VITO'S VIEWS

—Bryce Young became the first quarterback to be benched without an injury being involved as the Panthers are sitting him down for veteran Andy Dalton. But the benching probably says more about how dysfunctional the Panthers are than about his play. The problem starts at the top with owner David Tepper. Dalton probably won’t make much of a difference as long as Tepper is running the show.

–The Dolphins placed Tua Tagovailoa on the four week injured reserve list as part of the concussion protocol. He is eligible to return in Week 8 and it looks like will play if he is cleared by then because he has shown no interest in retiring. Skylar Thompson will start while Tua is sidelined.

–Justin Fields is keeping Rusell Wilson on the bench with a 2-0 start in Pittsburgh but the defense has had more of an impact than Fields so far.

–Malik Willis stepped in for injured Jordan Love as helped the Packers beat the Colts. It is uncertain how long Love will be sidelined.

–The three rookie starters, Caleb Williams. Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix, are 1-5 as starters with Daniels getting the only victory Sunday when the Commanders got seven field goals to beat the Giants.

–Patrick Mahomes, Fields, Justin Herbert, C.J, Stroud, Geno Smith, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen are all off to 2-0 starts. Darnold faces Stroud and Herbert, if he recovers from an ankle injury, will face Fields in the two possible matchups of quarterbacks off to a 2-0 start. The 0-2 quarterbacks are Lamar Jackson, Burrow, Nix, Williams, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson, Trevor Lawrence, Daniel Jones, Matthew Stafford, and Young. In the only battle of 0-2 quarterbacks, Williams faces Richardson.

The weekend started with the Jets easy 24-3 win Thursday night win over the Patriots, who were overmatched. Aaron Rodgers threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns to boost their record to 2-1. The game was so lopsided that the Pats gave rookie Drake May his first action late in the game as he completed 4 of 8 passes for 22 yards and was sacked twice. But coach Jerod Mayo said he is sticking with Jacoby Brissett as the starter for obvious reason. The Patriots offensive line can’t protect the quarterback and the Patriots don’t want Maye to take a beating.

There are three other prime time games this weekend. The Chiefs go to Atlanta Sunday night and the Jaguars are at the Bills and the Commanders at the Bengals in a Monday nightdoubleheader. The Chiefs, Bills and Bengals are lilkely to win. The Chiefs and Bills are aiming for 3-0 starts while the Bengals are going for their first win after starting off 0-2.

–CBS has the single game, three at 1 p.m. with the Chargers at the Steelers and the Texans at Minnesota getting the most coverage. Chicago at Indianapolis is the third early game. Miami at Seattle and Carolina at las Vegas are the two late CBS games. Skylar Thompson will start for the Dolphins while Andy Dalton starts for Carolina.

–Fox has four early games with the Eagles at the Saints, Giants at Cleveland, Green Bay at Tennessee and Denver at TampaBay. Fox also has three late games with Batltimore at Dallas getting the most exposure. The 49ers are at the Rams and the Lions are at Arizona in the other two late games.

–It is not surprising the Kansas City Chiefs are off to a 2-0 start as they begin their bid for a threepeat. What is surprising is the way they are doing it. Their first two victories came down to the last play. They beat the Ravens when a Raven touchdown was wiped out by a toe on the line and beat the Bengals with a field goal after a controversial pass interference penalty on 4th and 16 set it up. They are playing just good enough to win. But they face challenges as Hollywood Brown is out for regular season and their 

best running back Isiah Pacheco is out for six to eight weeks with a broken fibula.

Six AFC team AFC teams and  three NFC teams are off to a 2-0 start. Meanwhile, three NFC teams and six AFC teams are 0-2. But some of the 2-0 and 0-2 teams are surprising. For example the Bengals, Ravens  and Rams  are among the 0-2 teams while the Chargers with new coach Jim Harbuagh , Saints Steelers and Bucs among the 2-0 teams. It’s too early to figure out how things will shakeout but the Chiefs, Bills and Texans may fight it out in the AFC for a Super Bowl berth.  With the 49ersCowboys, Eagles and Lions at 1-1, the NFC is wide open.

