Monday NFL recap - Week 1

Yesterday after church, I went to the gym. I thought it appropriate since that is where I was on September 11th when the planes hit the World Trade Towers. This September 11th there were only a handful of people working out in a semi-darkened gym, and apparently none of them were football fans. I had to ask for one of the televisions to be tuned to the Bucs game. I thought it a better choice than the preschool cartoon that was on the channel. Seriously? We have three NFL teams in the state, one of whom is only thirty minutes to our north, and football didn't cross the gym employees minds? Welcome back to football season!

• The 49er's weren't playing yesterday, but that didn't stop the football hosts from speculating on San Fran's backup quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, and whether or not he would have stood for the national anthem. I bet, no matter his stand, Kaepernick himself was glad his team wasn't playing until Monday. 
• ESPN is one of the channels at my gym so I watched their pre-game show. They showed an excerpt of Rex Ryan's opening talk to his Buffalo Bills team on day one and his mouth was more foul than my friend SueG's. I loved how the sensors allowed the F of the word to be spoken before bleeping out the rest. Pretty much the entire speech was bleeped, and when it was over and went back to the guys at the booth, the swami, Chris Berman, said, "...that team is going to be bleeping good." Hilarious.
• Anyone else concerned about how skinny RGIII looked? Something not right there.
• First game of the season and already the NFL messed it up. Several helmet to helmet hits on Carolina's quarterback Cam Newton, the last hit one that should have gotten him pulled to the sidelines to be tested, and already we have launched an investigation. Can they ever get it right?
• Raiders coach Jack Del Rio took a chance, went for two, and won the game with 47 seconds left to play on the road against the New Orleans Saints. Gutsy move? Bonehead Move? Hello. It's Jack Del Rio. He's the king of both. And everyone loves that moves when it works. When it doesn't...everyone talks about how selfish and stupid a move it was.
• Ouch! Dallas wide receiver Terrance Williams caught the ball with twelve seconds left in the game against the New York Giants, but apparently he forgot what quarter he was in. Instead of running out of bounds to his right, even though his own teammate Dez Bryant was directly in front of him, pointing and yelling at him to get out of bounds, he ran in the opposite direction as if he truly thought he could make it down the field for a touchdown. Let's be honest. That is exactly what he thought he could do. He thought, "I'm going to be a hero and win this damn game, and I'm not playing it safe and running out of bounds." Sigh. I hear you Terrance. I get your enthusiasm. Trouble is, you've got to DO IT. You didn't. The clock continued running, the Cowboys couldn't line up in time to spike the ball, and the Giants won. Wow. Hate when that happens.
• Same thing, almost, happened with the Detroit Lions. Poor Matthew Strafford was practically having an aneurysm screaming at his wide receiver when he failed to go out of bounds to stop the clock with seconds ticking away in the fourth quarter. Luckily for the Lions, they made a field goal to win.
• Even the refs were having trouble remembering their job descriptions. In the Cleveland Browns game against Philadelphia, Eagles kicker Caleb Sturgis missed a 46 yard field goal. Or did he? One of the referees signaled it a goal, and the other referee, standing a couple feet from his co-worker, signaled it a miss. Huh? Get the ref who saw it go in some glasses. That ball was way right and nowhere in bounds.
• Best commercial - A tie between Peyton Manning calling his brother to come and watch his Direct TV Sunday NFL Ticket and Russell Wilson, Antonio Brown, and Von Miller for Xbox. I mean, Marshawn Lynch at the end, "Ya'll need to work on ya'll people skills." I laughed out loud.