NFL Week 1 2010: Part Deux

Five Thoughts on Monday Night's Doubleheader

-The Jets and Ravens are mirror images of each other, and on Monday the Ravens were just a little bit better. These are two teams that emphasize defense and specifically run defense. On offense, they both try and establish the run first. But against each other, neither could get much of offense going and the game turned into a defensive slug-fest.

In the end, the difference turned out to be what each team could do on third down. The Ravens converted 11 of 19 third downs, mainly on Joe Flacco passes. He went a number of receivers on those conversions: Anquan Boldin, Todd Heap, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Willie McGahee all got a piece of the action.

Being successful on third down allowed the Ravens to enjoy almost double the time in possession of the Jets and produce the game's only touchdown drive.

-A night of offensive offense by the Jets. The last meaningful play of the game perfectly summed up the night's work for Mark Sanchez and co. On 4th and 10 at the New York 31 with 41 ticks left, Sanchez threw an out route to tight end Dustin Keller, who, under very little pressure but led by the throw, stepped out of bounds a good yard short of the first down marker. Turnover. Game over.

Here are few stats for you on the Jets offense. 6 first downs. 1 of 11 on third down conversions. 176 total offensive yards. 60 passing yards. 3 fumbles, one of which was lost (more on that in a moment).

The Jets may have a good enough defense to keep them close in most games, but the offense has to pick up some of the slack. Santonio Holmes coming back after week 4 should help, as will playing against weaker defenses than Baltimore's.

Nonetheless Rex Ryan's Superbowl champions prediction is looking more and more ill-advised by the day. Look, this team had a fantastic postseason run this winter but their offense is undoubtedly still a work in progress. I think Ryan's bold outlook may just have heaped too much pressure on this team and particularly on its young franchise quarterback.

-Big things are expected out of Shonn Greene this season, but the second year man had an opener to forget. Greene was one of the star's of the last postseason with two games of 100+ rushing yards. His breakout was part of the reason the Jets released their leading rusher Thomas Jones in March.

But Greene fumbled the ball twice against the Ravens, one of which was lost. He also rushed for only 18 yards on 5 carries and dropped an easy swing pass. The Jets will need Greene to be a much more prominent piece of the offense in the coming weeks.

-The Chiefs pull off a shocker at Arrowhead against the Chargers. Aided by a raucous crowd, a torrential downpour and an out-of-sync San Diego offense (how many of those have we seen this week?), Kansas City produced just enough big plays to overcome the Chargers.

The Chiefs barely gained more first downs than the Jets (9) but scored their three touchdowns on a 56-yard touchdown run, a 94-yard punt return and three plays after a 23-yard fumble return. They then set about protecting their lead the best they could, shutting down San Diego's rookie running back Ryan Matthews and double-teaming Antonio Gates on almost every play.

Philip Rivers tried his best to get the Chargers back in the game but suffered from miscommunications with his offensive line and receivers, and saw a number of his passes dropped.

The win reminded me of just how noisy Arrowhead can get and what a daunting place it can be to run an offense especially when the Chiefs are playing well.

-Kansas City now has two kick returners that will scare the bejesus out of teams this season. Well if you had an offense that struggles to put points on the board, wouldn't you pick up two of the best kick returners in the draft? That's precisely what Kansas City Chiefs did by selecting Dexter McCluster and Javier Arenas in the second round of this year's draft.

The strategy paid immediate dividends in the opener. Arenas brought the crowd noise to a whole new level with big punt return of 36 and 24 yards in the second quarter. McCluster sent them into ectasy when he returned Mike Scifres 60-yard punt 94 yards for a touchdown, a team record.

Anyone who watched the game could tell you that every time one of the two touched the ball, you felt there was a chance that it was going to the house. I'd be surprised if opponents keep giving either of them many more return chances.