–One team that is very predictable is the Panthers. They have a new coach but quarterback Bryce Young hasn’t appeared to improve and they are off to an 0-2 start after having the worst record last year at 2-15.The Panthers have decided to bench Young for veteran Andy Dalton.

The Packers lost Jordan Love for several weeks in the opener, but won their home opener as Malik Willis quarterbacked them to a victory over the Colts. The Packers have now won 12 home openers in a row. the longest current streak. They’ve also won 800 games in their history, the most in the league. And are the only team to three peat. They did it twice.

–The Steelers have given up just 16 points in two games, the fewest in two games since 2007. If they keep playing defense like that, it may not matter if Justin Fields keep the quarterback job.

—Jordan Love of Green Bay was the first quarterback to go down with a serious injury late in the loss to Philadelpha. He suffered an MCL injury and will likely to be sidelined several weeks. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson was sidelined with a calf injury and Justin Fields took over and led the Steelers to an upset win over the Falcons. Fields is likely to remain the starter until Wilson heals. Malik Willis will start for Love until he returns. 

–Patrick Mahomes got off to a good start towards a threepeat as the Chiefs edged the Ravens. The Ravens came within a toenail of going for a two point conversation and the win when Isaiah Likely barely touched the white line out of the end zone. Lamar Jackson is now 1-5 against Mahomes.

Three rookie quarterbacks – Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix – all  struggled in their debuts but Williams got the win over Tennessee with the help of a strong defense. Daniels lost to Tennessee and Nix to the Seahawks.

–Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield threw four touchdown passes to beat Washington and Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns and passes for two more to beat Arizona. This is the fourth time Allen has done that, tying Steve Young’s NFL record. 

–Dak Prescott had a great day signing a four year $240 million deal that makes him the highest paid quarterback at $60 million a year and led the Cowboys to an easy win over Cleveland and Deshaun Watson.

Jacoby Brissett, who is supposed to be keeping the seat warm for Drake Maye, led the Patriots to the upset of the day over the Bengals, a result that was costly to many survivor pool players. It also raised questions about whether Joe Burrow and the Bengals are real Super Bowl contenders.

Will Levis, Byrce Young, Kirk Cousins, Watson and Daniel Jones struggled and lost and they now have to try to bounce back and get on track. 

—Ten of the 14 teams that made the playoffs last year won their openers. The four teams that lost were beaten by playoff teams. Defending champion Kansas City, going for the first threepeat in the Super Bowl era and the third ever beat the Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC title game. The Lions beat the Rams, the team they beat in their first playoff game last year, in overtime. Will this be the year the Chiefs play the Lions in the Super Bowl? Stay tuned. 

–For the first time in 45 years, three teams trailed by at least 14 points and came back to win. Chicago was down by 17 and beat Tennessee. Buffalo came back from 14 to beat Arizona and Miami came back from 14 to beat Jacksonville.

–There was one kickoff return for a touchdown by Arizona running back Dee-Jay Dallas but the Cardinals lost. But majority of kickoffs were booted out of end zone for touchbacks so the new kickoff rule didn’t have much an impact.

–Miami wide receiver Tyreek Hill was stopped and handcuffed on the ground outside the stadium before the Miami-Jacksonville game. It didn’t seem to affect his game as he caught seven passes for 130 yards and an 80-yard touchdown. He then pretended to be handcuffed by a teammate in the end zone after the touchdown. What exactly happened is still under investigation. Hill now has 22 games with at least 125 receiving yards. That ties Calvin Johnson and Randy Moss for the third most games of 125 yards or more. Only Lance Alworth and Jerry Rice, who each did it 25 times, have more. 

