Early NFL Week 1 review
Rams play Gurley, plus who impressed, didn’t
The 32 things we learned so far from Week 1 of the NFL season:
1. The Packers and Bears resumed the league’s longest rivalry to kick off Week 1 and the NFL’s 100th season ... and set offensive football back 100 years. Who knew the game would resemble the clubs’ first meeting in 1921, when the Chicago Staleys beat the Pack 20-0 in a game that featured more points than Green Bay’s 10-3 win? Thanks for the throwback treatment, fellas – Halas and Lambeau loved it.
2. If you thought Nate Davis was inactive, think again – he’s juggling NFL coverage with coverage of a 6-weekold. Oh, the rookie lineman for the Titans didn’t play, but expecting big things from him eventually, too.
3. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (17for-20, 324 yards, 5 TDs, perfect 158.3 passer rating) emerged as the MVP front-runner after Week 1.
4. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has paid quite a few guys in recent months. He might rue not prioritizing QB Dak Prescott, who posted the first perfect passer rating (158.3) of his career.
5. Bolts > Colts.
6. Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins showed why he can be a game-breaker by establishing career bests with 198 receiving yards and three TDs.
7. Chiefs DE Frank Clark picked off a pass. He made sure Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey, who didn’t, knew about it.
8. Marquise Brown > Antonio Brown ... knock on wood if you’re with me.
9. The Ravens’ 59 points in their win over Miami were a team record.
10. The Dolphins, who scored 10 points and have been consistently ranked last in USA TODAY Sports’ power rankings since the end of the 2018 season, appear like a team determined to be ranked 33rd.
11. The Bengals had every excuse to look as bad as Miami. But Cincinnati looked quite capable in coach Zac Taylor’s debut in a one-point loss.
12. Widely panned Giants firstround QB Daniel Jones debuted in a mop-up role and fumbled.
13. Rams DT Aaron Donald is off to another slow start – shut out Sunday. He has 71⁄2 sacks in 16 September games but averages .83 sacks per game for the balance of his career.
14. If Todd Gurley is healthy and isn’t operating on a pitch count, why did the Rams’ star only get 15 touches?
15. After outdueling Cam Newton, Rams QB Jared Goff is 5-1 against fellow passers drafted No. 1 overall.
16. Johnny Hekker suffered his first blocked kick as an L.A. Ram. He had two punts snuffed in his previous life as a St. Louis Ram.
17. Hate it for Nick Foles (broken collarbone), who was making just the fourth Week 1 start of his career and first as the new leader of the Jags.
18. Browns QB Baker Mayfield tied his career high with three INTs in the 43-13 loss to Tennessee.
19. Congrats to 35-year-old Titans TE Delanie Walker, who missed most of last season with a gruesome ankle injury but returned to catch two TDs.
20. New Bucs coach (Bruce Arians), same old Jameis Winston (3 INTs).
21. In his first NFL action in more than 600 days, Jets RB Le’Veon Bell became the first NFL player to exceed 8,000 career yards from scrimmage in just 63 games with 92 total yards.
22. The Jets seemed to fall apart after new ILB C.J. Mosley left the game with a groin injury.
23. Maybe the Bills should get rookie RB Devin Singletary more involved. He rushed for 70 yards on just four carries while the rest of the team managed 58 yards on 21 attempts.
24. Before recovering a fumble on the Jets’ final desperation play, Buffalo had a -4 turnover margin but still won.
25. It took 2019 No. 1 draft pick Kyler Murray a good three quarters to find his footing on an NFL field ... but once he did – while salvaging a tie with Detroit – we got a glimpse of why Murray could be so special.
26. The Lions’ T.J. Hockenson caught six balls for 131 yards and a TD. No tight end has racked up as many receiving yards in his first NFL game. His calling card is as a blocker BTW.
27. Washington RB Adrian Peterson was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. The Redskins rushed for 28 yards without him in a five-point defeat to Philly. Welp.
28. WR DeSean Jackson had an eventful return to Philadelphia, scoring two TDs covering 50-plus yards.
29. Vikings QB Kirk Cousins set career lows for pass attempts (10), completions (8) and yards (98) as a starter, but his team rolled over Atlanta 28-12 behind RB Dalvin Cook (111 rushing yards, 2 TDs).
30. So preseason doesn’t matter, right? You wonder if the Bears, Packers, Browns, Eagles (what a horrid first half they had) and Cardinals (what a horrid three quarters they had) would do things differently given how they struggled.
31. So if the Patriots are 30 points better than Pittsburgh on opening night, what will they be once Antonio Brown joins the lineup?
32. Dearest mother — I write to you from the veranda in a state of melancholy, listening to the echo of cannon fire as it rolls over the mount. @Capt AndrewLuck’s leg was saved by leaving the ranks, but he surely frets over the fate of the men and Major Brissett, despite his deserved battlefield commission, while awaiting word but fearing they were ambushed at Bolt Rivers. Did Andrew remove his epaulets too soon, Mother?