2013 Monday NFL recap - week 1

Steelers - You've got to win your home games and you've got to win despite the obstacles. You've got to have backup plans because this is the NFL and people are going to go down. The Steelers are in trouble and the only good thing about the first week of football is that all the other teams in the AFC North lost as well. Not much of a consolation.

• Injuries - It started in warm-ups with kicker Shaun Suisham and then one by one they went down; Maurkice Pouncey, Stephens-Howling, Cortez Allen, Ryan Clark, Larry Foote. Word on the web is that Pouncey has an ACL/MCL and Foote a torn bicep, two injuries that wil be season ending. The loss of Pouncey, something that has happened for the third straight year, is not how this team wanted to start the year. Personally, I think he should have been spending his summer getting into top physical shape like Polamalu did instead of cheering on incarcerated Aaron Hernandaz. 
• Sacks - Big Ben went down 5 times.  Can you say, "The offensive line needs work?"
• Running Game - There wasn't one.  32 yards rushing total.  Hell, I could run farther then that with my dog and yes, I could run that with 300 pound men chasing me.  In the draft the Steelers took running back Le'Veon Bell from Michigan State.  Where was he?  Injured of course in a preseason game.
• Big Ben - He threw for 191 yards that helped put him over the 30,000 yards total in his career.  Whoop-de-do.  "It comes in a loss, so it doesn't do anything for me," Ben said after the game.  Ben is lost without Heath Miller (injured, OMG) and Wallace (in Miami with $60 million dollars and only one catch this week) and he is going to have to step up and take charge of this team injuries and all if the Steelers hope to have any wins this season.
• Former Players - I said in my picks blog that former players love to stick it to their old teams and former Steelers player Nate Washington did just that, making 4 receptions that were needed at crucial downs.
• Mike Tomlin - Yes, the Steelers organization backs their coaches, but Tomlin has got to pull these guys together like Ben injuries and all.  He has got to make better decisions and give these guys a talking to.  He has got to pull them up off the ground, shake them, dust them off, and kick their asses back out on to the field to make better plays.  Or he just might find himself the first coach the organization kicks to the curb.

Other - Week one was certainly all the NFL hoped it would be with Peyton Manning leading it off with a bang on Thursday and new coaches and old players taking off on Sunday.

• Bruno Mars - This seemed to be a bigger story then Peyton Manning on Sunday's pregame shows, and I for one was annoyed by it all.  Bruno Mars?  I was thinking Bon Jovi in New York for the Super Bowl.  This is week one for heaven's sake.  Why are we talking about the Super Bowl now when we have months to go before February 2014, and if we are talking Super Bowl now the halftime entertainment isn't the subject I would be starting with. 
• Kickers - It was the week for them; Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein winning the game with 40 seconds on the clock, Jets kicker Nick Folk winning the game with two seconds on the clock, and Patroits kicker Steven Gostkowski with seven seconds left. 
• New Coaches - Several teams had new coaches whether they were fresh from the college field or tired old NFL rejects.  Some won, some lost.  Still too early to tell who, if any, will be the break out sensations.
• Ryan Twins - Rex looked svelte despite his job being on the line, and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers penalty got him a win and a possible reprieve.  Brother Rob, fired at the end of last season with the Dallas Cowboys, is now the defensive coordinator with the Saints.  His hair looked great as did his coaching as the Saints defense executed well stopping the Falcons multiple times from scoring.
• Fumbles - Quite a few yesterday from Arizona to the Rams to Pittsburgh to the Giants.  Problem is some of them were in or near the end zone and hey, that ain't going to fly in this game guys.  
• No-Nos - Detroit Lions Ndamukong Suh, voted the dirtiest player in the NFL by the players, showed why he owns this title scooping up a personal foul and nullifying a Lions' touchdown by tackling Vikings John Sullivan, himself fresh off some surgery, low to the knees.  The Panthers Frank Alexander was ejected from the game after throwing punches.  Hey, guys, haven't you heard?  The NFL is cracking down on tackling and poor behavior.  Better meet with Roger Goodell before next week's game just to catch up on that. 
• Ronde Barber - Didn't see him calling the Bucs preseason games, but I did catch his interview with Bucs Cornerback Darrelle Revis.  I thought he did well with his questions, asking some good ones player to player.  But how tired did he look on camera?  Whoa.  He had bigger bags then I do after a week of getting up at 5:30 AM.
• Darrelle Revis - The former Jets player who thought he would die a Jets player made his debut with the Bucs, coming off of an injury.  I forgot about that when making my picks, but guess in the end it didn't matter since Revis didn't do much to write home about.  His quote with Barber, "Believe a player can come back from an injury" wasn't exactly newsworthy since some little guy named Adrian Peterson showed the world that last year.