–The Saints victory over Carolina was their sixth opening day win in a row, the longest active string in the NFL. Carolina is now 2-16 the past two years.

–Pittsburgh and Chicago both won without scoring an offensive touchdown as the Steelers beat Atlanta and the Bears beat Tennessee. This is the first time since 2011 that more than one team won without scoring an offensive touchdown.

How difficult is it to threepeat in the NFL?

Forget the fact the Kansas City Chiefs are trying to threepeat for the first time in the Super Bowl era.

It was also hard to threepeat before the Super Bowl era.

A total of 17 have repeated in the history of the NFL, but only two teams – the 1929-31 and 1965-67 Packers –managed to threepeat. Those Packer teams also won the first two Super Bowl teams.

Many factors have stopped teams from repeating including key injuries, retirements of key players and teams growing old. For example, the Steelers of the 70s were the last team to repeat twice. The first time they went for a threepeat in 1976 they probably had their best team but lost in the AFC title game to the Raiders when both Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier were injured and couldn’t play. The second time in 1980 age caught up with them.

Here is a list of the 15 teams that have repeated over the years but didn’t threepeat.

–The Canton Bulldogs: 1922-23, They failed to get a three peat because the Cleveland owner bought the team and moved it to Cleveland in 1924. The Bulldogs started up again for two more years in 1925 and their early success led to the Hall of Fame being placed in Canton.

–Chicago Bears: 1932-33. The Bears made the title game for the third year in a row in 1934 in the famous sneakers game when the Giants trainer went to Fordham to get sneakers at halftime so they could cope with the icy field. It also cost the Bears a perfect season because they were 13-0 in the regular season. 

–Chicago Bears: 1940-41. The Bears, who beat Washington 73-0 the 1940 title game, were denied a threepeat when they lost to Washington 14-6 in the 1942 title game. Again that loss cost the Bears a perfect season as they were 11-0 in the regular season.

–Philadelphia Eagles: 1948-49: The Eagles were denied a threepeat when the Cleveland Browns entered the league in 1950, swept the Eagles and won the title.

–Detroit Lions: 1952-53. The Lions lost a threepeat when the Lions met the Browns in the title game for the third year in a row and were routed by the Browns, 56-10.

–Cleveland Browns: 1954-55. The Browns were denied a threepeat when quarterback Otto Graham retired after taking the team to 10 title games in a row, including four in the AAFC, and winning seven.

–Baltimore Colts: 1958-59. The Colts were denied a threepeat when they lost their last four games in 1960. They weren’t the same team after Alan Ameche went down in December with an Achilles injury.

–Green Bay Packers 1961-62. The Packers failed to threepeat after Paul Hornung was suspended for the 1963 season for betting on games.

–Miami Dolphins: 1972-73. The Dolphins bid for a threepeat failed when the Dolphins lost the Sea of Hands playoff game in 1974 to the Raiders. But the Dolphins likely wouldn’t have threepeated even if they beat the Raiders because the Steelers added five Hall of Famers that year to increase their total to 10. They beat the Raiders in the AFC title game and won four of the next six Super Bowls.

–Pittsburgh Steelers: 1974-75. The Steelers lost a shot at a repeat when they lost the 1976 AFC title game to the Raiders when both Franco Harris and Rocky  Bleier were hurt and they started the game with one healthy running back. They had won 10 in a row going into that game. 

–Pittsburgh Steelers: 1978-79: The Steelers lost their threepeat bid when age caught up with them in 1980 and they missed the playoffs.

–San Francisco 49ers: 1988-89. They lost a bid for a threepeat in 1990 with a loss to the Giants in the NFC title game when Roger Craig fumbled when they had the lead late in fourth quarter and were running out the clock. The Giants recovered to set up a game winning field goal by Matt Bahr and went on to win the Super Bowl.

