Shocks Aplenty in Week One of the 2012 NFL Season

You'd think that a late kick off would give the Gods of Football time enough to deliver the memo to the 49ers, Cardinals, Buccaneers and Broncos that they were supposed to lose to the Packers, Seahawks, Panthers and Steelers respectively.

Obviously, they were too busy jawing over the Jets offensive explosion that saw the unit that managed just one preseason touchdown rack-up 48 points against a Bills team that was, in all honesty, lucky not to lose by a wider margin.

The unexpected results of the late games saw the 49ers confound those critics who dared suggest the successes of 2011 were a fluke, and installed them as serious contenders to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl after just one game. We also saw the Cardinals tandem of questionable quarterbacks perform admirably in defeating a hot Seahawks team, who were led out of the gate by rookie sensation, Russell Wilson. Wilson struggled in his first start, but still did enough to keep Pete Carroll happy, and bolster his confidence in his choice of signal caller for the season opener.

Many suggested the Panthers could challenge the Saints and Falcons for the top spot in the NFC South. I thought the suggestion was a bit of a leap as I see the Panthers as an exciting, but inconsistent 8-8 calibre team (Cam Newton and their running game is sensational, and their defence is coming along nicely, but I still don't see them putting a whole game together often enough to challenge seriously). Their loss to the Bucs, who were supposed to suffer at the hands of their three division rivals, really turns things on their head.

One game in is pretty early to be elevating teams to the level of contender and damning under-performers to a January in bed, and in the cases of the Cardinals and Buccaneers, caution should be exercised.

However, the 49ers and Broncos faced tests of which there are few stiffer. The Packers are expected to glide into the playoffs and the Steelers are expected the thump and bruise their way to a Wild Card at worst. The Bay team that fell agonisingly short against the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants, were supposed to get a wake up call, but now, after crushing their toughest scheduled opponent in Week One, who would bet against them notching up another 13+ win season? And the Broncos - an even less known quantity with a rehabilitated, but unconvincing Hall of Fame lock under centre - were expected to bow to the might of one of the NFL's most physical teams.

They didn't. They smashed the smash mouth pioneers right in the chops and move to 1-0, which, in the record-light AFC West, is probably one ninth of the way to a convincing division crown.

Sure, the Raiders and Chiefs are much improved and the Chargers will forever be the nearly team, but these Broncos, who aside from the tremendous upgrade at QB, are largely unchanged from the team that showed flashes of true guile and grit at points during 2011. With Manning finding his groove, they could run away with the West.

If Week One is a sign of things to come, the things to come will be very entertaining indeed.