Week 2: Welcome to Atlanta

We've made it through Week 2, friends and as wild a Sunday as it was, Monday night's game seemed the perfect end to an eventful week, so let's get straight to it!

- Peyton Manning sat out all last season after 4 neck surgeries only to be released by the Indianapolis Colts at the end of it all. Last week he made his debut as the Denver Broncos QB with a big win at home over the Pittsburgh Steelers and everyone joined in the chants of "He's Back!". Everyone, that is, except Peyton Manning. Before the game he let reporters know that he still felt there was some rust to dust off and that he was not expecting this week, playing in Atlanta, to be anything like his home field opener. There is a reason Peyton Manning is so respected in this game, he knows his sh...um stuff. Much like his little brother, Eli, did on Sunday, Peyton threw 3 interceptions in the first quarter to give Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons the opportunity to take an early 20-7 lead.

Nice one, Atlanta. Very nice. 

- On the other side of the ball, Matt Ryan completed 24 of 36 passes for 219 yards and 2 touchdown passes, including his 100th career TD pass (congratulations Matt Ryan!). Would the Falcons have won the game without the mistakes by Peyton Manning? I think so, Matt Ryan was efficient and made good key decisions that protected their lead when it looked like Peyton Manning was going to pull and Eli and try to win the thing in the 4th quarter.

- And the Broncos did make a run at it. Manning Broncos marched the Broncos down the field and completed a touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas just before halftime to make it 20-7. In fact, Peyton got it as close as 21-27 and it looked like they were going to have another chance to score until Matt Ryan completed a pass to Julio Jones for a key first down that allowed the Falcons to run out the clock send the Broncos back to Denver with a 1-1 record. "Impress Him" Fact: Before Monday's game Peyton Manning was 11-3 on Monday nights. This has to be a loss that he will feel all the way home.

- There was all kinds of extracurricular activity during this game as well, it looked as if the inmates were running the asylum. The replacement refs turned over 3 calls after reviewing the replay in the first half. There was a little pushing a shoving show that took 6 minutes! After Knowshon Moreno fumbled the ball for Denver in the 1st quarter, the field was swarmed by Broncos and one Falcon, Ray Edwards actually bumped a referee! There was only one flag against Edwards, no one was thrown out of the game, and 6 minutes of everyone's lives, including mine, was gone. I said in my last post that frustration with the replacement refs is growing, that might be an understatement after last night's game. It's not the RR's (like that?) fault, they are out of their element and each week the pressure on them is going to grow. I leave you with this image of this poor guy, who is probably a used car salesman who coaches little league football on the weekend, getting his face blown off by John Fox, the head coach of the Broncos. Get the real guys back, NFL. Just get 'em back.

how'd you like to see this coming at you?

 

Week 2: Oh When The Saints Come Falling Down

If nothing else, this blog is doing for me what I hoped it would do for other girls who are constantly surrounded by NFL talk. I have been spouting off stats and NFL tidbits all week and the reaction has been priceless.  The only downside so far has been that when it was time to go pick up lunch today neither my husband nor I wanted to go because we were both glued to the NFL Kickoff show, a minor bump in the road during this experiment in marriage and sports. SO MUCH happened this Sunday, here are some of the big headlines. I have also highlighted some "Impress Him" facts that are sure to raise some eyebrows if you have the opportunity to use them.

- The New Orleans Saints are no strangers to adversity. Seven years ago, Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans and Drew Brees and the Saints stepped up to become the face of the recovery effort and the team that everyone was rooting for no matter who their team was. This year the Saints find themselves facing a different kind of adversity, a less friendly kind. Allegations of players being paid bounties for making hits against certain players have left Drew Brees and New Orleans without their head coach, Sean Payton for this season and the eyes of NFL fans everywhere focused on them, this time in a negative way. The Saints lost to the Carolina Panthers, 27-35, for the first time since 2009 and are now 0-2 for the first time since 2007. Cam Newton and the Panthers looked energized in their home stadium. Newton did a little bit of everything, he had 253 passing yards, was the lead rusher with a career high, 71 rushing yards, one rushing TD, and no interceptions,(Disclaimer: I am a HUGE Cam Newton fan, so I may tend to dwell on him a little. I'm sorry, I can't help it, we have a very special connection that only he and I know about. Well, he doesn't actually know but that's neither here nor there.). Anyhoo, on the other side of the ball, the Saints defense looked rough. They have allowed over 900 yards of offense in their last 2 games. Drew Brees threw 2 interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown. Everyone will be talking about how Drew Brees and the Saints can bounce back from this disappointing start to their season. (Aside: A replacement ref was dismissed at the beginning of this game because it came out that he was a HUGE Saints fan, and when I say "huge" I mean that there were pictures of him on Facebook wearing every bit of Saints clothing he could get his hands on. I am willing to bet there is a Saints tattoo somewhere on his body. Good call by the NFL.).


