FanHouse NFLWeek2Recaps

The Titans strategy coming into Sunday was to try to keep the game close and see if they could steal a victory from the Colts in the final minutes. It's the same gameplan that worked last year, as the Titans split with the Colts winning one and narrowly losing another.

For 59 minutes, it worked out exactly according to plan. The Titans defense gave up plenty of yards, but relatively few points. And with the game on the line, they got a stop, forcing a punt that went into the end zone, and giving Vince Young and the offense one last chance to hold up their end of the bargain.

And with Young, the Titans always believe they can win in these kind of situations. He may not be the most accurate quarterback in the league, but his combination of decent passing and excellent scrambling skills are hard to defend in a two-minute offense situation. Young did his part, but a dropped pass by Brandon Jones ended Tennessee's comeback about 15 yards short of a field goal attempt.

I would say that Bill Belichick should get fined half a million bucks every week, but that would imply the that New England Patriots usually don't dominate football games. And tonight, it was more of the same against the San Diego Chargers.

New England scored seven plays into the festivities on seven consecutive passes, were up 24-zip at the half, and cruised to a 38-14 victory in a decidedly boring affair (well, boring for those people looking for a close game).

Not surprisingly, much of the talk leading up to kickoff was about PatriotGate -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and team owner Robert Kraft both gave interviews with NBC Sports -- but the talk quickly turned to New England's precision offense defense ... well, every phase of the game.

The defense sacked Philip Rivers three times and intercepted him twice, including a second-quarter Adalius Thomas 65-yard pick-for-six. They also held LaDainian Tomlinson to 43 yards on 18 rushes.

On offense, Tom Brady hooked up with six different receivers, and continues to make Randy Moss look like he's in Minnesota and it's 1999. The former Vikings first-round pick hauled in eight passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. That means in two weeks of work, Moss has 17 catches for 288 yards and three scores. For some perspective, last season, Mr. Randy didn't surpass 288 receiving yards until Week 4, and didn't snag his third touchdown until Week 6.

Funny how playing for a winner motivates you. Now explain to me again why the Belichick felt he had to cheat.

Normally, I don't like Terrell Owens' touchdown celebrations. However, this ... pictured ... was a pretty good one. After catching a 34-yard TD pass in the 4th quarter, T.O. hid behind the goalpost, used the football as a camera and mimicked the Patriots' "Spygate" controversy. Sorry, Chad Johnson, but that's better than a weak Hall Of Fame jacket.

Owens caught 5 passes for 97 yards in the win:

"It was all in good fun," Owens said with a grin. "I hope they don't give me a hefty fine like they gave Belichick."

Terrell Owens was just part of Dallas' 37-20 whipping of the Miami Dolphins. Dallas piled up 166 rushing yards and their defense ... while not perfect ... played much better than in their Week 1 win over the Giants. They got five takeaways, including four interceptions and dominated the first half. Miami made a nice adjustment in the 2nd half [noting that the Boys' secondary was giving them short routes] ... but it wasn't enough to overcome the turnovers [especially when the Phins forced none].

Mistakes were the name of this game for both teams. Dallas' big problem was penalties: 11 of 'em for 101 yards! However, the Dolphins continued to kill themselves with mistakes. Not only did they have the four picks and lost a fumbled snap, but committed 7 penalties of their own ... including two penalties on a beautiful punt. The re-kick was returned 49 yards by Patrick Crayton and the Cowboys soon scored a TD. There was also the end of the first half where Trent Green wasted time and two downs to SPIKE THE FOOTBALL! The first spike slipped out his hands and was ruled a fumble. He then had to hurry to get his confused team back up on the line to spike the ball again.

Final score: Cowboys 37-Dolphins 20

Only people who haven't been paying attention are particularly surprised by the result of the Panther-Texans game. Houston quietly had a solid camp and preseason, with the preseason's number one scoring offense in the league. And the Panthers are now historically 3-10 in home openers.

