32 things we learned in NFL Week 1 − just don't ask who the best team is right now - USA Today
0. Still the number of interceptions the New York Jets defense has since the start of the 2025 season − but Gang Green was more than thrilled to open the 2026 campaign with a 23-10 win over the Tennessee Titans and former coach Robert Saleh.
1. As in who’s No. 1 in the NFL? We’ll know the answer 22 weeks from now, when Super Bowl 61 is in the books ... at the end of Valentine's Day. But as of this moment? The NFC Pro Bowl team, er the Los Angeles Rams, got blasted in Australia and will now be without superstar Myles Garrett for at least the next month. The reigning champion Seattle Seahawks survived their Super Bowl rematch but won’t have injured QB Sam Darnold until at least Week 3. The Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears didn’t play a lick of defense while besting opponents not exactly known for offensive pyrotechnics. Could the Denver Broncos, who open their season Monday night in Kansas City be worthy? A fresh batch of power rankings is only a day (or so) away with the answer, so stay tuned to nfl.usatoday.com.
2. As in the jersey number of Seahawks QB2 Drew Lock, who seems nearly as beloved by his teammates as Darnold is. “We’ve all been saying Drew has been the best two (backup quarterback) in the NFL for years,” Seahawks S Julian Love said after Wednesday’s squeaker past the New England Patriots. Given the apparent sustained dominance of Seattle’s “Dark Side” defense – and games against the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Commanders to close out September – the bet here is the champs will be just fine without Darnold for a week or two. I can tell you there was almost literally no worry about Darnold’s absence in the locker room Wednesday, other than on a personal level, based on the current prognosis of his injured hip − especially given the efficiency (113.3 QB rating), confidence and swagger Lock put on display in the opener.
2a. Expect to see a few QB2s − or at least changes − going into Week 2, with Lock set to start for Seattle. A revolving door in Atlanta and Kyler Murray's concussion in Minnesota could portend additional switches behind center.
+3. The Cincinnati Bengals' turnover margin Sunday − something they achieved only two other times since the start of the 2023 season, which coincides with their current playoff drought. But the four fumbles, one returned for a TD, Cincy's new-look defense forced in a 33-27 defeat of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were crucial on a day when the Joe Burrow-led offense accounted for just two touchdowns.
4. As in four Super Bowl MVPs who have changed teams in the subsequent offseason, the latest being Kansas City Chiefs RB Kenneth Walker III. He’ll make his K.C. debut Monday night at Arrowhead against the Broncos and could get quite a workload if the Chiefs see fit to try and protect QB Patrick Mahomes from himself in his first game back from the knee injury that prematurely ended his 2025 season.
5. The longest active winning streak in Week 1 games, entering Sunday, a mark shared by the Bucs and Philadelphia Eagles ... and now solely owned by Philly after a 24-22 squeaker over the Washington Commanders.
6. The number of players in league history who have scored 50 touchdowns in their first 50 regular-season appearances. Welcome to the club, Jahmyr Gibbs.
7. Though the game didn't turn out to be very good, the Rams and San Francisco 49ers packed 100,021 fans into the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the seventh-largest crowd to ever witness a regular-season game. Think the NFL won't be going back Down Under?
8. The jersey number of Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, who passed for 324 yards and a TD in his first game under new OC Declan Doyle, a 41-23 walkover of the Indianapolis Colts. Jackson, who won both of his league MVP awards in Year 1 under a new coordinator, didn't pass for 300 yards in a single game of his (and Baltimore's) highly disappointing 2025 season.
9. But at least as important to the Ravens starting this season off on the right foot was RB Derrick Henry, who rushed for three TDs, giving him 125 over the course of his sterling 11-year career − good for third place all time in NFL history behind Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith (164) and LaDainian Tomlinson (145).
10. The number of new head coaches this season, tied for the most ever in a single hiring cycle. The newbies went a collective 6-4 in their openers, a winning Week 1 secured when John Harbaugh's New York Giants dropped the Dallas Cowboys 28-20 on Sunday night.
11. Number of yards (on two touches) by Jacksonville Jaguars CB/WR Travis Hunter, who also had a tackle in his full-time role on defense in the Jags’ 34-10 rout of the Cleveland Browns.
12. The jersey number of Hunter, whom the Jaguars drafted second overall in 2025 – after acquiring the No. 2 from Cleveland in order to get him – to be a game-changing force and fan favorite in small market Duval County. That didn’t materialize in his injury-curtailed rookie season, and Sunday’s game was not a good barometer of what his impact might be in Year 2.
13. But it’s worth noting that – yes, after a week – the Jags are alone in first place atop the AFC South as QB Trevor Lawrence, who had four TD passes and crafted a career-best 150.6 passer rating, continues to develop into a franchise player, perhaps one along the lines of Josh Allen 0.9.
