FOOTBALL

In our first Sunday of football for the season, we saw some early action, Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts hosted the Oakland Raiders in what everyone thought was going to be a blowout — especially because Oakland was starting 2nd year QB Terrelle Pryor.  Sure, he’s a mobile quarterback, but he just secured the job, and there was no telling what would happen.  The Colts got up early, but in the second half, the Raiders came battling back behind Pryor, and put up 20 unanswered points.  Pryor looked great out there. He was excellent at scrambling out of pressure situations, and he kept throwing miracle passes to get out of 3rd down and long situations.   But, in the end, Andrew Luck turned on the magic, and wound up scrambling for his own long TD, as the Colts grabbed a Week 1 victory.  Both of these teams need a week to work out the bugs, but maybe the Raiders won’t be that bad this season.  Indianapolis 21, Oakland 17.

Then, in the afternoon marquee game, it was the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Green Bay Packers.  This was a rematch of last year’s divisional playoff series, in which the 49ers simply crushed the Packers.  They had no answer for QB Colin Kaepernick, as he ran all over them using the read-option offense. Would the Packers be ready for Kaepernick this season, and would Kap be able to duplicate his success from the end of last season?  This game was an offensive shootout, but even though Niners fans were worried about their receiving situation, Kap did just fine with what he had, throwing for over 400 yards.  He looked amazing out there.  The game came down to the wire, but the Niners prevailed on their home field in the end.  But make no mistake, the Packers look very good.  They should have a great season.  San Francisco 34, Green Bay 28.

Finally, in the Sunday Night Game, it was the New York Giants vs. the Dallas Cowboys.  And since the opening of the $1.2 billion dollar stadium in Dallas (dubbed ‘The House That Jerry Built’ after owner Jerry Jones), the Cowboys have never beaten the Giants on their home turf.  It’s as if the Giants just have the magic formula for winning in Dallas.  This time was different though. The Cowboys got some solid offensive production from Tony Romo, but their defense was the hero, picking off Eli Manning for two defensive touchdowns.  The Cowboys look like an oiled machine, and the Giants definitely have some things to figure out.  Their running back David Wilson fumbled twice, and gave an absolutely horrible performance.  Dallas 36, NY Giants 31.