Five Takeaways from Week 1

Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books, and it was fun. Lots of penalties, miscues, and injuries to fill an entire season.

Here are five QB Tidbits from Week 1:

5-No Nelson, no problem.

Aaron Rodgers looked good against the Bears, even without his No. 1 target, wide receiver Jordy Nelson.

4- Brady is still the best in the game

What offseason disturbance? Tom Brady was masterful against Pittsburgh, at one point completing 19 straight passes as the Patriots kicked off their title defense with a win and four touchdown passes from No. 12.

3- Sophomore QB class struggles, all lost in Week 1

The Sophomore QB class of Bortles, Manziel, Bridgewater, and Carr all lost in Week 1. Bortles finished 22 of 40 for 183 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs, including one returned for a score in a 20-9 loss. Bridgewater was chased around to the tune of 5 sacks, and picked off once, as the Vikings were held out of the end zone in a 20-3 loss to the 49ers.

Derek Carr started and was held in check before leaving with an injury against the Bengals. His status for Week 2 is unclear.

Manziel, who took over for an injured Josh McCown, threw his first career TD pass against the NY Jets, then saw the Browns get outscored 31-3 the rest of the way.

In total, the 2014 Sophomore class finished with two touchdown passes, four interceptions, and a record of 0-4.

2- What happened to Peyton?

There’s no other way to put this, but man, Peyton Manning looked old on Sunday. Don’t know if it’s the whole “can’t feel his fingertips” thing, or a new offense, but Peyton just didn’t look like Peyton. He finished 24 of 40 for 175 yards and helped Baltimore score it’s only touchdown of the game on a pick six.

1- What was Eli thinking?

Eli Manning has won two Super Bowls, division titles, and some of the toughest road games in playoff history. On Sunday night, he had a complete brain fart of which the likes I cannot ever remember a QB of his stature having.

While Tony Romo fought the 40 second play clock as early as Dallas first drive, Eli left too much time on the board. Case in point, late in the 4th quarter, with the Giants clinging onto a 3-point lead with a little over four minutes to play, the play clock was rewound to 40 seconds, and instead of Eli completely milking the clock, the ball was snapped with a good 15 seconds left.

After a couple of big first down runs, a huge penalty, and a monster 3rd and 14 conversion to Odell Beckham Jr. to get the Giants to First and Goal, the game plan was this simple: force Dallas to use their final timeouts and keep the clock running. A touchdown ends the game, a field goal puts New York up 26-20 with under a minute to play, and 70 or so yards to go for Dallas to win.

Instead on 3rd down, Eli rolled out and threw the football away, stopping the clock, and saving the Cowboys 40 full seconds. The end result? Dallas marched 72 yards in 1:27 seconds for the win.

I know Pats fans have to ask, why couldn’t Eli brain fart like that in the Super Bowl?