansas and the passing game looked particularly impressive. Matt Ryan threw for 299 yards and even ran for a touchdown himself. Once again his main targets were Julio Jones, Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez. If Atlanta can get running-back, Michael Turner more involved then Atlanta will have as explosive an offense as any in the NFL.
8 (9) Chicago Bears - A good display from the Bears who beat the Colts 41-21. Cutler had a good game, throwing for 333 yards and two touchdowns. His only blip, was an early interception that was returned for a touchdown. The running game looks very dangerous. Forte and Bush combined for 122 yards and three touchdowns. If the offense can continue to grow and the defense plays to it's usual high standard then the Bears will be a match for anyone.
9 (7) New York Giants - A poor start for the Giants, as they lost at home to the Cowboys. Eli Manning was let down by his receivers who dropped a few key passes that could have changed the game. The Giants should still be a good side and if any team won't get too carried away by a bad start it's the Giants. No team know better than they do that you don't win anything in September.
10 (12) Dallas Cowboys - The Cowboys looked very impressive in their win in New York over the Giants. Tony Romo had a great game, thowing for 307 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception. Demarco Murray was great at running-back, going for 131 yards off 20 carries. A special mention too for receiver, Kevin Ogletree, who had the best game of his career, catching eight passes for 114 yards, including two touchdowns.
11 (11) San Diego Chargers - A decent start for the Chargers with a win in Oakland. It wasn't a vintage performance but they took advantage of three botched punts from Oakland, scoring three field goals and won the game. The Chargers will have to improve in the Red Zone, as they only converted on one of their five visits. San Diego won't be given such good field position again so will have to be better if they want to reach the post season.
12 (10) Philadelphia Eagles - An extremely unimpressive display from the Philadelphia offense saw the Eagles narrowly defeat the Browns. It took a late touchdown from Clay Harbor to get the Eagles over the line and if Andy Reid's men want to compete in a tough division they will have to solve a lot of problems. The defense looked great but the offense was horrible. All of the Browns points came from offensive turnovers and the Eagles will need to look after the football a lot better.
13 (16) Denver Broncos - Peyton's back. Manning didn't look like a man who hadn't played a competitive game in over a year and a half and he should only get better as the weeks go by. The defense looked solid and the Broncos should be the Chargers closest rivals in the battle for the AFC West.
14 (15) Houston Texans - Houston had a decent start, winning comfortably over the Dolphins. They will face much tougher tasks in the coming weeks but they will be happy to have got the job done against Miami with the minimum of fuss. Schaub, Foster and Andre Johnson all played their part in the win and the defense only conceded 10 points so everyone will be happy.
15 (18) New York Jets - Where did that come from? Everything I thought I knew about the New York Jets, turns out to be wrong. I expected a weak offense and a very good defense. Instead they score 48 points and give up 28. Who knows what to expect from now on but I know if it includes 76 points every week it'll be worth watching.
16 (17) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Tampa Bay got off to a winning start with a 16-10 victory over the Panthers. It was far from a good performance but a win's a win and the Bucs will take any win they get. Running-back, Doug Martin, got off to a good start, running for 95 yards off 24 carries and showed good hands by making 4 catches for 23 yards. If the offense click, Tampa Bay could challenge the Saints for second place in the division.
17 (13) New Orleans Saints - This looks like it could be a tough season for the Saints who look like they will struggle without the leadership of head coach, Sean Payton. They will need quarterback, Drew Brees, to step up and he got off to a very bad start on Sunday. He had two interceptions and his accuracy was under 50%. The defense was also poor, giving up a total of 464 yards.
18 (14) Buffalo Bills - The Bills were well beaten by the Jets but they will take some positives from it. The Jets should be one of the top defenses in the NFL this season and Buffalo managed to score 28 points and had almost 400 yards of total offense. CJ Spiller looks like he will be a key player in fantasy transactions this week after a superb display when Fred Jackson got injured.
19 (27) Washington Redskins - Rookie quarterback, RG3, takes the prize for the most outstanding display of all the rookies, by quite some distance. He threw for 320 yards and added 42 yards on the ground. The most impressive stat, however, is the zero interceptions. So many rookies struggle with interceptions and RG3 has passed his first test with flying colours.
