What an opening week for the 2007 NFL season! Having waited over 6 months since the Super Bowl the opening weekend was jam packed with stellar offensive performances. Starting with Peyton Manning at home against New Orleans, followed by Randy Moss taking on the Jets, and finishing with Tony Romo totaling dismantling the Giants. After watching most of the games throughout the extended weekend and reflecting who most impressed me, I feel the Most Valuable Offensive Player for Week #1 had to be the offensive line for the Patriots.

Some may be wondering why I would select the offensive line instead of Tom Brady or even Randy Moss. Obviously, it is clear that without the protection the line offered for Brady all day against the Jets there would have been no way he could have connected with Moss and the other receivers so effortlessly. If you look at the highlights of the game it seemed the Pats offensive line was giving Brady anywhere between 4 to 6 seconds every time he was in a drop back pass. For example, during their first possession in the first half, Brady had connected two out of his first 3 passes for and average of 14 yards. Then on second down on the Jest 11 yard line, Brady connected with Welker for a TD pass that seemed like 4-5 seconds before the play materialized. The funny thing was the Jets had blitzed 7 defenders during that play and Brady still had a ton of time to find an open receiver.

Clearly, if the Patriots offensive line is going to continue with the dominance they displayed against the Jets it is going to be a long season for opposing defenses and potentially record breaking seasons for Tom Brady and Randy Moss. Only the next 16 weeks will show what will or will not happen…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Discussion, Offense, Opinions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.