Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman scores a touchdown ahead of Green Bay Packers cornerback Tramon Williams, left, in their game, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014, in Seattle. The Seahawks beat the Packers 36-16.
NFL logoAfter a week-one worth of fun, here are the top five and the dregs of the NFL:
1. Seattle: Last year's champs look like the class of the league.
2. Denver: Last year's runners-up look better on defense, and that's going to have to be a truth for the Denver Mannings to get back to the Super Bowl.
3. Detroit: Yep, we said it. The Lions looked good Monday night in a 35-14 win over the Giants that was not as close as the score.
4. Pittsburgh: Yes, they let a big lead trickle to nothing, but the traditionally slow-starting Steelers won a season opener for the first time since 2010. Think about that.
5. Atlanta: Yes, it may be a week-one flash for a team that has issues, but it was a great week one for an offense that has a legit passing game.
Bottom five (see if you notice a trend here that will make the Philadelphia Eagles quite pleased ...)
28. New York Giants: Hard seeing this team contend on a weekly basis. It may be time for Tommy Coughlin to consider his future options.
29. St. Louis: Yes, losing your starting quarterback before the season opener is a tough blow. But with or without Sam Bradford, it lost by 34 points to a team quarterbacked by Matt Cassel.
30. Washington: Six points? Six? Against the Texans?
31. Dallas: Yes, the 49ers are one of the league's top teams, but dear goodness, that was awful in its awfulness. Buck up, Cowboys, you're the most valuable team in the league and arguably the worst.
32. Roger Goodell: Which brings us to ...
The biggest story on the field in the opening week likely was the Seattle Seahawks' domination of the Green Bay Packers. The biggest story off the field is obviously Ray Rice.
Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and then quickly suspended indefinitely by the NFL after the tape of him punching then fiancee, now wife Janay Palmer in an elevator was released by TMZ.com.
The images are horrible and horrifying. We have said from the moment NFL commissioner Roger Goodell handed out a meaningless two-game suspension for Rice that this was a farce and a travesty and in truth an awful precedent that covers up a growing problem in our society.
Goodell admitted that his decision was a bad one and added layers to the league's domestic violence penalties. It was a rare moment that seemed to be contrition for Goodell, a master PR weaver who seldom deviates from the focused goal of continuing to grow the NFL into a $25 billion operation.
And the tougher penalties -- a six-game suspension for a first offense; a lifetime ban for a second offense -- drew applause.
Now, they should draw questions. Did Goodell review his policy because the NFL knew what was coming, the TMZ release of an appalling video of Rice dropping Palmer with a left jab and knocking her out and refusing to even check to make sure she was still alive? And if the commissioner and his people did not see the video -- if they did see the video and suspended Ray Rice for only two games, sweet Odin's Raven, then we've got much bigger, Bigger, BIGGER problems -- how did TMZ get it before an $8 billion industry like the NFL?
(Side note: The NFL's suspension of Rice after his release made me think of a college buddy, who at 5-foot-5 and full of spunk and Keystone Light, looked me right in the eye before a fight after a pledge football game and said, "Jay, if you knock that big guy down, I'll kick him as hard as I can.")
Whether they realize it or not, the league has a lot of questions to answer. Yes, Ray Rice deserves to be the villain here and he may not ever get another job in the NFL. (We think he will, but we'll see.)
But the league has sent a clear message here: With its blind eye to the first round with Rice -- Two games? Really? If he hit an opponent during a game like he hit his future wife, Rice likely would have at least two games -- and with its indifference to Greg Hardy and Ray McDonald and the rest of the domestic incidents, the clear message the league is sending is not that it's wrong to hit women.
Nope, in the NFL's eyes it's wrong to get videotaped hitting women.
And that's a tragedy.
Roger Goodell, whatcha got?