Early in the game, it looked like it would be a runaway victory for Carolina. The Texans quickly got into a 14-0 hole on the road in the first quarter, after a easy touchdown, and then a fumble leading to an easy touchdown. Both TDs involved Texans CB DeMarcus Faggins covering getting abused by Panther receiver Steve Smith in one-on-one coverage. Covering Smith straight up is a nearly impossible task for most cornerbacks, and Faggins is the same corner that got beat by two 83 yard Lee Evans' TDs in last year's game against the Bills so it's not like this was particularly surprising.

After the Texans defensive coordinator embraced the reality that the Faggins-Smith matchup was a worse idea than the Britney Spears' VMA comeback song, the Texans secondary coverage changed and the defense played tough for the rest of the game.

The ecstasy and the Rex-stasy were both in full view as the Bears beat the Chiefs 20-10 in their home opener on Sunday. Devin Hester provided the ecstasy with a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown, a 31-yarder that set up one of Robbie Gould's two field goals and a 95-yard kickoff return that should have netted six more points for the Monsters of the Midway. It was called back because of a holding penalty, though, and the Bears had to be content with a slim margin of victory.

Hester wasn't the only Bear to have a good game on Sunday. Cedric Benson quieted any talk about being too soft to succeed as the feature back by rushing for 101 yards and outplaying his opposite number Larry Johnson. L.J., a Benson supporter, was shut down by the Bears defense and spent another week compiling material for his next anti Chief rap. Maybe Benson can return the favor and remind Johnson that things can get better if you keep trying. Either that or he can come up for a derogatory rhyme for Damon Huard for Johnson's next single.

So the Bears ran the ball with authority, dominated on defense and made big plays in the kicking game, why didn't they blow out Kansas City? The answer to that question is Rex Grossman. The always-embattled quarterback actually started quite well, leading a 15-play, eight minute drive that ended with Chicago's first touchdown of the season early in the second quarter. Hester and Gould extended his lead to 20-7 in the third quarter and you'd think that Grossman would be able to take it easy and manage the Bears to a comfortable win.

You've got to love Jon Kitna's enthusiasm -- all summer long he went on a fruitless attempt to convince the nation that the Lions were for real and put his money where his mouth is today, returning from a concussion to rescue Detroit from J.T. O'Sullivan's best attempts at sabotage with a 20-17 overtime win.

And when Jason Hanson booted a 37-yard field goal in extras to win the game, Kitna's exaggerated enthusiasm got me amped, even though I realized today that my favorite team may very well suck. You could say that he's having fun out there, although I think that phrase is restricted to Brett Favre usage.

The Lions rush attack fell back to Earth, as Tatum Bell remembered that he's Tatum Bell. But it didn't stop the Lions passing game, which went for almost 400 yards between the two quarterbacks. Roy Williams went for 111 large and a score, and Calvin Johnson (61 yards and a touchdown) outshined Adrian Peterson in the rookie matchup. Peterson ran for just 66 yards on 20 carries.

But as great as this is for the Lions, it's not exactly time to annoint them the class of the NFC North. Intercepting Tarvaris Jackson four times is as difficult as persuading Brady Quinn to drink mimosas. The Lions also turned the ball over five times. So there's work to be done. And both teams did what they could to lose the game, each missing field goals late.

Still, winning just feels good, doesn't it Detroit? Ignore the cynicism and disbelief for now -- if history is any indicator, there will be plenty of time for that -- and revel in the unknown. This Lions team may not be the best, and they may or may not sniff 8-8 -- this remains to be seen -- but they genuinely appear to care. When was the last time that's been the case?

Just as the second quarter started in Denver the skies opened in a fury of lightning and thunder. NFL rules call for a halt to the proceedings when the heavens pour down like that. For the Raiders it really was a heaven-sent interruption. Josh McCown had just thrown his second interception of the game and the Broncos were in business near midfield when the game was halted. On the first play back, though, Jay Cutler was picked and the Raiders drove for a field goal that cut Denver's lead to 7-3. That was just the beginning of what the man upstairs had in store for the Raiders on Sunday. And like any good biblical story there were moments of glory, agony and redemption before He finally pulled the rug out from under Lane Kiffin's gang.

