I took heart in that last message. You know, “The first step to solving a problem is recognizing you have one … blah, blah, blah.” But we really should heed that last text (about overreacting … not being drunk). We all go overboard in Week 1. Rather than recognizing things aren’t as good or as bad as they seem, we rush to judgment, project the entire season and generally make sweeping statements that are way off come January.
Just imagine what we were absolutely sure of after last season’s opening week:
• Dallas pummeled the Cleveland Browns 28-10 and the Cowboys were finally going to win that January playoff game … on PlayStation.
• The New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins 20-14. One was clearly a playoff team while the other was destined to be a mess … we just got it backward.
• New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress(notes) caught 10 passes for 133 yards and was headed toward a new contract … making license plates for the state of New York.
• The Detroit Lions lost to the Atlanta Falcons 34-21, but they’d bounce back next week … er, season. Maybe.
• Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb(notes) threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns … and had yet to realize that games can end in a tie.
• New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady(notes) suffered a season-ending injury and was replaced by Matt Cassel(notes) … who would be making more money than Tom Brady less than a year later.
You get the idea. So what better way to start a weekly column about inconvenient truths than to recognize the one that consumes us all: We read too much into the NFL’s first week. It’s a classic staple of our season – like our own little single-serving Oakland Raiders meltdown.
With that in mind, here are a few more (possibly premature) inconvenient truths from Week 1. And for the record, I’m not drunk.
