It's now officially been confirmed. Tom Brady is out for the season with a torn ACL, as if you couldn't tell from the picture to your right.

Naturally, Bill Belichick wouldn't say anything in the postgame interview, but according to two sources, Brady has serious damage to his knee.

Also, the NFL has already come out and said that Bernard Pollard's hit on Brady was not dirty. Considering that Pollard was pushed in the back by New England running back Sammy Morris, I'm not sure the NFL could have done anything anyway.

Obviously, you never like to see a guy go down with an injury, but for some Patriots haters - and Lord knows there are a lot of them - this is karmic payback for all the dirty moves Belichick and crew have pulled over the years (and the injury coming off of that crushing Super Bowl loss only makes it all the more devastating).

Frankly, I think the NFL needs the Patriots and Brady, because rooting against a common villain is always fun. Plus it creates great ratings. 

The question now is what happens to the Patriots? Well, they beat the Chiefs, which means they're at least better than probably the bottom doormats in the league, but you can forget about a Super Bowl and probably even a playoff appearance. But at least Brady being on the Patriots' weekly injury report is actually true now.

There are also questions as to whether the Patriots, who have a rather old team, will even be able to be the force they once were next year should Brady come back totally healthy. This team's window - which has been open for a long time - may have just been slammed shut.

But the bottom line is this. The road to the Super Bowl for a number of teams just got a lot easier.

Sources: Brady out with ACL tear [Yahoo! Sports]

I'm not exactly sure why NBC chose to feature the Chicago Bears on their very first broadcast of the season, but I suppose the idea was to give the Indianapolis Colts new home, Lucas Oil Stadium, an appropriate first game.

Despite this terrible view, the new Colts Stadium appears to be a modern marvel with a state of the art roof which should be open tonight.

While the new field will get plenty of attention, most of the focus will be on Peyton Manning's health. Let's hope those questions aren't answered the way Tom Brady's were earlier today. I assume he'll be a little off with some timing routes, but the Colts will run the ball as much as possible and attempt to knock the Bears defense off it's feet.

Speaking of the Bears defense, there's plenty of questions surround that group. Two years ago, they were one of the best in the NFL. Last year they fell into the bottom 10, getting abused by both the run and pass. Injuries played a role, but now that most of the starting lineup is healthy they shouldn't have a single excuse. Preseason didn't go so well, but I will remain hopeful that the switch will be turned on this evening.

And I can't introduce the game without mention of Neckbeard, Bears starting quarterback Kyle Orton. However will he perform tonight with an offensive line that gets confused with the stadium turnstile. My prediction is very poorly. Go figure.

97% are picking the Colts.

It's Football Night In America, so says NBC. Enjoy!

Here is your recap for this afternoon's games:

Panthers shock Chargers 26-24 on last play TD: With two seconds left, 14 yards away, the Panthers had a shot, and they took it.  Jake Delhomme made a great pump fake, and then found his tight end Dante Rosario in the end zone to win the game with time expired.  The Panthers ran the ball well in the game, as the combo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart had 142 yards.  Rosario had 7 catches for 96 yards.  Phillip Rivers threw 3 touchdowns, but it wasn't enough for the Chargers, a tough loss at home for them.

Cowboys limit Browns offense in 28-10 win:  The high powered Browns offense really did nothing in this one.  Derek Anderson completed less than half of his passes, and they averaged under 5 a pass.  Jamal Lewis only ran for 62 yards.  The Browns D as expected was bad against the Cowboy offense.  They ran for 167 yards between Marion Barber and rookies Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.  Tony Romo threw for 320 yards, and Terrell Owens caught his 130th career TD pass, tying him for 2nd all time with Cris Carter.  (Some Rice guy is 1st with 197 touchdowns)

Cardinals top 49ers 23-13:  Amazingly, the Martz run 49ers offense had 20 runs to 20 passes.  From a yardage standpoint, the 49ers were just as good, but they had issues scoring.  J.T. O'Sullivan was 14-20 with an INT in his debut, while Frank Gore ran for 96 on 14 carries and a TD.  The Cardinals stuck to the running game, as Edgerrin James had 100 on 26 carries.  Anquan Boldin, despite trade demands, had 8 catches for 82 yards.

Colts vs Bears later tonight.  Isn't it great to have football back?

Haven't had enough racing yet?  The Sprint Cup boys are done, the IRL finale is underway, and if that's not enough, cap off your night with a triple dose of Vitamin R and watch the Nationwide Series at 7:00 ET. 

Nine drivers will be doing double duty, and this time they're racing 650 laps in 1 day. 

Will any of the "Buschwhackers" be able to pull off a victory?  Will doing both races tire them out, allowing the other Nationwide drivers to shine under the lights?  Will Bowyer and Edwards falter from plain old exhaustion in the heat of the day?  We'll find out the answers to all those questions and more tonight. 

This is your official open race thread to discuss the happenings before, during, and after the race.

I'm not a medical expert by any means, but by initial suspicion when seeing the type of hit Tom Brady took combined with his ability to move his leg yet feel a great amount of instability, leads me to believe he's suffered an ACL tear. According to Pro Football Talk, the New York Jets have been told that Brady did indeed injure his ACL.

It's unlikely we find out what type of injury Brady's left knee suffered, seeing as how Bill Belichick likely won't release any information until he's forced to by the NFL injury policy.

What does this mean for the Patriots? Well for starters it means that Brady would be done for the season and that Matt Cassel takes over the offense.

It was just the Kansas City Chiefs who don't exactly have the league's best defense, but Cassel was efficient this afternoon, completing 13 of 18 passes for 152 yards. Cassel is smart enough to know how to run the offense, throwing a 51-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss for the Patriots first score of the season and giving New England some confidence after having lost their All-Pro QB.



We'll continue to update you on the status of Tom Brady's injury, but going with the assumption he has a torn ACL, what do you expect of New England this season?