Finally, football is back.  With the early games now over, let's recap the early week 1 action.

Brady-less Patriots escape with 17-10 win:  Tom Brady took a shot to the leg in the first quarter, and did not return to the game.  Matt Cassel played decently in his place, but despite the yardage they gained, the Patriots were only able to score 17, and the Chiefs were in it all game.  The Chiefs also lost their quarterback Brodie Croyle to injury, and Damon Huard came in.  KC late had 4 chances at the endzone from inside the 10, but the Patriots were able to stop them.  Not an impressive win by any stretch, but still a win.  The question of course is Brady's health.

Michael Turner goes crazy in 34-21 Falcon win:  I'd say the Falcons are glad they signed him.  Turner very quickly proved to anyone who doubted his starter status wrong, as he gained 220 yards on 22 runs with two touchdowns.  His counterpart Norwood struggled.  Granted, it's the sorry Lions D, but still an impressive game.  The Lions had decent offensive success, but the D was awful.  Rookie Matt Ryan only threw 13 balls, but he completed 9 of them for 161 yards and a touchdown.

Steelers make a statement, beat Houston 38-17:  The Steelers offense just ran circles around the Houston defense in this one.  Willie Parker ran for 138 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Ben Roethlisberger only had one incompletion out of 14 throws.  The Texans offense also struggled, as they couldn't run, and they allowed 5 sacks.  10 of the 17 Texan points came late in the game when it didn't matter a huge deal.  

Eagles destroy Rams 38-3:  Nothing really to see here.  Rams offense struggled, Steven Jackson was held to 40 yards.  Donovan McNabb threw for 3 touchdowns, and for those worrying about the Eagles receivers; THREE different guys had over 100 yards.  DeSean Jackson, Hank Baskett, and Greg Lewis.

Jets hold on over Dolphins 20-14:  The Brett Favre debut had a lot fewer throws than you'd expect.  He only threw 22 times, but he completed 15 for 194 yards for two touchdowns.  The supposedly scary Dolphins running game was bad, as Ronnie Brown and Pothead gained only 47 yards.  But Chad Pennington had a solid game passing, and the Dolphins had a shot right at the end to win, but it ended in an interception.

Bills flatten the Seahawks 34-10:  The Bills D just shut down Seattle's offense.   Special teams scored twice for the Bills, once on a punt return by Roscoe Parrish, and the second on a fun fake field goal.  DE Ryan Denney was away from everyone, and the Seahawks didn't notice.  Punter Brian Moorman easily found him for a TD.

Titans D reigns surpreme over Jaguars 17-10:  When you hold the Jaguars running game to 33 yards, your D had a great day.  On top of that, the Titans had 7 sacks, two by the Headstomper, and the Jaguars struggled all day.  Vince Young was his usual mediocre self, with two interceptions, and a late injury.  Rookie Chris Johnson was the man of the hour, getting 92 yards on the ground on 15 carries.

Ravens D shuts down Bengals 17-10:  Bengals fans, this is going to be a long year.  Carson Palmer only completed 40% of his passes, and the Bengals had no offensive attack.  Despite no Willis McGahee, the Ravens ran for 229 yards as a team between Le'Ron McClain, Ray Rice, and two long touchdown runs by WR Mark Clayton and QB Joe Flacco.

Saints beat Buccaneers 24-20 in close game:  Drew Brees had a good game, throwing 3 touchdowns and 343 yards.  He did have an interception that Phillip Buchanon returned for a touchdown, but the Buccaneers offense was only able to be average.  They had a chance to win it late, but on a 4th down late near the red zone, Scott Fujita intercepted a pass to end it.

Dallas is already up 7-0 over Cleveland in the national late game.  Arizona leads San Fran 3-0, and Carolina vs San Diego is scoreless.  FOOTBALL IS BACK!

(Photo by Yahoo Sports)

I brought this up earlier today, but wanted to reiterate my frustration and share the video in case you missed it.

Washington desperately needed a big win for their coach Ty Willingham and just for the program in general which has struggled mightily over the last five years. With the 15th ranked BYU Cougars in town, emotions were high in hopes of pulling off a big upset.