Cam Newton's Signature TD Celebration, "The Superman"

- Are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers really going to beat the NY Giants at home?! Are the Super Bowl Champions going to be 0-2?! Absolutely not, but it looked like it for the better part of 3 quarters. "Impress Him" Fact: Both the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators for Tampa Bay came from the NY Giants. The Giants had developed special signals just for this game in case it seemed like the Bucs were onto them. And it certainly seemed like they were onto them. At halftime, Eli Manning had thrown 3 interceptions for the New York Giants and the Bucs were up by 11. After the half, the Giants changed their tune. Eli Manning came out with 295 yards in the second half, tying for the 8th most in NFL history for a total of 510 passing yards overall (what?!). Tampa Bay scored 21 points off of turnovers but once Eli decided to play like a 2 time Super Bowl Champ, there was little the Bucs could do to stop him. The Giants won 34-41.

- Do you remember when I said a couple of weeks ago that Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys were under a lot of pressure this year? And then they opened this season up with beating the reigning Super Bowl Champion, NY Giants, in New York and I said it looked like the Cowboys had come to play this season? Remember all that? Well forget it. They looked terrible today against the Seattle Seahawks. Just terrible. And it started immediately, Felix Jones fumbled the kickoff return which gave the Seahawks their first 3 points and then Jeron Johnson returned a blocked punt to give the Seahawks a 10-0 lead in less than 5 minutes! Tony Romo started off in the hole and his teammates didn't do much to help him out of it. Jason Witten and Dez Bryant couldn't seem to catch a break, let alone a ball and Demarco Murray, who had over 100 yards against the Seahawks last season, only rushed for 44 yards. Seattle's rookie QB, Russell Wilson didn't look too bad either. He passed for 151 yards and ran for another 28. Marshawn Lynch also did his part for the Seahawks with 122 yards on the ground and one touchdown. Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks got their first win at home in a big way, 27-7 over the Cowboys. "Impress Him" Fact: The last time Tony Romo and the Cowboys played in Dallas was during the 2006 NFC wild card game where Romo bobbled the snap of what would have been the winning field goal, and then tripped up just shy of the goal line for what would have been the winning touchdown. Remember, the Cowboys have only won ONE PLAYOFF GAME during the Tony Romo years.

Chin up, Romo. At least you don't have to go home to Jessica Simpson

- Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles did it again this week against the Baltimore Ravens. Vick turned the ball over 4 times but in the end Michael Vick came through with a 1 yard rushing touchdown to win the game 24-23. Just as he overcame throwing 4 interceptions last week against the Cleveland Browns, to win the game 17-16. Whether or not you have forgiven him for his past, Michael Vick is proving that he still has plenty of life as a premier NFL quarterback.

- Rookie Quarterback, Robert Griffin III (RG3), almost had more to prove this week after the dazzling display he put on during his debut as the Washington Redskins starter last week. This week the Redskins took on Sam Bradford and the St. Louis Rams. At one point in the first half the Redskins led 21-6; but Rams receiver, Danny Amendola, decided to make things tricky with 12 receptions in the first half (an NFL record) including a 1 yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-6 at the half. In the fourth quarter the Rams were up 31-28, but RG3 had managed to get the Redskins in easy field goal position to tie the game...that is until an unsportsmanlike conduct call went against the Redskins who now had to try for a 62 yard field goal attempt...which they missed and lost the game 31-24. Does this mean RG3 isn't the real deal? Not at all, he had a solid game with 206 passing yards, 82 rushing yards, and 2 rushing touchdowns. This guy is something special. "Impress Him" Fact: Mike Shanahan, the head coach of the Washington Redskins, wanted to draft Sam Bradford when he was #1 overall pick in the 2010 Draft but was not able to make the necessary moves to secure a higher draft pick.

