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A Word from The Writer:

The Monday Analysis  - 12 September 2005

Football is back! Football is back!

Patriots Open Season with 118th Sellout, 23rd Win

It's all about the numbers, and the best of them all, a 30-20 win over Oakland helped Patriots Nation celebrate the 2004 championship banner raising, the 118th consecutive sellout, and the 23rd straight home win.

As for the game itself, once the pregame festivities finally ended with Ozzy Osbourne lip-syncing "Crazy Train," fireworks blazing in the southeast corner of the Razor, and Trisha Yearwood delivering us the National Anthem, Week 1 is mostly a preseason game that counts. Oakland looked better than people expected them to be, but they still came up short to the Reigning World Champions.

Tom Brady looked impressive enough, particularly early in the game, going 24-38 for 306 yards, 2 TD. The running game, in general for the Patriots, was poor. Corey Dillon had 19 carries for 20 yards, but scored twice. Deion Branch and Tim Dwight also scored touchdowns. Dwight looks particularly explosive on Special Team with Punt Returns. He didn't call fair catch once, and gets up to speed quickly to gain better field position. Tim Dwight is an explosive (Belichick's word) addition. He scored a receiving touchdown, and was, well, explosive on returns. Welcome to Patriots Nation, Tim. We win championships here.

The Patriots Defense gave up a 73-yard strike to Randy Moss for a touchdown, but was able to stop a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.

Not the most exciting game we'll seen this season, but a win is a win, and like Brady said in his post-game press conference, we'll take it.

''It was a nice way to start out the season, with a victory," said head coach Bill Belichick at his press conference following the game. ''We kind of stumbled around on a few things tonight that are going to catch up with us if we don't get them fixed."

I was in Gillette Stadium with Monday Analysis correspondent Dave B, and from personal view, the place was rocking from the start. The crowd was particularly thrilled when Tedy Bruschi appeared on the Jumbotron - both in highlight film and live feed. Bruschi, who is taking 2005 off to recover from a mild stroke he suffered in February, was in sweats and on the sidelines for the game. Other big cheers went to the National Guard, who paraded new recruits on to the field at half time and swore the new enlistees in. The Guard received a standing ovation until the very last Guardsman disappeared inside the tunnel.

And as difficult as this may seem, there were members of Raiders Nation at the game. These individuals are obviously masochists, and are gluten for punishment. And believe me, Patriots Nation can dish it out. People are relentless. Note to opposing team fans: don't come here. It might not be worth it to you.

And with that we open the 2005 season and the magical Road to XL.

Herrion Died of Heart Disease

A coroner's report on 49ers OT Thomas Herrion conclude last week that the 23-year old suffered from heart disease, and a massive blockage in his right artery, resulting in his death.

Herrion's agent Frederick Lyle told the media this week that the coroner found no traces of drugs in his system. The coroner further reported Herrion had a slightly enlarged heart that could have been caused from high blood pressure to heart disease to heredity. Scar tissue on his heart also indicated previous blood flow problem that Herrion was probably unaware of at the time.

Herrion interned on August 27th in Fort Worth, Texas, three days after his passing.

Weekend Break Down

The Return of the One-Hitters. Lots of upsets! And we're all upset!

PATRIOTS (1-0) 30, Raiders (0-1) 20 - FINAL: A better Oakland team that anyone expected, but the Machine keeps rolling. Patriots still dominate.

DOLPHINS (1-0) 34, Broncos  (0-1) 10 - FINAL: Holy crap! Miami wasn't supposed to win a game until sometime in 2008. Denver looked terrible in this one. I don't need highlights to tell me that. No Ricky, didn't need him. Chris Chambers had one trick carry for 61 yards for a scoring set up. That's more that the rushing offense of the Broncos.

BILLS (1-0) 22, Texans (0-1) 7 - FINAL: Another huge surprise! The Texans can't stop the run or Willis McGahee, 117 yards on 22 carries. JP Losman ran an effective game, 17-28 for 170 yards and 1 TD.

Saints (1-0) 23, PANTHERS (0-1) 20 - FINAL: Another upset! Big emotional win for New Orleans, who FOX calls America's Team (makes sense since they are homegaming it all over the place). Big bad loss for the supposed Super Bowl Champions-to-be Panthers.

Bengals (1-0) 27, BROWNS (0-1) 13 - FINAL: The Battle for O-HI-) 2005, Part I goes to Marvin Lewis. I know this is Romeo Crennel, but I am not going ot get too excited over a Cinci-Cleveland game this early into the season.

REDSKINS (1-0) 9, Bears (0-1) 7 - FINAL: Baseball score. Snore-fest. Two losers go in, one lesser loser comes out.

JAGUARS (1-0) 26, Seahawks (0-1) 14 - FINAL: Another big upset to Seattle. These away teams just can't catch a win this week.

STEELERS (1-0) 34, Titans (0-1) 7 - FINAL: Not a big surprise. Tennessee scored first and that was it for them. Roethlisberger was near perfect all day, 9-11, 218 yards, 2 TDs, 158.3 passer rating.

CHIEFS (1-0) 27, Jets (0-1) 7 - FINAL: The single up note for the Jets was a Ty Law interception in the endzone. Outside that, this was all Kansas City.

