Trending 📉 📈 after NFL’s Week 1 and the play that encapsulated it

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Every Monday, we check in on how players, coaches and teams are trending across the NFL. It’s bad for Browns fans, again, and not just because of Deshaun Watson.

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Week 1 risers and fallers

Second-year head coach Ben Johnson has said he wants to break 2013 Denver’s season scoring record. He might actually do it.

The Bears’ 59-37 win in Carolina was the highest combined opening-week score in NFL history. Caleb Williams’ offense had eight touchdowns, 26 first downs and 552 total yards. A Chicago team hadn’t scored like that since 1980.

And it could’ve been even better.

“When we came in at halftime, it honestly felt like we had left some stuff out there,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “And we still had 31.”

Johnson felt he was a mess of a play caller in the first half, when Chicago lost a fumble on its opening drive, committed penalties and failed on a fourth-and-1 from its own 21. In that half, the Bears still scored more points than 21 teams scored in their entire Week 1 games. This offense was that good.

If Johnson is to best that scoring record, the Bears will need to average about 35 points per game the rest of the way. Not that they’ll have a choice, given how their defense looked.

The Vikings await in Week 2, likely without Kyler Murray, who left yesterday with a concussion. In his debut against the Packers, he threw just five passes for 18 yards and an interception before exiting, yet Minnesota rallied to score 29 unanswered in a stunning, Carson Wentz-led comeback. (Matt LaFleur has now blown double-digit leads in three of his last four games. Changes needed?)

As for other risers and fallers, with Week 1 nearly done:

📈 NFC East questions. The Eagles narrowly beat the Commanders 24-22 after Washington’s failed two-point conversion. Both offenses struggled under new coordinators. Growing pains or warning signs?

And in New York last night, John Harbaugh’s Giants upset the Cowboys 28-20. Is Jaxson Dart as good as his 23-of-29 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns? Or is the Dallas defense just that bad, again? Dak Prescott was fine, if you ignore one devastating mistake.

📉 Los Angeles. The 0-1 Rams took another loss yesterday, placing the newly acquired Myles Garrett on IR ahead of knee surgery. Likely out at least four weeks.

The Chargers nearly outdid their cross-town peers, with a shocking 26-14 loss to the Cardinals. Penalties and turnovers plagued the 9.5-point home favorite, and new OC Mike McDaniel’s run-game prowess resulted in just 43 yards for Omarion Hampton. They were just 
 bad?

A former L.A. team — Klint Kubiak’s 1-0 Raiders, with a significantly improved run game and offensive line that shined in a 27-13 win over the Dolphins — visit the Chargers next week.

📈 Unveiled offenses. We weren’t sure what to expect from the Ravens’ 30-year-old coordinator, Declan Doyle. It was almost as good as it can get, with 506 yards in a 41-23 victory over the Colts. That was without WR1 Zay Flowers in the second half.

They’ll play the Saints in Week 2. Yesterday, New Orleans quarterback Tyler Shough clawed back from down 21-0 in Detroit but fell just short in a 31-30 OT loss. Maybe New Orleans is 1-0 if this had been ruled a fumble?

The official explanation: Because Jared Goff had “already started his throwing motion and then the defender contacted him, it is therefore a forward pass.” That would make sense 
 if the ball went forward. But it never did, so I don’t like the call. 

📈 Jets. Yes, the J-E-T-S! Now, before we get too positive, it was the Titans. Still, plenty to be optimistic about after a 23-10 victory in Tennessee. Aaron Glenn and Frank Reich outcoached and outgained Robert Saleh and Brian Daboll 367-195. Cam Ward was bad, passing for just 140 yards as the home crowd booed. The Packers will test New York’s optimism in Week 2.

📉 Browns. Watson looked exactly as we expected, with his opening drive ending like this:

In addition to that interception, he took five sacks and fumbled a ball. Sure, he wasn’t the only problem for this complete mess of a team, one that lost 34-10 in Jacksonville. Might a QB change come even sooner than we expected?

📈 📉 Bills continuity. Joe Brady and early MVP favorite Josh Allen had Buffalo’s offense humming, scoring more points (36) against an elite Texans defense than any team has in over two calendar years. More in a moment on this game’s wild ending.

Partly, it was wild because the Bills defense remains a question, allowing 31 points by way of big plays and bad penalties. Not ideal, despite bright spots. New DC Jim Leonhard said it will take time for players to adjust. He won’t get much of that; they host the 1-0 Lions in three days.

📈 Bengals defense. Cincinnati beat the Buccaneers 33-27, with this remade front pressuring Baker Mayfield all afternoon. Nearly every addition to the Bengals defense contributed as they forced four turnovers and only allowed 20 points (the other seven came on a Joe Burrow pick six).

📉 Falcons quarterbacks. Starting a third-string quarterback rarely goes well. Cooper Rush, who joined during training camp, completed just 12 passes for 143 yards in Atlanta’s 20-13 loss to the Steelers. T.J. Watt’s pick six was the highlight for Pittsburgh, which again looks like a team good enough for 9-8 and a first-round exit.

Over to Michael Silver.

Silver’s Bullets

A portion of my new column, NFL Wake-up Call:

If you were looking for a single sequence that encapsulated Sunday’s frenzy, it happened during the final two minutes of the Bills’ victory over the Texans, a game that had nine lead changes.

Trailing 31-30, Allen, after being flushed to his left, launched an errant pass for Josh Palmer — playing in place of the temporarily hobbled D.J. Moore, who’d earlier scored on a spectacular 43-yard sideline throw from Allen. The ball instead sailed toward Houston’s Kamari Lassiter, who nearly intercepted it as he fell backward into the end zone.

Given another chance Allen, on third-and-11, dropped back and unleashed a throw that, based on the Texans’ coverage, he absolutely, positively had no business making. Allen zipped the ball to Palmer, who was running a deep post from the left side, into a tight window between the trailing Lassiter and closing safety Calen Bullock. The winning touchdown.

“That’s just a ‘love-of-the-game’ route,” Brady told me afterward. “As a receiver, you usually run that to clear out space so someone else can catch it. But with Josh, you always have to be ready.” Read the full column here, which includes the worst thing I saw Sunday. Back to Jacob.

Extra Points

👀 Early impressions. Re-linking Sando’s story, which includes what we saw from new play callers around the league. Kudos to Kubiak, Reich and the Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur, who won with offenses that struggled last season. Though no new play caller had as impressive an EPA per play as the Giants’ Matt Nagy.

🗣 Jack Harbaugh, the 87-year-old patriarch of the Harbaugh family, spoke to John’s players before New York’s opener. Ian O’Connor takes you inside the meeting.

📈 Patrick Mahomes’ recovery felt inevitable. It’s Mahomes, after all. But to be starting tonight, nine months after tearing his ACL and LCL? Incredible. Jesse Newell explains how it happened.

👋 Davis Webb, Sean Payton’s successor as play caller for the Broncos, hopes to elevate Denver this season. Nick Kosmider digs into Webb’s history to explain why that might happen. Tonight will be telling.

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