- Last time the San Francisco 49'ers and the Detroit Lions played their head coaches , Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz, almost got in a fist fight during their post-game handshake. So naturally, all the talk before this game was focused on whether they would kill each other during their handshake this year. They didn't. Not before the game, not after. And the San Francisco 49'ers won their second game of the season. Alex Smith threw for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns, Michael Crabtree was clutch in converting 3rd downs for SF. The SF managed to shut down Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions and stopped him from having another big yardage game. The San Francisco 49'ers won 27-19 over the Detroit Lions.

Quick Notes:

-The New England Patriots lost in a heartbreaker in their home opener against the Arizona Cardinals. Tom Brady and the Pats were stopped on an attempted 2 point conversion and then missed a field goal that would have won the game for them. They lost 20-18 to the Cards. (Aside: I know girls tend to swoon over Tom Brady, but I am not one of those girls. No offense to Gisele but I think he is a First Class Goob, and I think the picture below proves that I am not far off.)

married to Gisele, but snuggling a goat

-Miami Dolphins rookie QB, Ryan Tannehill, led the Dolphins to their first win (35-13) against the Oakland Raiders. Tannehill had 200 passing yards and Reggie Bush (another Kim Kardashian casualty) clenched the win with 172 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

- In other rookie QB news, Andrew Luck also got a "W" for the Indianapolis Colts against the Minnesota Vikings. Luck completed 20 out of 31 passes for 224 yards.

- Following their big win last week against the  NY Jets struggled against the Pittsburgh Steelers who were trying to avoid losing 2 in a row. The Jets lost to the Steelers 27-10 even though the Steelers were without key defensive vet, Troy Polamalou and linebacker James Harrison, who were both out with injuries. Tim Tebow only played for one snap on which he rushed for 22 yards...and was then booed when he came off the field. No one likes this guy, not even his own fans.

- C.J. Spiller led the Buffalo Bills to a big win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The former Clemson Tiger carried the ball 15 times for 123 yards (8.2 yards per carry) and rushed for 2 touchdowns. The Bills won 35-17 at home.

- Frustration is growing when it comes to the replacement refs. They are making inconsistent calls and one quarterback, the usually mild mannered Joe Flacco, has called them out for effecting the outcome of the game. They are also being criticized for taking too long making decisions and slowing down the game.

With everything that happened on the field this Sunday, I know that there is something that you might hear people talking about that I missed. If you ever need me to elaborate on games or story lines please feel free to hit me up on Twitter @gridiron4girls or you can email me at gridironforgirls@gmail.com. See you all Tuesday morning for a recap of the Denver Broncos vs. the Atlanta Falcons. All I can say is, thank god the Bachelor Pad is over.

Week 2: Chicago Bears at Greenbay Packers Recap

It just hit me today the dedication it takes to follow this sport. I just have to trust that the Glee season premier went off okay without me and that the designers of Project Runway managed to get their designs down the runway without my supervision. But there isn't any time to dwell on the fact that I am missing Britney Spears as a judge on the X Factor because tonight it is all about the "Oldest Rivalry in Football".

Going into this game it is safe to say that Packer Nation was freaking out. They had lost their home opener against the 49ers and were about to go up against their biggest NFC rival. The thought of the Greenbay Packers going 0-2 on their sacred Lambeau Field was more than even this blogger could handle (mostly because I think Aaron Rodgers is dreamy). One thing they knew for sure is that they needed to commit to a running game if they were going to win this game, and they found success on the ground with running back, Cedric Benson, who rushed for 81 yards and who also used to be a Chicago Bear. The Packers got their first home win of the season with a 23-10 win over the Chicago Bears


- The first half of the game turned into a defensive battle, with both quarterbacks (Aaron Rodgers for the Packers and Jay Cutler for the Bears) spending a lot of time on their backs and neither offense could get anything going. With 2 minutes left in the half the Packers were up 3-0 and it looked like they were about to kick another field goal...but wait..are they going to fake this field goal? You bet your bottom dollar they are and not only that, it is going to work!  Tom Crabtree ran the ball 27 yards in for the touchdown to make it 10-0. All was not lost for the Bears...they still had 1:50 left in the half to put some points on the board....oh my bad Jay Cutler just threw an interception and the Packers got another 3 to make it 13-0 at halftime.

