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Week 1 awards

Top 10 Teams | 10 Things I Think I Think

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I know you've been waiting eight months for the return of the MMQB Awards (see how delusional I get in the preseason?), so here goes:

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: St. Louis QB Kurt Warner, for his 28-of-44, 316-yard, three-touchdown, two-interception game in the Rams' 27-10 win over Baltimore. His last start was for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena League. His next will be as an NFL division leader.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The most valuable defensive player of Week 1, without question, is Tampa Bay DT Warren Sapp. He told me early in training camp he'd lead the NFL in sacks this year. I called him back Thursday to see if he was sticking by that. "Oh, yeah,'' he told me. "I'm even more sure today than when I first told you. Somebody's going to have to put up an astronomical number to beat me.'' He had but one sack Sunday in the 17-13 loss to the Giants, but he had two tackles-for-loss and totally ate Giants rookie guard Luke Petitgout for lunch. What a dominating performance.

SPECIAL-TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Arizona K Chris Jacke, whose game-winner beat the Eagles 25-24. Jacke's now played five regular-season games for the Cards. He has four last-minute game-winners.

COACH OF THE WEEK: Cincinnati's Bruce Coslet. Not for winning; the Bengals didn't, losing 36-35 at Tennessee. But for finding some way to stay in a game, with one of the league's truly lousy rosters, against a competent NFL foe .

GOAT OF THE WEEK: Tampa Bay QB Trent Dilfer. I mean, is it close? Is there another contestant? By far, Dilfer was the best player on the Giants Sunday, handing them three second-half picks and giving New York a 17-13 victory. And is anyone but me absolutely amazed to have seen Trent Dilfer smiling and talking with a Giant on the field after the game?

I was going to do a WHINING KICKER OF THE WEEK, because I'm so sick of hearing them bitch about not getting to use their prehistoric soft footballs in games, but I thought better of it.

The Top 10  

Here's my MMQB Week 1 Top 10:

1. Minnesota (1-0)
2. Denver (0-0)
3. Jacksonville (1-0)
4. Miami (0-0)
5. Atlanta (0-1)
6. Indianapolis (1-0)
7. New York Giants (1-0)
8. New England (1-0)
9. Green Bay (1-0)
10. Tampa Bay Defense (1-0) I know Tampa is 0-1, but Bucs would be 1-0 if they let Sapp quarterback.

The 10 Things I Think I Think This Week  

1. I think flags must be at half-staff this morning on Long Island, because mighty Vinny has struck out. From Vinny Testaverde to Tom Tupa is as devastating a dropoff to the Jets as Brett Favre to Matt Hasselbeck would be to Green Bay. The football world should weep for Vinny, a truly good guy who's had the most star-crossed of careers.

2. I think I will be 96 and still screaming at the NFL to do something about its bastard child known as the preseason. I give you these three reasons: Wayne Chrebet. Trent Green. Chris Spielman. That enough? Who's gutsy enough in this league to stop the insanity of real games in August?

3. I think these are my observations about football in Nashville:

   a. Beautiful stadium, this Adelphia Coliseum. Great grass field. Great sightlines for fans, who look like they're right on top of the field.

   b. Great access to downtown. I love stadia that are within walking distance to hotels in mid-town.

   c. Weird love affair with the University of Tennessee, 185 miles to the east. The TV sports guy Saturday night was already previewing the Tennessee-Florida game -- WHICH WAS EIGHT DAYS AWAY. And before the game Sunday, I was outside doing the CNN NFL Preview show when two Tennessee state troopers, sirens blaring, led seven buses into the parking lot, followed by two more troopers with sirens and two motorcycles with sirens. "What is it?'' my CNN producer, Robert Abbott, asked. "The president?'' Nope. The Tennessee marching band.

   d. I don't understand how, in the biggest sports event in this town's history, there were yawning gaps of empty seats. The tickets were all sold. I bet I saw 5,000 empties. How do you buy a ticket and not come to the first regular-season game in the history of the franchise?

   e. The Titans' PR man, Tony Wyllie, is into this Southern thing. He announced in the press box after a Tennessee safety Sunday: "That's the first safety by the club in 45 games, y'all.''

4a. I think the Saints will never admit it in a million years, but everyone in that organization, after watching Ricky Williams limp to the locker room twice with his bum ankle in the first half Sunday against Carolina, wishes he sat out the opener.

4b. I think I wonder if Ricky Williams took his helmet off for breakfast this morning.

5. I think America saw Sunday night what scouts have been telling me all summer: Cleveland has an absolutely minor league collection of skill players, and any game the Browns win -- except, perhaps, against Cincinnati -- will have to be won on turnovers and by a defense that will rapidly grow weary and hurt because it's on the field so much.

6. I think I heard the Carl Pickens camp say a few dozen times in the off-season that, sick of losing, he'd never wear the stripes again. What rubes we are. We believed him. I think, also, that the Bengals will soon regret giving this locker-room divider a five-year contract, which is a five-year invitation to mess things up off the field. In Cincinnati, that's not a hard thing to do. Remember one thing about Pickens (this is a story from former backup QB Eric Kresser ): Last year, in the last game of the season, with Kresser playing, Pickens told him in the huddle: "Don't throw the ball to me." All game, he meant. What a bush-leaguer.

7. I think I owe Colts GM Bill Polian an apology, though let's give this one some time to percolate. On draft day, I said, and I quote, "The Colts will rue the day they bypassed Ricky Williams for Edgerrin James." The one-day ruing looks like this: James led every NFL back with 112 rushing yards; Williams had 40 rushing yards and a very sore ankle.

8. I think I would not want to be Bill Parcells this morning. Or Vinny Testaverde.

9. I think ESPN's Paul Maguire is good on TV, but sometimes he says the darndest things. I mean, after Kordell Stewart stupidly took the Steelers' last timeout with 2:33 left in the first quarter of Sunday night's game at Cleveland -- eliminating the Steelers' ability to challenge a call with instant replay over the next 15 minutes, eliminating the Steelers' ability to stop the clock in the last 17 minutes of the half -- Maguire said, "I as a coach don't mind him using that last timeout.'' What a dumb thing to say. What's so disastrous about taking a delay and making it first and 15? Especially when the consequences could be so impactful? Of course, the Steelers needed that timeout when they did a terrible job handling the clock inside the two-minute warning before halftime.

10. I think the media and the public ought to stop looking at Stewart as a do-everything deity and start seeing him as a player struggling to master his craft. Because that's what he is.

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