Don't panic. Who wasn't scared when the Kansas City Chiefs had the lead in the second half. That wasn't supposed to happen. Get over it. The Ravens won. Yes, the Ravens won.
We can almost hear what's going to be the buzz on Baltimore sports talk today. Rather than celebrating the Ravens first win, fans will be agonizing about the Ravens giving up 24 points as if their once mighty defense collapsed. Consider this, one Chiefs touchdown was scored on a blocked punt in the endzone another came off a very short field from an inteception. As such, the defense is truly accountable for ten points which is a lot for this unit against a team like Kansas City, but must be considered at least acceptable.
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The big story is the offensive explosion. The Ravens flaunted a passing game while not abandoning a multifaceted running attack where the scoring began and ended with Willis Magahee touchdowns.
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Before fans start boasting about a dramatic Seattle comeback, remember they beat up on the St. Louis Rams perhaps the worst team in the business next to Detroit.
Next week won't be so easy. The Ravens travel across country to San Diego, almost certainly the pick of the west.
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Other Notes:
The Chicago Bears must be the most miserable guys in the game this morning. Not only did their first real quarterback, Jay Cutler, look miserable in his Chicago debut, but defensive hit man, Brian Urlacher suffered a separated wrist. The NFC North is looking more like a Green Bay and Vikings shootout which is exactly what fans want. Meanwhile, Detroit now has lost 26 games in a row. 26 games in a row, picture that as wins. That's a dynastic performance.
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Rex Ryan had the Jets looking red hot against the Houston Texans. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez looked brilliant while the Jets played the kind of defense Rex Ryan was famous for as defensive mastermind with the Ravens.
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The six point margin doesn't tell the story. The Redskins looked awful against the Giants with Jason Campbell having that "deer in the headlights" look about him when looking for receivers.
Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, one of the game's real good guys, can't buy a break. He hustles in for a touchdown against Carolina only to have a couple of Panther defenders pile on top of him: the result -- a cracked rib. The dog killer will still be on suspension next week if McNabb can't play. This is a loss in the division that is especially tough in a division as packed as the NFC East. Washington might be the lone team entitled to a little bit of panic based on week one where no one got injured.
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Denver was supposed to be just plain awful. They ditched QB Jay Cutler and fired coach Mike Shannahan replacing him with a fellow who doesn't look old enough to buy a beer. Meanwhile, receiver Brandon Marshall was creating a distraction that would make Terrell Owens and Chad Ocho-Stinko proud. Nevertheless, they came into Cincinnati winning 12-7. Not bad!
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San Francisco had more than enough punch to beat the Arizona Cardinals who couldn't get it together on either side of the ball. Is this the Super Bowl loser's jinx? This is a loss in the Division, a fate the Cardinals don't need if they seek post season play in 2009.
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Brett Favre discovered life is good when all the QB has to do is hand off the ball to a world class running back. Adrian Peterson did the job and how! If the Vikings can tighten up their defense, this could be one killer team.
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Might Colts Fans be a little nervous holding on to win by just two points at home over Jacksonville?
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Tonight's action puts New England against Buffalo. How will Tom Brady do after missing all but part of game one last year? How will T.O. try to grab the spotlight? Across the continent there's a late night game on ESPN with San Diego visiting Oakland. For both games, it's not hard to pick the winners, but both could make for very interesting scripts. Their will be lots of folks with bleary eyes at work tomorrow morning as it will be around 2:0o am when the second game concludes.
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It's only the first week. Barring serious injuries, nothing happened that can't be undone. Two weeks from now, will be time for the first reality check.
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