Make no mistake about the Houston Texans.  They are here to stay.  Just look at the licking that their QB Matt Schaub took in Denver.  On back to back plays he took shots from Von Miller and Joe Mays. Both were clear roughing the passer plays and the hit by Mays took a piece of Schaub’s ear.  Credit to Schaub he only missed a play and came right back.  He finished the game with 4 touchdown passes.  If Houston can manage to keep Schaub relatively healthy the rest of the year, these guys could be playing well into January.  They certainly could have played in the AFC Championship game last year, but probably not the Super Bowl without Schaub.  Look out for these guys.  They are and should be the talk of the ‘Lone Star’ state.  

I couldn’t imagine what Baltimore Ravens WR Torrey Smith was going through before Sunday night’s game against the New England Patriots.  Early that morning he lost his young brother in a motorcycle accident and it was questionable whether or not he would play that night.  Much like Brett Favre when he lost his father, Torrey Smith played some inspired football that night.  He caught 6 passes for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He was a big reason why the Ravens won that game against the Patriots.  Yet, there were so many other things going through his mind I’m sure. It’s never easy losing someone so close.  Torrey Smith found his escape for a couple of hours and had the full support of the team and its fans.  Wishing him and his family the best through this tough time.  Prayers to you Torrey.

Everything has already been said about the debacle that is the replacement referees.  The anger that I’ve had through the first 3 weeks of the season has been focused on the league office because they are the ones who hired these unqualified buffoons. The only good thing to come from that horrible call on Monday night is that the regular officials are back.  The Green Bay Packers got screwed and the Seattle Seahawks better stay quiet.  Welcome back to the regular referees.  Just know that you will have it easy until you start blowing calls as well.  But at least you guys can manage a game to under 4 hours.  So I’ll go easy on you, for now.

Only the NFL can conjure up a meaningless controversy.  Well, they’re probably not the only ones, but it seems to get blown way out of proportion far too often.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers new head coach Greg Schiano (pictured left) did something apparently no other coach had done before.  He had his guys play until the end of the game.  Apparently New Giants head coach Tom Coughlin (picture right) took issue with the Bucs defensive players bull rushing the Giants offensive line during the kneel down to end the game.  Now I understand both sides.  Normally in this day and age when a team takes a knee, both teams know it’s over and shake hands and move on.  You might see the occasional rogue player decide to get in one more extra push before heading to the locker room.  But nothing further.  It wasn’t the most egregious act I’ve seen on a football field, but it sure is entertaining to see two coaches talk tough to each other after a game.  Just ask Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz.  To call it classless though is a bit much.  It wasn’t needed.  Tampa Bay blew a 20 point lead on the defending champion Giants and wanted to let off some steam. They probably should have done it for the entire 4th quarter and not during the final play.  

I don’t want to talk about this anymore than you do.  But the more we do, the more it helps us feel better.  Hall of Fame QB Steve Young, who is now an analyst for ESPN made a great point after the Monday Night game between Denver and Atlanta.  The only way the NFL is going to act on getting the regular referees back is if the fans stop watching.  Simple, but absolutely true.  You hurt the wallet, you cause a reaction.  Now I’m still going to watch because that’s what I do.  But even I’m getting tired.  After the first two weeks of the season you already have the defenders of the NFL saying that penalties aren’t rising, they’re actually staying on the same pace from last year.  My beef isn’t with the amount of penalties being called.  It’s how the game is being managed.  When you have players dog piling more often and fights breaking out with greater ferocity.  There is a lack of respect out there and these refs aren’t able to control that.  How could you?  It’s like putting a chihuahua in a dog fight with a pitbull.  It isn’t going to end well. It even bothers me that the coaches are trying to take advantage of these guys.  Penalties is one thing, but the integrity of this game is falling fast.  As long as the regular refs are kept away.  The worse this is going to get.  Make no mistake, it will. 

Pretty amazing isn’t it.  He was pelted with different offenses under former head coaches Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary.  Injuries were a problem for him as well.  Pretty much the entire fan base wanted him out of town.  And yet, he decided to stay after the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh.  Looking at his comfort level in yet another new offense last year showed me that he can be a good quarterback, but needed a steady system in place.  Change was his weakness.  All he needed was stability.  Now watching him at the beginning of this season he has proven that he was worthy of that number one overall selection in 2005.  No one knew what would happen with Aaron Rodgers if he had been taken in that spot instead.  Things could have ended very badly for Aaron just as they could have for Alex Smith.  In the end both of them have found comfortable spots for their respective teams.  His amazing playoff performance against the New Orleans Saints was on display again against the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night.  It wasn’t as exciting, but it showed that he could put a game away in the 4th quarter when need be.  The 49ers have a quarterback.

