Week 1 of the NFL season limped along sloppily for most of the early games. And then at almost the same time, all of the games got good. We had game-winning field goals and misses occurring on split screens, tri screens and quadruple screens. It was bonkers; we were this close to having multiple ties. On to the recap.
Saints at Falcons: Crazy game. Falcons seemed to have this one wrapped up at 26-10, but Saints battled back. The question as to whether New Orleans' offense will be improved can be left a question for now; finished with good numbers, but for three quarters their only touchdown was by Taysom Hill, who's going to be around to annoy fantasy teams again. But a couple of touchdowns for Michael Thomas and a clutch kick by Wil Lutz, some iffy decision making by both teams. Big game also for Jarvis Landry, overshadowing rookie Chris Olave, quiet for the two guys starting everywhere, Alvin Kamara and Kyle Pitts (2 catches on 7 targets). Big game for Cordarrelle Patterson, helped by Damien Williams leaving early with a rib injury. Lots of good and bad here, main takeaway for me is the Falcons offense might have more going for it than expected, showed well against a tough Saints D.
Browns at Panthers: Ugly game most of the way, crazy late, with both teams seeming to win or lose it multiple times. Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb did their things (TDs for Hunt, big rushing numbers for Chubb), and Browns seemed in control. But Baker Mayfield, after struggling for a while, hit some plays to bring Carolina all the way back for what seemed like a game-winning field goal. But they left too much time, and rookie Cade York, who we spoke admirably about in August, drilled a 58-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare to win the game. Remarkable stuff, tough loss for the Panthers. Decent game for McCaffrey, Robbie Anderson (thanks to a long touchdown bomb) the only productive receiver.
49ers at Bears: Yikes. I saw someone saying that if you watched the game closely, you could see future greatness in Trey Lance. I haven't watched the game closely, I was watching lots of games all day, but that was not my sense from what I saw. In fact, it was Justin Fields making the splash plays, working behind a worse line and with lesser receivers, and Chicago coming away with the upset win. Elijah Mitchell left with a knee injury, reminding us all why we didn't draft Mitchell and spent a lot of time analyzing the depth chart. Presumably San Francisco missed George Kittle, but a rough start either way. Also rough for David Montgomery, opening the door for Khalil Herbert (who scored) to maybe make things interesting going forward.
Steelers at Bengals: Gut-punch loss for the Bengals, who started out turnover-happy (including allowing a defensive touchdown) and falling behind. But with some huge plays by JaMarr Chase (of course), Joe Burrow and Joe Mixon, they battled all the way back to seemingly win the game in the final seconds. But a poor snap factored into having an extra point blocked, and then an even worse snap factored into Evan McPherson missing a short field goal to win the game in overtime. They even got back in range of a potential long field goal later in the period, but Burrow took a sack and they had to punt. Steelers go down and Boswell makes the clutch field goal to win. Steelers might have lost both Najee Harris and T.J. Watt (who was making plays all over the field), however, which might make for a bigger loss than win. Tee Higgins (concussion) left early.
Eagles at Lions: I think both fans and critics of Jalen Hurts will have some ammunition from this one. Great game with his legs, up and down as a passer. But a huge game from A.J. Brown, dominating this one. (DeVonta Smith targeted 4 times, no catches, ouch.) Eagles scored 4 rushing touchdowns, with all three running backs and Hurts getting in, but mostly predictable -- Miles Sanders the main runner and the best game. The offense won't always put up these kind of numbers. Game seemed to be over, but Lions came all the way back to within 3 points. Big game for D'Andre Swift (Jamaal Williams vultured 2 TDs, painful but you can't complain too much if you started Swift). Amon-Ra had a good games, both TEs were decent at least. Pretty good game for fantasy.
Colts at Texans: Some will recall I questioned the Colts' status as the week's biggest favorite. They were very fortunate to come away with a tie, although granted they missed a 42-yard field goal that would have won it in overtime. But the Texans dominated most of the way, even though they mystifyingly gave most of the running back work to Rex Burkhead. Good thing Lovie Smith named Dameon Pierce the starter last week. Pierce did start, but Burkhead got more carries (despite being ineffective) and a lot more touches. I'm having a hard time getting past Smith's overtime decision to punt on 4th and 3 from the Colts 49 in the final minute, rather than go for it and maybe win. Yes, maybe you lose if you get stuffed. But You Play to Win the Game, right? Especially when you're leading 20-3 at one point. Big game for Michael Pittman, as expected. Matt Ryan a little shaky I thought. Threw for 352, but I don't think they want him attempting 50 passes every week.
Patriots at Dolphins: As usual in recent years, the Dolphins were completely unintimidated by facing the Patriots and pretty much dominated throughout. Defense played great, New England's offense struggled as it did all preseason (Rhamondre fans, he was not the lead back), and Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill were busy receivers, Chase Edmonds featured (didn't do much as a runner, productive as a receiver), and the warning away from Mike Gesicki (1 catch) paid off. Some bad calls I'm sure we'll hear about this week, but this game (avoid Patriots, start these Dolphins but not these ones) was a good one.
