The NFL couldn't have planned a better opening week. Everything clicked. Scoring was high -- 49.25 points per game and 5.56 touchdowns per game, topping the 1999 season-opening week by six touchdowns. There were three overtimes, 11 games decided by a touchdown, six games decided in the final minute and five double-digit comebacks.

Nothing can take away from the excitement of Week 1, but the games didn't look as good in the coaches' tapes. There, coaches saw the missed tackles. They reviewed the mental mistakes. What's exciting to the fan was a horror film to the coaches.

Everyone is looking for trends, so it's important to understand what happened in Week 1. Weird as it may sound, the great games were a byproduct of the training camp. Coaches and players spent their entire offseason preparing for this one game, but so much of the results were by accident.

	Chad Morton returned two kickoffs for touchdowns for the Jets on Sunday.

You see tackling was horrible, absolutely horrible. That's the trend. Coaches are so fearful of getting their players hurt in the preseason that they don't spend a lot of practice time working on tackling. Plus, most defensive starters weren't on the field during exhibition games more than the equivalent of one game. The normal preseason pattern is to use starters 15 plays in the opener, a quarter in the second game, a half in the third game and barely at all in the final game.

"That's the trend in the NFL; nobody wants to get anybody hurt during the preseason," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "With the salary cap, you can't afford to get anybody hurt because it's hard to replace guys who are hurt."

Many of big plays were simply missed tackle. The Bills, for example, let Jets kick returner Chad Morton run back two kickoffs for touchdowns. There were a total of five missed tackles on those two returns. Some late roster shuffling left the Bills vulnerable. They released one of their best special teams players, linebacker Fred Jones, to take chances on a couple linebackers put on the street in the final cutdown. Another good-tackling special teamer, receiver André Rone, didn't make the 45-man active roster.

Bucs defenders were greeted with the disturbing news that that there were 20 missed tackles in their 26-20 loss to the Saints. Even though the Panthers beat the Ravens 10-7 in a low-scoring affair, tackling wasn't good.

"That was the worst tackling game we've had in a while," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "Guys weren't on the field during the preseason to gauge the speed of the game, and judging that speed is vital in making tackles. You have a lot of new guys getting together on defense and that takes time. By Week 3, that all cleans up."

Football is unlike baseball coming out of an exhibition season. Pitchers may be ahead of hitters in April because hitters are still adjusting to speed of the ball, but defenders have the toughest task. After all, they are asked to be on the field 60 to 70 plays and be crisp. Their bodies, however, haven't had such a challenge since the end of last season.

Pity the poor defensive linemen of the Falcons. Switching to a 3-4 scheme, the Falcons kept 10 linebackers on their 53-man roster, gambling that they could get by with only six options on the defensive line. Travis Hall, perhaps their best lineman, was out with a groin injury that has nagged him for a month. Ellis Johnson had just been signed from the Colts and played in less than 30 snaps. That left four other linemen to handle what turned out to be 76 plays. They were gasping. No wonder the Packers scored 37.

Fans make a lot out of the bad starts of the Steelers under Bill Cowher. Like most 3-4 defenses, the Steelers start veterans, which is smart because the scheme is filled with adjustments and blitzes. Cowher doesn't beat up his defenders during the exhibition season. Playing 67 snaps against the Patriots was something that Steelers defenders weren't primed to accomplish.

Traditionally, the Steelers rebound by Week 2.

Of course, what is a coach to do? If he keeps his starters on the field longer in exhibition games, Cowher might have lost a starter or two because of injuries. Maybe a scrimmage would help, but that doesn't equate to a 67-snap game.

	“	That was the worst tackling game we've had in a while. Guys weren't on the field during the preseason to gauge the speed of the game, and judging that speed is vital in making tackles. You have a lot of new guys getting together on defense and that takes time. By Week 3, that all cleans up. ”
		— Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, on his team's sloppy performance in Week 1

Seeing what happened on opening week raises the thoughts that maybe the NFL could get by with two exhibition games instead of four. Realizing that won't happen because owners package the home exhibition games to sell 10-game season-ticket packages, still I believe more and more that two games is enough in the salary-cap era.

After all, the starters are really only playing the equivalent of one exhibition game, so there isn't much of a difference if you shrink the preseason from four games to two. As for talent evaluation, sure it's nice to have four games of tape to study the undrafted rookies and street free agents coming back from NFL Europe, but more than a handful of teams didn't have an undrafted rookie make the final roster.

It's not fun to be a head coach in the summer. The salary cap plants fear in coaches. With talent spread over 32 teams now the dropoff from starter to backup is dramatic. The replacement pool is thin. The Ravens, for example, started the season with 19 rookies, 10 undrafted. They can't risk losing a Ray Lewis or a Peter Boulware in a game that doesn't count.

Training camps are more of a game of survival. Each year, commissioner Paul Tagliabue sends out memos to teams imploring them to use starters. If they complied fully, it would be suicide to their season. Look at the Dolphins. They had to play four exhibition games in 17 days. Use their starters more than normal could have meant losing their starters.

It's up to the coaches to make the best of the situation. And, no, there won't be a push to shorten the exhibition schedule. The collective bargaining agreement is set through 2007 and the networks right now don't want to add two weeks of game that would push the season to start before Labor Day and end in January.

It's funny isn't it. Some of the best football wasn't meant to be. I can't remember a better start to a season. Sunday afternoon was magical. Each game featured great theater. Tackling will improve Sunday. Scoring will come down a little, and by Week 3, teams will start settling into normal patterns.

Always expect the whacky and unpredictable in the first two weeks. To their credit, coaches managed to get reasonably healthy teams to the opening week. The injury reports on most teams were relatively clean. Now, the attrition begins.

The quality of play will get better each week. What will be nice if the excitement level of the first week will carryover, and it should. Understand that missed tackles were one of the reasons for the excitement. Defenses will start firming up Sunday. Game tapes won't make coaches cringe as much as last week's, but it sure was fun.

Just understand why it happened.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.