Week Zero-One

Football season!!! I got to watch Northwestern on ESPN2 Saturday morning (through a bit of a haze) as they beat the tar out of Syracuse. I'll try to give them a weekly shoutout, but will undoubtedly lose interest when they drop 4 straight Big Ten games. But allow this to be the debut of Patriots' Wednesday - the idea will be to combine final thoughts from the previous week's game with a fresh look at the week ahead into one long ramble. Hopefully I'll have a format by the time the bye week rolls in.

As I thought about this post today I realized I have little to nothing of specific ideas to offer - I never ended up watching any of the preseason, and know nothing about the Chiefs other than that they suck. So there. But I'll offer some unit-by-unit thoughts that have been on my mind heading into the opener.

QB's
•He's OK right? RIght? Because that would suck. I'm fairly sure the Pats could win the first three with Sam Cassell calling the shots, so I'm not too worried - yet. You really get the feeling that the sweatshirt wanted Mat Guttierrez to step up and prove a capable backup, but it wasn't to be. So they went with Matt Cassell as the football Sarah Palin, and Kevin O'Connell as the future prospect. I think Cassell had a decent game against Miami two years ago, but can't shake the image of him tossing a pick-six to Jason Taylor last year. Stay healthy, Tommy.

Skill Positions (WR/RB/TE)
•Not particularly concerned here - hopefully Maroney steps it up now that he has a number of folks behind him to take carries; Hopefully a 4th receiver emerges (Kelly Washington?), and hopefully Ben Watson and David Thomas stay healthy.

OLine
•Ugh - did they improve at all since the debacle? Tough to see how. But to be honest, they were pretty good for the bulk of the year last year, so there might be a limited number of opponents that really test them - I'll give Scarnecchia a few weeks to tie them together before I begin to complain.

DLine
•If Seymour is truly healthy, this group is as good as any in the league. Ty Warren is the man.

'Backers
•Still got something to prove here - but I love the new kids (not that I've seen any of them play) and I love putting Adalius outside. I'd like to limit Bruschi's snaps as much as possible - he burned out early last year, and hasn't gotten any younger. Jerod Mayo - two solid weeks to start could convince me to grab your jersey when I'm in NE. You're on the clock.

Secondary
•Like the safeties, though I'm a little surprised they didn't keep Lynch. Corners? Got to prove something here - is Hobbs a true 1? Like all of the Pats, it's difficult to know how severely he was injured last year. I always felt that Asante was a "right place/right time" kind of corner - not a true shutdown, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. I love having Dom Capers contributing ideas back here, and in the end, if the D-line is collapsing, that makes it all easier for the rest of the D to function. Obviously this is the main concern, but for a team that started Randal Gay in SuperBowl, I won't pretend to know better than the sweatshirt.

Special Teams
•Lonnie Paxton, Larry Izzo, Kelly Washington, Eric Alexander. We're good. Hopefully Gostkowski gets a chance to prove himself, Chris Hanson holds on to his abilities, and Matt Slater emerges as a random force.

Overall
•Good to be able to think about the NFL without cringing. I see 12-4, AFC East champs, and hopefully a 1st round bye. I expect lots of 18-1/spygate/Manning barbs directed my way by the rest of the football world. And I'll be ready come Sunday.