- Jay Cutler, the quarterback for the Bears, was running his mouth before the game just as you would expect thy guy who knocked up Kristin Cavallari to do, I believe he said "good luck covering us". Well that was nice of him to wish the Packers luck especially since they sacked Cutler the first time he touched the ball...and 3 more times before halftime. Incidentally, the number of times that Jay Cutler was sacked in the first half (4) was the same number of completions that he threw in the first half. One can only hope that Cutler is a better father than he is smack talker, or quarterback for the matter, but my guess is that Baby Cutler-Cavallari has a long road ahead.

- Things seemed to be going from bad to worse for Jay Cutler and the Bears after the half. The first time that Jay Cutler targeted his #1 receiver and former favorite target when they both played for the Denver Broncos, Brandon Marshall, he dropped it in the end zone for what should have been an easy touchdown. I like to call Brandon Marshall "Sir Drops-A-Lot", this goes back to his days as a Miami Dolphin...seriously, I could drop as many passes as this guy for half of what he is getting paid. In fact, Brandon Marshall did not get his first reception in this game until halfway through the 4th quarter....oh and then he dropped another one in the end zone.

- Sir Drops-A-Lot aside, Jay Cutler had bigger problems...one very big problem in particular, Clay Matthews. To say this guy is a beast is an understatement, I don't even know the right word for this guy and I bet neither does Jay Cutler after the number of times he was planted by him which was 3.5 times, 7 sacks total. (Fun Fact: Clay Matthews had 6 sacks ALL SEASON last year and already has 5.5 sacks in the first 2 games of the 2012 season, he also looks like the incredible Hulk but when he opens is mouth he sounds like Papa Smurf- no disrespect, Clay Matthews.).

-Everyone will be talking about the lack of protection given to Cutler. When Jay Cutler wasn't picking grass out of his helmet he was throwing interceptions. He threw 4 interceptions total, and completed 11 passes out of 27 attempts for 126 yards. Cutler is now 0-3 at Lambeau Field.

-  Aaron Rodgers got off to a rocky start for the Packers and while he had a solid night with 22/32 completions for 219 yards, 1 touchdown, and only 1 interception, the real star of tonight's game is the Greenbay Packer defense.


I have to say I am happy to see the Packers win, Aaron Rodgers seems like a solid guy with a good head on his shoulders and there is just something so intriguing about Wisconsin..am I right?? See you Monday morning for my recap of all of Sunday's games!

Monday Night Football Doubleheader

I'll be totally honest...I flipped back and forth between the Bachelor Pad finale and the Ravens-Bengals game last night, and was fast asleep for kickoff of the Chargers-Raiders game that followed. BUT that doesn't mean that I still can't tell you what happened!

- in short the Ravens were the BOMB! They join the Jets, Redskins, Flacons, and Bears by putting up 40 points or more in their 2012 season openers. And while Joe Flacco and his new no-huddle offense racked up 430 yards, no turnovers , and only punted twice; the Ravens famed defense, led by veteran Ray Lewis did their part to make sure the Cincinnati Bengals had no chance to win. The Ravens won their 11th straight home game 44-13. NFL teams beware, the Ravens now have an offense to go along with their always strong defense.

- as for the second MNF game Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers managed to pull out a win mostly by avoiding making the same mistakes that the Oakland Raiders made: 3 botched punts, no touchdowns until late, etc. The Raiders were also missing some of their "big play" wide receivers like Jacoby Ford due to injuries. The Chargers were also missing key offensive players but Rivers managed to work with what he had avoid any major blunders and pull off the 22-14 win.

That takes care of Week 1, how am I doing?? Let me know with your comments or on Twitter @gridiron4girls


Sidenote: Did anyone else see that Bachelor Pad Finale?!

