Sunday’s NFL Week 1 action brought us a ton of good and some really bad. Former NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes dominated in every possible way as his Kansas City Chiefs blew out the Arizona Cardinals. Kevin O’Connell’s Minnesota Vikings also made a major statement in his debut as a head coach.
On the other hand, some big-name quarterbacks put up disastrous season-opening performances while another found himself injured late in a blowout loss on national television. These are among the top-10 takeaways from Sunday’s NFL Week 1 action.
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Same old Carolina Panthers with Baker Mayfield leading the charge
Baker Mayfield isn’t saving Matt Rhule and the Carolina Panthers. That’s among the biggest takeaways from NFL Week 1 action. Taking on his former Cleveland Browns team with Jacoby Brissett under center, Mayfield saw his Panthers fall down 20-7 after three quarters. While Mayfield did lead a tremendous comeback with 17 points on three consecutive fourth-quarter drives, it simply was not enough for Carolina to come out on top.
The primary issue here was run defense and the inability to get Christian McCaffrey involved. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt combined for 187 yards on 33 attempts for Cleveland. Meanwhile, McCaffrey went for a mere 33 yards on 10 attempts. As for Mayfield, he took responsibility for the ugly loss.
“Ton of mistakes, self-inflicted mistakes in the first half. Our offense, we’ll take the blame on that for sure. The ball was on the ground too many times. Just miscommunication, things that we can get fixed.”
Baker Mayfield after NFL Week 1 loss, via Panthers.com
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Patrick Mahomes does not miss Tyreek Hill
The shocking off-season trade of Tyreek Hill to the conference-rival Miami Dolphins seemingly left Mahomes without a ton of weapons to work with moving forward. Heck, Kansas City added Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster as lesser options in free agency. If what we saw from Mahomes in a blowout 44-21 road win over the Arizona Cardinals is any indication, he’ll be just fine.
- Patrick Mahomes stats (Week 1): 30-of-39 passing, 360 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT
Valdes-Scantling and Smith-Schuster caught a combined 10-of-12 targets for 123 yards with Mahomes boasting a 109.4 QB rating when throwing in their direction. Star tight end Travis Kelce added eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. Meanwhile, Kansas City’s rushing attack got it going big time. This offense looks well-oiled with Mahomes joining Josh Allen as an early-season NFL MVP favorite.
Troubling performance from Indianapolis Colts in Week 1
The goods news? Matt Ryan and his Indianapolis Colts overcame a 20-3 fourth-quarter deficit by scoring 17 unanswered points and forcing overtime. The bad news? Indianapolis ended NFL Week 1 with an ugly 20-20 tie against the hapless Houston Texans. It was, by all accounts, a disastrous performance from Frank Reich’s squad.
“We got to be able to finish drives. But we had 200 yards of offense in the first half — that’s doing something right. But that’s not what wins games. There were mistakes that stopped drives that aren’t good enough. So ultimately that’s a reflection on me, and I take ownership of that.”
Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich after tie in Week 1, via Colts.com
In his first start with Indianapolis, Ryan fumbled the ball a whopping four times. He was saved by the performance of running back Jonathan Taylor (161 rushing yards) and a defense that held Houston’s rushing attack in check when the Colts found themselves down three scores. With that said, this isn’t the way Indy wanted the Ryan era to start.
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Kevin O’Connell has Minnesota Vikings looking legit
Culture change. An offense that’s friendly to quarterback Kirk Cousins. A renewed focus on the defense after struggles in that regard last season. Either way we spin it, these are not the Mike Zimmer-led Minnesota Vikings. That came out in droves as Minnesota disposed of the division-rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
“I credit our leadership, our coaches. Cannot stress enough how blessed I am to have the group I have around me, and a lot, lot of people that help not only make decisions in the best interest of our team, but our players and leadership, putting or culture and our football philosophy on display today.”
Kevin O’Connell after winning debut as Minnesota Vikings head coach
Of course, it helps that Minnesota has a generational talent in that of third-year wide receiver Justin Jefferson. The kid embarrassed Green Bay’s defense to the tune of nine catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Cousins? The embattled signal caller completed 23-of-32 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns in a mistake-free performance. As for the Vikings’ defense, they didn’t allow a single Aaron Rodgers touchdown while getting to him for four sacks and five quarterback hits.
Mistake-filled Joe Burrow should be of concern for the Cincinnati Bengals
Lost in Burrow’s brilliant performance as a sophomore is the fact that he threw 14 interceptions while losing two fumbles in 16 starts. It also must be noted that he was sacked a league-high 51 times. Most figured that Cincinnati had at least solved its offensive line issues heading into NFL Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That was no way the case. Burrow was sacked a whopping seven times while finding himself hit 11 times in 66 drop backs. It led to mistake after mistake from the former Heisman winner, including five total turnovers. It also led to Cincinnati losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime despite dominating statistically (32 first downs, 432 total yards).
