Faceoff: Biggest surprise stumble, heaviest injury hit?
CBSSports.com pro football writers Pete Prisco and Clark Judge face off weekly throughout the season.
| Pete Prisco | Clark Judge |
| What was the biggest surprise from Week 1? | |
| For me, it has to be the Arizona Cardinals losing at home. I know they didn't play well in the preseason, but that's the preseason. I didn't expect it to carry over. But it did. They looked bad on offense in their season-opening loss to the 49ers. Kurt Warner looked old. I hate to say that, but he did. Maybe the hip surgery he had is giving him more problems than expected. The offensive line, especially right tackle Levi Brown, really struggled, which didn't make it any easier. I thought the Cardinals would re-group against the 49ers after the horrible preseason, but maybe that Super hangover is worse than expected. I still think they'll bounce back and be in the division race, but they need to quit making mistakes and get back to what they did last season, which is to score with their passing game. I think that gets back on track this week against Jacksonville. |  The play of the Houston Texans. They stunk. They couldn't run. They couldn't catch. They couldn't tackle. They couldn't do squat. And this is supposed to be a surprise team? Tell me about it. I had these guys making the playoffs ... but not if they play as miserably as they did against the Jets. Talk about opening-night flops. These guys were so bad they might have had trouble with St. Louis. Look, give New York credit: It went on the road and won with a rookie quarterback, always a difficult thing to pull off. But the Texans bailed them by doing absolutely nothing. And, yes, that was a surprise. |
| Brian Urlacher and Jerod Mayo: Which player is the bigger loss? | |
 Urlacher is done for the year with a dislocated wrist, but Mayo might be lost for the next eight weeks with a torn MCL. So that makes it a tough one. But I'll go with Urlacher. We know the Patriots will be in the playoffs -- even without Mayo. The Bears probably won't be. That puts more value on having Urlacher on the field. Mayo is the best defensive player on a New England defense that didn't look so good in the opener. They will feel his loss. He is athletic and fast. But they have that offense. That can compensate for not having him. They play an up-tempo style and will score a lot of points. By contrast, the Bears want to win with the running game, play-action throws and defense. That's why Urlacher's loss will be felt more. The Bears are more of a defensive team. Mayo is a better player right now. But Urlacher has more value to his team because of their style, so he is the pick. |  For the short term, I’ll take Mayo. For the long term, it's Urlacher, and for the most basic of reasons: He will miss the season; Mayo should be back, missing something like 6-8 weeks with a sprained knee. Now, back to the short term: The Bears have Hunter Hillenmeyer to replace Urlacher; the Pats were forced to move Gary Guyton to Mayo's spot. Given the choice, I’ll take Hillenmeyer. He played middle linebacker in 2004 when Urlacher was hurt, and he's an experienced starter. Subtracting Mayo, the Patriots' leading tackler a year ago and the unit's signal caller, is a body blow to a defense that underwent a dramatic makeover in the last year. Essentially, it means replacing one of its most trusted playmakers with a question mark. The Pats will survive because Bill Belichick's clubs always survive, but Guyton doesn't have the Lance Briggs, Adewale Ogunleyes and Charles Tillmans around him to make his job easier. With Mayo gone, the Pats are minus three of their four starting linebackers from last year -- and it will take time to adjust. |
| Which rookie was the most impressive? | |
| I'm a quarterback guy, so I'll go with Mark Sanchez. We thought he'd be a good player, but that good on the road in his first NFL game? Sanchez has a real feel for playing the position. The New York Jets moved up to get him in the draft for a reason. He might not have a cannon for an arm, but he has a real feel for the passing game. Sanchez is cool under pressure. Against the Texans, in the Jets 24-7 victory, he completed 18 of 31 for 272 yards and one touchdown. He was picked off once, but he showed a lot of calm starting his first game. Sanchez has the look of a player who will have a long, successful career. Yes, it's only one game, but I liked what I saw in the preseason. So Sanchez is my choice. | Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. As I said, he goes on the road and wins in a hostile environment against an opponent that is supposed to be playoff worthy. Now look how he did it: He made big plays when big plays were necessary. He hit 12 of 15 passes on third downs for 191 yards and turned nine of them into first downs. He also ran for a first down. He was accurate. He was poised. He was productive. In short, he was everything he had to be for the Jets to have a chance. So he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Big deal. He didn't commit the critical mistake. Rookie quarterbacks typically struggle their first years of starting; Mark Sanchez didn't struggle in his first game. |
| Community Faceoff: Sept. 16 |
