After a offseason of wheeling and dealing, the NFL regular season is finally upon us. And the initial weekend offered the first chance to see a host of players make their debuts in new homes.
One of the biggest stories of the offseason was Brett Favre's retirement, possible un-retirement, official retirement and eventual signing with the Minnesota Vikings in mid-August.
On Sunday, Favre took the field donning the Vikings' purple and gold in a regular season game against the Cleveland Browns: a sight that Green Bay Packers fans could only have envisioned in their worst nightmares. However, despite all of the hype around the 39-year-old quarterback's Vikings debut, Favre's performance was predictably average.
Like he does almost every Sunday, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson stole the show, running for 180 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Favre finished the day 14-for-21 with one touchdown and zero interceptions, but to nobody's surprise he followed up that six-yard touchdown pass with an "emotional" celebration.
The bottom line is that Sunday's 34-20 victory over the Browns didn't prove a thing about the Vikings' new acquisition. Favre did what he was asked to do by simply handing the ball off to the incomparable Peterson and exceeded expectations by not turning the ball over.
The question is: How long will he be satisfied with that small of a role? The world will have to wait until the Vikings are challenged by a quality opponent and Favre is forced to take shots throwing the ball rather than just handing it off. Only then will we find out what exactly Favre is going to bring to the Vikings' offense.
Meanwhile, despite one of the most disastrous offseasons a franchise has had in recent history, the Denver Broncos finally had a little bit of luck go their way in Week One. Rookie coach Josh McDaniels had a tumultuous start to his tenure, spending his summer alienating his two best players: wide receiver Brandon Marshall and quarterback Jay Cutler, who was eventually traded to the Chicago Bears.
McDaniels couldn't seem to find any solace on the field either, as with 28 seconds left in his first game as a head coach, the Broncos had the ball on their own 13-yard line and were trailing the lowly Cincinnati Bengals 7-6. New Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton then pulled off a miracle — with an assist from the Bengals defense.
Orton, the former Bear, took the shotgun snap, pumped once and threw in the direction of Marshall on the left sideline. Bengals cornerback Leon Hall leaped into the air and deflected the ball, but he couldn't manage to knock it to the ground. Instead, the ball popped back up into the air — past Bengals safety Roy Williams, who was coming in to make the hit on Marshall — and fell into the waiting arms of ageless wide receiver Brandon Stokley. Stokley did the rest of the work, running 55 yards to the end zone, capping an 87-yard scoring play and sealing an unlikely win for Denver.
Later Sunday night, Cutler — the Pro-Bowl quarterback who was relocated to Chicago — was an absolute horror show in the Bears' 21-15 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The quarterback — for whom Chicago traded two first round picks, a third round pick and Orton — threw four interceptions in his regular-season debut with his new team, including one in the last two minutes of the game. It's way too early to hit the panic button, but after a shaky preseason, an ugly opening game performance and a season-ending injury to linebacker Brian Urlacher, Bears fans have lost some of their optimism for the 2009 season.
Finally, in a more recent addition to the 2009 quarterback carousel, Jeff Garcia has once again found himself in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform after he was cut by the Oakland Raiders in early September.
Eagles starting quarterback Donovan McNabb suffered a rib injury during Philadelphia's 38-10 drubbing of the Carolina Panthers, and although he was able to finish the game, his status is uncertain for next week, and he could potentially be out for several. With very little depth at the quarterback position due to the suspension of Michael Vick and the recent release of A.J. Feeley, coach Andy Reid felt the need to bring Garcia back to the City of Brotherly Love.
It is still premature to begin making judgments about the quarterbacks and their new teams, but Week One certainly provided an interesting start to the story. Only the coming months will tell whether the various teams involved in these big offseason moves will benefit from the play of their new leaders.