The defending AFC champions don’t have the margin for error to overcome these mistakes. Heck, no team in the NFL has that margin for error. Heading into Week 2, the onus is on Cincinnati’s offensive line to step up and Burrow to avoid the mistakes that defined him on Sunday.
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San Francisco 49ers must fix offensive line issues
As the 49ers’ starting quarterback, youngster Trey Lance will receive praise when his team wins while being thrown under the bus following losses. It’s the nature of the beast when it comes to starting in Northern California. And in reality, Lance did not play great football in an ugly 19-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
With that said, we would be ignorant to avoid blaming San Francisco’s questionable offensive line for the team’s ugly season-opening loss. Lance was pressured a total of 11 times and had to run for his life throughout the game. When San Francisco fell behind and had to rely on the passing game, the offensive line couldn’t hold up.
It’s going to be a season-long issue unless the 49ers’ front office opts to find outside upgrades. With three new starters on the interior of the offensive, two of which had not started a pro game ahead of NFL Week 1, it’s not a great situation for a young quarterback to be in. That’s the reality of the situation.
New England Patriots looking like a cellar dweller
“Not enough good things to win. A couple bad plays really hurt us. Need to finish some drives better on both sides of the ball and make an impact. Just build on this and go back to work,” New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick following Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
That pretty much sums it up for New England following an ugly defeat to open the 2022 campaign. A strip sack of Mac Jones midway through the second quarter turned this one into a 10-0 game when Miami returned it for a touchdown. After New England was forced to punt on its next possession, the Dolphins drove the ball down the field 92 yards, culminating in a 42-yard touchdown strike from Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle with 18 seconds left in the half, pretty much ended this one.
Miami would only score three points in the second half. But more mistakes from New England’s offense prevented the team from getting back in this one. As for Jones, he’s said to be dealing with a back injury. We couldn’t imagine a more nightmare scenario for New England to open the season.
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New-look New York Giants team
When first-year Giants head coach Brian Daboll was seen berating Daniel Jones on the sidelined following an ugly interception late in the fourth quarter, it seemed to be much of the same for the downtrodden Giants. Instead, Jones led New York to a comeback win while relying on the brilliance of running back Saquon Barkley.
Taking out the Tennessee Titans on the road is one thing. overcoming a 13-0 halftime deficit with an embattled signal caller up against it is a completely different thing. Sunday’s win could be franchise-altering for Jones and the Giants.
Delving a bit deeper here, Barkley’s performance brought back memories of his pre-injury days. The running back put up 164 rushing yards on 18 attempts while outplaying Derrick Henry in the process. If Barkley can provide this type of balance for Jones moving forward, the Giants might be more competitive than most of us thought heading into NFL Week 1.
Dak Prescott injury and the Dallas Cowboys’ disastrous opener
Even before Dak Prescott want down with a hand injury late in the fourth quarter, it became clear that this season’s iteration of the Cowboys’ offense was not comparable to what we saw during the 2021 campaign. Dallas didn’t score a single point after opening the game with a field goal. Prescott was not his normal self, either.
- Dak Prescott stats (Week 1): 14-of-29 passing, 134 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Being without star left tackle Tyron Smith hurt. Having to rely on Noah Brown at wide receiver was less-than-ideal. CeeDee Lamb’s struggles were eye-opening.
It all then came crashing down when Prescott exited the game with roughly six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. He went directly to the locker room with owner Jerry Jones indicating post-game that the star signal caller will undergo thumb surgery on his throwing hand and will miss a substantial amount of time.
Even more so than losing to open the 2022 season, Dallas now finds itself behind the proverbial eight-ball with Prescott sidelined for a while. All of this comes with head coach Mike McCarthy on the hot seat and backup quarterback Cooper Rush highly unlikely to be able to hold down the fort under center.
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Green Bay Packers let Aaron Rodgers down
Among the top storylines heading into NFL Week 1 was the Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver situation. Two-time reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers even drew some flack during the summer by calling out his young pass-catchers. With Allen Lazard sidelined to injury Sunday against the Vikings, these issues were magnified further.
Rookie wide receiver Christian Watson beat Patrick Peterson deep on the Packers’ first offensive play of the game. It looked to be a sure-fire touchdown. That’s when the youngster simply dropped a dime from Rodgers.
You can just see the frustration on Rodgers’ face. For good reason. He put the ball right out there for Watson to score from 75 yards out. And it was just dropped.
“As soon as I stepped inside and felt him press inside a little bit and he was flat-footed, I knew I had him beat. It’s tough obviously. … It’s a play I know I can make. I can go forward knowing I’ve made that play 100 times in the past and I’m going to make it next time it comes my way.”
Christian Watson on Week 1 drop
Green Bay scored a total of seven points in the blowout road loss to Minnesota. Rodgers failed to throw a single touchdown while turning the ball over two times. His inability to connect with receivers also played a role in this one. Things simply are not trending in the right direction with these Packers. And in reality, the front office shares in some of the blame for failing to provide Rodgers with proven wide receiver talent following the trade of Davante Adams.