Every year, America waits with bated breath for the inaugural kickoff of the NFL season, with over 29 million households tuning in for Thursday night’s opener on NBC and Peacock on Sept. 5. Prior to the kickoff, the home faithful of Arrowhead Stadium watched as their fresh Super Bowl banner was unveiled for their defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, famous among even non-NFL fans due to tight end Travis Kelce’s relationship with a certain pop star, were matched up against the Baltimore Ravens, who sported the reigning MVP Lamar Jackson. As soon as the game commenced, all off-field pageantry was thrown aside in favor of a heated back and forth battle. As the Ravens were driving down the field in the fourth quarter trailing 20-19, Jackson found his tight end Isiah Likely in the back of the endzone for what seemed like a game-winning score. However, upon further review, Likely’s big toe was ruled out of bounds, ending the game right there. This was an especially crushing defeat for Baltimore given that Kansas City knocked them out of the postseason last year, as well as the fact that they were just centimeters away.
The NFL kicked off its global series on Sept. 6, with the first game ever played on Brazilian soil between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles. While what started as a sloppy turnover-fest eventually became quite a high-scoring shootout, there were two major headlines from the contest. Firstly, there was the incredible Eagles debut of superstar running back Saquon Barkley, who had made headlines and drawn some flak during the offseason for leaving the New York Giants due to disputes over how much money he felt he was worth and joining arguably their biggest rival in the Eagles. He certainly proved his worth in week one, going for 132 total yards and 3 touchdowns. However, the bigger headline to come out of the game was the quality (or lack thereof) of the turf, as players slipped and slid all over the field, leading to many mixed reactions from fans, coaches, and players alike.
More than any primetime games, NFL Sunday, where up to 10 games could be going on at one time, are undoubtedly what any fan looks forward to most. A quick rundown of Sunday, Sept. 8 afternoon’s action begins in New Orleans, where the hometown Saints put up a whopping 47 points on the woeful Carolina Panthers, who could not produce much of anything in a blowout loss. The strong offensive performance has senior Joe McHale, a Saints fan, hyped up for the rest of the season: “Derek Carr has been performing above expectations, Alvin Kamara played very solid although he’s getting older, and Rashid Shaheed is one of the most versatile players in the league.”
Sam Darnold, formerly a highly touted quarterback prospect with the Jets, traveled back to his old home stadium to play the Giants as the starter for the Minnesota Vikings and came away with the victory. Outside of an opening-drive fumble, the Vikings played a steady game both offensively and defensively on the way to a resounding 28-6 final score. Despite the loss, junior Liam Moore is staying optimistic about starting quarterback Daniel Jones. “He continues to be a threat both passing and rushing. While [rookie receiver] Malik Nabers makes him look a lot better then he is, I still think he’s playing well this year.”
The New England Patriots pulled off perhaps the most shocking upset of the week, shutting down the high-powered Cincinnati Bengals on the road by a score of 16-10, mostly due to a superb defensive effort. Another team that played great defensively was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who managed to gut out an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons despite not scoring a single touchdown. While there was plenty of defense in week one, there were certainly a few games where offense shined through as well.
The Houston Texans earned a thrilling victory over their division rival Indianapolis Colts by a score of 29-27, as their sophomore quarterback C.J. Stroud was able to outperform his fellow second-year Anthony Richardson. Another offensively charged showdown occurred in Buffalo, where the resident Bills outgunned the Arizona Cardinals 34-28 despite the debut of very highly regarded rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. A highly regarded rookie able to get the win in his debut was number-one overall draft pick Caleb Williams, as his Chicago Bears defeated the Tennessee Titans 24-17 in comeback fashion.
In Miami, another down-to-the-wire game came to a close when Dolphins’ kicker Jason Sanders booted through the game winning field goal as time expired to lift the Dolphins to a 20-17 win over their in-state rival Jacksonville Jaguars. While the Dolphins were able to come away with the win in the initial week, it is worth noting that their squad has since been ravaged by injuries to many important starters on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and running back De’Von Achane. In senior and Dolphins fan Simon Yu’s words, “I have never been this demoralized earlier in a season. After Tua and Achane suffered concussions, the Dolphins have shown no offensive promise, which has affected the defense. These injuries have defined our season to the point where it may be irrecoverable.” As the 1 PM games ended and the 4 PM games began, two more rookie quarterbacks were set for their first career starts. However, neither would join Williams in getting their first wins, as Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos fell 26-20 to the Seattle Seahawks, and Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders suffered a 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Additionally, the LA Chargers handled their division rival Vegas Raiders 22-10. Elsewhere, Tom Brady made his highly anticipated broadcasting debut as the Cleveland Browns hosted the Dallas Cowboys. The game ended up a 33-17 thumping in favor of Dallas that was not nearly as close as the final score made it sound, with many fans and critics both praising and hating Brady’s commentary.
Finally, the weekend ended with two more primetime games, one on Sunday and one on Monday. A playoff rematch was up first on Sunday, as the Detroit Lions once again got the better of their longtime quarterback Matt Stafford and his LA Rams, who could not stop Detroit running back David Montgomery from marching his squad down the field on the first drive of overtime to give the Lions the win in the league’s first extra-period game of the year. Aaron Rodgers made what was in the minds of many his true Jets debut on Sept. 9, but they faced a tough test in the defending conference champion San Francisco 49ers. The results were mixed, as the Jets looked at times well-oiled and at others a rusted machine in a 32-19 loss. Overall, the NFL kicked off with a bang, and I and countless other fans globally cannot wait to see where the season blasts off to from here.
