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Road teams have a ball in NFL’s Week 1

Winning on the road is supposed to be difficult in the NFL, particularly early and late in the schedule, when weather can be a factor.

Last season, hosts went 147-107-2, a .578 winning percentage. That actually was the second-lowest success rate at home since 2006.

On this opening weekend, though, it pretty much paid to be the travellers.

Heading into Monday night, eight visiting teams are 1-0, including some major surprises. Kansas City won at New England, where hardly anybody prospers.

Philadelphia took Washington, which had won four of its last five home meetings with the Eagles. Baltimore blanked Cincinnati, which had won five in a row when hosting the Ravens. And while defending NFC champion Atlanta should have gone into Soldier Field and marched out with a victory, the Falcons had lost six straight there, the last win coming in 1983.

The Jaguars, with their thoughts on their Jacksonville home and the potential damage from Hurricane Irma, romped in Houston, where they had fallen six of the last seven trips.

“Yes, I was thinking to myself before the game that a lot of them are probably going to lose power right after the game is over,” said newcomer Calais Campbell, who had four sacks in an overpowering defensive performance.

“So I wanted to try as a unit to try to motivate some guys so that they can have something to be proud of while they’re going through whatever we’re going through. I don’t know how hard it’s going to hit or where it’s going to hit as far as the hurricane goes, but I know that it’s going to hit all of Florida, and it feels good to be able to show Duval (County) that they got something to be proud of this year.”

So why did a majority of road trips pay off Week 1 as the Saints head to Minnesota and the Chargers to Denver on Monday night?