With the opening week for the NFL coming to a close tonight in a double header on Monday Night Football, here's what (I think) I learned after Week One:

• • Don't give Dallas the ball with the game on the line
• The Dallas Cowboys pulled out a gutty win against a New York Giants team that had them on the ropes for the majority of the second half. There were many factors that the Cowboys took advantage of during their comeback such as the Giants offense completely stalling out, but the final drive for the Giants defense and how out of position most of the coverage was in was tough to watch. Dallas did not go unscathed though: they will be without star WR Dez Bryant for the next 4-6 weeks with a fractured bone in his foot. The Cowboys next 4 opponents include the Eagles this upcoming weekend and the Patriots on October 11th so it's going to be interesting to see how they mold the offense going forward. As for the Giants, they definitely need help defensively after that collapse. That was their biggest concern coming into the season and they haven't really addressed it this past off-season. Their next 4 opponents include a Falcons team that looks great offensively but shaky on defense, a Bills team that just got done demolishing the Colts, an inner-division matchup against a banged up Redskins team who lost WR Desean Jackson to an injury and a depleted 49ers team. The road isn't too difficult for the G-Men, but going forward they need to shape up on defense or it's going to be more difficult for them to come out of a packed NFC conference.

I guess go for the pass on 4th and 1?

What were the odds that Seattle would be in the same position that ended their SB dreams this past February on the opening week against the Rams? While not for the biggest prize in Football obviously, they were clearly looking to get passed the call that may (or may not) haunt Pete Carrol for the rest of his career. The thing that bugged me was calling for a shotgun HB draw on 4th down, I don't know if they were trying to fool the defense in thinking that Russell Wilson was going to throw or not, but clearly the Rams defense stuffed the line no matter what, not even thinking about calling an audible and it paid off. Nick Foles played outstanding for the Rams, giving them some stability at QB, which they haven't had the past 2 seasons with Bradford suffering season ending injuries and having to scour their bench to find a starter. St. Louis next 4 opponents will test them on both sides of the ball with games against the Packers, Steelers and Cardinals coming back to back to back. I'm not too worried about Seattle since they came back during this game down 14+ points, but you should keep your eye on the situation with Kam Chancellor and whether or not they are able to get him back on the field. While I don't think having him out there during this game was going to change the outcome much, going forward they are going to need as much of their reliable players as possible. They have Green Bay coming up on Sunday Night in a rematch of last year's NFC Championship, with the Lions & Bengals being their next tough opponents in the next month.

ALL ABOARD THE MARIOTA BANDWAGON~!

I love overreactions like that. But it's difficult to not be impressed by how well Marcus Mariota played yesterday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With all the hullabaloo over whether or not he can play in a pro-style offense or how long it would take him to transition to the NFL he sure looked pretty good yesterday. Tennessee has an interesting schedule these next 4 games, one including an inner-division game against the Colts who will look to bounce back after a terrible start against the Bills, who the Titans will see in week 4 at home closing out against a Dolphins team with a stout defense on October 18th. The Bucs shouldn't see Jameis Winston's first throw as a pro go for a pick six (I think Favre did that when he played for the Falcons years ago) but clearly their defense, which was going to keep them into most of these games as Winston gets settled into his role, clearly collapsed and ended up giving the Titans a 28 point lead at halftime. Their schedule isn't going to get any easier with games against New Orleans, Houston & Carolina coming up and a favorable matchup against the Jaguars on October 11th.

Those were some of the things I learned on Opening weekend. See you next Monday!