Week One: This Is A Marathon Not A Sprint

After 10.5 hours and 11 games, I am feeling pretty good. I will admit that I wish I had more waters and less bloody marys at brunch, but you live and learn. In the end, I made it through my first Sunday with only a 20 minute nap (brought on by aforementioned bloody marys) and a slight back ache. My husband moved only once that I could tell during the entire 10.5 hours. He had 2 TVs in the living room and one game pulled up on the iPad. The couch was set up with 3 pillows from the bed and his favorite blanket and if you follow me on twitter (@gridiron4girls) you can see that every hair on his head was sticking straight up. I don't know if this is because he is stressed out about his fantasy football team, or just excited that football season is back; either way, I am looking forward to see how it behaves during the next 4 months. Truth be told, I didn't miss my lazy Sundays watching terrible "girlie" television. Instead, it was fun to watch something that so many people are passionate about, maybe even including me.

A LOT happened but here are the big stories coming out of the first Sunday:

-Remember when I told you that there were 5 rookies starting on Sunday, well you will be hearing one of their names a lot on Monday and that is Robert Griffin III but you should get use to calling him RG3. RG3 led the Washington Redskins to a 40-32 victory over the New Orleans Saints on the Saints' home field. He had 320 passing yards on only 26 attempts and on top of that he also rushed for 43 yards. In addition he added the longest touchdown pass by a rookie on opening day with a pass to Pierre Garçon for an 88 yard touchdown. If this kid put on that kind of performance in his first NFL start in a very intimidating road game there is no telling what is still to come, RG3 is the real deal.

- As for the other four rookies: Luck, starting for the Indianapolis Colts and trying to fill a very large void left by Peyton Manning, threw for over 300 yards but also threw 3 interceptions. Wilson showed some promise for the Seattle Seahawks, but nothing to write home about and don't even get me started on Ryan Tannehill for the Dolphins and Weeden for the Browns; they both got their fannies handed to them. Of the 5 starting rookies RG3 was the only one to get a win for his team.

-The San Francisco 49ers won at the Greenbay Packers for the first time since 1990. This is a HUGE win on the road for the 49ers against their NFC rivals. While the Packers made some moves to try and come back, in the end the 49ers simply outplayed Greenbay to win 30-22. Randy Moss, in his 14th season in the NFL had the first touchdown for SF and their kicker David Akers kicked a 63 yard field goal to end the first half; seriously, the ball bounced off the crossbar and just happened to fall on the right side of the goal. With that kind of luck on their side the 49ers were going to be hard to beat.

-During the 4 weeks of pre-season games the New York Jets played 4 games and scored 1 touchdown. 1 touchdown in 4 games. Maybe they were just saving them all for their season opener against the Buffalo Bills. The Jets won 48-28 setting a franchise record and silencing their critics. All the talk before the Jets game was about how they would use Tebow, but in the end Tebow all the credit has to go to Mark Sanchez for this decisive win. The Jets head coach, Rex Ryan, is somewhat famous for a lot of big talk. For now and for once it seems like he has kept his foot out of his mouth...so to speak.

- It was a wild one in Denver, the Steelers and the Broncos took traded the lead back and forth during all 4 quarters. Peyton Manning made his debut with the Denver Broncos after sitting out all last season after 4 surgeries on his neck. At the beginning of the game Manning and the Broncos didn't seem to quite have their mojo going, but that all changed in the 3rd quarter. At the beginning of the half Peyton Manning had been off the field for almost an hour. When he finally got his hands on the ball in the second half it took him 36 seconds to throw his 400th touchdown pass to Demariyus Thomas who took it 71 yards down the field. Manning joins the ranks of Dan Marino and Brett Favre with #400 and as the second half wore on he looked more and more like the Hall of Fame QB that he is. You can't ignore the play of the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger and co. looked good and it looked like who ever could manage to have the ball last was going to be the team to come away with the win. But Big Ben threw an interception to Tracy Porter that was run back 43 yards for a Broncos touchdown with less than 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter to put the Broncos up 31-19. After that it was all Broncos, Ben Roethlisberger was saked 3 times, maybe now he knows how his dates feel. In the end Peyton and the Broncos pulled off a big win and no one will be saying that it is time for Peyton Manning to hang up his cleats

-8 months after after having reconstructive knee surgery Adrian Peterson's legs seemed to be working just fine for the Minnesota Vikings against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Peterson carried the ball 17 times for 84 yards and had 2 touchdowns. Guess a brand new knee was worth it, the Vikings won 26-23.

-Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers whose defense gave last years rookie of the year (and my personal favorite) a wake up call. The Panthers were shut out in the first quarter, the defense looked terrible, and while Cam tried to put a few drives together and had 303 passing yards, he also had 2 interceptions and virtually no ground game. I think it's too soon to say whether or not Cam Newton will fall victim to the Sophomore Slump, but it does seem like he and the Panthers have a tough road ahead.The Bucs won16-7 ending a 10 game losing streak.


-It wouldn't be a blog post without mentioning the replacement refs. This Sunday did not go as smoothly for our retired insurance salesmen (and woman) as they probably would have liked. The Packers-49ers game was ruled by terrible calls that very well could have helped put the nail in the Packers' coffin. The Panthers game and Steelers-Broncos game also had some miscues. Here's hoping that the NFL gets the real guys back on the field and these other guys back on the golf course sooner rather than later.

Well, I am exhausted, being an NFL fan is hard work! Don't forget to follow me on twitter @gridiron4girls and share this blog with your friends (if you want to). I will be back after Thursday's Bears- Packers match up. Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Cowboys at Giants: Season Opener Recap

I wasn't planning on posting about this game, but it was such a good one that I thought it would be irresponsible for me to skip over it, and I am nothing if not responsible. Plus, this is more fun than I thought you should have seen the look on my husbands face when I told him Hakeem Nicks was definitely starting for the Giants and so should be starting for his fantasy team. Priceless.

I don't want to spend too much time on the Pre Show, but I would be remiss not to say something about the kickoff "concert". If you didn't see the game let me just say that the crowd that NBC tricked into cheering for Mariah Carey and No Doubt (when did they even get back together) forgot what they were supposed to make a lot of noise. I swear I heard crickets chirping in the middle of New York City after both performances.

Anyhoo, it's football that we are here to talk about and as promised the Cowboys and the Giants did not disappoint. For the past 8 years it has been a tradition that the reigning Super Bowl Champions open the season on a weekday, and for each of the previous 8 years the reigning champ has won the Season Opener, but not tonight... The Cowboys won 24-17 on the road, against a championship Giants team, and they looked good. Here are the big stories that are going to be coming out of this game:

- Kevin Ogletree. Who? Kevin Ogletree. This guy was an undrafted free agent at the end of the 2009 draft and was picked up by the Cowboys. Before last night he has 25 career receptions and no touchdowns. Well that all changed last night when he had 8 receptions for 114 yards including 2 touchdowns and one very key 3rd down converstions with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

- Demarcus Ware picked up his 100th career sack last night when he pummeled Eli Manning. Ware is the second fastest player to ever reach this milestone, behind the late, great Reggie White. He is also among only 5 active NFL players who have 100+ sacks.

- Miles Austin, who briefly suffered from a bad case of Kim Kardashian, had a big touchdown in the 4th quarter to seal up the Cowboys victory and as much as it pains me to say anything supportive of a Kardashian castoff...he looked damn good doing it.

- We can't leave out the man of the hour, Tony Romo. Last season critics said that the Dallas Cowboys couldnt close. They were notorious for blowing big leads in the 4th quarter. Romo sent a very strong message last night that 2012 was going to be a different story, he looked confident and strong in the second half despite a shaky opening 1st quarter. It's hard not to like Romo,he just seems like a decent guy.

- As for the Giants, Ahmad Bradshaw did what he could for the G-men with 78 rushing yards and 1 touchdown. Martellus Bennett, a former Cowboy who did not leave on friendly terms, scored the first touchdown for the Giants in the first quarter, while wide receiver, Victor Cruz dropped at least 3 passes. Truth be told, the Giants just couldn't match the momentum of the Cowboys once Tony Romo decided to turn it on.

Other Notable Stories:

- Jason Witten was being called a "warrior" for deciding to play with a lacerated spleen (wtf?!). But in the end he was not really a factor at all in the game and you have to wonder if it was worth the additional hits he took to his body.

