Opening thoughts

I work Tuesday through Saturday, which means I miss a lot of good college football. But it also means that on Mondays after a Pats victory I get to enjoy a day of watching all the highlights, coaches' press conferences, post-game reviews, and analysis on the NFL Network, ESPN, and ESPN News. When the Pats lose I'm a little more productive on Mondays.

It was an entertaining first week (thanks mostly to Wes Welker). Pete Carroll was beyond pumped and jacked as his Seahawks stunned the Niners 31-6. I'll say one thing for Carroll, he doesn't change. He wears his enthusiasm on his sleeve whether he's in New England, Southern California, or the great Northwest. His jumping around is fun to watch. It's just not a smart use of a coach's time to be running around high-fiving players and fist-pumping. He should keep his focus on the game. San Fran's Mike Singletary never loses his focus. In classic Singletary fashion, in his Monday press conference he thanked Carroll and the Seahawks for the stomping. "Tell Pete Carroll thank you very much for kicking our ass," Singletary said. "It was good medicine, and we're going to take it."

FOSTER: 42.30 fantasy points.

Speaking of ass kickings, Peyton Manning and the Colts' luck finally ran out against the Houston Texans. The Colts have stolen a few wins away from Houston the past few years. But this time, behind running back Arian Foster, the Texans jumped all over Indy early and often. Foster ran for 231 yards and three touchdowns. (I started him over Shonn Greene on my fantasy team -- if I could only be that smart all the time). The Network's Mike Lombardi found a silver lining for Indianapolis. "The Colts will bounce back and now they don't have to worry about the perfect season anymore." A perfect season? It's only fhe first week. Why would they already be worrying about that? Oh, right. They are the Colts.

The Patriots were the other easy winner of the day. My favorite play of the game: Pats opening drive, the offense faces a 2nd-and-five from the Cincy 8-yard line. They line up with Faulk in the backfield and Moss alone on the right. On the left, Welker lines up a few yards from the sideline with Rob Gronkowski just to his left and Alge Crumpler a step in front of him. Brady took the snap and chucked a quick pass to Welker who tucked himself in behind the twin towers of Gronk and Alge. They slammed the two defenders easily out of the way allowing Welker to scoot almost untouched into the end zone. The three new tight ends didn't take long to show the kind of impact they can have.

A key part of the success of the play was Moss, all alone on the right side, attracting the attention of four of the seven defensive backs/linebackers. A good example of the value of Moss even when he's not the focus of the play.

The Steelers survived the first of four games without Big Ben. If they are 3-1 or better when he gets back then they are a serious contender. The Skins won their first game under coach Mike Shanahan thanks mostly to Cowboys coach Wade Phillips. The Cowboys called a pitch-out play with four seconds left in the half and the ball inside their own 30. A fumble later the Skins scored an easy TD that proved the difference in the game. I don't get Jerry Jones's devotion to Phillips but I kind of respect it.

The Jaguars, Giants, Titans, Pack, and Lions also posted big opening victories. What? The Lions didn't win? How's that possible? Right. They got robbed.

The silver and blue finally won a road game after 21 straight defeats when receiver Calvin Johnson caught what looked like a winning TD pass only to have the refs rule that he didn't maintain control of the ball. Check the video below. He catches the ball, takes two steps as he goes to the ground, rolls halfway over (still with control of the ball), and as he goes to get up he puts the ball on the ground and drops it there to go celebrate. If it looks like a touchdown and smells like a touchdown ...

But the NFL's czar of officiating, Mike Pereira. said that the rule was properly interpreted and the touchdown correctly disallowed.

The rule says: "If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete."

So Johnson caught the ball, went to the ground, maintained control of the ball after touching the ground, and only lost the ball as he was getting back up off the ground. Yet the play was called correctly.

Huh. I guess now not only do you have to catch the ball and land on the ground for it to be a touchdown -- you also have to get up, shower, get in your Mercedes, and drive home all while maintaining possession of the ball.

Detroit, a team that needs every win it can get, should be 1-0. Haven't Lions fans suffered enough?