–Dallas 1991-1993. The Cowboys lost a threepeat bid when they lost to San Francisco in the 1994 NFC title game after Jimmy Johnson quit as head coach after the 1993 season when owner Jerry Jones suggested 500 coaches could win with the Cowboys.

–Denver Broncos 1987-88: The Broncos lost their shot at a threepeat when John Elway retired after the 1998 season. But they could have repeated if they hadn’t been upset by a Jacksonville, a second year expansion team, in their first playoff game in 1996.

–New England Patriots: 2003-2004: The Patriots lost their bid for a threepeat when they lost to the Broncos in the playoffs in 2005, Tom Brady wouldn’t repeat for the rest of his career and no other team would repeat until the Chiefs did it the last two years.

When Bill Belichick started his new gig as a commentator on “Inside the NFL” recently, he pointed out an interesting fact about his first game as an assistant coach with the Baltimore Colts in 1975.

It was a game against the Chicago Bears, and Walter Payton made his debut in the same game. So a Hall of Fame running back and a future Hall of Fame coach made their debuts in the same game. Payton struggled in the opener with no yards in eight carries and a one catch for a four yard loss.

It was an example that even the best of rookies sometimes don’t get off to a good start.

They also showed clips of Payton making some good runs in the College All-Star game against the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers a year before the game was discontinued. On one play, he was one-on-one with No. 58 of the Steelers, who overran him while Payton cut the other way for a nice gain. They didn’t identify No. 58, although Chad Johnson said he was the man with no teeth. Of course, No. 58 was Jack Lambert.

The Bears played Pittsburgh that year in the regular season and the coaches  held out Payton with a minor injury. The Bears knew they had no chance against the Steeler and didn’t want Payton to risk further injury. After the game, a writer told Payton that Jim Brown never missed a game. Payton never missed another start.

Here are some other tidbits about NFL openers:

–The Saints have won their last five openers.

–Of active coaches, Andy Reid has won the most openers with a 17-4 mark after Thursday’s 27-20 win over the Ravens.

–Jim Harbaugh returns to the NFL with a 4-0 mark in openers. Nick Sirianni is 3-0 in openers and Mike McDaniel is 33-0.

–O.J. Simpson owns the rushing record for openers with250 yards in 1973.

–Norm Van Brocklin owns the passing yardage record for openers with 554 yards in 1951.

–Three rookie quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix — will start their first games.

It has never been easier to play quarterback in the NFL.

The NFL has made numerous rule changes in recent years to protect the quarterbacks and enable the receivers to get open so it has become much more of a passing league.

Yet it is still not easy to find quarterbacks. Although the league has an influx of promising young quarterback, Patrick Mahomes is the only active quarterback to win more than one Super Bowl. He has three rings.  

Three  young quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow and Mark Purdy, made the Super Bowl once and lost.

Among the young quarterbacks who have yet to make a Super Bowl are Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert. Plus Love and C.J. Stroud, who had sensational rookie seasons. 

Three veteran quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson, have each won one ring.

Meanwhile teams keep looking for quarterbacks.

This year, eight teams have new quarterbacks and that doesn’t include Aaron Rodgers of the Jets and Anthony Richardson of the Colts, who were both injured much of last year. And Will Levis, who played about half the snaps last year in Tennessee, is now the full time starter. 

The newcomers include three rookies, Caleb Williams of the Bears, Jayden Daniels of the Commanders and Bo Nix of Denver.

The starting veterans who changed teams are Kirk Cousins of Atlanta, Russell Wilson of Pittsburgh, Sam Darnold of Minnesota, Jacoby Brissett of New England and Gardner Minshew of Las Vegas, 

The future of Cousins, Darnold and Brissett are up in the air because their teams drafted quarterbacks on the first round  — Michael Penix of Atlanta, J.J. McCarthy of Minnesota and Drake Maye of New England. But McCarthy is out for the year with a knee injury. And Minshew, who took Indianapolis to within a game of the playoffs last year after Richardson was hurt, has to prove he can be the long-term answer.

