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Sep 02, 2023

What We Learned From Week 1 of the N.F.L. Season

Advertisement Supported by The Steelers defense returned to form and A.J. Brown

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The Steelers defense returned to form and A.J. Brown gave the Eagles the receiving target it has lacked as the N.F.L. wobbled in the first week of the regular season.

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By Derrik Klassen

The first week of the N.F.L.'s regular season never fails to make a mess. Upsets, mistakes, miracles and everything in between come pouring out as the season starts anew. Week 1's false starts may have been a wake-up call to teams and their fans that the games count again — and that even a shaky start can offer firm takeaways.

The Cardinals, like most everyone else, figured that Patrick Mahomes might struggle to create big plays without Tyreek Hill, the three-time All-Pro receiver Kansas City traded to Miami this off-season.

Throughout his career, Mahomes has been magical against blitzes, often beating them with his vision, quick trigger before defenders penetrate or using his athletic ability and creativity to break the pocket. Still, Arizona's defensive coordinator Vance Joseph bet Hill's departure would leave Mahomes in the lurch: He sent at least five rushers at Mahomes on over half the quarterback's drop-backs on Sunday, an approach that seemed doomed to fail from the start. It did and Arizona lost, 44-21.

According to the N.F.L.'s Next Gen Stats, Mahomes had 137 yards on 15 of 21 passing and four touchdowns just against the blitz.

Mahomes shined against standard defensive rushes, too. It helps that the quarterback's go-to safety valve, tight end Travis Kelce is still a stabilizing option. Coach Andy Reid made sure Kelce could get open for middle-distance throws that repeatedly burned the Cardinals and the tight end caught 8 of 9 targets for 121 yards and one touchdown, leading all receivers.

On one third-quarter play, Kansas City came out in a 13 personnel (three tight ends) tight bunch formation with Kelce as the outside player in the bunch. He ran a deep over route, cutting just behind the middle player, who ran a deep corner route in front of him. Mahomes nailed him with a pass over the middle that zipped just over a linebacker's outstretched arms for a first down.

Mahomes still has third-year receiver Mecole Hardman and Kansas City added JuJu Smith-Schuster to the roster in the off-season to help plug the whole left by Hill's departure. But the Mahomes-to-Kelce connection is still the most important one to the Kansas City offense.

Tom Brady playing in January. The Browns missing the playoffs. Jacksonville "earning" the first overall draft pick. Some things in the N.F.L. feel inevitable. Pittsburgh featuring an elite defense is one of those givens, which is why their finish last season ranked 20th in the league in points allowed was such a shock.

On Sunday, however, the Steeler defense was a slot machine for explosive plays. Pull the lever on one play and you get safety Minkah Fitzpatrick jumping a corner route thrown too far inside for a pick-6. Pull the lever again and you get a blitz package that frees up linebacker Alex Highsmith to beat an offensive tackle one-on-one for a strip sack.

Go back for a third pull and, would you look at that, T.J. Watt forces a tackle for loss and grabs an interception on back-to-back plays.

Sending pressure at Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was key for most of the game. The Steelers bullied the rookie left guard Cordell Volson, who gave up a sack to Cameron Heyward on Cincinnati's first offensive play, then targeted Volson's side of the line for Highsmith's first sack of the day. (He finished with three.)

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin and the defensive coordinator Teryl Austin never took their feet off the gas, belittling Burrow for six sacks and four interceptions before the game went to overtime (and recording one more sack in overtime).

The Steelers offense is still an embarrassment beyond comprehension and couldn't score more than 20 points in regulation despite being gifted an endless stream of possessions. Pittsburgh's defense looked to be back but Watt, the reigning defensive player of the year, left the game in the fourth quarter with what is feared to be a torn pectoral muscle.

The Raiders added an all-world receiver (Davante Adams) and a sack-monster (Chandler Jones) in the off-season. But their addition wasn't enough to slow Justin Herbert or keep pace with the Chargers offense.

Herbert looked unflappable throwing three touchdowns through the first three quarters, with almost all of his best plays coming under pressure, outside the pocket, into a tight window, or some combination of all three.

Late in the second quarter, on second-and-2 from deep in Raiders’ territory, Herbert drilled a 23-yard touchdown pass down the left hash to DeAndre Carter that put the Chargers up, 17-3. The Raiders were in Tampa 2 coverage, which is Cover 2 with the middle linebacker running up the hashes to serve as a third "deep" player. Trying to throw underneath and inside the deep-half safety, yet away from and over the linebacker is no easy feat, yet Herbert made it look as routine as brushing his teeth or making the bed.

