Jeff: The Monday Musings...on Tuesday

So it looks like Mondays will officially be insane with an 8:30-5:30 school day, so even though you won't read this until Tuesday, I'm at least writing this on a Monday. Does that count? I think it does. Wow so much happened this weekend, and I had pretty good seats for it on my whirlwind tour of Minnesota. Congrats to Josh and Natalie and enjoy Nova Scotia. I mean it's Canada- how can you NOT enjoy it? Exactly. Thanks to Jer and Mrs Jer for hosting me this weekend. I miss you guys. And to Luke for hosting us for a glorious Sunday afternoon of watching football with men. Just the way God intended it.

As always, please read Peter King's MMQB column first. Ok this should probably be a 2 parter- a college and pro football edition- so we'll see how it goes:

THE NFC:
* Your Minnesota Vikings won 24-3. The answer to the question of was Atlanta that bad or the Purple that good lies somewhere in between, and will reveal itself as the season progresses. I'm having a hard time being rationale about this because I have drunk from the Pool of Adrian Peterson Mania and it is delicious. Good lord as much as the win was great to see, I think it feels even better to have a potential super star back in the fold. It just gives you hope no matter what's happening. Thank you AP, and thank you Vikings for having the guts to draft him when you already had Chester Taylor. And yes it's week 1. I'm already dilusional.

* As King points out early in his column, the NFC is, um...well it sucks. It's wide open. Chicago has no offense whatsoever, and yet basically shut down the Charge, who WILL be a top 5 offense again this year. LaDanian Tomlinson is the best back in the league, and maybe the history of the league, and yet they generally contained him. Yes he threw a pass and ran for another, but when you hold the Bolts to 2 TD's and lose, that's not the fault of the D. Still, if that's the best team in the NFC? Did you see Rex Grossman? What about the non-existent Cedric Benson? That's the class of the conference? As King also points out, NOBODY in the NFC looked good. I mean who else can you like? New Orleans? Philly? Seattle? St Louis? They all were varying degrees of suck.

* The sleeping giant in the conference is definitely the Cowboys. Sure the D got torched yesterday, but they've got the pieces to be good again. All the offense is missing is a confident Tony Romo and a Terrell Owens that catches the ball, and we saw both last night. They're the one team and only NFC team with Juggernaut potential. Everybody else has too many holes.

* I really want to like this Vikes team, but I'm not sold yet. My old roomy Kris (who's coaching corners at Bethel and should be a game analyst) pointed out how suspect the Vikes linebackers, and specifically Chad Greenway, looked, but I still see some potential there. Greenway's essentially a rookie, and he made some poor reads dropping in coverage, but he's so athletic, I think he can learn. The line was their usual run-stuffing selves, and this Edwards kid off the end? So that's what a pass rush looks like. I hadn't seen one from an end since Chris Doleman so I had forgotten what it looked like. ANYWAY, if the D is sound, and keep forcing turnovers, well that makes life easier on the offense, but they HAVE to throw for more than 95 freaking yards. Be prepared for seeing all 11 guys in the box from now on though when AP's on the field. These first 4 games are nice, but the middle part of that schedule is brutal.

* Holy Christmas, did you SEE Calvin Johnson in Detroit? I mean seriously? He's a dump truck that moves like a Ferrari. Even Chuck Norris is afraid of him. How on God's green earth do you cover a man that big and fast? We'll see what the Vikes can come up with this week.

* I hate Jake Delhomme. He absolutely KILLED me the last 2 years in fantasy, and so I avoid him like sanity evading Brittney Spears, and what does he do? Of course he tears up the Rams. Of course he did. I can't decide if I hate him more for doing that, or for the almost certainty that I'll be desperate enough to pick him up by week 4...only to have him go back to sucking. I hate Jake Delhomme.

* The Rams are in big trouble. Orlando Pace being done for the year is a gigantic loss (both figuratively and literally).

* Mike & Mike have my favorite radio show, but they should not be doing play-by-play. It just shouldn't happen. Although I'm not sure anybody could make this Arizona/San Francisco game better, but still.

COLLEGE
The definition of sweet justice: while Charlie Weis is getting blown out by 30+ for the second week in a row at Notre Dame, former Irish coach Ty Willingham and his UDub Huskies knock off #24 Boise State to move to 2-0, with a H-YOOOGE matchup with Ohio State upcoming. As a Husky fan and Notre Dame hater, I couldn't be happier. Neither could Willingham, but he's way too classy to say it.

* Um why is Lloyd Carr still coaching at Michigan? Forget for a moment the bowl game losing streak and his inability to beat Ohio State. With a team that returns a ton of offensive starters, including a senior QB, RB, and monster LT, he gets beat by a 1-AA team AND gets spanked by Oregon at the Big House in successive weeks? Really? I'm sorry what am I missing here? What could they be hoping for by keeping him? Losing by 40 to Indiana? Schedule a D-III team? Seriously 2 games in and their season is over, and Carr's should be too. I don't get it.

* After this Saturday, either Notre Dame or Michigan will be 0-3. Think about that.