Notes from Sunday, Week 1

• Adrian Peterson had 78 yards on his first carry but only finished with 93 yards. Did I miss something? Shouldn't he have finished with 150 yards or more after ripping off a huge chunk like that so early in the game? Peterson only produced 15 more yards for the rest of the day so why would anybody say anything about his performance other than, "You're not going to break the single season rushing record like THAT."

• My picks for the Fugliest GOTW were blown up by two rookie quarterbacks, E.J. Manuel of the Bills and Geno Smith of the Jets. Could Manuel be the guy that gets the Bills to a winning record for only the second time since Y2K? Could Smith be the guy that makes everyone forget about the NY QB fiasco, Mark Sanchez (and Eli Manning) included? The answers are: winning record, no, but to .500, yes (assuming their secondary can stay healthy) and his play will be decent enough to cause temporary amnesia but not much more than that, respectively. Both guys have a LONG way to go before I get anywhere near those bandwagons.

• In hindsight, my pick for the Fugliest GOTW SHOULD have been the Giants and Cowboys in Arlington. I think the biggest story of this game was NOT the Giants turnover woes, NOT the dismal QBRs of both Eli Manning and Tony Romo (27.6, 27.1 respectively), and, surprisingly, not the picture of Jerry, Bron Bron, and The Hulkster mixing it up but, instead, is how incapable the Cowboys were of capitalizing on their +5 turnover differential. Teams that make deep playoff runs know how to put away a game when the other team is begging them to do so, especially when they're at home. (It's also worth noting that Manning still found a way to rack up 450 yards and 4 TDs while also solidifying himself as one of the top 5 most unreliable quarterbacks currently playing, ring or no ring.)

• Our In Another Game's Shadow GOTW and our Plan Your Day Around It GOTW didn't disappoint. With a much improved offensive line in Chicago, the pressure is on Jay Cutler to put in work as he will have no excuses now. The Packers and Niners looked poised to make an NFC run to the Super Bowl but both teams will have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves in their killer regular season schedules. And in Baby-Come-Back-You-Can-Blame-It-All-On-Me News, Anquan Boldin's success will make it an even tougher year for Baltimore fans.