oh hello NFL regular season

It's probably because the 2010 Boston Red Sox have been out of the race for basically all season but I can never remember being more excited for an NFL season to start.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect from my New England Patriots but therein lies some of the excitement I guess.

Yesterday afternoon was about as good a start as you could ever dream of: New England beat a playoff team (Cincinnati Bengals) 38-24 at Gillette Stadium.

Where to begin the plethora of highlights? Tom Brady, the NFL's highest paid player, looked awesome spreading it around (25 of 35 for 258 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions).

Wes Welker played his first real game since the 2009 regular season finale, racking up eight catches for 64 yards and two touchdowns, looking nothing like a guy recovering from ACL surgery. Even Fred Taylor (71 yards rushing) and the ageless Kevin Faulk (70 total yards) had a spring in their old steps.

The Patriots had a defensive touchdown (a 59-yard interception return from Gary Guyton) and a 97-yard kickoff return by Brandon Tate. All this led to a 31-3 lead and a cruise control second half which led to the tighter final score.

With so many young guys and new names, particularly on defense, New England looked very promising. Pat Chung led the way with 16 tackles (12 solo), rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez had a 45-yard catch and rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski capped the scoring with a 1-yard back of the end zone grab.

Carson Palmer's numbers (34 of 50, 345 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) look nice but he didn't do anything when it mattered and the outcome hung in the balance. Ditto for Chad Ochocinco (12 catches, 159 yards, 1 touchdown) and Terrell Owens (7 catches, 53) who are well on their way to a 8-8 season that nobody will ever remember.

Welker fittingly caught the first pass of the 2010 season and finished the first drive with an easy nine-yard catch and run for a score. Stephen Gostkowski's 31-yard field goal put the Pats up 10-0 after the first quarter.

Welker added a four-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter along with Guyton's awesome individual effort.

Mike Nugent hit a 54-yard field goal to get the Bengals on the board late in the second quarter.

After Tate's kickoff return, Cincy finally scored two touchdowns (a one-yard pass to Jermaine Gresham and 28-yard pass to Ochocinco).

Gronkowski's touchdown sealed this one before Cedric Benson wrapped it up with a one-yard run.

The Dolphins eeked one out on the road over the Bills yesterday afternoon and the Jets begin their season tonight with a game at the Baltimore Ravens.

New England travels to the New Meadowlands on Sunday (4:15 p.m.) for an early AFC East showdown.

Randy Moss had five catches for 59 yards but he made headlines for his bizarre 14-minute post-game press conference. I have already seen too much coverage of it so I don't feel like I have to talk about it like everybody else.

Well there goes the 1% chance of the Patriots doing anything in the playoffs

On the first Patriots drive yesterday afternoon at Houston's Reliant Stadium, New England wide receiver Wes Welker planted to make a cut and his left knee buckled. He was down for a long time with the trainers, Tom Brady and Randy Moss huddled around him, slowly went to the sidelines and finally was carted off to the locker room.

And with that, the Patriots' Nicole Richie thin Super Bowl chances completely bit the dust.

The Texans (9-7) were down 27-13 in the fourth quarter and rallied to win 34-27 but that ended up being completely irrelevant since the Texans still didn't make the playoffs and New England (10-6) got the number 3 seed in the AFC thanks to the Bengals' diaper full of Indian food performance last night at the Meadowlands.

The Patriots host the Ravens next Sunday at Gillette, 1pm.

The million dollar question heading into the regular season finale was how much would Tom Brady and the other Patriots stars play? If you've been paying attention the last decade, you'd know that Bill Belichick hates to sit key players, at any time. Regardless of how crazy that may seem.

As it turned out, Belichick wasn't even sure what to do yesterday since Brady played until late in the second quarter, was pulled for Brian Hoyer and then started the second half and played most of the second half. And what was the point? Seeing Welker get hurt (albeit on a freak accident, a non-contact play) reminded everyone of the sheer brutality of football.

With no bye week and no depth at receiver, wouldn't it make sense to give Brady and Moss the rest of the day off? Apparently not. You can say Brady had to work in a game situation without Welker but I'm not buying it.

Julian Edelman (10 catches, 103 yards), the man who will have to fill in for Welker, did an admirable job but can he be counted on in the playoffs?

