NFL round-up: Colts and Cowboys lose, Patriots roll
For just the second time in 17 games the Houston Texans managed to beat the Indianapolis Colts.
But it took a record day from Arian Foster to get the win against a Colts side who were looking to bounce back from losing in the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saints. Foster, an undrafted running back, ran for a franchise record 231 yards and three touchdowns to help the Texans to a 34-24 victory.
Foster had the NFL's second-best opening weekend rushing performance since 1933, dominating the Colts’ defence all day. Not even Peyton Manning could counter Foster’s running. Manning completed 40/57 passes with 433 yards and three touchdowns, but every time he tried to get the Colts back in the game, the Texans had an answer.
Houston quarterback Matt Schaub only completed nine passes all game with 107 yards and one touchdown, but it was enough as Foster repeatedly came up with first downs to keep Manning off the field. And despite the Colts having more first downs than the Texans, they couldn’t penetrate the tough Texan defence led by Zac Diles’ 12 tackles.
If the Dallas Cowboys were going to have a good start to the season, they were going to have to find their offensive rhythm and overcome a tough Washington Redskins defence on Sunday night. As it happened they couldn’t do any of those things, losing 13-7.
New coach Mike Shanahan and new quarterback Donovan McNabb debuted for the Redskins and the new era got off to the best possible start. McNabb managed only 171 yards passing, hitting on 15 of 32 attempts but that won’t matter to the Washington fans who have endured pretty tough times in recent seasons.
Washington’s only touchdown of the game came when DeAngelo Hall returned a fumble by Tashard Choice with zero seconds remaining in the first-half, but that’s all they needed, Graham Gano kicking two field goals rounding off the Redskins’ scoring.
The Cowboys did nearly come away with the win. On the last play of the game, Tony Romo scrambled around in the pocket, found some space, fired to Roy Williams in the endzone - touchdown. Or so they thought. The referee blew the whistle, not for a touchdown but for an offensive penalty on Alex Barron for holding. Game over, the Redskins get the perfect start to a new era while the Cowboys might have to go back to the drawing board.
Elsewhere, the New England Patriots displayed all their offensive tools against the Cincinnati Bengals, who were supposed to provide a stern test on opening day, winning 38-24. In a week where quarterback Tom Brady survived a car crash and became the NFL’s highest-paid player, the Patriots did what they do best, throw the ball.
Brady completed 25 of 30 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns, finding wide receiver Wes Welker eight times. So effective was the Patriots’ offence the game was a no contest by the start of the second-half. Brandon Tate returned the second-half kick-off for a 97-yard touchdown making it 31-3 to the Patriots and effectively killing off the game.
Wes Welker finished the day with two touchdowns for New England, who showed they are much better defensively than previously thought.
Much of the talk, however, will be about Cincinnati’s inability to generate offence in the first-half. Running back Cedric Benson failed to make any penetrating runs and Carson Palmer failed to regularly connect with his receivers until the second-half. He also threw an interception which was returned for a touchdown by Gary Guyton.
The Bengals did manage to score 24 points in the end but it was the Patriots who showed their offense might be hard to stop this season.
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