AFC North & NFC West QBs Wrap up Kickoff Weekend on Monday Night Football
September 10, 2007 by David Kindervater
Filed under Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals
Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
Kickoff Weekend 2007 will conclude in doubleheader fashion tonight as two All-Pro, veteran AFC North quarterbacks and two promising NFC West quarterbacks square off. I’m loving the two-game thing on MNF, but who can stay up until 1:15 on the east coast? Anyway, in the first game, Steve McNair and his Baltimore Ravens will swoop into town to face the explosive air attack of Carson Palmer and his Cincinnati Bengals (ESPN, 7:00 ET). Steve, a 13-year veteran, has thrown 21 touchdowns against the Bengals in his career. Carson looks to improve upon a Bengals record 4,035 passing yards last season while utilizing receivers Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh.
The second game consists of Arizona’s second-year QB Matt Leinart returning to his home state of California to meet the San Francisco 49ers as fellow quarterback — and the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 — Alex Smith takes the field for his third NFL season (ESPN, 10:15 ET). Fresh off an impressive rookie campaign when he took over as the starting quarterback in Week 5, Matt will start his first game on Kickoff Weekend. Alex, a former first-round pick in ’05, is determined to continue his development after setting career-highs in every passing category in 2006.
It should be a great night of football if I can stay up to watch it all.
