I think it's safe to say that Tom Brady is done for the year.
While I haven't seen anything official as of this posting, all signs point to Brady having a torn ACL. Eagles fans know from their experience with Donovan McNabb that this means that Brady won't resemble Brady until late 2009 or 2010.
But, let's take a look at the bigger picture for the 2008 Eagles.
If you had asked me on Saturday who I thought the best three teams in the NFL were, I'd have probably said (in no order) the Patriots, Colts and Chargers. I may have tossed the Cowboys in there.
Well, scratch the Patriots off that list. I don't like Matt Cassel and I still believe that their defense is average at best.
What about the other teams?
The Chargers lost late yesterday at home to what I consider to be a slightly below average Carolina team. And said team doesn't have their best wide receiver. It's Week 1 and you have to be careful about making assumptions based on one game, but let's make assumptions. Could the Chargers not be as good as first thought? I'll hold back on a full assessment for several more weeks, but speaking of QB's with torn ACL's…Mr. Rivers is coming off one of those himself. Will he play confidently all season?
And speaking of playing confidently, did anyone get a gander at Brett Favre, Jr. (in John Madden terms) last night? Peyton Manning played in his first real football action last night in some time and I can say I've never seen him look like that. The Colts got manhandled by a Bears team that I don't think very highly of. Manning has a bit of a bum knee after having a bursa sac removed and he looked awfully tentative. The Bears aren't stupid, they were dancing on the line faking blitzes all night for a reason. So, when will Peyton be Peyton again?
If I were a speculating man I might speculate that the AFC might not be as tough as first thought. If I was that same speculating person I might hint that if the Eagles can find a way past the Cowboys on Monday Night, you may have to consider them to be a top team in the entire NFL.
It's a good thing I don't like to prognosticate because extrapolating Week 1 results for an entire season is a very dangerous thing to do. But, it's fun to dream though, right?
