AROUND THE NFL: WEEK 1

My thoughts on some of the rest of the NFL weekend:

CHECKING IN WITH CHAD: You are not forgotten, Chad Pennington. Pennington had a typical Pennington day passing, at least in the positive stats category, in the Dolphins' 19-7 loss to the Falcons. Pennington was 21-29 for 176 yards (that's vintage Pennington) with a touchdown and interception each. But he also fumbled, making him responsible for 2 of the Dolphins' four costly turnovers. The numbers look OK, but it wasn't a great day for Chad.

WISHY-WASHINGTON: I swear the only time I've seen the Redskins move the ball well the past couple of years is when they're trailing in the final five minutes of a ballgame. That was when they looked the best against the Giants on Sunday, when Jason Campbell brought them to within six points (big back-door cover!) on a 17-yard TD pass to Chris Cooley. Otherwise the Redskins looked terrible against a Giants team that kind of dominated the game...but it's hard to judge because of how badly the Redskins played. I'm still not buying into the Giants a ton - but I think I may have miscalculted the Redskins. I thought they were better than they looked in Week 1.

COMEBACK: The Denver/Brandon Stokely play is the reason I never, if at all possible, leave a game before the final gun sounds. Rare that it's worth it, though. Also, let's not let that touchdown mask the fact that both the Broncos and the Bengals played a terrible ballgame offensively, and both are going nowhere this year.

MCRIBB: Just what Donovan McNabb needed - an injury to fuel speculation that he should take a backseat to Michael Vick when Vick's suspension is over. The worst part of it all was that it didn't have to happen - it came with McNabb taking on a defender as he entered the end zone when the game was already well in hand.

SPEAKING OF INJURIES: I always listen to at least one sports radio update on my way home from school to catch what I may have missed during the day, and usually the Monday after an NFL weekend has a juicy something. Today it was nothing less than shocking to hear that Brian Urlacher would be out the rest of the season. I watched most of the Sunday night game, and I didn't see him get hurt, but I knew he was hurt and I saw them cut to him on the sideline often during the game...and I'm just very surprised it was a season-ending injury. Bad news for the Bears.

MONDAY NIGHT: Speaking as someone who no longer has the DirecTV Sunday Ticket, I would totally deal with only 3 of the late Sunday games (4pm starts) to have two Monday night games...and one starting at 7pm. I love the 7pm Monday start.