First Quarter

The first quarter of the 2013-14 NFL season has already been played. It's a little earlier than usual, but the time has come to praise the offensive linemen. It was a bye week for Carolina and Jordan Gross, Caleb Schlauderaff hasn't played much for New York, and Tony Bergstrom hasn't played at all for Oakland since he was placed on injured reserve.

Zane Beadles is about the only Denver offensive lineman who hasn't been hurt, which makes the Broncos' output truly impressive. Peyton Manning will get all the credit, but this is no one trick pony. Denver had 472 net yards of offense against Philadelphia's porous defense. They converted on 5 of 8 third downs and all 5 times in the red zone. Denver did give up one sack and two tackles for a loss, yet they averaged 6.6 yards per play on 71 plays. That last number is the biggest one of the game. Chip Kelly's hurry up offense ran 69 plays, two fewer than Denver's. And the Broncos scored on both a kick return and a blocked punt! That eliminated two series for the Broncos' O, yet they still ran more plays than the Eagles. Beadles is the ProUte of Week 4.

Kansas City beat the New York Giants, 31-7. Alex Smith had a good game, with 288 yards and 3 TDs, but he also had his first two interceptions of the year. San Diego defeated Dallas as the AFC West went 3-1 against the NFC East. Eric Weddle had 5 tackles, 2 assists, and 2 PDefs in the win. David Reed saw his first action for Indianapolis, returning two kicks for 44 yards (Kerwynn Williams has been waived).

D is for Disruption

Eli Manning can't escape the gravity of Star Lotulelei

Kansas City's Smith gets another nod for ProUte of the Week, but it's not Alex Smith this time. Sean Smith had 3 tackles, an assist, 2 PDefs, and one of the two interceptions of Michael Vick. 

Star Lotulelei had one of seven sacks of Eli Manning as the Panthers dismantled the Giants. He also had a tackle for loss and an assist.

Eric Weddle had six tackles and three assists, but he wasn't covering rookie Justin Hunter on the game-winning touchdown for Tennessee.

Kansas City stayed unbeaten and has already won more games than all of last season, and they did it in Andy Reid's return to Philadelphia. Vick was sacked six times and the Eagles committed four turnovers, so Sean Smith was a beneficiary of a disruptive defense.

Carolina got their first win of the season in a 38-0 drubbing of New York; that's the largest margin of victory in franchise history. Eli Manning threw one interception, a season-low, but was sacked seven times. Four of those were by defensive ends (Hardy had 3), but both rookie defensive tackles had one apiece. The play of Lotulelei in the middle helps the edge rushers, and vice versa. It is a team sport after all, but only one player can be the ProUte of the Week. For week three it was DB Sean Smith!

Koa Misi had four tackles before he left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury; fellow Dolphin Paul Soliai missed the whole game with a bad knee, and Cameron Wake went out with a knee injury on the first series. Could mean more snaps for Derrick Shelby this week. Steve Smith had a hard landing and got up sore, but everybody knows how tough he is!

Repeat Performance

Shelby in pursuit of Luck

Two ProUtes had nearly identical performances in the first two weeks: Alex Smith and Derrick Shelby. Alex had the same number of completions (21) on two more attempts (36), and the same number of touchdown passes (2). He had fifty more yards (223) passing, and a game-high 57 yards rushing against Dallas. He took more sacks (4), but he didn't fumble (he is still turnover-free). His rating was 0.6 higher (95). His total numbers improved over week one, so he ought to repeat as ProUte of the Week, right?

Not so fast - let's look at Shelby's stats first. He had another sack and forced another fumble; he also had a tackle and an assist against the Colts.

Any general manager would take consistent quarterback play over a defensive end for an entire season, and Alex's performance had a larger impact on the outcome of the game than Shelby's. Quarterbacks will always have an advantage over defensive players - particularly when that quarterback is a former #1 pick and the defensive end went undrafted.

That's what tips week two in Shelby's favor; not only did he make the team, he's making impact plays. For that Derrick Shelby is our ProUte of Week Two!

Ute Chief

It was a big opening week for several ProUtes! Zane Beadles and the Broncos started the season by beating the defending Super Bowl champs (a team that needed a huge play to knock Denver out of the playoffs last year), and then ol' Zane got a mention on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! How many offensive lineman can say that?

Star Lotulelei has been recognized for his solid play on the defensive line, and we want to recognize a couple more: Derrick Shelby and Paul Kruger. Playing for opposite sides in the same game, both Shelby and Kruger made two tackles and a sack. Shelby's sack forced a fumble, while Kruger also added two assisted tackles. Eric Weddle had two assists to go with his nine tackles and a pass defensed, but Brice McCain (one tackle on special teams) and the Texans came back to beat the Chargers. Star's teammate Steve Smith was once again the star of Carolina's offense, scoring their only touchdown on one of his six receptions for 51 yards.

We've got to give the game ball (i.e. ProUte of the Week) to Alex Smith, who made a memorable debut with Kansas City. His numbers weren't that auspicious - 21/34 for 173 yards and 2 TDs, plus 25 yards rushing - but the final score of 28-2 has never been seen in the NFL before. His first game didn't start well, as a three-and-out resulted in a safety (one of four in week one) on a blocked punt out of the end zone, but that 2-0 lead wouldn't last for the Jags. Alex didn't put on the best performance of a quarterback in the NFL in week one, but it was one of the better performances by a quarterback in Kansas City in quite some time!

Star Rookie

Star Lotulelei was named the top rookie of week one in the NFL by Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com. Star beat Pro Bowl center Max Unger at the point of attack, and he beat quarterbacks Geno Smith and E.J. Manuel for top rookie honors! He had four tackles, with one tackle for a loss on Marshawn Lynch, who was limited to 43 yards on 17 carries by the Panthers defense.

Good Sign

Koa Misi signed a four-year extension with the Miami Dolphins on Friday. Instead of entering the final year of his rookie contract, Misi is now signed through 2017. Miami may have lost Sean Smith, but they won't miss out on Misi in free agency! Miami plays at Cleveland (new home of Paul Kruger) to open the season tomorrow.

All the Trimmings

Reggie Dunn was indeed waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers today, as teams trimmed down to final 53 man rosters. Much like Erroll Tucker in 1986, Dunn's fate hinged on one return. For Tucker it was a broken leg in the preseason finale; for Dunn it was taking a safety.

Joe Kruger injured his shoulder in the last preseason game and wound up on injured reserve; it looks like there will be the same number of Krugers in the league this year as there were last year.

Both Tevitas were cut, Finau by the Jets and Stevens by the Redskins. Sam Brenner was released by the Dolphins and David Rolf was cut by the Chargers as none of the undrafted free agents made a team this year. Also cut were Sealver Siliga (Seattle) and Brandon Burton (Minnesota). *Burton has since been picked up by Buffalo (B to the fourth degree).*

Derrick Shelby and R.J. Stanford both stuck with Miami for another season, and David Reed made the squad in Indy.

The AFC East now has six ProUtes, the most in any division in the league, followed by the AFC West with five. The NFC South will have three (all in Carolina) and the AFC South will have two. The AFC North and NFC North will each have one, while the NFC East and NFC West will be Uteless.