Ah, the NFL. You never can truly peg it.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Peyton Manning is still on Indianapolis' active roster and could return this season.
LANDOVER, Md. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we soak in the surprising results from an NFL Week 1 that was long on emphatic statements made by teams in Baltimore, Houston, Buffalo, and Philadelphia....
As always, the NFL's first Sunday provided a lot of entertainment, and some notable storylines. Andrew Perloff offers his thoughts on Week 1's early contests. Check back for his reaction to the late games when they're done.
No matter that it's Labor Day and that no real games took place over the weekend. Things are happening. The NFL doesn't take a holiday when others do.
It's a Raider Past and Present Tuesday, with a new outlet for me. The inaugural Sports Illustrated "NFL Podcast With Peter King'' will be up soon on iTunes (as it will be every Tuesday during the season), with an extensive interview with former Raiders corner Nnamdi Asomugha highlighting the first 'Cast. Interesting stuff on Al Davis, acting, and the teams that pursued Asomugha in free agency before he landed in Philadelphia. You can listen to the first podcast below, or find all of them here.
There will be hundreds of columns looking back at the 2010 fantasy season. They'll try to figure out what went wrong with some guys, how they missed the signs with others, and crow about the ones they got right. We all do it, some better than others, but no one has ever really tried to quantify it. I'm no stats guy, but I believe we can learn a lot from them when presented properly.
This is the week when separation and reality set in. Several teams will go from being on the brink of something special -- or catastrophic -- to knowing exactly what they are. Some will rise and start planning for the playoffs. Some will start counting the days to the NFL draft.
Concussions are all over the news right now, and rightly so. The problem is most people discussing this have no background in the actual facts. I'm not a doctor, but I know how to get hold of the best in the business. With concussions, that's Dr. Robert Watkins, Jr., orthopedic surgeon and co-director of Marina Spine Center at Marina Del Rey (Calif.) Hospital. I asked Dr. Watkins what happens to the brain when there is a helmet-to-helmet hit. Is being hit by a helmet any worse that a shoulder or knee?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee quarterback Vince Young has missed a third straight practice with a sprained left knee and ankle and is questionable for Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
ColdHardFootballFacts.com breaks down Sunday's Philadelphia at Tennessee game (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
My last mailbag for a month will be yours, mostly, with a few announcements up top:
It's happening to Derrick Brooks. After 11 Pro Bowls, six first-team all-pro nods, one Super Bowl victory and one Defensive Player of the Year award, football is saying to him, "We don't need you anymore.''
As you read this, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith might still be assessing the damage in his Washington office after what can best be described as a bizarre fire in the bathroom adjacent to his office around 5 a.m.
Breaking down Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans game (1 p.m., Eastern, CBS) ...
Every Monday, SI.com's Ross Tucker will hand out letter grades to deserving NFL parties...
If they're paying attention, the other 31 NFL teams realize that 9-0 and "Uh-oh'' are now the operative words when it comes to describing the Tennessee Titans.
You have bombarded me with questions about the seemingly unfair way (and I'm sure Mike Smith, Rich McKay and Arthur Blank would not include the words "seemingly'' there) the Atlanta-Philadelphia game ended, and so I've scrapped plans to write about the new Dallas stadium 'til next week. Instead, let's examine the play, and the game situation, that I can guarantee you will be reviewed after the season by the National Football League. I'll start with one of the most cogent letters, from John Hyman, of Chicago:
IRVING, Texas -- Did you see Mike Singletary looking like Mike Ditka?
NASHVILLE -- As the Tennessee Titans headed for their bye week, a sentiment softly worked its way around their practice facility. Keith Bulluck said it at a defensive meeting. Albert Haynesworth said it at his locker.
NEW YORK -- A really interesting Sunday. What do you want to hear about first? The origins of the Wildcat play, which has carried the woebegone Dolphins to wins over the two AFC Championship Game teams from last year? The future of Kerry Collins, who, in a month, has gone from a washed-up backup to one of the NFL's 20 most important players? The incredible case of Matty Ice? Plaxico Burress' future with the Giants?
I've never been a great fan of comparing eras while we're in the midst of a season, but it took an e-mail from a British connoisseur of American football, Simon Veness, to give me some serious thoughts about the standard of quarterbacking these days. He called it the "near barrel-scraping state."
They are afterthoughts, second options, bailouts. Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte is 37, a veteran of 15 NFL seasons and six clubs, one of them twice. Kerry Collins of the Titans is 35, and his resume includes five teams and 14 seasons. They started the year as comfortable old back-ups, but all of a sudden, when things started crumbling around them, they were rushed into action. Oh yes, they are both unbeaten, but that will end Sunday when they face each other.
Got a little three-part quiz for you on this Thursday of Week 4: Now that the Patriots have had their NFL record 21-game regular-season winning streak snapped, which team has the longest active regular-season winning streak, at six games?
SI.com has dispatched 10 writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. For the complete schedule of postcards, click here.
Three football-savvy e-mailers check in with the same question this week, and, with so much uncertainty at the top of the draft, it seems like a logical one. I will let the aptly named Dan Wise of Minneapolis be the spokesman.
Editor's note: We asked SI.com writers to share their memories from the best game they've ever seen. Here are their stories:
SI.com: High anxietyupdated: Sun Apr 08 2007 21:44:00
KANSAS CITY -- Myth of the Month: If a team near the top of the first round of the NFL Draft wants to trade down, it can get a ransom for the pick.
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