NFL Week 1: Feels good to be back
The first Sunday of the season wasn't pure chaos, but we saw plenty of upsets and other shenanigans in 10 straight hours of binge-watching football. Ah, that's the stuff.
On Friday, we wondered if the Bucs’ last-second win over the Cowboys would foreshadow an equally thrilling Sunday to open up the 2021 NFL season. While every game did not live up to those high expectations, overall it was an entertaining and slightly unpredictable slate. We’ll take it!
Half of the day’s 14 matchups were one-score affairs; eight were technically upsets. Below, we’ll look closely at two of those upsets, as well as some of the highs and lows of Week 1. Welcome back, football.
The Steelers upset the Bills in Buffalo … but they aren’t fixed yet
Pittsburgh trailed 10-0 early in the third quarter of its season opener in Buffalo. Roughly 14 minutes of game time later, the Steelers led 20-10.
A stout defense, stellar special teams, and some bizarre playcalling from the Bills made Ben Roethlisberger a winner to start his 18th season as a pro. But the balance of power hasn’t shifted to western Pennsylvania just yet. Sunday’s loss said more about the Bills’ weaknesses than the Steelers’ strengths.
Let’s start with the flaw Pittsburgh fans worried about all offseason.
The Steelers can’t protect Ben Roethlisberger … and he doesn’t have the arm to make quick passes work
Roethlisberger threw the ball 32 times Sunday. He finished his day with 188 passing yards. That 5.9 yards per pass would have tied him for dead last among 2020’s starting quarterbacks, right next to Nick Foles.
You can blame some of this on the waning arm strength that made Pittsburgh’s passing offense a problem. Roethlisberger looked rusty early, struggling to dial up much accuracy even on short routes:
Roethlisberger threw 34 passes, including plays wiped out by penalty. Nine failed to go beyond the line of scrimmage. Only 11 traveled more than eight yards downfield. None made it at least 20 yards from where the ball had been snapped; the Steelers won without throwing a *single* deep ball.
But Roethlisberger’s preference for short targets wasn’t just a function of limited strength. Pittsburgh’s offensive line is a mess. The veteran was sacked twice and hit six more times, meaning roughly 1 in 4 dropbacks, even with a litany of quick-developing routes, ended with the 39-year-old dragging his Big Ass(™ Terrell Suggs) off the turf. Diontae Johnson, Roethlisberger’s top wideout, averaged just 3.6 yards per target. JuJu Smith-Schuster needed eight targets to get to 52 yards. THE STEELERS GAINED -2 YARDS OF OFFENSE IN THE SECOND QUARTER. None of this is efficient.
This wasn’t solely a problem in the passing game. Here’s Trai Turner (#51, on the ground) attempting to cut block defensive tackle Ed Oliver and looking like a toddler trying to walk a Great Dane.
As a result, first-round rookie Najee Harris had only three carries of more than four yards. The vaunted back, who was probably drafted entirely too high in your fantasy league, finished with 45 yards on 16 carries (2.6 yards per rush). Pittsburgh scored one offensive touchdown Sunday. It worked out, because ...
Like last year, the Steelers defense can keep them in the playoff hunt
The Steelers defense caused a problem the Bills offense was happy to exacerbate. Josh Allen was even less efficient than Roethlisberger after needing 51 passes to throw for only 270 yards. Buffalo’s offensive line crumbled due to Pittsburgh’s pressure throughout the afternoon, occasionally weaving straw into gold only to have his gains erased by holding penalties (the Bills committed six of these) or mistakes downfield.
Head coach Sean McDermott was happy to trust his rising star with key fourth-down plays. He may have overthought them, however:
Rather than run a QB sneak on fourth-and-1 with a 240-pound masher who has scored 25 rushing touchdowns in three years, McDermott did … that. (Here’s what it was supposed to look like. Allegedly.)
Pittsburgh also got a major boost from its special teams. Chris Boswell made all five of his kicks (three field goals, two extra points). The punt block unit got so deep on a fourth quarter Matt Haack kick that Miles Killebrew didn’t really need to stick his hands out to block it:
That helped the Steelers win by seven on a day where they were outgained by nearly 120 yards.
***
This was all enough for a road victory. But was it enough to convince the world a team that went 11-0 before winning one of its last six games in 2020 has fixed its problems for 2021? Call me skeptical, but I’m not going to buy Steeler stock after a game in which their touchdowns came from a blocked punt and a wild, juggling catch from a guy whose identity in 2020 was based on his inability to catch passes:
Even so, the Steelers are 1-0 and have a win over one of the AFC’s top teams. That’s something they lacked last season … even if it wasn’t the most convincing win in the world.
