Week 1 of the NFL season brought some surprises, such as Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals losing to the New England Patriots—you know, the team many expected to end up with the worst record in the league.
It also hit some familiar beats, such as the Dallas Cowboys being good in the regular season. They appear well on their way to winning another 10-plus games after a dominant victory over the Cleveland Browns. But I’m sure many yawned at the outcome and cared more about Tom Brady’s TV analyst debut. Yes, the Cowboys will need to prove it in January, for a change. But it does seem like Dallas’s defense won't miss a beat with Mike Zimmer as the new coordinator.
That’s one of many things we learned from an eventful first Sunday of the 2024 regular season.
Texans prove they’re legit contenders while outlasting Colts
After reminding myself it’s only Week 1, I can confidently claim the new-look Houston Texans are legitimate Super Bowl contenders because of what they displayed in a thrilling 29–27 road victory against an impressive Indianapolis Colts squad.
Rising star quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson went back-and-forth before Nico Collins’s knee-down catch put away Houston’s AFC South rival. But Collins (six catches, 117 yards) and Stroud (24-of-32 for 234 yards and two touchdowns) delivering dominant performances wasn’t surprising considering what they showed during last year.
Heading into this season, the Texans generated plenty of hype due to their notable offseason moves, but there was hesitation by some to view them as true threats to the Kansas City Chiefs and the other AFC contenders because they bet on a trio of veterans—wide receiver Stefon Diggs, running back Joe Mixon and edge rusher Danielle Hunter.
In the NFL, name recognition doesn’t mean much once players approach their 30s. It was only one game, but it appears the veterans still have plenty to offer for their new team. The Texans wouldn’t have defeated the Colts without the physical runs from Mixon, who often gained extra yards after contract. Mixon, the former Bengal, contributed 159 of the Texans’ 213 total rushing yards. Diggs, who turns 31 in November, also quickly made an impact with two touchdown catches inside the red zone, and finished with six receptions for 33 yards.
It was a tough loss for the Colts, who also had their hearts broken by the Texans during last year’s Week 18 loss that kept them out of the postseason. But they appear to be playoff contenders and will likely push the Texans for the division crown if Richardson stays healthy.
Richardson picked up where he left off last year before a shoulder injury cut his rookie season short. He got the fireworks going with a 60-yard touchdown bomb to Alec Pierce to silence some of the critics that question his passing ability. It was also a good sign that Richardson didn’t shy away from using his athleticism and 6'4," 244-pound frame to make plays on the ground.
Richardson went 9-of-19 for 212 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and added six carries for 56 yards and one touchdown. Expect these two rising AFC South squads to make plenty of noise in 2024.
Cowboys can still look strong in regular season
It was somewhat surprising how many pundits were low on the Cowboys heading into the season. The postseason letdowns certainly played a factor, but the contract drama involving Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons and coach Mike McCarthy were other reasons why many predicted the Cowboys to miss the postseason.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t mind drama, evident by how long it took the team to lock down Lamb and Prescott to long-term contract extensions. Hours after announcing a new deal with Prescott, the Cowboys quickly saw returns on their investment by crushing the Browns, 33–16, for a Week 1 road victory.
I’ll wait to call the Cowboys Super Bowl contenders until they win a playoff game. (Yes, that long, especially after last season’s disappointing wild-card home loss to the Green Bay Packers.) But they’re likely going to be in the mix again because they have Prescott and Lamb this season, and for the foreseeable future thanks to the new extensions. Prescott (19-of-32 for 179 yards, one touchdown) didn’t squander the defense’s strong start by connecting with Lamb (five catches, 61 yards) and Brandin Cooks (four catches, 40 yards, one touchdown).
Parsons is the only one who hasn’t gotten paid from the Cowboys’ big three players. But his asking price might go up if Zimmer continues to do what he did to Deshaun Watson & Co. on Sunday. Dallas finished with six sacks, 17 quarterback hits and two picks, and held Cleveland to 230 total yards.
It’s looking more and more like the old Deshaun Watson from his Houston Texans days won’t ever return. Sunday was another rocky performance in a tenure full of them. The Browns went into halftime with one first down and a 20–3 deficit.
Going back to Prescott’s new four-year, $240 million deal, it wasn’t surprising, at least to me, that Jones once again paid his quarterback despite the lack of playoff wins. There’s an argument to be made that Prescott is a top-10 quarterback and better than most quarterbacks who got paid this offseason such as Jared Goff, Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love.
Jones can at least count on Prescott to get his team to the postseason, giving him more reasons to justify the $60 million annual salary. At some point, though, Prescott has to break through in the postseason, something Jones probably said before handing Prescott the pen to sign the new contract.
Harbaugh’s Chargers use ground game to punish conservative Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce are fans of old-school football, but one of them took it too far during their Week 1 AFC West clash.