- Our friends, the replacement refs, didn't make or break the game. There was one missed holding call that should have gone against the Cowboys, and then a questionable holding call against Victor Cruz. But all in all the refs did not determine the outcome of the game and should be able to face their 8th grade geography class today (seriously, one of the refs is a geography teacher in Iowa or Idaho...does it really matter?).

There you have it, the first game is under my belt, though I was hoping to have this posted earlier this morning, I will do better on Sunday, I promise. So far, I am loving my new project even though I think my husband wishes I would go back to watching Beverly Hills, 90210 re-runs because I asked him a lot of questions...a lot. But no one said that that spending more time together was going to be easy did they :-)

While I am trying new things, I have also jumped on the twitter bandwagon, so I would love for you to follow me @gridiron4girls.

See you Monday morning!!

Are You Ready For Some Football?! Week 1 Kickoff Preview

Happy Labor Day Girls and Guys! What am I doing on my day off, besides shaking off the humiliation of being called a "terrible karaoke singer" by a hippie who lives in the woods of Belton, SC (a blog post for another time)... I am doing just what I promised I would, diving into the world of the NFL and trying to make sense of it all. So without further ado, here are some of the big stories that will have your boyfriends, husbands, bosses, etc. running their mouths this week.

The NFL officially kicks off the 2012 season this Wednesday, September 5 with the Dallas Cowboys playing at the defending Super Bowl Champions, the New York Giants. Defending Super Bowl champs aside, all eyes might be on the Dallas Cowboys during this game. When Tony Romo took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe during the 2006 season, he surprised everyone with his effectiveness as a starting quarterback. But now, 6 years and one Jessica Simpson relationship later, the Cowboys do not have any Super Bowl rings, in fact they only have one playoff win during the Romo era. Some blame Jessica Simpson, others blame Tony's supporting cast, either way the Cowboys will be feeling the pressure on Wednesday night.

Other Week 1 Storylines:

- The NFL referees are on strike and there are no negotiations scheduled as of now, replacement refs will take the field Week One. Where did they get these replacement refs? Glad you asked, they have come from small, non BCS colleges, the Arena League, and other organizations that may play the game of football, but nowhere near the level of the NFL. The replacement refs have been working during the entire pre-season without making a major impact in the outcome of the games, but how will it pan out when the games count?

- Maurice Jones Drew, a running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, ended a 38 day hold out for a new contract (despite having 2 years left on his current contract) with no new money and no reps during the pre-season. MJD (see what I did there?) is coming back to a new head coach (Mike Mularkey) and a brand new playbook. People will be watching for how he performs on Sunday when the Jags take on the Minnesota Vikings.

- There are 5 rookie quarterbacks starting for their teams on Sunday, ALL eyes will be on these five guys to see how they handle the speed and pressure of the NFL:

• Andrew Luck starting for the Indianapolis Colts against the Chicago Bears- Luck was the Number 1 Overall Draft pick for the Colts and walks in to fill the sizable hole left by the exit of Peyton Manning.

• Robert Griffin III (RG3) will start for the Washington Redskins against the New Orleans Saints- RG3 was the Heisman Trophy winner  and the Number 2 Overall Draft Pick

• Ryan Tannehill is starting for the Miami Dolphins against the Houston Texans- Tannehill was the Number 8 Overall Draft Pick. This seems like a good time to tell all of you that my poor husband is a huge Dolphins fan and as a result has suffered for years. So for the sake of this little experiment of mine, lets hope that this kid can pull it off, he can start by figuring out which teams play in his conference (the AFC). Tannehill beat out last years Dolphins starter, Matt Moore for the job.

• Brandon Weeden will start for the Cleveland Browns against the Philadelphia Eagles- Weeden was the Number 22 Overall Draft pick and will have #3 Overall Pick, Trent Richardson to run the ball for him, provided that he is healthy following arthroscopic surgery.

• Russell Wilson will start for the Seattle Seahawks against the Arizona Cardinals- Wilson was picked in the 3rd Round of the Draft, 125th overall. He was named the starter for the Seahawks after beating veteran QB, Matt Flynn out for the job during training camp.

That ought to keep all you guys and gals pretty informed moving into the 2012Season, whether you choose to watch the games or not. Look for my recap of the week on Monday, September 10!