The Saints aren’t dead
I picked New Orleans to lose its season opener, a game originally slated for the Superdome but relocated to Jacksonville instead. I wasn’t alone — Sarah, RVB, and 92 percent of expert pickers across the media landscape agreed.
Instead of being rattled by the change of venue and the transition from Drew Brees to a quarterback who’d thrown 11 passes the previous season, the Saints came out and punched the Packers right in the damn mouth. New Orleans' first three drives all ended in points as the Saints raced to a 17-3 halftime lead and, two quarters later, a 38-3 finish. The driving force behind the stunning start was a man who’d never been part of a win over the Pack in his six-year career: Jameis Winston.
Winston looked like a completely new quarterback by sustaining drives and carving up the Green Bay defense. He’d run for 14.5 yards per game in his five seasons as a starter in Tampa, but ran for 36 yards in one quarter Sunday afternoon. Winston’s newfound trust in his legs and a suddenly efficient passing approach led to five passing touchdowns as New Orleans mollywhopped the team which clinched homefield advantage in the NFC last season.
So how did Winston generate Sunday’s most surprising upset?
Winston embraced the Saints’ Drew Brees offense, then built from its foundation
The Saints of recent years have used a solid defense and efficient, if sometimes unexciting offense to hold dominion over the NFC South. Their quarterbacks ranked either 32nd or 31st in air yards per throw the last two seasons, creating legitimate questions about how Winston, the human equivalent of a medieval trebuchet in terms of both range and accuracy, would fit.
Turns out, pretty well! Winston avoided the forced throws that marred his tenure in Tampa and flowed like Bruce Lee when it came to adapting to what the Packers’ defense would allow. Running was a major part of that early on, but his willingness to check down meant that nine of his first 11 passes were the short-range strikes that defined the tail of end Brees’ career. He completed seven of those attempts — a 77.8 percent completion rate that rivals Brees’ 80.1 percent rate on similar passes the prior two seasons.
The Saints offense wasn’t hamstrung by a lack of skill players behind Alvin Kamara. While the perennial Pro Bowl tailback shined — 92 total yards and a touchdown in three quarters — Winston was able to push the unheralded targets on his roster into starring roles. Juwan Johnson, the number three tight end on the Saints’ depth chart but No. 1 in Winston’s heart, had two touchdowns and two massive fourth-down catches including this fourth-and-goal touchdown (made possible by Adrian Amos forgetting how to jump, but still):
Winston had nine completions in the first half to seven different receivers. He threw a touchdown pass to former Boston Cannons midfielder Chris Hogan. He launched this rainbow over a baffled Kevin King (as is tradition) and into the hands of Assumption College superstar/kick returner Deonte Harris:
Even Taysom Hill, shunted to H-back duty after losing the starting QB race to Winston, played a vital role as a blocker and occasional ballcarrier.
It wasn’t just Jameis
The Saints defense deserves credit for exploiting Green Bay’s weakness up front. David Bakhtiari’s absence meant two different rookies — second-rounder Josh Myers and fourth-rounder Royce Newman — into the starting lineup. This was a problem. Rodgers rarely had time to allow his downfield routes to develop:
He was hit six times and sacked once, but rarely got to throw with time and space. His first interception — his first red zone turnover since 2019 — was the product of a crowded pocket.
Rodgers struggled even when he had a few extra beats in the pocket because the Saints’ coverage was sticky as hell. Green Bay couldn’t create anything with its wideouts near the sideline, getting just 56 yards from Davante Adams in the process. The only things that worked with relative consistency were plays that snuck tight ends or slot receivers out toward the sideline. Deep balls were a no-go; Rodgers only completed two passes that traveled deeper than eight yards past the line of scrimmage.
That deficiency bled into the running game as well. Pro Bowl tailback Aaron Jones finished his day with nine yards on five carries. The Packers didn’t convert a third down until the fourth quarter. It came via backup Jordan Love, because the score was 38-3 and Rodgers was entirely sick of that shit. Green Bay’s 4.1 yards per play under Rodgers was 0.6 fewer yards per snap than the league’s worst offense last year. The Saints took an offense headlined by the reigning MVP and made it significantly worse than the Jets.
That’s the scariest figure in this equation. Winston probably won’t sling 85 touchdowns this fall, but the defense in New Orleans remains strong enough to overcome a middling performance behind center. That’s been the team’s hallmark the last three seasons, and it’s resulted in three NFC South titles. If Winston can look like he did Sunday — which is obviously not guaranteed because he’s Jameis Winston, but holy crap did he light up Green Bay — he might be good enough to push the Saints beyond their recent postseason failures. — CD
You’re the best (and worst) of Week 1
If you’ve been an OG reader of this newsletter, you might recall that we ran a weekly feature called the “pain index” each Monday during the 2020 season. It’s possible we'll bring it back again this season, but for now, I’d like to try something a little different this week. Rather than concentrate on who’s nursing the biggest heartbreak, I’ve decided to highlight the best and worst the NFL had to offer — at least for the first Sunday of the season.