The Texans scored on their opening drive as Matt Schaub (303 yards, 2 touchdowns) threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Dreessen.

Fred Taylor tied it up with a four-yard touchdown run. Stephen Gostkowski gave New England a 10-7 lead in the second quarter with a 51-yard field goal.

The Patriots' defense made a goalline stand but on the next play Taylor fumbled in the endzone and former Chief great Bernard Pollard (who ripped up Brady's knee) recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

Gostkowski tied it before the half with a 43-yard kick.

Rookie cornerback Darius Butler made the play of the game in the third quarter as he corralled a tipped pass and returned it 91 yards for a score.

When Taylor had an 11-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Patriots might win a road game against a decent team.

Jacoby Jones' 8-yard touchdown catch from Schaub cut it to 27-20 Patriots and rookie running back Arian Foster (20 carries, 119 yards) took over with a 1-yard score and a 3-yard touchdown.

The last Texans touchdown was made possible by a terrible interception from Brady. Pressured by Mario Williams, Brady threw it up for grabs to Sam Aiken.

Going into the Texans game, I was feeling good that the Pats could win their home playoff game and then give the Colts and maybe even the Chargers a scare in the next round. Now, I'm not sure what to think. It's been a terribly disappointing season with one distraction and costly mistake after another.

Since I'm going to the Ravens game (my first playoff action), I'm simply hoping for a win and then we'll worry about the next step.

The one where Patriots discover a running game

The New England Patriots came into yesterday's game with the Falcons facing as much adversity as they've had since they started winning Super Bowls. The roster is in flux, the offense can't score in the red zone and who will make plays on defense?

Those are just a few of the questions facing the 2009 Patriots but yesterday they proved that they're still pretty good and the Falcons (2-1) were a tad overrated.

On a rainy, miserable day at Gillette Stadium, the Pats (2-1) had the ball for 39 minutes, en route to a 26-10 win. The red zone deficiency is still their biggest issue as they went 1-for-5 but at least they discovered a running game.

Fred Taylor had 105 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. Playing without Wes Welker again, Tom Brady still didn't look like himself but he finished 25-of-42 for 277 yards and a touchdown.

Without Welker in the lineup, Randy Moss has become more of a short, possession receiver, as opposed to his normal deep threat. Straight Cash Homey had 10 catches for 116 yards.

Through the first three games, New England's defense has been the most pleasant surprise. They completely shut down a very good Atlanta offense. Matt Ryan was 17-of-28 for 199 yards but no touchdowns. Michael Turner was held to 56 yards rushing while Roddy White (24 yards) and Tony Gonzalez (16 yards) were neutralized by our no-name secondary.

Jason Elam (26 yards) and Stephen Gostowski (21 yards) traded field goals in the first quarter.

Taylor gave New England a 10-3 lead in the second quarter with an 8-yard run up the gut. Belichick's plan to control Atlanta's offense was simply to not let them have the ball. The Pats failed for the most part in the red zone but the fact that they were there so many times showed how long they possessed the ball.

Turner tied it later in the second quarter with a two-yard run. Gostkowski's 33-yard kick with 20 seconds left in the first half gave the Pats a 13-10 lead.

Another Gostkowski kick (22 yards) was the only scoring in the third quarter and he opened the fourth with another boot (33 yards).

After they showed him on the bench pissed off earlier, Brady was much happy in the fourth quarter when he connected with tight end Chris Baker on a 36-yard catch and run for a touchdown.

Ryan and the Falcons offense could never get anything going and the Pats had a nice win. New England was a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth downs, including a conversion on fourth and inches at their own 24 in the third quarter.

Vince Wilfork left in the second quarter with an ankle injury but New England's D didn't seem to skip a beat. They forced a fumble by Michael Turner which James Sanders recovered.

It's still hard to tell how good this team is but facing the Baltimore Ravens-arguably the top team in the NFL-next Sunday at Gillette should bring some immediate feedback.

The Ravens are 3-0 and finally have some offense to go with that ridiculous defense. Joe Flacco is throwing it all over the field, they have a bunch of good running backs and Ray Lewis is still murdering people/dancing up a storm. Should be a good one.