Midway through the third, Herbert extended the Chargers lead to 24-10 on a play where was forced outside of the pocket to his left, with his only receiving option pinned to that sideline in tight coverage. Herbert rifled the throw to Gerald Everett in the only spot where his defender did not have a shot at it. Everett pulled the pass in and stumbled four or five yards into the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown.

Even more promising: Herbert did not take any sacks in the 24-19 win, thanks in part to great work on the edge from left tackle Rashawn Slater, and did not throw an interception. The A.F.C. West is on notice.

Nobody has to declare one way or the other if quarterback Jalen Hurts is "the guy" for Philadelphia just yet. But it's not the regular-season version of Hurts that the Eagles are worried about. The team knows it can get to double-digit wins and a playoff berth with him in the N.F.C. East, where the Cowboys are a broken bone away from disaster, there's an impending Carson Wentz meltdown ahead of the Commanders, and the Giants are working through the kinks of a first-year regime.

A.J. Brown just might make sure Hurts takes a step beyond reasonable expectations. The Eagles traded for the former Titans receiver in April and promptly signed him to a four-year, $100 million contract extension that paid off Sunday with dunks all over the Lions’ secondary.

The Eagles offense was a little slow off the block, getting out to a 7-point deficit in the first quarter, but Brown's shoelace grab on an underthrown ball seemed to spark Philadelphia, which finally has what it has lacked among its receivers: a ball-getter.

Late in the first half, Brown boxed out a Lions cornerback on a go ball, earning a 54-yard gain to set up a field goal. Brown had over 100 yards in the first half.

Brown hasn't solved anything as far as Hurts's hesitancy to throw over the middle, a tendency that showed as Philadelphia eked out a 38-35 win over Detroit. But the Eagles offense has 17 more weeks to work that all out now that the team can count on the kind of ball-winner they needed on the outside.

N.F.L. teams continue to build new stadiums to usher in the modern era. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and Allegiant Stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders all opened in the past five years and have set a new standard for the live N.F.L. experience.

Other teams and fan bases aren't so fortunate.

The Chicago Bears are still holding onto Soldier Field for dear life, even at the potential cost of player safety. Rain fell all over Chicago's poorly kept pitch for hours before the team hosted the 49ers, soaking the field beyond what should be acceptable for an N.F.L. game. Puddles formed everywhere, and players struggled to find their footing pregame and early in the match. Even the painted sidelines started to lose their form in a way that made it seem like the ground crew was drunk when they put them on there.

Washington's stadium didn't fare any better. The overhang above a concourse at FedEx leaked as a result of a busted pipe, in what is becoming a ritual of building failures. Just last season, a failing guard rail caused fans to fall onto Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as he left the field. The Commanders’ stadium isn't as ancient as 98-year-old Soldier Field, but having opened in 1997, it's probably due for some proper renovations.

N.F.L. fans watching from home carped about DirecTV's flagship product, Sunday Ticket, which failed to launch the early games on time for online and app-based streamers. Connectivity issues persisted well into the first half, robbing countless football fans of their first taste of meaningful football for what surely felt like an eternity to them.

Buccaneers 19, Cowboys 3: The Bucs’ offense picked up where it left off Sunday night. Tom Brady pushed the ball beyond 10 yards all night long while still getting the ball off in a hurry, a combination only he can pull off consistently. Dallas, on the other hand, looked nothing like the team that set the league ablaze early last season. Dak Prescott completed fewer than half his passes, threw an interception and couldn't lead the offense to a single touchdown, thanks in part to the reserve Noah Brown and the rookie undrafted free agent Dennis Houston being forced into significant roles at wide receiver. Prescott also left the game late in the fourth quarter with a hand injury. It's unclear for now if he needs surgery — the team owner Jerry Jones said he would, but Coach Mike McCarthy said Prescott had yet to see a doctor — but he is likely to miss some time. If Prescott misses longer than even a week or two, Dallas's season could start to spiral out of control.

Chargers 24, Raiders 19: Davante Adams caught 10 of his 17 targets for 141 yards and a score, but tight end Darren Waller was the only other Raiders pass-catcher with more than three catches or 21 yards. The Chargers pulled ahead early in the game behind Justin Herbert's three touchdown throws and Los Angeles got a look at their new edge pairing of Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa, who combined for 4.5 sacks.

Kansas City 44, Cardinals 21: Playing without DeAndre Hopkins, the Cardinals trotted out multiple receivers who are 5-foot-9 or shorter, save for A.J. Green, and asked Kyler Murray to find them. It didn't work. Patrick Mahomes finished with five passing touchdowns, the eighth time he has done so since 2018. No other quarterback has more than three such performances over that span.