The rest of the quarterbacks returning were starters last season.

The list, of course, starts with Mahomes, who has played in four Super Bowls and won three and is trying to threepeat for the first time in the Super Bowl era..

He is followed by Burrow, Hurts and Purdy who are trying to return to the Super Bowl for the second time.

Then Allen, Tagovailoa, Lawrence and Herbert are young players all trying to get to the Super Bowl. Stroud and Love will try to guild on their rookie seasons. And Young hopes to  bounce back from a disappointing rookie season.

Jared Goff of the Lions, Dak Prescott of the Cowboys, Daniel Jones of the Giants, Deshaun Watson of the Browns, Baker Mayfield of the Bucs, Geno Smith of the Seahawks, Kyler Murray of the Cardinals and Derek Carr of the Saints are veteran starters who are returning. Goff, Mayfield and Carr seem set as long-term quarterbacks, but Prescott is in the last year of his contract and Jones need to prove he can be the Giants long-term answer. Watson is still trying to live up to his fully guaranteed contract.

Now we see which quarterbacks can avoid injuries and have standout seasons.

When Tom Moore was hired as the Steelers wide receiver coach in 1977, I was covering the team for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

My story line on his hiring was whether the college coach could make the transition to the NFL and be successful on that level.

He certainly proved he could. At age 85, he is in his 46^th 4^th season as an NFL assistant coach. He has been an offensive coordinator for 22 years and called plays for 23 years. He has coached 16 division winning teams and in 48 post season games and won four Super Bowl rings and has been honored at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is one of the best assistant coaches ever if not the best. He is in his sixth season as a senior offensive assistant with the Bucs.

He coached three Hall of Fame quarterbacks – Terry Bradshaw, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady — and numerous other Hall of Fame players.

He has chronicled his career in his book entitled “The Players’ Coach from Bradshaw to Manning, Brady and Beyond” with Rick Stroud.

He later commented to me about that first story so he hasn’t forgotten it. He told the story about it in his book and his version is that I said he was joining a team that had won two Super Bowls and I said, “What do you bring to the table?” I don’t remember asking it quite that way, but his answer was, “Hard Work.”

He certainly believes in hard work. He likes to get to work at 3:15 a.m. with plays sketched in pencil on a legal pad. Being old school, he isn’t into I pads and computers. He likes knowing if the power goes out he still has his playbook.

He has a page of diagrams of some famous Steeler plays including 60 Prevent Slot Hook and Go that they used twice in the fourth period of Super Bowl XIV against the Rams.  The first one went for a 73 yard third down touchdown pass from Bradshaw to John Stallworth that put the Steelers ahead to stay. Another one was 93 Tackle Trap that Franco Harris ran for a touchdown in Super Bowl XIII against the Cowboys.

The strange thing is that he never was offered a head coaching job in the NFL and got only two interviews. But he expresses no bitterness and admits he doesn’t have a lot of charisma.

His career has lasted so long that he coached Tony Dungy as a teen age quarterback at the University of Minnesota and then worked for him when Dungy was a head coach with the Colts. In between, he helped recruit him to sign with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent.

The Steelers told Moore he could go to a $5000 signing bonus but to start at $2000. Moore decided to offer him the $5000 and a three year contract at $15,000, $17,500 and $20,000. Dungy was making less money than some of the writers covering the team but salaries had yet to explode in those days. Dungy even worked in the offseason at a bank to complement his salary.  When Dungy decided to coach, Moore again recruited him to be a Steeler assistant before winding up working for Dungy in Indianapolis. Moore worked 13 years for both the Steelers and Colts.

 Moore provides a lot of insights in the book including a series of coaching points. For example, he says coaches have to guard against boredom. He said coaches are insecure and start thinking you need to add plays as the season goes along, which means you have to practice them and then you stop doing what worked in September. You never think of boredom becoming a problem.

