Some teams flashed potential to improve from last season in week 1. However, other teams performed poorly and have fans wondering if it was just a bad game or if the team has indeed taken a step backwards. Week 1 often gets fan bases extremely excited or extremely worried. However, it’s such a small sample size, as you’ll see the true colors of these teams show as the season progresses. Despite that, a win in week 1 is great to establish momentum and is a win on your record, which is extremely valuable in a competitive league like the National Football League. Here’s some of the top storylines from week 1.

Cowboys 17, Rams 20

The Dallas Cowboys garner as much attention as any franchise in the NFL, whether it’s for good reasons or for bad reasons. In this case, it’s because of the embarrassing performance they put together against the Los Angeles Rams that resulted in a 20-17 loss for the Cowboys. While a terrible OPI was made against Michael Gallup due to Jalen Ramsey’s massive flop negated a huge 46-yard gain that would’ve put the Cowboys in field goal range late, they never even deserved that chance with the way they played. The offensive strategy looked largely unchanged from past years, as a two-minute offense in the minds of Cowboys coaches meant that it was time for short passes resulting in gains of only 5 yards or so. Fans were hopeful that the change would be immediate after the firing of Jason Garrett and hiring of Mike McCarthy in the offseason, but no change was evident on Sunday. McCarthy let Kellen Moore dictate the playcalling, which explains the lack of change, as Moore served as the offensive coordinator under Garrett last season and was one of the few members of last year’s coaching staff that kept a job for this season. Despite the horrendous playcalling, Dak Prescott looked quite good, as he went 25/39 passing for 268 yards and a touchdown, giving him a passer rating of 92.5. The bright spot of the offense, however, was running back Ezekiel Elliott, as he had 127 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

While the lack of big passing plays cost this offense, the defense may have been of partial blame for the Cowboys lack of offensive production, as they allowed the Rams to establish the run early in the game and stomp all over them. The defense looked slow and weak(with the exception of Aldon Smith, who had 11 tackles and a sack), which allowed the Rams to gobble up time every time they drove down the field, which gave the Cowboys limited opportunities to exhibit their weapons. The Rams kept their offense on the field for over 35 out of the 60 minutes of the game, establishing a clear advantage in time of possession. “We needed to find a way to win it, and we didn’t get it done,” McCarthy said. “I thought we did a real good job getting ready. We are playing a team that has experience. You can see how efficient they are on offense in their fourth year. Our defense played a lot of snaps.” (Associated Press, 2020)

The Rams running back situation was a major question mark heading into the game, but Malcolm Brown was able to establish himself as the lead back for the Rams , as he garnered 18 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was the first in the history of the Rams new stadium. This game was the first in the history of the stadium, which is called SoFi Stadium. “It’s exciting to do that,” Brown said. “I feel like I may live forever, know what I’m saying?” (Associated Press, 2020)

Browns 6, Ravens 38

Lamar Jackson, the defending NFL MVP, was successful in defending that honor in a 38-6 dismantling of the Cleveland Browns. Jackson wasn’t quite as active running the ball as he usually is, as he only had 7 carries for 45 yards. However, he was able to do damage through the air, throwing for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes and showcasing a passer rating of 151.5, which is extremely high. “Lamar Jackson just played a phenomenal game in every single way,” coach John Harbaugh said. “He was probably the biggest difference in the game.” (Associated Press, 2020) Young Oklahoma alumni Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews were his favorite targets, as they each had 5 receptions. Andrews also had two touchdowns, including a spectacular one-handed catch in the endzone in the first quarter to give the Ravens a 7-0 lead. They never relinquished it.

The Browns did what the Browns have become so notorious for doing. Despite all of the weapons at their disposal, they still managed to get obliterated, leaving fans scratching their heads, as many were last year. Superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. only had 3 receptions for 22 yards. Star tight end Austin Hooper, who was acquired in free agency after a massive year with the Falcons, only had 2 receptions for 15 yards in his first game as a member of the Browns. Baker Mayfield was less than stellar, as he went 21/39 passing for 189  yards and threw an interception. Cleveland lost two fumbles in addition to Mayfield’s interception.  “Very disappointed, obviously,” said Kevin Stefanski, the former offensive coordinator of the Vikings who is in his first season as Cleveland’s head coach. “But credit goes to the Baltimore Ravens. They deserved to win. They outcoached us, they outplayed us. We did a lot of things losing teams do.” (Associated Press, 2020) Recently, Cleveland seems to usher in a new head coach every year due to a lack of immediate success, so it’s challenging to compete with good teams like the Ravens when the coaches and players don’t have any time to establish chemistry amongst one another. Chemistry has been especially hard to come by this offseason, as practices have been limited and preseason was cancelled. Only time will tell us what the Browns are capable of achieving in 2020.

Buccaneers 23, Saints 34

There’s been a tremendous amount of hype around Tom Brady’s decision to leave the New England Patriots and join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team possessing an offense with multiple receiving threats, including Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Many people were excited to see Brady lead a high flying offense, as he was simply a game manager in much of his time with the Patriots. His old friend Rob Gronkowski, who used to be Brady’s top tight end with the Patriots, announced his decision to come out of retirement to join Brady after he announced his decision to join the Bucs, giving Brady a third dangerous receiving weapon. The signing of Leonard Fournette a couple of weeks bef0re the start of the season added yet another weapon to an already stacked offense. Despite these weapons, Brady wasn’t able to do much of anything, as he only threw for 239 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Saints cornerback Janoris Jenkins.  “I made some just bad, terrible turnovers,” Brady said. “I obviously have got to do a lot better job.” (Associated Press, 2020) While Godwin was a focal part of the passing game, Evans and Gronk were largely silent, as they combined for only 13 yards receiving on 3 receptions. However, Evans was dealing with an injury and was declared active only hours before the game started, so he was obviously limited in what he was able to do. When Evans is 100% healthy, we may finally get to see the high flying offense that we’ve been anticipating.

While the New Orleans Saints did pick up a win, it wasn’t their prettiest offensive production ever, as they only generated 271 total yards of offense. Drew Brees only had 160 yards passing, but didn’t commit any turnovers, which was a determining factor in this game. Despite that, we’re used to seeing much more production out of this Saints offense, so it caught people by surprise to see Brees not even crack 200 yards passing. “I’d probably say I played awful,” Brees said. “Certainly, we are used to playing at a much higher level offensively and especially in the passing game. So, we’ll get that back on track.” (Associated Press, 2020) The Saints problems may not be over yet, as star receiver Michael Thomas went down with a high ankle sprain that could potentially sideline him until week 6 or 7, as it’s an injury with a quite prolonged recovery. However, Michael Thomas is as tough as they come. He still hasn’t been ruled out of the Saints clash with the Las Vegas Raiders in week 2, but he would be severely limited if he does indeed take the field. While a win is typically full of positives, the only positive for the Saints seemed to be the fact that they won the game.

Here’s all of the other scores from a busy opening week in the NFL.

HOU   20 – 34     KC

SEA     38 – 25     ATL

NYJ      17 – 27     BUF

LV        34 – 30     CAR

CHI      27 – 23     DET

IND      20 – 27     JAX

GB        43 – 34     MIN

MIA       11 – 21     NE

PHI       17 – 27     WAS

LAC       16 – 13     CIN

AZ         24 – 20     SF

PIT        26 – 16      NYG

TEN       16 – 14      DEN

Written on September 18th, 2020

Sources:

Press, Associated. “Rams Open SoFi Stadium in Style with 20-17 Win over Cowboys.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 14 Sept. 2020, www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401220347.