From a Taylor Swift-prominent season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens to a Matthew Stafford-versus-Detroit grudge match on “Sunday Night Football,” Week 1 of the NFL season was filled with plenty of drama.
Here are some knee-jerk reactions from the NFL’s opening week:
Caleb Williams will be just fine
Following his performance in the Chicago Bears’ 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field, the best thing Williams can do is stay off social media. Yes, his team got the win and that’s ultimately all that matters, but Williams’ play left much to be desired.
He completed just 48.2% of his passes for only 93 yards, and he played a minimal role in Chicago’s come-from-behind win as a blocked punt, a pick-six and two Cairo Santos field goals capped off the fourth-quarter rally.
However, it was Williams’ first game against a live defense after taking minimal preseason reps. Bears fans should relax; Williams has plenty of time to get his feet under him.
Giants GM Joe Schoen was absolutely wrong about Saquon Barkley
Schoen and Giants owner John Mara were trending during the Philadelphia Eagles’ season-opening win over the Green Bay Packers and not for a good reason. Former Giants running back Saquon Barkley had a monster game, rushing for 109 yards and scoring three total touchdowns, as video clips from the offseason edition of “Hard Knocks” circulated on social media of Mara saying he’d have a tough time sleeping if Barkley signed with the Eagles.
The Pro Bowl running back only signed with New York’s division rival because Schoen refused to pay Barkley what he was asking, stating the team isn’t paying quarterback Daniel Jones as much as they are to hand the ball off to a $12M running back.
The Giants put up just 240 yards of total offense in their Week 1 loss to Minnesota, and Barkley’s replacement, Devin Singletary, rushed for just 37 yards. At this rate, Schoen could be out of a job by midseason.
The Panthers didn’t do nearly enough to help Bryce Young
Carolina had the right ideas in going after an offensive-minded head coach in Dave Canales, trading for receiver Diontae Johnson and drafting receiver Xavier Legette, the problem is the team failed to get better blocking for Young and it showed in Sunday’s embarrassing 47-10 defeat to New Orleans.
Young had just 161 yards passing, he threw two interceptions and he was sacked four times as he was under duress seemingly all game and couldn’t get into a rhythm. While some of the blame goes to Young — as a No. 1 overall pick he’s expected to put the team on his shoulders — but most of the blame rests on the Panthers front office, who failed their second-year QB.
There’s a learning curve for Kirk Cousins in Atlanta
Things got so bad on Sunday that fans were already calling for Cousins to be benched in favor of No. 8 overall pick Michael Penix Jr. No matter what he did, Cousins just couldn’t get the Falcons offense going. He threw for just 155 yards with two interceptions, and he played like a rookie.
After three Pro Bowl seasons with the Vikings, it’s going to take some time for Cousins to get adjusted to a new offense and to not have an elite No. 1 wide receiver to throw to (he had Stefon Diggs and Justin Jefferson in Minnesota). The good news for Falcons fans is the learning curve shouldn’t be drastic enough that Cousins can’t figure things out within a few games.
It could be a long year for the Jaguars
The Jaguars invested $275M in quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and he put forth another painfully average start against the Miami Dolphins. The 24-year-old threw for just 162 yards and a touchdown while taking three sacks, and he didn’t look like a $55M-per-year QB.
At this point in his career, Lawrence should be taking over games and being the reason Jacksonville wins, not loses.