He also adds a lot of interesting comments what he experienced in his career.

For example, when the Colts visited Tampa Bay in 2003 in Dungy’s first game there after being fired by the Bucs, the Colts fell behind 35-14. Dungy asked Moore if he thought they should pull Manning and Moore suggested they give Manning one more chance. Dungy did and the Colts rallied to win in overtime.  Moore said that win gave them a boost of confidence and helped them rally from a 21-3 deficit in 2006 AFC title game against the Patriots. They then beat the Bears to win the Super Bowl in the first Super Bowl featuring two black head coaches.

He also Barry Sanders often fell asleep in meetings and when Moore confronted him and said he needed to stay awake, Sanders said what he sees on film isn’t what he sees on the field. He explained the game starts fast, but when he carries the ball, the slower the game gets.

He also said one of that one of the reasons Brady had a frustrating last season with the Bucs is that Brady was dealing with his divorce. Moore said he lost 20 pounds and his face was drawn and he was surprised he didn’t get hurt because that can happen if you lose concentration.

“If it affects Tom, then it affects the guy next to him, and all of a sudden, it affects everyone,” Moore said.  The Bucs rallied to make the playoffs but were routed by Dallas.

It is insight that like that makes this a must read for NFL fans. The only question now is how long Moore will continue to coach. He doesn’t seem like the retiring type.  

–The 2024 season begins with two time defending champion Kansas City hosting the Thursday night opener for the second year in a row as they begin their quest for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era and only the third in NFL history. Last year, the Chiefs lost the Thursday night opener to Detroit and then won six in a row and went on to repeat. This year they play the Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC title game. It is a good quarterback matchup pitting Patrick Mahomes, who has three Super Bowl rings, vs. Lamar Jackson, who has won two regular season MVP titles but has yet to make the Super Bowl.

–The prime time games on Sunday and Monday nights feature the Rams at Detroit and the Jets at San Francisco. The Lions beat the Rams in a wild card game last January while the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs. The Jets are out to prove they will be a contender if Aaron Rodgers can stay healthy. The Packers and Philadelphia in Brazil on Friday night it will be only streamed on Peacock plus in Philadelphia and Green Bay. The NFL hops to get more viewers than it did last year on Peacock because many sports fans signed on to watch the Olympics this summer and many may not have cancelled their subscription. But it won’t get the ratings it would have gotten on a broadcast network. The NFL likes to pocket that streaming cash.

–The Sunday second game on Fox will feature Dallas at Cleveland with Tom Brady making his debut as a broadcaster. Brady supposedly won’t get the usual access the network broadcasters do because he has made a bid to buy a share in the Raiders. Whether that hinders his ability to give insights in the booth remains to be seen. The other Fox late Sunday game is Washington at Tampa Bay with rookie Jayden Daniels starting at quarterback vs. Baker Mayfield.

 –CBS has three early games with the Jacksonville at Miami game featuring two young .quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa, who got big contracts in the offseason even though Tua lost his last three starts last year and Lawrence lost his last five. Two other games will have good quarterback matchups. The Houston at Indianapolis matchup will pit C.J. Stroud against Antony Richardson and the Arizona-at Buffalo game matches Kyler Murray vs. Josh Allen. Cincinnati figures to beat New England in the other early CBSgame. The two 4 p.m. CBS games pit the Raiders at the Chargers and Denver at Seattle. Rookie Bo Nix starts for the Broncos.

–FOX also has four early games with the top draft pick, Caleb Williams, making his debut when Chicago hosts Tennessee and Will Levis. Pittsburgh goes to Atlanta with two veterans making their debuts with new teams as Russell Wilson goes against Kirk Cousins. In New York, the Giants and Daniel Jones host Minnesota and Sam Darnold, who got the start when rookie J.J. McCarthy was lost for the season after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus. In the fourth early FOX game, the Saints figure to beat the Panthers.