While the St. Louis Rams aren’t among the NFL’s best, the Seattle Seahawks played well on both offense and defense en route to a 28-0 opening game victory. Jim Mora made a successful debut as Seahawks coach and Matt Hasselbeck played his first regular season game since last Thanksgiving. Hasselbeck was 25 of 36 for 279 yards with three touchdown passes, though he also threw two interceptions.

New York Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez has been a crucial factor in the teams 2-0 start, showing a poise and head for the game very rare for NFL newcomers. Still, there wasn’t much worry at the revelation that hes suffering from tendinitis in his right knee. The Jets announced Sanchez’s injury on Thursday, and hes listed as probable on the official NFL injury report.

Veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia was released earlier this week by the Philadelphia Eagles, a victim of too many quarterbacks on the roster. Now that hes no longer under contract to a NFL team, hes letting his feelings be known about another one of his recent employers–the Oakland Raiders. In an interview with Fox Sports Radio in which he slammed the teams management and suggested that current quarterback Jamarcus Russell was in over his head.

In professional prizefighting, its common to see high level fighters go from viable to geriatric before your eyes. Boxers, in particular, have a difficult time outrunning the ravages of age. Fighters seldom grow old gracefully, at least in the competitive sense. The exceptions–Archie Moore, George Foreman, James Toney–are few and far between. More often than not a professional prizefighter goes from being a legitimate contender to the brink of retirement in a matter of minutes. It can happen that suddenly, and most recently Mexican superstar Oscar De La Hoya was the latest victim. He looked utterly lost as a relentless Manny Pacquiao used his speed and workrate to completely frustrate De La Hoya en route to a 8th round TKO victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

When legendary quarterback Brett Favre announced his return to the NFL from what has become a seemingly annual flirtation with retirement, many second guessed the Minnesota Vikings’ decision to sign “The Gunslinger”. On Sunday, Favre and the Vikings answered those critics in the best way possible-with a lopsided 34-3 beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys. Favre threw 4 touchdown passes in the victory and the Vikings’ defense sacked Dallas QB Tony Romo six times in the blowout. Minnesota will now face the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game.

The Green Bay Packers used 21 second quarter points and three Aaron Rodgers touchdown passes to easily dispatch the punchless Cleveland Browns 31-3 on Sunday. Rodgers threw two of his three touchdowns during the second quarter onslaught, adding a fourth quarter tally for good measure. Ryan Grant added–8 yards of rushing and a touchdown in the victory, in which the Packers dominated the statistical battle. Green Bay improved their 2009 NFL record to 4-2, while Cleveland slumped to 1-6.

The Atlanta Falcons are off to a fast start this season, and on Sunday used a potent offensive attack to top the Carolina Panthers 28-20 at the Georgia Dome. QB Matt Ryan threw a career high three touchdown passes, including one to his new favorite receiver Tony Gonzalez. Beleaguered Carolina QB Jake Delhomme threw another interception for ten in his previous three games (including last years playoff loss to Arizona) but was otherwise much more effective passing for 308 yards and a touchdown.

Most NFL head coaches place a priority on naming a starting QB before the regular season begins. The idea is that it helps the chemistry on the team, as well as helping the quarterback define himself as a team leader. Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini hasn’t named his starting QB yet. Nor will he, at least not publicly. Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson will find out if they’re the starting QB in the next couple of days, but the first public confirmation their coach will give is when they trot out on the field after the NFL regular season begins.

While its unwise to put too much importance on NFL preseason performances, its hard not to be impressed with the New Orleans Saints offense. In particular, its impossible to not be impressed with the play of starting QB Drew Brees. Brees played only three series against the Oakland Raiders on Saturday night, but that was enough”by the time he left the Saints led 21-0 en route to a 45-7 thrashing on their hosts. New Orleans improved to 3-0 on the NFL preseason, while the Raiders dropped to 1-2. The Saints appear to be in mid season form, while the Raiders are looking like an expansion team.

The South Carolina Gamecocks used a nasty defensive effort, combined with an efficient and mistake free performance from quarterback Steven Garcia to upset #4 Mississippi 16-10 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC. The Gamecocks ended a 22 game losing streak against top 5 ranked teams, while Ole Miss dropped their sixth straight SEC opener.

The New England Patriots looked nothing like a team that had gone undefeated at home all season, let alone one of the dominant teams of the past few years. The Baltimore Ravens took advantage of a weak New England rushing defense and some untimely mistakes by QB Tom Brady to lead 14-0 just five minutes. They would end the first quarter up 24-0 and would never be seriously threatened as they coasted to a 33-14 victory in Sunday’s NFL Wildcard game. Baltimore used 234 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns to force the Patriots to play from behind, and then let their defense do the rest.

The Miami Dolphins unveiled their version of the wildcat single wing offense for the first time in the NFL preseason and it worked like a charm. Starting QB Chad Pennington went 8 of 11 for 105 yards and a touchdown pass as the Dolphins first team offense played well in a 27-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers. The Dolphins improved to 2-0 in the NFL preseason while the Panthers dropped to 0-2.

The New York Giants jumped out to a 17-0 lead against their NFC East rivals from Washington, and were never threatened as they went on to beat the Redskins by a final score of 23-17. Defensive stalwart Osi Umenyiora returned from a serious knee injury and scored a touchdown on a fumble return, while the Giants offense controlled the ball well and completely dominated the time of possession. The Giants held a lopsided edge of 36:08 to 23:52 in that department, which helped them overcome a couple of turnovers. Eli Manning played well, throwing for 259 yards and a touchdown to counteract one interception.

USC has won their big game against Ohio State twice in back to back years. Its the next game they have problems with. Last year, USC went on the road and lost to Oregon State immediately after defeating the Buckeyes. This year, it was the Washington Huskies who pulled the upset. The Huskies defense shut down the powerful Trojans offense, and Erik Folk kicked a 22 yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to give Washington a 16-13 victory in Seattle. USC has now lost to an unranked team in each of the past four seasons.

In his second fight in just over a month, Frank Trigg dominated tough veteran Falaniko Vitale wire to wire en route to a unanimous decision victory at Strikeforce: Payback. Trigg looked very sharp in easily handling Makoto Takimoto in Tokyo at Sengoku 4 on August 28th, and his victory here was every bit as impressive. Aside from a 2nd round takedown, Vitale mustered precious little offense and spent most of the fight trying to counter Triggs sharp striking and takedown attempts.