The first day of the George Zimmerman trial for the defense was dominated by a failed knock-knock joke and an opening statement full of names and props that last more than two hours.

Our legal analyst Mark NeJame says the state seems to have made a better first impression on the jury than the defense.

But NeJame also says the defense has time to make up for lost ground.

"The defense definitely has ground they have to make up, but remember this is going to be a long trial, probably at least two weeks long, and trials are never a linear process," NeJame said. "Although we're holding on to every word, and we're all talking about knock-knock jokes and everyone's talking about the first range of witnesses and how effective the defense or the prosecution was, rare is it that any case is linear, in that it only goes up or down. There will be good days for the state and good days for the defense."

NeJame also says the defense missed an opportunity to probe deeper into Trayvon Martin's character while cross-examining a witness, the teenage son of Tracy Martin's girlfriend.

NeJame believes the defense should have taken advantage of the way Chad Joseph seemed unconcerned that Trayvon didn't return home the night of Feb. 26, 2012.

"This young man who was Trayvon's father's girlfriend's son was unconcerned when Trayvon never came back," NeJame said. "He was supposed to be out for a few minutes getting some Skittles and then he never came home! That's a big deal in most households, but yet he seemed to be unflustered and it seemed to be no big deal."

Joseph was on the stand for less than 15 minutes.

Nejame, a senior partner at Nejame Law in Orlando, is providing daily legal analysis for us during the Zimmerman trial.