Ravens at Jets: Mike Davis. Bring it on, I can take it. Seemed like he'd start and be featured. Instead it was Kenyan Drake, for no apparent reason, since Drake last played good football two years and two teams ago. (Granted, this is also true of Davis, but he'd been with the team all summer, while Drake.) But John Harbaugh apparently didn't mind Drake's 2.8 yards per attempt and decided to feature him when Lamar Jackson wasn't passing. Score one for Ian Rapoport I guess. Hopefully you didn't start either player, or bench anyone good. As anticipated, the Jets ground game didn't do much and they fell way behind, helping Joe Flacco finish with decent, garbage-time numbers. That won't happen every week and I encourage people not to invest too heavily in those good receiving numbers for a host of Jets' lesser lights. Good game for Michael Carter, a nice later draft pick it seems.
Jaguars at Commanders: A sloppy game, in which Washington dominated early, Jacksonville roared back, and then their defense fell apart. Kudos to James Robinson, who I doubted all week and month long, but he looked perfectly fine out there. Travis Etienne, in contrast, dropped a touchdown, and so did Zay Jones -- Trevor Lawrence deserved better. But the big story was 2 TDs for Jahan Dotson and also touchdowns for Curtis Samuel and Terry McLaurin, all of which were pretty impressive throws and catches. Carson Wentz has his flaws (a few comical throws and interceptions) but credit where it's due, he got the job done. A lot of good things from Jacksonville, but nobody who drafted Etienne is feeling great today.
Giants at Titans: Hello, Saquon Barkley. He looked great, and deserves most of the credit, with his nearly 200 total yards, for the upset. Titans frittered this one away, settling for a couple of early field goals, giving up a couple of huge plays (including to Sterling Shepard), and then missing a 47-yard field goal at the gun. Dontrell Hilliard (2 TDs) was the big story, which says something in itself -- offense should have done a little more than have a third-down back lead the way. Those of us who have Barkley on a roster or two are feeling pretty good today.
Kansas City at Cardinals: If any of the Mahomes will struggle this year crowd want to weigh in, have at it. Granted, the Arizona defense looks like it will make a lot of quarterbacks look great this year, without much pass rush and an iffy secondary. But Mahomes used all his targets, Clyde Edwards-Helaire had a fine game, and the outcome was never in doubt. Cardinals used Eno Benjamin as their No. 2, which we called early on and then drifted away from, but looks like Eno is the guy. Arizona got some decent garbage-time production to salvage things, but looks like they're going to struggle with this current wide receiver group until DeAndre Hopkins and to a lesser extent Rondale Moore are back. Good game for Greg Dortch.
Raiders at Chargers: Big numbers for Justin Herbert but disappointment for other Chargers. Mike Williams did nothing. Austin Ekeler did little. Keenan Allen left with a hamstring injury. DeAndre Carter, of all people, went for 64 yards and a score. Chargers are on a short week against Kansas City, so would be optimistic to think they'll have Allen. Good game for Gerald Everett, I'm not counting on it being a weekly occurrence. Mixed bag for us Josh Jacobs fans. He was the main runner, but lost a touchdown reception to Brandon Bolden (so much for Ameer Abdullah). Decent day for Jacobs, but not great. A Packer-esque game for Davante Adams.
Packers at Vikings: I suppose the easy takeaway will be how much Aaron Rodgers missed last year's receivers, and indeed you probably saw the highlight of rookie Christian Watson committing a hideous drop of what should have been a long touchdown early. But what he really missed against the Viking pass rush were his offensive tackles, having no time to operate in the pocket. Time and again the only passes he could get off were quick outs to running backs and tight ends, and that's not how to win a game. Kirk Cousins and company were in midseason form in their new offense. Should have placed more stock in Green Bay's Week 1 debacle a year ago, I suppose. But the missing tackles felt like the key problem here.
Buccaneers at Cowboys: My main thought on this game is that it's a little early in the season for Chris Collinsworth to be losing his voice, amiright? He sounded like Nina Blackwood on the Sirius 80s on 8 channel. Cowboys offense was a trainwreck even before Dak Prescott was knocked out with a broken hand; passes thrown to CeeDee Lamb usually had 3-4 defenders in the immediate area. Dalton Schultz looks like the only element of the offense that might thrive with Cooper Rush in. Tampa Bay's offense was also touchdown thin, but it's a good Dallas defense and the Bucs were good enough (especially if you, like me, had Ryan Succop facing Lamb in a matchup, booyah). Chris Godwin, back early from a torn ACL, left early with a hamstring injury. Julio Jones had the highlight reel catch; looks like their No. 2 if Godwin misses time.
Monday, Monday: Revenge game situation for Russell Wilson in Seattle. Yesterday's other revenge game situations (Flacco versus Baltimore, Mayfield versus Cleveland) didn't work out so great for those quarterbacks, but Wilson's definitely on the better team this time. Seattle will have the 12th man going for it and all that, but I expect there to be plenty of Wilson fans in attendance, and Denver's offense and defense to be successful against a Seahawks team that I don't believe is looking to contend this season. Denver 26, Seattle 17.