NFL Week 1 open thread

For those of you who missed the NFL season opener on Thursday night, otherwise known as the post-speech show, the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints put on one heck of a show.  They both seemed to misplace their defenses, although Green Bay’s finally showed up at the end to hold the Saints to, er, four touchdowns in a 42-34 offensive spectacular.  As long as the Packers offense never leaves the field, they are unbeatable, but I suspect their defense will start toughening up soon.  Maybe someone will tell them to act as if they’re in a labor dispute.

The Pittsburgh Steelers take the field again against their arch-rivals Ravens on the road in Baltimore, and I’m hoping for some good news.  Notre Dame took the field against their traditional rival Michigan yesterday and lost a game they had won with 30 seconds left on the clock.  I think I’m due.  Besides, the Steelers looked good on both sides of the ball in pre-season, and I’m betting that the Super Bowl loss has the squad hungry.  I’ll pick Pittsburgh by 3, 17-14.

Who else will get a big W today?  Adrian Peterson of the Vikings already got one with a $100 million contract, but I’m talking about the teams:

• Vikings at Chargers — Peterson’s win with lawyers will probably be the only win the Vikes get this week.  The Donovan McNabb era starts with a tough AFC team, likely a playoff contender, and the line on this is Chargers by 9.  I’m not sure it will be that close.  Chargers win today, 27-14.
• Giants at Redskins — A great rivalry renewed, and this game has the only Manning on the playing field this week.  Didn’t see much preseason from either team, but even at home, I can’t imagine anything close to last year’s dysfunctional Redskins beating the Giants.  Giants 24, Shanahan’s nightmare 20.
• Colts at Texans — The Texans played the Colts tough when the league’s best and smartest QB ran the offense for Indy.  Kerry Collins is a serviceable back-up, but it’s not going to be the same team without Peyton under center.  Texans at home beat the Colts, 31-21.
• Raiders at Broncos — Another great rivalry in Week 1, and one that, frankly, has little chance of meaning anything at the end of the year.  Oakland seemed to help itself in the off-season, but they seem to do that every year and then hobble themselves on field.  Denver still has a QB controversy of sorts, but a good one.  I’ll go with the Broncos and home-field advantage, but not by much, 27-24.
• Bengals at Browns — The good news is that one of these two teams will come out of this week undefeated.  The bad news for these two teams is that they don’t play each other every week for the rest of the year.  The line is going with Cleveland at home by 7, but I’ll pick a mild upset and go with the Bungles, 20-14.