Miscellaneous Items on the First Weekend of the 2008 Season

-I wonder if Seattle Seahawk fans were as impressed as I was with their big time RB free agent signing after Sunday’s thumping at the hands of the Buffalo Bills. Seattle fans thought they had Shawn Alexander’s replacement when the club signed Julius Jones in the off season but I’m thinking they might be a little more reserved about him after seeing him run for only 45 yards on 13 carries. Oh, and one of those runs was for 24 yards so if you take that out of the mix, he had 21 yards on 12 carries. Impressive to say the least…

-Recently, Bengals WR Chad Johnson (who wears #85) legally changed his name from Chad Johnson to Chad Ocho Cinco. The Bengals promptly came out and said that they would recognize this and change all team documents, including the back of his jersey, which had previously read Chad Johnson to Chad Ocho Cinco. However, no one bothered to check with the NFL on this. Apparently, Reebok (which makes the jerseys for all the NFL teams) has made, and shipped out, a plethora of Chad JOHNSON jerseys and since the league has that financial commitment to Reebok, Ocho Cinco’s name will remain C. Johnson on the back of his jersey. The NFL issued the following statement: "He will wear the name Johnson on his jersey today and will be referred to as Chad Johnson on the official play-by-play sheet…certain issues remain [with the NFL] to be resolved before Ocho Cinco will be permitted to wear his new surname on his jersey. He has a financial obligation to Reebok, which produces the jerseys available to fans. That has to be resolved before the on-field jersey can be changed.” So, I guess we will all have to wait a little longer before Ocho Cinco really becomes Ocho Cinco.

-Looks like The Patriots’ season might have just gone up in flames as Tom Brady suffered a season ending injury in the 1st quarter of their game vs. the Chiefs on Sunday. Matt Cassel, his replacement came in in relief and guided the Patriots to a 17-10 victory but if Brady would have been in there, the Patriots probably would have won 38-10. Now we see what a QB who, before yesterday, started his last game in high school can do with one of the best teams in the NFL. Cassel backed up Carson Palmer then Matt Leinart at USC but never got the starting nod himself. Reports are that New England is going to bring in Chris Simms for a workout and might actually sign him. I’m sure a few Texas fans will roll their eyes at that and say “yeah, bring in Simms…he’s your savior.”

-Is the 2008 Tennessee defense the new ’85 Bears? I know that is a dumb question but Tennessee beat Jacksonville on Sunday 17-10 and did it was some pretty sick defense. Keep in mind that Jacksonville was considered a top 5 or top 6 team in the NFL. Last season, Jacksonville’s offense was ranked #7 and was ranked #2 in rushing offense. Here’s how they fared yesterday against Tennessee’s defense:

-189 total yards on offense
-33 rushing yards (Fred Taylor – 18 yards on 9 carries; Jones-Drew – 13 yards on 5 carries)
-3 turnovers
-7 allowed sacks

That is ferocious defense. I’m glad Dallas doesn’t plat Tennessee this year.