The Carolina Panthers made a mockery of football on Sunday, but others weren’t so great too.
The Carolina Panthers made us wait all offseason only to come out and look 0% improved over last season in Week 1. There are still 16 games to go, so things can change, but the start couldn’t have gone any worse. Fortunately the Panthers weren’t the only team that didn’t have the best season debut. Let’s whip it around the league and hit some highlights.
NFC South
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons fall flat
The Falcons came into the season a trendy pick to win the NFC South with Kirk Cousins in place to give the offense some pop. That didn’t happen in Week 1. Cousins struggled to 155 yards passing with two interceptions in his return from the Achilles injury that ended his season last year. The offense only gained 226 total yards on the day and only put 10 points on the scoreboard. It might not be as easy to plug and play Cousins as people expected.
The Buccaneers haven’t missed a beat
Last year’s offensive coordinator is now in Carolina calling plays and all of the other shots, but the Bucs didn’t seem to miss him in Week 1. Part of that can be attributed to what looks like a very poor Commanders defense, but the Bucs still went out and hung 37 points on the board led by four touchdown passes from Baker Mayfield. They and the Saints definitely top the division power rankings after the first week of the season.
The rest of the NFL
Passing numbers were the lowest we’ve seen in a long time
Over half of the 32 Week 1 starters threw for fewer than 200 yards and only two quarterbacks threw for 300. The entire league combined for just 35 passing touchdowns across the 16 game slate. A lot of teams have been careful with their quarterbacks in the preseason, and it’s fair to wonder if that’s contributing to slow starts in the passing game in recent years. We’ll see if those numbers start to return to the new normal or if defenses are actually starting to figure out how to stop the league’s aerial attacks.
The 2024 class of quarterbacks got off to a rough start
Three of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft made their debuts on Sunday, and none of them played particularly well. Caleb Williams threw for 93 yards on 29 pass attempts. Bo Nix averaged 3.3 yards per pass attempt and threw two picks. Jayden Daniels was the best of the bunch with 184 yards passing (though he was very good with his legs). It’s supposed to be the best quarterback class coming into the league in a while. We’ll see how long it takes for them to find their footing.
Running backs might be having a moment
While the quarterback play was below what we’ve come to expect in the NFL, the running backs had a resurgent season opener. We saw more big money free agent moves for running backs than we’re used to seeing, and they mostly paid off in the season’s opening week. Saquon Barkley scored three touchdowns for the Eagles, Joe Mixon carried the ball 30 times for 159 yards for the Texans, and Josh Jacobs, Aaron Jones, and Tony Pollard each scored touchdowns while running for over five yards per carry with their new teams. Are running backs the new quarterbacks? People are asking the question.