Recapping a wild NFL week one
This weekend officially kicked off the NFL season, and things didn’t go as expected. From the top receivers busting, and multiple upsets, let’s recap a wild week one.
Thursday Night Football: Eagles sneak out a win over the Cowboys.
To start the season, defending Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles matched up against division rival Dallas Cowboys, who recently traded away star pass-rusher Micah Parsons. However, Dallas got even with the Eagles when Jalen Carter, their star defender, spat on the Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott before an offensive snap was even played, ejecting him from the game. Cowboy’s star WR Ceedee Lamb struggled with four dropped passes, despite putting up 110 receiving yards and seven catches. To make things ever weirder, neither of the Eagles’ elite receiving duo, A.J. Brown or Devonta Smith, stuffed the stat sheet. Brown recorded just one catch on a single target that came in garbage time, while Smith put up just three catches. Those receiving games would soon pave the way for more star receivers dropping duds. Despite the lack of production, the Eagles won 24-20.
Chargers vs Chiefs in Mexico
On Friday night, the Los Angeles Chargers faced Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, entering the game as heavy favorites, had high expectations. The Chargers decided to take this personally, though, dominating the Chiefs all through the first half, creating key defensive stops and a humming offense. Unfortunately, Chief’s speedy WR Xavier Worthy exited the game early after a hard collision with TE Travis Kelce. Justin Herbert, the Chargers QB, played an exceptional game, putting up 350 total yards with three touchdowns to go along with it. With Herbert leading the way, the Chargers took control. They beat the juggernaut Chiefs 27-21, after a failed comeback attempt by Patrick Mahomes.
A chaotic early slate of games was nothing short of entertaining.
- Commanders beat Giants 21-6 – Key Stories: Jayden Daniels, after an outstanding rookie campaign, picked up where he left off with 301 total yards and a TD. Recently paid WR Terry McLaurin recorded a measly two catches for twenty-seven yards. Russell Wilson put up 168 passing yards in his Giants debut with a potential benching in the coming weeks. Third overall pick Abdul Carter recorded just one tackle, but assisted on a sack.
- Steelers squeak past Jets 34-32 – Key Stories: Aaron Rodgers lights it up against former team with FOUR passing TDs and 244 yards, Jets’ new QB Justin Fields shone in debut despite the loss, featuring 266 total yards and three total touchdowns (two rushing, one passing). Skill players Garrett Wilson (seven catches/Ninety-Five yards/TD) and Breece Hall (107 rushing yards, thirty-eight receiving yards) stood out.
- Cardinals beat Saints 20-13 – Key Stories: Sophomore WR Marvin Harrison Jr appears to have leaped, with five catches for seventy-one yards and a score. Spencer Rattler has yet to get a win as the starter despite decent performance, now 0-8 for his career.
- Raiders beat Patriots 20-13 – Key Stories: Rookie RBs made their debuts today, Ashton Jeanty for the Raiders with forty yards and a touchdown, TreyVon Henderson with just five carries and twenty-seven rushing yards, but had six catches with twenty-four receiving yards for the Patriots. Geno Smith dropped 362 passing yards in his Raiders debut, despite losing. Drake Maye had nothing to panic about, throwing for 287 passing yards and a touchdown, but also having an interception to go along with it.
- Jaguars beat Panthers 26-10 – Key Stories: Jaguars RB Travis Etienne bounced back after an abysmal 2024 campaign, putting up a whopping 156 total yards (143 rushing). Eighth overall pick Tetairoa McMillan recorded sixty-eight yards and five catches for the Panthers. In comparison, second overall pick Travis Hunter posted six catches himself for thirty-three yards.
- Colts dominate Dolphins 33-8 – Key Stories: Daniel ‘Indiana’ Jones shocks the world with one of the best QB performances of the week- 272 passing yards, twenty-six rushing yards, two rushing TDs, and another passing touchdown while going 22/29, running away with the starting QB job over former first-rounder Anthony Richardson. Rookie TE Tyler Warren looks like the next Brock Bowers, with seven catches for seventy-six yards. The entire Dolphins team looks awful, especially QB Tua Tagovailoa, who threw two interceptions.
- Bengals barely beat Browns 17-16 – Key Stories: Bengals offense struggles as defending triple-crown winner Ja’marr Chase manages just two catches, Joe Burrow only throws for 113 yards. Joe Flacco is quickly fading, throwing two interceptions and one touchdown. Dillion Gabriel or Sheduer Sanders may take over the starting job sooner rather than later. However, Browns’ rookie skill players, TE Harold Fannin Jr, and RB Dylan Sampson were bright spots.
