Week One in the books

Opening day has come and gone and already there are a few things we know about the AFC East. The Patriots are as lethal on offense as advertised. The Dolphins and Bills are improving, but still have some growing pains to go through. And the Jets? Well, there weren’t too many bright spots for them, but one of them was the play of Laveranues Coles.

 The biggest story of the day came from Buffalo, where Bills Tight End Kevin Everett suffered a severe spinal injury in the Bills last second loss to the Broncos. The extent of his injuries aren’t clear at this time, but the word coming out of Buffalo doesn’t look good. We’re all hoping he makes it through this.

As for the football games themselves, we saw the revamped Patriots offense on display in New York against an overwhelmed Jets Defense. Give a lot of the credit to the Patriots Offensive Line who gave Brady enough time to read Dr. Spock’s Baby and Childcare Book in the pocket before deciding which of his receivers to throw his next bullet to. I think I saw a completion to Hart Lee Dykes in there somewhere, actually. One concern for Patriots fans should be the play of Laurence Maroney, who looked tentative at times when getting to the line of scrimmage. Is that shoulder problem more serious than he is letting on? The Pats will need him to hit the hole hard if they want to be playing in February.

The Jets looked fairly overwhelmed in most aspects of the game, but give credit to the team for not giving up even when it was obvious the game was decided. Chad Pennington showed tons of heart by shaking off an ankle injury to come back in and lead the offense on a scoring drive. And while I’m sure many Jets fans are anxious to see what former second-round pick Kellen Clemens can do, it was pretty damn pathetic to hear Jets fans cheering the injury to Pennington. Rookie CB Darrelle Revis showed some flashes as to why he was a first-round selection, but it was obvious that he has a lot of learning to do as Patriots receivers had plenty of success against him.

In Washington, the Dolphins nearly overcame a sloppy effort to defeat the Redskins, but fell short in overtime, 16-13. While the team is still learning Cam Cameron’s system, the number of penalties and mental mistakes has to be disheartening to any Phins fan. Trent Green had a decent enough day for Miami, but it wasn’t enough as the usually stout Phins D allowed Clinton Portis to amass nearly 100 yards on the ground.