Giants 21, Titans 20: Daniel Jones was under relentless pressure all day, taking five sacks, and turning the ball over via fumble and interception. But jones was exceptionally accurate (17 of 21 passing for 188 yards and two touchdowns) when not having to pick grass out of his face mask and Saquon Barkley looked as explosive as he has in years, finishing with 164 yards on 18 carries thanks in part to some creative gap scheme runs out from Coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. With about a minute to go, Daboll's gutsy two-point conversion call was the difference.

Vikings 23, Packers 7: Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson connected on 9 of his 11 targets, for 184 yards. Jefferson kicked off the game's scoring with a simple slide route across the formation on fourth-and-goal. In the second quarter, Jefferson split Green Bay's safeties on a deep post for an explosive play, before ripping a crossing route for a 36-yard touchdown just before the end of the half. The Packers? Well, they’re going to need some time to figure things out.

Saints 27, Falcons 26: The Saints salvaged an otherwise brutal showing with a monster fourth quarter. Through most of the game, quarterback Jameis Winston got beat up every which way while the Falcons offense found ways into the end zone thanks to Marcus Mariota's athleticism, a strong debut from Drake London (five catches for 74 yards and 1 touchdown), and a surprising effort between the tackles from Cordarrelle Patterson. But, y’know, the Falcons are going to Falcon.

Bears 19, 49ers 10: The torrential downpour before the game dictated that this game would be a run-heavy brawl, which in theory should have benefited a Kyle Shanahan team. But the Bears persisted, coming alive in the second half after laying an egg early. Quarterback Justin Fields finally got a few chances to rip it down the field, finding the end zone twice, and the Bears new-look defense completely shut out San Francisco's new starter, Trey Lance, when he needed to drop back and throw the 49ers back into the game.

Steelers 23, Bengals 20 (overtime): This was a tale of two Steelers units. On defense, Pittsburgh looked as suffocating as it ever has in the Mike Tomlin era. On the other side of the ball, the offense completely ran out of steam after finding some success with screens, flea flickers, and other cheap nonsense despite being gifted the ball time and time again. Joe Burrow's late-game magic fell short of 2021's standard through no fault of his own as kicker Evan McPherson whiffed a potential game-winner in overtime.

Eagles 38, Lions 35: It took the Lions a long time to make this a game. Quarterback Jared Goff was 3-for-10 with 6 yards passing and a pick-6 early, but got a boost in the second half from D’Andre Swift, who ripped off a number of chunk gains to keep the offense ahead of the sticks. It wasn't enough, though, as the Eagles rode A.J. Brown's 155 receiving yards to a win.

Dolphins 20, Patriots 7: Both offenses came into this game with questions about their new schemes and young quarterbacks. Only the Dolphins left it feeling optimistic about their makeover. Even with a useless Miami running game, Tua Tagovailoa rattled off 23-of-33 passing for 270 yards, a touchdown, and no picks, finding Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle for 163 of those yards. New England's Mac Jones wasn't so fortunate as he was constantly under siege, making it difficult to do anything but get the ball out quickly to the flat or throw up hope-and-a-prayer go balls.

Ravens 24, Jets 9: The Jets decided that making backup quarterback Joe Flacco throw 59 passes was the way to win a game. In the year two thousand twenty two. Against Lamar Jackson. The Ravens quarterback found his stride on vertical passes, connecting with Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay for touchdowns of more than 25 yards. Jackson's contract campaign is off to an excellent start.

Commanders 28, Jaguars 22: Carson Wentz had an extremely Carson Wentz game, tossing four touchdowns (a couple of which required excellent touch) and appearing to try to throw the game away in the second half. His two interceptions led to 10 Jaguars points and jolted Trevor Lawrence back to life. In the end, Wentz led Washington on a 13-play touchdown drive to put this one away.

Browns 26, Panthers 24: Baker Mayfield led a valiant 17-point fourth quarter, but the shock was how much the Carolina offense struggled to run against Cleveland's unproven interior defensive line. Christian McCaffrey earned just 33 yards on 10 carries and watched as the Browns’ Nick Chubb trucked along through the Panthers front for 141 yards on 22 carries. With the team playing behind backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, Chubb's output gave the Browns’ offense just enough stability for a win.

Colts 20, Texans 20 (overtime): It took the Colts’ defense three quarters to stop Davis Mills from putting up M.V.P. numbers. For a good portion of the game, Mills had over eight yards per attempt, regularly finding his tight ends down the seams for explosive plays. Jonathan Taylor wore down the Texans defense, plowing through for 161 yards and a score on 31 carries, but Indianapolis still left with a tie thanks to a 42-yard missed field goal attempt from the goggle-god, Rodrigo Blankenship, with two minutes remaining in overtime.

An earlier version of this article misstated the given name of a Chargers tight end. He is Gerald Everett, not Garrett.

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