Brady And Gronk Defeat Steelers, Headphone-gate, Battle Of #1 Picks, Manning’s Contract
FOOTBALL
Finally the regular season of the NFL season kicked off. In recent tradition, the first game featured the reigning Super Bowl champion facing off against a very strong opponent.  This year it was the New England Patriots, with deflategate Tom Brady as QB, against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even though the Steelers were without their star running back Le’Veon Bell, they still got an incredible rushing performance from veteran and former long-time Carolina Panther DeAngelo Williams.  In the end, it was the Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski show. They linked up for 3 touchdowns. Brady and the Pats looked relatively unbeatable and could be marching towards yet another Super Bowl. New England 28, Pittsburgh 21.
Headset-gate: It seems that everything with the Patriots screams controversy and Thursday night’s game did not disappoint. The Steelers’ coaches complained that they were unable to communicate during the first half of the game because a Patriots radio broadcast played in their headphones. An NFL league spokesman claimed the interference was caused by an infrastructure issue and weather.
Elsewhere in the NFL, what would otherwise be looked at as a meaningless game, the Tennessee Titans v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers match-up has become exciting to the media. Why? Because it is a battle of this year’s top 2 draft picks: Jameis Winston from Florida State and Marcus Mariota from Oregon.  There was a lot of controversy on who should be the #1 pick. Winston won out, but Mariota had a better pre-season. Of course whatever happens on Sunday doesn’t determine the fate of their careers, but it will be fun to watch them all season.
Finally in the NFL Eli Manning and the New York Giants are very close to a lucrative long-term deal. Manning won 2 Super Bowls for the Giants, and given Manning’s chemistry with new star wide receiver Odell Beckham, the Giants are ready to hand him the keys to their franchise for the foreseeable future.