The glory came when Gerard Warren sacked Cutler for a safety and when Thomas Howard picked off one of his passes for a 44-yard touchdown return that elevated the Raiders to a 20-17 lead with nine minutes to play in the game. The redemption belonged to McCown and Lamont Jordan. After a miserable first half McCown found Jerry Porter for the first Oakland touchdown and his tailback picked up big chunks of yardage throughout the second half before finishing with 159 yards. Some of those yards set up Sebastian Janikowski's 52-yard field goal to win the game four minutes into overtime.

The Jets couldn't run the ball any better today than they did against the Patriots. They protected the quarterback with the same matador style they used in the opener. And they rushed Kyle Boller like touching him would give them Chlamydia.

Yet they still had a chance to tie the game in Baltimore when a new offensive problem reared its ugly head. Justin McCareins and Laveranues Coles combined to drop three passes that would have been touchdowns from Kellen Clemens in the last two minutes. The last of those passes brushed off McCareins' fingers and into Ray Lewis' hearty mitts and the Ravens escaped with a 20-13 win.

Clemens deserved better. The second-year player made his first career start in place of Chad Pennington and struggled for most of three quarters before finding his rhythm in the fourth quarter. He was 10-for-19 for 176 yards and a touchdown in the final 15 minutes while leading the Jets back from a 20-3 deficit.

Those first three quarters belonged to the Ravens. They stifled everything the Jets tried on offense, sacking Clemens four times and intercepting him once while Boller was doing an excellent job running the offense. He threw a pair of touchdowns and his offensive line, sans Jonathan Ogden, had no trouble giving him time to find the right receivers at the right times. Willis McGahee ran the ball well and caught Boller's first touchdown.

With the game tied 20-20 and the Seahawks driving with only 2:00 to go, Cardinals fans had to be thinking "here we go again!" Then, suddenly, the unthinkable happened. As Matt Hasselbeck turned to handoff to Shaun Alexander, the ball came loose. For Arizona and Seattle fans, time stood still for a moment -- this was the game. As Darnell Dockett fell on the ball, a collective shriek of excitement could be heard across the country emanating from Phoenix.

From there, it was all up to Edgerrin James and Neil Rackers -- neither of whom would disappoint. Edge gained 20 yards on the next three carries, setting Rackers up for a potential game-winning 42-yard field goal. And as the clock slowly ticked away, the Rackers kick sailed through the uprights, all but securing the Cardinals their first win of the season. While the Seahawks did have one second and a kickoff return remaining, their efforts would prove to be fruitless, as Arizona stopped them before they even reached the 30.

Sure, I may have played this up a little, but I've got my Cardinals hat on today. Admittedly, it's not that often that the Cardinals and their fans can celebrate, and while it may only be week two, this was a huge win for this franchise. It was a fabulous rebound from last week, and gives Arizona a little motivation going forward.

For Seattle, it's a horrible bitter way to end the week. They really seemed to outplay a sloppy Cardinals team, but the only thing that matters is the final score. Unfortunately for them, they were on the wrong side of that this week. And because of that, good performances by Hasselbeck, Alexander, Deion Branch and Lofa Tatupu went to waste.

Let me have it, Seahawks fans. I know it's coming, so please, let loose.

Final Score: Cardinals 23 - Seahawks 20

For the second straight week, the 49ers are undeserved victors. When you outgain someone 392 yards to 186 and 20 first downs to eight, as St. Louis did today, you'd expect to emerge victorious. But a couple of big plays did the Rams in and it was Alex Smith's squad with the 17-16 victory.

Dante Hall fumbled a punt that led to San Francisco's winning field goal and Torry Holt fumbled a would-be touchdown out of the 49er endzone thanks to a heads-up play by Nate Clements, two plays which produced 10 49er points. The Rams also left three valuable points on the board, as Jeff Wilkins (as you can see to the right) missed a late 56-yard field goal that would have given the Rams the lead. Otherwise, it was a back-to-form game for the Rams offense, who posted gaudy numbers after their anemic performance last week against Carolina.