14. And Lawrence ain't yet Allen, the Bills star accounting for four TDs (2 passing, 2 rushing) in a 36-31 escape from the Houston Texans, who featured the league's No. 1 overall defense in 2025. It was Allen's first win in Houston after losing all four of his previous starts at Reliant Stadium. Bills Mafia certainly hopes it's a harbinger for a bigger breakthrough by Allen and Co., who are on a mission to win the franchise's first Super Bowl this season.
15. The number of quarterbacks in league history to throw at least 300 TD passes, the Las Vegas Raiders' Kirk Cousins joining their ranks Sunday in a 27-13 defeat of the Miami Dolphins.
16. Cousins' steady presence was why Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall selection of the 2026 draft, became the first pick since Baker Mayfield in 2018 to start his career on the bench.
17. Back to Houston, where it was a discouraging day for the Texans − and not just because the Bills dissected their defense. CB Kamari Lassiter might have won the game by picking off a careless pass by Allen but couldn't hold onto it in the end zone − and the 2024 MVP threw what proved to be the game-winning strike one play later. Houston QB C.J. Stroud also continued his alarming trend of turning the ball over, his first fumble leading to Buffalo's first three points and his second one ending the Texans' final drive deep in Bills territory.
20. But did the Jets and Mike LaFleur's Cardinals, who will meet later this season, do irreparable damage in the quest to get Arch Manning atop the 2027 NFL Draft? Just (Julian) Sayin' based on what we saw Manning and the Texas Longhorns do Saturday night.
21. The Bears and Carolina Panthers combined to score 96 points Sunday, most ever in a Week 1 game. The previous record was held by the Buccaneers (Ryan Fitzpatrick version) and New Orleans Saints (Drew Brees version), with the Bucs winning that shootout 48-40 in 2018.
22. It’s, uh, early … Week 1, etc., etc. But the Bears are, well, already well ahead of the pace to shatter the 2013 Broncos’ league scoring record (606 points) – a stated goal of second-year coach Ben Johnson.
23. Chicago scored 59 points in Sunday’s rout of the Panthers, putting them well ahead of the Broncos’ weekly average (37.9). (Did I mention it’s Week 1?) But as long as we’re talking openers, only the 1973 Atlanta Falcons scored more points (62) to kick off a season.
24. Fun fact(s), since you were wondering: the ’73 Falcons were shut out in their second game, scored 15 points – total – between Weeks 2 and 4 of that season and didn’t make the playoffs.
25. Still, we’d wager the 2026 Falcons won’t approach the ’73 squad’s nine wins – namely because of Atlanta’s uncertainty behind center, journeyman QB3 Cooper Rush forced to start Sunday in Pittsburgh in place of injured Tua Tagovailoa with undrafted rookie QB4 Jack Strand backing him up. (And sure seemed like Falcons fans on social media badly wanted to see Strand, who had an exceptional preseason, get some run Sunday.)
26. Rush’s fourth-quarter pick-six, corralled by Steelers star OLB T.J. Watt, proved too much for the Falcons to overcome in a 20-13 defeat. It also allowed Watt to join Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only players with at least 100 career sacks and 10 career interceptions since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.
27. Watt, who also sacked Rush twice, has an early bead on AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Not a bad start for a player whose future in Pittsburgh seems murky at the outset of his 10th NFL season.
28. Game of the day? How about the Detroit Lions’ 31-30 overtime win over the Saints, who went for the two-point conversion (and win) on the road before their final play came up short. Still, every reason to believe New Orleans is well positioned to contend for the NFC South crown this season after overcoming a 21-point deficit – at least temporarily – in one of the league’s toughest venues and against one of its most explosive teams. As for the Lions?
29. The number of rushes handled by Detroit RB Jahmyr Gibbs, a career high – as were his 34 touches against the Saints. Gibbs’ fantasy owners doubtless love it on a day when he had 186 yards and two TDs from scrimmage as he enters his first season as the clearcut bell cow in Motown. But that could be an awfully tough workload to maintain if the Lions are going to rely that heavily on a player who averaged 17.5 touches – half the load he carried Sunday – while in a timeshare over his first three season as a pro.
30. As a dad who's been introducing his young son to the joys of Spider-Man, props to Detroit's Derrick Barnes. But I need to work on my end-zone celebration apparently.
31. Round 1 of the NFC East teams turning over their offensive schemes to unproven coordinators who were backups in the league five minutes ago goes to the Eagles, who barely outlasted the Commanders.
32. Last – and most likely least, power rankings pending – the Browns. C’mon, guys – seriously? How much do columnists and fans have to scream until you guys put Deshaun Watson on the bench? Forever? But evidently first-year coach Todd Monken – or someone to whom he reports – is not inclined to listen, even after the Jacksonville Jaguars thrashed Cleveland 34-10 on Sunday. Free Shedeur!