- Buccaneers’ late 4th quarter surge beats Falcons 23-20 – Key Stories: Despite the loss, Michael Penix Jr looks very good, with nearly 300 passing yards and two total touchdowns. Highly-praised rookie WR Emeka Egbuka shines in debut, with four catches & seventy-six total yards with two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Falcons’ skill players Bijan Robinson (124 total yards & a TD), Drake London (eight catches for fifty-five yards), and Kyle Pitts (seven catches for fifty-nine yards) all lit up the stat sheet.
However, the late slate was a little more boring.
- 49ers scrape out a win vs Seahawks 17-13 – Key Stories: Superstar TE George Kittle gets injured early in the first half and is projected to miss three to five weeks with a hamstring injury. Sam Darnold threw for 150 yards in his Seahawks debut, with Jaxon Smith-Njigba contributing 124 of them.
- Broncos beat Titans 20-12 – Key Stories: First-overall pick Cam Ward plays a fine game- but without much help from his team. His offensive line allows six sacks. Exciting rookie RB R.J. Harvey puts up seventy rushing yards on just six carries, being held back by veteran J.K. Dobbins. Bo Nix struggles after a pretty good rookie year, throwing two interceptions despite the win.
- The Packers dominate the Lions 27-13 – Key Stories: Jordan Love plays a phenomenal game against their division rival, putting up two passing TDs. Star Edge-Rusher Micah Parsons gets his first sack as a Packer and leads the Packers defense to force the Lions’ powerhouse offense to just six non-garbage time points. Sam LaPorta was the most prominent bright spot for the Lions, recording six catches for seventy-nine yards.
- Rams narrowly beat Texans 14-9 – Key Stories: Puka Nacua dominates, putting up ten catches and a whopping 130 receiving yards. The Texans’ offense struggles badly, not doing young QB C.J. any favors. The offensive line allowed pressure on seemingly every down. Nico Collins is added to the list of struggling WR1s, with just three catches and twenty-five yards.
The day of football wrapped up Bills-Ravens on Sunday Night Football, and it’s not an overreaction to say that this was one of the best games we’ve seen in recent memory. There was no shortage of intriguing storylines in this game- The MVP Josh Allen vs the runner-up Lamar Jackson, two of the best teams in the AFC, and both teams that haven’t been able to go all the way yet, having the talent to do so. The NFL wasn’t messing around scheduling these two for SNF week one.
For the first three & a half quarters, it seemed like the Ravens were going to run away with the win, scoring on nearly every drive. With 11:42 left in the game, Derrick Henry bullied his way into the endzone for the second time, pushing the Ravens’ lead up to 40-25. Everyone thought it was over, except for Josh Allen. The rest of the way, the Bills took over & Allen put on his MVP crown. He threw for a late touchdown, ran for another, and set up a game-winning field goal drive to complete a historic comeback 41-40.
Both offenses stuffed up crazy numbers. Looking at the box score, it was a classic game of Madden. Josh Allen went 33/46 passing for 394 yards, thirty rushing yards, two passing TDs, and two more rushing TDs. Lamar Jackson, despite only having 209 passing yards, also had seventy more on the ground. Derrick Henry was the center of the Ravens’ offense. The thirty-one-year-old rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns, although he also had a late fumble, ultimately leading to the Bills’ win.
Monday Night Football wrapped up week one with the Minnesota Vikings & Chicago Bears. It was a critical game for both sides, because both teams had important new faces. For the Bears, their new offensive-minded head coach, Ben Johnson, made his debut after being the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Of course, for the Vikings, they were debuting their shiny new sophomore QB, who was injured all of last season, J.J. McCarthy.
Caleb Williams and the Bears got off to a 17-6 lead after three quarters, with J.J. McCarthy not looking good. He threw a pick-six and was unable to find a rhythm with his offense. Much like Bills-Ravens, the fourth quarter is when he stepped up his game significantly.
Before the Bears knew what was happening, suddenly J.J. McCarthy fired up a comeback: throwing to Justin Jefferson for a TD, finding Aaron Jones on the sideline for a deep TD, and taking it in himself for another. Three straight scores got Minnesota a ten-point lead, 27-17. Caleb Williams did score again, but after failing on the onside kick, it didn’t matter. J.J. McCarthy found a groove and proved to the fans that his upside is more than enough to lead the Vikings.