The Chargers capitalized on the Raiders’ conservative calls late in the game, leaning on running back J.K. Dobbins to defeat their rivals, 22–10, at home. Dobbins broke free on a 61-yard run after Pierce made the head-scratching decision to punt on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 43-yard line with Las Vegas down six points and 7:15 left in regulation. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Pierce settled for a Daniel Carlson field goal on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ 14-yard line to make it a 16–10 game.
Harbaugh’s offense struggled throughout his Chargers coaching debut, but he has a reputation for winning games in ugly fashion while also making life easier for his quarterbacks. That occurred Sunday, with Justin Herbert (17-of-26 for 144 yards, one touchdown) getting plenty of help from a ground game that recorded 176 yards. Dobbins had 135 of those yards, including a 12-yard rushing score, to show he’s healthy after a few injury-riddled seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
Pierce’s questionable coaching decisions spoiled a strong performance from the Raiders’ defense before the game got away in the final quarter. It’s understandable that Pierce favored his defensive strengths over an uninspiring offense led by quarterback Gardner Minshew II, but he needed to give his offense a chance to step up and make up for the earlier mistakes.
Raiders star receiver Davante Adams had a quiet outing, recording five catches for 59 yards. Minshew finished 25-of-33 for 257 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It’s only one game, but the rumors of Adams wanting out won’t stop until the offense shows improvement.
Josh Allen handles a heavy load in comeback win over Cardinals
For a half, it appeared the Buffalo Bills’ offense was going to regress during their first season without Diggs, Josh Allen’s former No. 1 wideout who was traded to Houston in the offseason.
After erasing an early double-digit deficit, Allen reminded the football public that his elite skill set is enough to keep the Bills in most games regardless of who’s on the field with him. Buffalo rallied for a 34–28 home victory to hold off a pesky Arizona Cardinals team. Allen had an efficient performance (18-of-23 for 232 yards and two touchdowns), spreading the ball around, with rookie Keon Coleman (four catches, 51 yards) and Khalil Shakir (three receptions, 42 yards, one touchdown) as his top two playmakers.
Coleman, a second-round pick, showed off his sizable catch radius after Allen threw a 50–50 ball down the right sideline that turned into an acrobatic 28-yard catch to put Buffalo inside the red zone. Two plays later, Allen flexed his muscles with a six-yard touchdown run to extend the Bills’ lead 31–20 midway through the fourth quarter.
But the Cardinals showed plenty of fight after losing their 17–3 lead. They have an offense good enough to keep them in the hunt for at least a wild-card spot. Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing got the best of coach Sean McDermott’s defense in the first half with a balanced attack that saw several positive runs from James Conner and Kyler Murray.
It helped that the Bills paid plenty of attention to rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., but he was merely a decoy after only recording one catch for four yards in his regular-season debut. The Cardinals are going to need more from Harrison to truly develop into a sleeper team this season.
The Bills appear to still be contenders even with the drastic roster changes, but the defense must play better than it did during the first two quarters Sunday.
Bears, Caleb Williams win ugly against Titans
Caleb Williams dug himself a sizable hole in his quest to become the first Chicago Bears quarterback to record 4,000 passing yards in a season.
The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft might need some time before he lights up the scoreboard and stat sheet based on his shaky regular-season debut, but no one is going to care about passing records as long as the Bears find ways to win as they did Sunday to defeat the Tennessee Titans, 24–17.
Coach Matt Eberflus’s opportunistic defense helped the Bears erase a 17–0 deficit in front of their home crowd. Chicago forced the Titans into three turnovers, including a pick-six from cornerback Tyrique Stevenson that was the deciding score. Quarterback Will Levis threw a reckless pass that should’ve been thrown out of bounds instead of lofted to where Stevenson could take it 43 yards to the end zone midway through the fourth quarter.
There were rumors of Eberflus possibly being on the hot seat after back-to-back losing seasons in Chicago, but it likely helped his cause that he turned the defense into a formidable unit, which came up clutch in Week 1. The Bears’ defense held the Titans scoreless in the second half.
Williams and his star-studded offense got most of the attention in the offseason, but it’s clear that it’s going to take them time to get on the same page. Williams went 14-of-29 for only 93 yards, but he didn’t register an interception, which Levis did twice (plus a lost fumble). Overall, the Bears’ offense recorded 148 total yards with 84 rushing yards. Wide receivers Keenan Allen, DJ Moore and Rome Odunze were each held under 36 receiving yards.
Titans coach Brian Callahan also saw a rough performance from his offense during his head-coaching debut. Callahan struggled to make adjustments and get his playmakers into a rhythm, but his second-year quarterback did him no favors by forcing costly throws.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Five Things We Learned From NFL Week 1.