Down seven points with 3:31 remaining, sophomore quarterback Jake Locker orchestrated a 17 play, 76 yard touchdown drive capped by his 3 yard run with :02 seconds remaining. Understandably thrilled and caught up in the emotion, Locker celebrated by tossing the ball up into the air. You've seen this type of celebration before with no issues. Somehow, on the heels of the NCAA pressuring referees to eliminate all celebrations, the end zone official called a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of Locker. 

You've got to be kidding.

Inevitably, the much longer extra point kick was blocked and BYU went on to win 28-27. This has to be stopped. Locker didn't do the worm in the end zone, showing up the Cougars. He didn't use the football as if it were a beer can and shotgun it. He didn't do the electric slide away from his teammates. He simply scored a big touchdown, tossed the ball straight up in the air and celebrated with his teammates.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nothing. Football is an emotional sport and turns out, sometimes people get excited.

Next the NCAA will come up with some kind of excessive high five penalty, or eliminate the butt slap, saying it makes the suits uncomfortable. Can we please let these athletes celebrate within reason?

There were rumors that Tom Brady wouldn't even play for the first few games of the 2008 season. Those turned out to be false, but now Patriots fans might be wishing they were true.

Brady was removed from the game in the 1st quarter, after Chiefs safety Brandon Pollard hit his knee awkwardly.

It didn't look too bad, and Brady was at least able to hobble off the field with a little help, but this definitely isn't good news for Patriots fans.

Brady was 7-11 for 76 yards before the injury, and his streak of 127 straight starts is 3rd among all active players behind only Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

It's possible that this is just a precaution, because the Patriots may feel that the Chiefs are a team they can beat with Matt Cassel under center, but we will learn more soon.
Patriots' Tom Brady Injured [NY Times]

If there's one thing that I've learned over the last 5 years or so, it's that we now live in an age where there is literally no privacy whatsoever. Remember the intern who took a day off from work claiming he had to go to New York for some reason, but instead was out drunk at a Halloween party dressed up as a fairy? And his boss found a picture of the guy and sent it around the entire office, with it ultimately becoming national news. Yeah, that was pretty bad. That kid might as well just spend the rest of his life in the unemployment line.

So, in other words, you have to be real careful.

But apparently, these two UTEP students above figured that since they weren't near a computer, and were at a football game, they could, um, partake in some extracurricular activities (watch that girl's hand) that - although they were in public - no one would really see.

Unfortunately for them, ESPN's roaming camera focused right in on them after coming back from a commercial break.

By the way, I should probably mention here that the UTEP mascot is a miner, sort of like what that girl is doing.

As the announcer says about the two kids, "They look like they're having a great time."

Well yes, until 100,000 people watch this video on YouTube and the entire UTEP campus makes fun of them on Monday morning.

In case some of you didn't know, Michael Phelps spent most of the four years before the Beijing Olympics training at the University of Michigan. Which is funny, because I would have thought that alone would have doomed him to have a terrible Olympics.

But anyway, as a result of his Michigan ties, Phelps has had the chance to meet a number of rather famous Michigan alums, such as Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards. And make some pretty hilarious bets with them.

Yep, Edwards made a bet with Phelps that this season he would more than double in touchdown catches the number of gold medals that Phelps won at the Olympics. Unfortunately for Edwards, he made that bet BEFORE Phelps actually went to Beijing. Whoops.

So now all Edwards has to do is catch an absurd 17 touchdown passes this year. It's definitely possible, seeing as Edwards caught 16 last year to set a new Cleveland Browns receiving record, but it obviously won't be easy to top that.

There's no word on what the prize is for winning the bet, but I hope it involves the loser having to pick up the other guy's tab at the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino in Vegas. Apparently Phelps enjoys that place, a lot. So you better start catching some touchdowns pronto, Braylon.

Happy to B. back: Edwards ready for Sunday’s opener, but says game won’t be a personal battle with Cowboys’ Owens [The Chronicle-Telegram]