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Knowing that many of our posts run a little long (sorry for being so loquacious), the decision was made to unveil a newer format that gives you our same great insight, but in a (slightly) quicker, more concise format (okay, this one ran a little long too, but it’s the first one. Cut us some slack).

So welcome to the first edition of The Hot 16. The topic: the first quarter of the NFL season.

1) The Josh Freeman saga in Tampa Bay is…well, was very somber. Not just from the standpoint that a guy who in 2010 threw 25 TDs and just six interceptions (and threw for over 4,000 yards last year) crashed back to obscurity and faster than Mims in ’07. But when you take into account the revelations of his (voluntary) entrance into the NFL’s substance abuse program and what appears to be an attempt — potentially by members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization — to assassinate his character, it really becomes an extremely depressing scenario.

2) Freeman certainly has made mistakes along the way (things seemed to go downhill as soon as he cut his hair…just like Kobe), but his former coach Greg Schiano is not without fault. HHSR defended Schiano last season for playing through to the final buzzer, but that type of behavior is not supposed apply to your own players. Regardless of who is directly responsible for the leak of Freeman’s drug related situation (Schiano has denied any involvement) it only underscores the callousness of the Buccaneers organization. Jettison him if you must, but do not rob that man of his dignity on his way out the door.

3) The New England Patriots are basically invincible so long as their quarterback and coach remain intact, but the loss of nose tackle Vince Wilfork is incredibly devastating. Most people don’t appreciate the kind of athlete Wilfork is, let alone his impact on the Patriots defense. The unquestioned leader of that unit, Wilfork is the primary reason why the Pats are always stout in the middle defensively.

4) So far, New England has managed to start off 4-0, despite the loss of key weapons Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and Aaron Hernandez from last year’s team, and a slew of injuries to this year’s team. But if Tom Brady can navigate this team to a deep playoff run without Wilfork, it will truly be a mark of his exemplary leadership.

5) Speaking of the undefeateds, the Pats, Broncos, Chiefs, Saints and Seahawks are the last teams standing, all of whom have at least somewhat challenging matchup in Week 5. Each of these teams should make the playoffs, however the only one we had not making it in the preseason was the Saints.

6) Despite the perfect start, it’s still hard to completely buy into the New Orleans Saints. We knew their offense would be great, but it’s the defense that has stunned the football community. Rob Ryan has his crew in the top 10 in total defense through the first quarter of the season. The problem though, is that his teams have only managed to finish the season in the top 10 in total defense once in his eight full seasons as an NFL defensive coordinator. Therefore, I don’t see this run lasting.

7) If we were wrong about the Saints (so far), it seems pretty safe to say we were right about Joe Flacco.

8) Trindon Holliday is really good. Why the Houston Texans cut him at the start of last season, even though he ran back three kicks for scores in the preseason for them is beyond stupid.

And every time he takes a kick to the house, it’s…

Word to DJ Holiday.

9) There’s a lot to like about this Tennessee Titans team. They’re scrappy, extremely tough defensively and Jake Locker showed quite a bit of moxie those first few weeks, but his hip injury was brutal. We’ll see what they’re really made of as they host the 4-0 Chiefs this week.

10) The Atlanta Falcons are not nearly as bad as a typical 1-3 team. Granted, they’ve dealt with several key injuries early, but so have other teams— like the Patriots, for instance, who just whooped them pretty handily in their own building last Sunday night. You wanted to be treated like one of the big boys, Atlanta? Welp, early season adversity, here ya go!

11) The Colts starting 3-1 was pretty impressive, especially considering they didn’t fall for THE ULTIMATE TRAP GAME last week.

12) The Steelers, Giants, Buccaneers and Jaguars are all horrible football teams (although the Bucs aren’t as bad as their record indicates, and the Giants can still win the NFC East— yep, the East is just that shitty). All four teams are winless and while Bill Simmons has gone to great lengths to describe just how terrible the Jags are, it’s become hilarious to watch Tom Coughlin and Mike Tomlin get increasingly more pissed off after each loss, while they desperately try to convince the media that they aren’t panicking.

Via Yahoo Sports:

“Keep trying. What do you mean where do we go from here?” Coughlin said in his press conference, which was streamed online by the team. “You go back look at the tape you look at the next opponent, we come together, we go back to work. What else is there for us to do?”

13) The Cleveland Browns (having already played and won their Week 5 game) are currently in sole possession of first place in the AFC North. What shouldn’t be lost in this fairly miraculous three-game winning streak is the play of left tackle Joe Thomas, who held Minnesota Vikings star defensive end Jared Allen to zero sacks and zero tackles two weeks ago; Joe Haden, who locked up Cincinnati Bengals star receiver A.J. Green to the tune of 7 catches for 51 yards and no touchdowns on 15 targets last week and Travis Benjamin, who broke the Browns single-game punt return yardage record this past Thursday night.

Even without Trent Richardson and their third-string starting quarterback (still weird to say that), the Browns have some talent on this roster.

14) The Seattle eahawks came back to defeat the Houston Texans in overtime in what was a preview of our preseason Super Bowl prediction. After Matt Schaub morphed into Jake Delhomme on a crucial 3rd down with just under three minutes left in the game, the entire city of Houston, and the national media, seems to have turned on him. Fans are now torching Schaub’s jersey in the streets and local eateries are offering the Schaub-inspired “Pick 6 Burger”.

Sidebar: This is not a joke.

As bad as that play was, it’s ridiculous to zero in on that one atrocious pass and neglect the three-plus quarters where the Texans dominated the would-be class of the NFC. Houston built a 17-point lead, nearly double up Seattle’s first down total, out-gained them by over 200 yards and won the time of possession battle by eight minutes. One bad decision and everybody is writing off the Texans.

HHSR is not. And what better way for Houston to get back on track than this Sunday night against the 49ers— the Seahawks evil twin?

15) The Denver Broncos are playing the best football of any team in the league and Peyton Maninning is the unquestioned MVP of the league through four weeks. It’s impossible to play quarterback better than he has during the first month of the season.

Buuuuutttt….everybody still needs to slow their roll on the Peyton & the Broncos. So far, they’ve defeated the Ravens, Giants, Raiders and Eagles, three of which were at home. Those four teams have a combined record of 3-6 in games against teams other than Denver. So this white hot start by Denver was about as easy to predict as Curren$y getting blunted and missing Wiz Khalifa’s wedding.

Nothing Peyton Manning does in the regular season will really impress me. He’s been great in September for nearly a decade and a half. We already knew he was capable of this. But do the records he’s setting in the summer mean anything? Or will they wind up as just more hollowed out Peyton Manning trivia come January? That remains to be seen.

Personally, I still find it hard to believe Manning can weather the elements of outdoor football in January in Denver, New England and ultimately, New Jersey.

16) Sanchez butt fumble > Geno butt fumble.

 

Pretty good.

Still the king.