Game Balls and Penalty Flags- Week 1

Game balls and penalty flags is back for season three. Each Monday of the NFL season, we will honor those who performed well and will call out those that flopped each week.

Game Balls

- Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo: Raise your hand if you saw this lopsided win by the Bills. OK, liars, put your hands down. Not even the most optimistic Bills fan could have imagined how well the Bills played and Fitz set the tone early and finished with four touchdown passes.

- Randall Cobb, Green Bay: Best non-Newton rookie performance. Cobb debuted with a touchdown catch and also ran a kickoff back 108 yards for another score, tying an NFL record for the longest kickoff return in history.

- Cam Newton, Carolina: I guess Newton made a smooth transition to NFL starter. Playing on the same field where he led Auburn to the BCS championship in January, Newton went 24 of 37 passes for 422 yards and two touchdowns, the first rookie to throw for more than 400 yards in his NFL opener. He also ran for another score and had an impressive Pete Townsend-esque touchdown dance.

- Ted Ginn, Jr., San Francisco: Ginn returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in a minute's span late in the fourth quarter. Ginn ran a kickoff back 102 yards moments after Seattle had closed the gap to 19-17. The last player to have a kickoff- and punt-return touchdown in the same game was Eddie Royal of the Denver Broncos on Oct. 19, 2009, against the San Diego Chargers.

- Ravens Defense: I was trying to pick one, but why not all of them. The Ravens forced seven turnovers by the normally disciplined Steelers. Ed Reed had two interceptions, Ray Lewis had a pick and a forced fumble, Terrell Suggs had two forced fumbles and Haloti Ngata had a forced fumble and a tipped pass which was intercepted.

Penalty Flags

- Indianapolis Colts: Apparently, Peyton Manning means more to this team than we thought. Indy looked awful on both sides of the ball and Kerry Collins looked like he was ready for a vacation.

- Tony Romo, Dallas: Romo did his best Brett Favre impersonation on the final drive trying to lead the 'boys to a win tossing a perfect spiral to the Jets Darrelle Revis snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

- Giants offensive line: The O-line gave up four sacks to a Redskins defense that ranked 31st in the league last year. Eli Manning was running for his life all day.

- Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons were a trendy Super Bowl pick in the preseason, but they played like they taking a trip to the outhouse. They made a old and slow Bears defense look elite and the Falcons defense was erratic against a normally shaky Jay Cutler.