Disturbing Factoid of the Day

First things first, what a way to kick off the NFL season. I don't think anyone coulda seen Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees combining for 731 passing yards, much less the teams combining to score 76 points. Can you imagine if the finish of the game had been a playoff game or even the Super Bowl? It'd rank right up there with Kevin Dyson's "One yard short" in Super Bowl XXXIV or Adam Vinatieri's game-winning kick as time expired in XXXVI in terms of last plays of the game. Welcome to the big leagues, Mark Ingram.

Anyways, on to today's disturbing factoid: Eli Manning is now in possession of the most consecutive starts streak among active quarterbacks, at 103. How is this possible? Those long streaks are supposed to be reserved for elite quarterbacks like a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or even a Brett Favre. And what's even more crazy about it all? The 103 consecutive starts are 6th all-time, behind the three I just mentioned, Ron Jaworski, and Joe Ferguson. Who's Joe Ferguson? I didn't know either until looking it up. I guess Eli is just the Joe Ferguson of this generation.

Tonight's Pick

Saints (+4.5) over Packers


New feature for the Experience. I'll be making weekly football picks, keeping track of 'em, and come late December, I'll be able to use it all to prove myself a gambling savant. I mean hey, I fell ass-backwards into $1,000 just two weeks ago; I've gotta ride that hot streak, right? Or this could blow up in my face and I'll be mocked worse than after the Hingham-Xaverian game. One or the other.

Anywho no need to go into extravagant detail on why I'm picking the Saints tonight; I did that in yesterday's previews. For what it's worth, the defending Super Bowl champs haven't lost a season opener since the Broncos lost their first game A.E. (After Elway) way back in 1999. And perhaps no defending champ has come back so strong since the 2004 Patriots brought back the exact same team plus Corey Dillon. So there's a decent chance I'm way off here. But in the words of Kevin Kelly, gotta hunch, bet a bunch.

I'll be making the rest of my picks for Week 1 at some point tomorrow.