Anybody else have any doubts about Peyton Manning’s neck?  I didn’t think so.  I too was skeptical, but not overly confident that he wasn’t going to make a full recovery.  What makes his first game as a Denver Bronco more impressive is that he did it against one of the NFL’s best defenses in the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Also having that success with the national spotlight on you is pretty nice too. It’s only one game and already Colts fans are complaining about the fact that Peyton is no longer there.  Broncos fans are already talking about the Super Bowl.  One person even referred to Peyton Manning as ‘God’ earlier this week.  Lets all take a step back and realize that two things.  Peyton Manning is still at the top of his game.  And secondly, Denver’s defense isn’t all that great to begin with.  Winning the AFC West looks pretty easy, but beating the rest of the AFC won’t.

Being the only rookie QB to throw for over 300 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions in your first game is a pretty nice accomplishment.  I didn’t think that Robert Griffin III was going to do that.  Nor did I think that Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton was going to throw for over 400 yards in his first game last year, but he did.  But the way that RG3 played was a pretty marvelous thing to see.  Lets not kid ourselves.  Even if Saints LB Jonathan Vilma had played in that game, it wouldn’t have made any difference.  The Saints secondary were made fools of by Robert Griffin.  He torched early and often.  And if newly acquired WR Pierre Garcon hadn’t left the game early due to injury, RG3 probably would have had another touchdown to his stat sheet. Again this is just one game, but this Heisman trophy winner is here to stay.  You just have to wonder if he can make the adjustments he’ll need to make against better defenses.

Replacement referees aside, this was probably a NFC Championship game preview.  Except it was one sided the entire time.  The San Francisco 49ers were a bit puzzled going into this game.  Why was everyone already saying that the Green Bay Packers were the team to beat going into this season?  Sure they still have one of the best offenses in the NFL.  But their defense still has something to prove after last season’s poor performance. The 49ers used the ‘us vs. the world’ mentality all through last year and they used it again in Green Bay.  The Packers had no running game to offset the pressure that QB Aaron Rodgers was going to be facing.  49ers QB Alex Smith had a wide open Randy Moss for one of his two passing touchdowns.  The other went to TE Vernon Davis.  And RB Frank Gore had a 100 yard rushing performance with a touchdown after an Aaron Rodgers interception. Not too often do Week 1 games become statement games.  But this one was for both teams.  Whoever won this game was going to be looked at as the top team in the NFC.  It should come as no surprise that with the 49ers superb defense that they came out on top.  Going forward they shouldn’t be overlooked anymore.

* – Division Winner

+ – Wild Card Winner

1. New England Patriots*

2. Baltimore Ravens*

3. Houston Texans*

4. Denver Broncos*

5. Pittsburgh Steelers+

6. New York Jets+

1. San Francisco 49ers*

2. Green Bay Packers*

3. Atlanta Falcons*

4. New York Giants*

5. Chicago Bears+

6. New Orleans Saints+

Texans over Jets

Broncos over Steelers

Falcons over Saints

Giants over Bears

Patriots over Broncos

Ravens over Texans

49ers over Giants

Packers over Falcons

Ravens over Patriots

49ers over Packers

1. New York Giants

Key Players: RB Ahmad Bradshaw, WR Victor Cruz, DE Jason Pierre-Paul

2. Philadelphia Eagles

Key Players: QB Michael Vick, WR DeSean Jackson, LB DeMeco Ryans

3. Dallas Cowboys

Key Players: RB DeMarco Murray, WR Dez Bryant, LB DeMarcus Ware

4. Washington Redskins

Key Players: WR Santana Moss, LB Brian Orakpo, LB Ryan Kerrigan

Giants: TE Martellus Bennett (Cowboys), DT Shaun Rogers (Saints), LB Keith Rivers (Bengals)

Eagles: LB DeMeco Ryans (Texans)

Cowboys: QB Kyle Orton (Chiefs), FB Lawrence Vickers (Texans), LB Dan Connor (Panthers), CB Brandon Carr (Chiefs), G Nate Livings (Bengals), G Mackenzy Bernadeau (Panthers)

Redskins: WR Pierre Garcon (Colts), WR Josh Morgan (49ers), CB Cedric Griffin (Vikings), S Brandon Meriweather (Bears), S Madieu Williams (49ers)

Giants: RB David Wilson

Eagles: DT Fletcher Cox, LB Mychal Kendricks 

Cowboys: CB Morris Claiborne

Redskins: QB Robert Griffin III