Best win: I’ll give the edge to the Saints, who were “hosting” the Packers and reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers in Jacksonville and completely destroyed them.
For the first time in 16 years, Sean Payton didn’t have Drew Brees as his starting quarterback in Week 1. The mercurial Jameis Winston took the reins and proceeded to produce a more impressive — and weirder — stat line than Brees did all of last season: a league-leading five touchdowns with just 148 passing yards, zero sacks, zero turnovers, and 37 rushing yards on six carries. Winston accomplished those numbers without No. 1 wideout Michael Thomas and with a receiving corps that left you wondering “who the hell is that?” whenever they had a catch.
The Saints were all-around sharp on Sunday. They were, to quote Jameis quoting his trainer, prepared. The defense forced three turnovers and harassed Rodgers into one of his lowest passer ratings of his career. The Packers are much better than their no-show performance indicated, and even if they don’t repeat as the NFC’s No. 1 seed, they’re still the favorites in the currently winless NFC North. This was a statement win for the Saints in their post-Brees era.
Worst loss: I don’t think it’s a surprise that the Jaguars — a one-win team from last year with a rookie head coach and quarterback — looked overwhelmed in their season opener. Nor am I shocked that the Texans looked more competent than expected. However, it’s unquestionably humiliating for the Jags to be thoroughly outclassed by the team with the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick.
Jacksonville was sloppy from the get-go, plagued by drops, turnovers, penalties, and missed tackles. Those are fixable problems, especially for a young team, but it’s hard to be optimistic about their immediate future when they fell flat on their faces against the NFL’s equivalent of a megachurch.
Best call: The Bengals let the Vikings hit a last-second field goal to send their game to overtime. Any other year, the Bengals probably lose this contest or settle for a tie, and at times, it seemed inevitable they would do either. But, facing fourth-and-inches with 39 seconds left at midfield, Cincinnati took a chance that paid off:
Who knew Zac Taylor had that in him?
Worst call: The only reason Jameis Winston — who threw 88 interceptions in five seasons with the Bucs — didn’t record his first pick in a Saints uniform was because of this outrageously bad roughing the passer penalty:
It’s Week 1 for the refs, too, I guess.
Best coach from the Belichick tree: It’s still Brian Flores, who improved his record to 3-2 against his former boss. The Dolphins have now won two of three games at Gillette Stadium under Flores.
Worst coach from the Belichick tree: It’s still Joe Judge, who threw his challenge flag after a Broncos touchdown. But coaches can’t challenge touchdowns, nor do they need to because all scoring plays are automatically reviewed. That brainfart cost the Giants a timeout, and at their next practice, I hope the players order Judge to run laps as punishment.
Worst throwaway that didn’t matter: The Dolphins were holding a one-point lead in the fourth quarter when Tua Tagovailoa escaped a sack and tried to throw the ball out of bounds. Instead, it bounced around, almost turning into an incredible catch for the Dolphins, until it turned into an incredible interception for the Patriots:
Somehow, the Patriots’ devil magic stopped working. On the ensuing drive, Damien Harris lost a fumble, and the Dolphins were able to run out the clock for the win.
Worst throwaway that did matter: The Browns, after pissing away a 12-point halftime lead, still had a chance to upset the Chiefs in the final minutes of the game. On first-and-10 at midfield, Baker Mayfield was about to take a sack when he heaved it near the sideline. It didn’t make it there, though:
Two kneeldowns later, the Chiefs secured their seventh straight season-opening victory.
Best streak: The Chiefs’ comeback win kept another streak alive. They have yet to lose in September with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. He is now 11-0 during the month, with 35 passing TDs and zero interceptions. Kinda unfair!
Worst streak: The Browns’ collapse gave them their 17th consecutive non-winning Week 1, dropping their record in season openers to 1-21-1 since their return to Cleveland. Luckily, this team is not those Browns (even if it felt like that at times on Sunday). — SH
Week 1 results, in 5 words or fewer
Eagles 32, Falcons 6
Steelers 23, Bills 16
Bengals 27, Vikings 24 (OT)
49ers 41, Lions 33
Cardinals 38, Titans 13
Titans looked like mere mortals
Seahawks 28, Colts 16
Chargers 20, Washington 16
Chargers = fourth-quarter team (!)
Panthers 19, Jets 14
Texans 37, Jaguars 21
Chiefs 33, Browns 29
Never doubt Mahomes in September
Dolphins 17, Patriots 16
Saints 38, Packers 3
Broncos 27, Giants 13
Rams 34, Bears 14