20 (26) Arizona Cardinals - The Cardinals managed to pick up the win in a tight game against the Seahawks. Backup quarterback, Kevin Kolb, took the plaudits after coming in when John Skelton picked up an injury. Kolb led the Cardinals on a game winning drive and if he continues as he started then Skelton could struggle to get his place back.
21 (23) St Louis Rams - The Rams were very unlucky not to have won in Detroit and can take a lot out of the game. They intercepted Stafford three times but struggled at times to pick up yards against a tough Lions defense. The Rams will be lifted by coming so close to a victory in the home of a genuine Superbowl contender.
22 (19) Indianapolis Colts - Rookie quarterback and number 1 pick overall, Andrew Luck, finally made his NFL debut. He threw for over 300 yards but his accuracy was just over fifty percent and he threw three interceptions. There were good points and bad points but there is definitely room for improvement.
23 (22) Tennessee Titans - A tough start for the Titans and nobody will be surprised to see them losing to the Pats. Much of their season will depend on the form of Chris Johnson and he will have to run a lot better if Tennessee are going to do anything. 4 yards off 11 carries is nowhere near good enough.
24 (24) Seattle Seahawks - Rookie, Russell Wilson, had a forgetable NFL debut on Sunday in the Seahawks 20-16 defeat in Arizona. Wilson threw for just 153 yards and his accuracy was just over 50%. If Wilson doesn't improve quickly then I would expect to see Matt Flynn under center in the coming weeks. The Seahawks best performance came from running-back, Marshawn Lynch, who ran for 85 yards off 21 carries.
25 (20) Kansas City Chiefs - A heavy loss at home to the Falcons wasn't the start the Chiefs were hoping for. The Chiefs played quite well and matched the Falcons in most departments but the difference was turnovers. Kansas gave away three turnovers and were punished on each occasion, with the Falcons picked up a touchdown and two field goals.
26 (21) Cincinnati Bengals - The Bengals were well beaten by the Ravens in Baltimore. They were doing ok until Baltimore stepped it up a gear late in the 3rd quarter. The biggest positive for the Bengals will be the performance of new running-back, BenJarvus Green-Ellis. The former Patriot had 91 yards and a touchdown off 18 carries.
27 (25) Oakland Raiders - The Raiders weren't actually too bad against the Chargers but their special teams unit had a terrible day. Their long snapper got injured and they had no back up plan. Three botched punts cost them the game. The Raiders can be pleased that their defense limited the Chargers to three field goals on those occasions but the fact is they still lost the game.
28 (31) Minnesota Vikings - The Vikings picked up a week 1 victory with an overtime field goal to beat the Jaguars 26-23. The Vikings key man was once again running-back, Adrian Peterson who scored two touchdowns. They will also be pleased at the performance of Christian Ponder at quarterback. Ponder had 20 completions from 27 attempts and 270 yards. He didn't have any touchdowns but his passing got the Vikings into the positions to let Peterson get into the end zone.
29 (28) Carolina Panthers - A 16-10 defeat in Tampa Bay was far from the result the Panthers would have liked in their season opener. I expected Carolina to be better on the ground but 10 yards off 13 carries is far from good enough at this level. The Panthers seemed to rely on the arm of Cam Newton, who threw for over 300 yards but unfortunately for him and the Panthers it was probably his two interceptions that cost them the game.
30 (29) Jacksonville Jaguars - The Jags will feel hard done by after losing a tight game against the Vikings in overtime. The Jags had possession of the ball for almost 38 minutes but were unable to take advantage of it. Running-back, Maurice Jones-Drew was solid in his return and should improve as the season goes on.
31 (32) Cleveland Browns - A tough defeat for the Browns at the hands of the Eagles. The Browns struggled all day on offense but their defense put a lot of pressure on Philly and it resulted in the Eagles turning the ball over five times. The Browns will look to rookies Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden to get their offense firing. If the defense can continue to play as well and the offense gets started then the Browns should pick up a few wins this season
32 (30) Miami Dolphins - An opening day defeat at the hands of the Texans wasn't unexpected but it was the form of rookie quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, that will be the cause of concern for the Dolphins. Tannehill had no touchdowns but threw three interceptions. The NFL can be hard on rookie quarterbacks and it looks like Tannehill will learn that the hard way.
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