Cup O' Joe Week 1 Shortform Analysis

Author: Joe Simpson
Date: September 4, 1990

Week 1 is in the books. Let's take a look at the recap:

Top Ten (Record, Previous Week)

1. Seattle (1-0, 1) - Quincy Jones (125 yards, 2 TD) off to a great start.
2. Los Angeles (1-0, 2) - Baw out-dinked Dinkins in tough home win over Blazers.
3. Boston (1-0, 3) - Telling stat: Defense held Portland to 1-11 on 3rd down.
4. Houston (1-0, NR) - Was this a deceiving win? We'll find out in Week 2.
5. Cincinnati (1-0, 6) - The Royals D was bent, not broken, by Colonels.
6. Washington (1-0, NR) - Ryan Warren (22-27, 275, 4 TD) biggest surprise of Week 1.
7. Dallas (1-0, 8) - Offense, not defense, handled Chicago.
8. Baltimore (1-0, NR) - Watkins comes through when needed, slams door on Nightmare.
9. Oakland (1-0, 7) - Less that impressive against poor New York team.
10. Cleveland (1-0, NR) - Third-down efficiency (10-16) leads Blues to win.

Dropped out - New Orleans (4), Chicago (5), Nashville (9), Philadelphia (10)

Offensive Player of the Week: QB Ryan Warren, Washington. Completed 81% of his passes for 275 yards, along with four touchdowns, as the Braves shocked the Shamrocks. Warren wasn't even a guaranteed starter, making this even more extraordinary.

Defensive Player of the Week: OLB Steve Vigorito, Chicago. Registered 15 tackles -- 12 solo -- and two sacks in Chicago's loss to Dallas. He also had a forced fumble and a recovery.

Special Teams Player of the Week: K Filip Williams Boston. 4-for-5 on field goals, accounted for 13 of Boston's 19 points. His field goal with 12 seconds left took all of the air out of Portland, capping a big road win for the Minutemen.

Number This Week: Seven. The number of 100-yard rushers in Week 1. Strangely missing from the list is Sammy Hoambrecker, Dan Moss, Dennis Zimmerman, and Gary Johnson, and Johnny Plunkett. It will be interesting to see how these backs come back in Week 2.

Surprise of the Week: Kansas City's shocking defeat of San Francisco. KaRom Crummey wins Citizen of the Week in KC, who scored 14 points in the final 45 seconds to get the win. Crummey's interception raises questions about the Generals late-game decision-making.

Coaching Move of the Week: KC defensive coordinator Matt Tucker's decision to play bump-and-run with over the top safety coverage in the final minute. By bluffing SF on the ability to go to the air, they were able to induce the decision that resulted in Crummey's game-winning INT. It wasn't innovative, but it was a gutsy play for a team who wasn't even supposed to be in the game. Instead, they're 1-0.

Rising This Week: Houston. This isn't a great division, but starting the year off with this kind of win is great for morale. With St. Louis on the horizon, you have to love 2-0 for the Oilers.

Falling This Week: New Orleans. They came out flat against Indianapolis. Very flat. Losing 24-10 when you're supposed to be a contender for the conference title is not quite the way to start off. Hopefully for them, they can rebound this week.

Store It Away: The Oilers, with this kind of offense and this kind of schedule, may get through the gauntlet with only two losses--Week 9 @ Atlanta and Week 14 @ Dallas.