Buccaneers (1-0) 24, VIKINGS (0-1) 13 - FINAL: Jon Gruden is back in the swing, slamming a heavily favored Minnesota team in Viking-land. Wow!

GIANTS (1-0) 42, Cardinals (0-1) 19 - FINAL: So much for the Kurt Warner revenge game. No defense in Arizona.

LIONS (1-0) 17, Packers (0-1) 3 - FINAL: This is the Lions team I expected to see but did not during the preseason. Upset for Detroit. Big win over Favres.

49ERS (1-0) 28, Rams (0-1) 25 - FINAL: UP-SET. Who is this 49ers team? I think they went back in time, cloned an Eighties team and brought them forward. Nice home opening win.

Cowboys (1-0) 28, CHARGERS (0-1) 24 - FINAL: The New Look Cowboys are a Machine. Marks my words. By week four or five that's what people will be calling them. Drew Bledsoe even looked good, better, different. Amazing what he can do with all those weapons. And the Dallas D, keeping it up at the end for an INT in the endzone at the end to end it. And Bledsoe reaches 40,000 yards passing.

Colts (1-0) 24, RAVENS 7 (0-1) - FINAL: Nearly scoreless first half, though the Raven did themselves no favor with repeated careless penalties and missed opportunities. And Kyle Boller could be out for a while with a leg injury.

Eagles at Atlanta Tonight 9PM ABC

Oddities of Next Week's Matchups

Detroit (1-0) at Chicago (0-1) 1 PM: NFC Northerner.

Jacksonville (1-0) at Indianapolis 1 PM: AFC Southerner.

New England (1-0) at Carolina (0-1) 1 PM: Rematch of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Could be a preview of Super Bowl XL?

St. Louis (0-1) at Arizona (0-1) 4:05 PM: NFC Westerner.

Miami (1-0at N.Y. Jets 4:15 PM: AFC Easterner.

San Diego (0-1) at Denver (0-1) 4:15 PM: AFC Westerner, Part I.

Kansas City (1-0) at Oakland (0-1) 8:30 PM: AFC Westerner, Part II.

N.Y. Giants (1-0) at New Orleans (1-0) 7:30 p.m. Monday ABC until 9PM, then to ESPN. It is the Saints' opener -- in New Jersey.

Washington (1-0) at Dallas (1-0) 9 PM: NFC Easterner. Classic Rivalry. Old Time Coaches. The Throwback Game on Monday Night.

Patriots Notes

The Patriots signed WR PK Sam to the practice squad, and released Guard Ryan Krug from the practice squad.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Raiders Nation visiting Patriots Nation. Stay on your own side of the tracks, Followers of Al Davis.

Kimmi's Corner

On the Ravens attire Sunday Night:

"If they are going to wear all black, at least don't wear black shoes. They look like dorks."

Murderin' Ray, are you hearing this? Neon Deion?

Top Ten List of the Week

2. A home opener on national TV, with the win. How sweet it is!

3. Unbelievable upsets all weekend! It is still just Week 1, but what an exciting start!

4. Top note worthy items of Opening Night

1. The Pimp of Raider's Nation. I wish I had thought enough to have my picture taken with him at the game. Picture Jessie Ventura in a long black and white tiger striped robe with a wide brim hat with similar patterns and fuzzy frills on the edge, wearing Kiss-style boots, lots of plastic metal jewelry - and sober! His name is Tom, and he has some guts for just wearing that outfit in public.
2. The parking lots in and around Gillette Stadium were like refugee cities at 6PM. And there were way too many drunk people.
3. Someone forgot to give Ozzy his Ritalin Thursday.
4. It is really, really, really, really painful trying to leave Gillette Stadium after a Patriots game. But for as many people arrive too early to these games, almost as many stick around and tailgate way after the game.
5. Who knew that Patriots helmet at the tunnel doubled as a stage?
6. Fireworks rock at football games. And the musket shots after touchdowns, field goals, and point after can be pretty intimidating to opposing teams.
7. Bob Kraft's owner's box is directly under the 300 level seats on the Patriot's side of the stadium. Also there is a lime green square sign hanging on the wall under his window with handwritten RK on it, presumably as a marker for network cameras.
8. Green Day lip syncs, too.
9. A girl from WBCN told me Nik Carter is going for work at K-ROCK in New York, possibly to replace Stern in the AM.
10. The Patriots Pro Shop sells Santa Globes. Really.
11. The Graphics on the Jumbotron after a touch down are pretty cool. One that sticks in my mind is footage of Mel Gibson from Braveheart ramming his sword into the ground after a huge battle.

5. It looks like a big fight in the NFC South, with the Saints beating a favorite Carolina, and Tampa Bay winning up north. We'll see what Atlanta does Monday, but it'll be a slugfest.

6. Amazing. San Francisco knocks off St. Louis.

7. Great to see a Bledsoe of Old Re-Born. He looked better than he has in years.

8. The first half of the Sunday Night game, 3-0 Indy over Baltimore. Had the Ravens played more like NFL pros and not prissy college players, the Colts would have been done in early.

9. The Ravens are going to hurt themselves all season with careless play. Brian Billick needs to get control of that team now.

10. Hey Favre, thought you were ready for this season?

ejh

12 September 2005