As The Ball Bounces: Week 1

Our midweek potpourri article returns after a year's absence. It will be posted on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Nick Folk is now a Jet, after three seasons as a Cowboy. He accounted for all nine Jet points on Monday night. The problem is that the Jet defense gave up ten. Folk now gets his taste of the great rivalry that is the Patriots and the Jets. So he gets extra hyped up and booms one out of the end zone, far away from Brandon Tate.

They're still sky high in New Orleans, and you really can't blame them.

They can win one more Super Bowl and get full national adulation, but that's about it.

Meanwhile, it will be the Viking defense that gets them to the Super Bowl, not that old geezer at quarterback who should still be retired.

Come on, Chicago. You got away with one. That was a touchdown. Just like the Tuck Rule. Good call, bad rule.

Why didn't someone in that Patriot postgame press conference have the wherewithal to tell Randy Moss to shut the (colorful word omitted) up?

Someone please tell Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie that those retro-1960 uniforms they wore on Sunday look a lot better than the ones they are currently wearing, and that making those 1960 uniforms permanent would be terrific.

Nice job, Texans.

Honk if you remember the name of that Texan running back that gained all those 200-plus yards.

Geek of the week: The Jets caved in and gave Darrelle Revis what he wanted. How about that for honoring a contract? Hope the Patriots keep Logan Mankins on ice, apology or no apology.

The Jets are in trouble for harassing a female reporter in a locker room, Mexican television reporter Ines Sainz. Patriot Nation immediately thinks of Lisa Olson, of course.

But there's a difference here. Olson acted completely and totally professional. Sainz has pictures of her in bikinis and provocative clothing all over the Internet. Reports from people familiar to the situation say that Sainz dresses to kill when she enters the Jet locker room, surrounded by men in and out of their clothes.

Let's see how Sainz approaches this, from a complaining or grievance standpoint. It's hard to sympathize with her for being harassed when she may have been, perhaps intentionally, inviting such responses from the Jet players.

Meanwhile, the Olson incident remains the darkest moment in Patriot history which didn't involve injury.

Someone ought to tickle Bill Belichick to death until he admits that Laurence Maroney was shut down due to "coaching decision" and not "thigh".

Back to school: This Saturday, Yours Truly has his two degree-bearing institutions doing battle in football: UMass at Michigan. Look forward to a complete article later this week with more thoughts on this most improbable matchup.

Ol' Pete Carroll is at it again. His defense did a number on the 49ers, and he was seen jumping up and down at game's end, all pumped and jacked like we knew him to be in these parts.

Now, Seattle, here comes the reality: Sooner or later, the players will grow tired of such behavior and will stop playing hard for him. Yes, Carroll is now the GM whereas he wasn't in Foxborough. But that won't matter. He never should have been made to leave USC, though it looked like his hand was forced. USC was the very best job he could have ever had in his life.

Archie and Olivia Manning are perhaps already gearing up for Peyton vs. Eli II next weekend. They looked sick to their stomachs when their sons first met four years ago. One wins at the expense of the other, there's no reconciling that.

Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski. The keys to that new look Patriot offense. Like we said, Randy Moss, shut the ($#@&%) up.

Kurt Warner is gone in Arizona. But so is Matt Leinart. One has to wonder how come Leinart is an NFL also-ran instead of one of its up and coming stars. It is still another expose on why the NFL Draft is such an inexact science.

The Rams and Lions look like they're on the way up, but the Raiders still stink.

Hate Chad Ochocinco all you want, but he truly comes to play and cares about the game very much. The same cannot be said of his new wingmate.

That hideous game Sunday night between Dallas and Washington had a final play which encapsulated the entire evening: a game-winning touchdown by Dallas called back on a holding penalty. Washington prevailed in a game that neither team deserved to win.

By the way, you might wonder what was said by Mike Shanahan to Daniel Snyder when the two were talking about hiring a new coach for Washington. Hopefully Shanahan said something like "Remember when Bill Parcells said something about who should shop for the groceries?"

Remember him: You mostly remember him for his 43-yard touchdown run as a Washington Redskin in Super Bowl XVII. But John Riggins began his career as a New York Jet. He was a first round draft pick out of Kansas, and played his first five seasons in the NFL with the Green and White. He attained 1000 yards rushing as a Jet only once, in 1975, his final season in Gotham. He would eclipse the 1000 yard mark four times in Washington, and was eventually selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Like his Jet predecessor, Joe Namath, Riggins was a flamboyant personality who dabbled in acting and parties. He now does work as a commentator. In his day, Riggins was one of the most difficult running backs to handle, with an impressive combination of power and speed, and Patriot defenders of the early 1970s had all they could handle with this guy who at one time during his Jet days sported a Mohawk haircut.

Revis is back, but he doesn't play offense.

This is the problem with Rex Ryan flapping his yap the way he does. It makes losing one hundred times worse.

New Arrowhead Stadium? What was new, a shopping mall? Looks like the same place, sounds like the same place.

By that we mean this: A palace which was great in both 1972 (its opening year) and 2010, and home of some of the most rabid fans in the league.

Oh by the way, that Houston running back was Arian Foster. Best opening day rushing performance since O.J. Simpson gouged the Pats for 250 yards in 1973.