FanNation - The Republic of Sport

9/7/08

What an opening Sunday it was in the National Football League.

While the biggest story of the day easily could have been Brett Favre's triumphant return to the league some could argue he never actually left, his performance in leading the Jets to a win over the Dolphins was overshadowed by the knee buckle seen round the world in New England.

Yes, NFL poster boy and Pats all world quarterback Tom Brady went down in the first quarter of his teams season opener with an apparent knee injury.  Early reports have him out for the season with a torn ACL, although nothing will be known for certain until an MRI either confirms or refutes the rumors swirling around.

Brady, the reigning league MVP, has started 128 consecutive games and was coming off a season in which he led his team back to the Super Bowl with an 18-0 record, only to see his dream season (in which he set records for touchdown passes in a single season) end in defeat to the New York Giants.

After an inactive preseason which didn't see Brady take a single snap due to concern surrounding an injured foot, he was front and center this afternoon, at the helm poised to start the Pats down the road to redemption.

Unfortunately, after being hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard, Brady's left leg buckled and twisted, causing the quarterback to lay in agony, needing the assistance of team medical personnel to leave the field.  Brady would be examined in the locker room and not return.

While the Pats did hold on for a 17-10 win behind back up QB Matt Cassel, a season ending injury to Brady would create shockwaves throughout the league, and more specifically the conference and division he plays in.

Both the Jets and Bills played well in opening week victories, and while a Brady-less Patriots team becomes mortal (at least during the regular season), although hardly a team to overlook.  That being said, The Jets led by Favre would appear to become instant contenders for a division crown, while the Bills can't be overlooked as they have put together a very competetive young team built upon speed and defense.

Favre made his successful return to the NFL (a phrase one can only laugh at) throwing for two touchdowns and showing Jets fans exactly what they had missing, connecting on a 56 yard deep strike to wideout Jericho Cotchery on their second possession of the game.

Of course the Jets were also helped out by their former quarterback, Chad Pennington, who threw an interception at the end of the game despite putting forth an otherwise solid performance.  Any Jets fan would probably agree in saying he owed us one (yes, I'm among those Jets fans...guilty).

The Bills ran the visiting Seahawks out of town with an impressive 38-10 spanking, highlighted by a fake field goal touchdown toss by Brian Moorman.

With the Dolphins still rebuilding under big Bill (Parcells for anybody clueless enough not to understand that reference) and new head coach Tony Sparano (no, not Soprano), the Jets and Bills should start considering the very realistic possibility that the AFC east is now up for grabs, while the rest of the AFC should think the same about their conference (not that the Pats winning the conference was as much a certainty as it was them winning their division).

An important point to make: Should Brady miss the rest of the season, the Patriots should not taken lightly, as they still boast an above average offense that Brady led, starting with wideouts Randy Moss and Wes Welker, along with running back Lawrence Maroney.  In addition, the Pats defense is still strong and the one guy who they definitely won't lose for any amount of time continues to roam the sidelines, in Bill Belichick.

And so while the first Sunday of the 2008 featured the "return" of one hall of fame worthy quarterback in Brett Favre, it also may have featured the last sighting of the season for another in Tom Brady.  

If Brady, the Patriots and their fans had high hopes of putting last season's dissapointing Super Bowl loss behind them, it appears as though their nightmare may have gotten worse.

Talk about adding injury to insult.