By: Jason Walsh II
September 13, 2023
After six months, the National Football League is finally back. Last Thursday opened up week one of the season with a prime-time night game featuring the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions. Thursday night’s game was a dogfight between the two teams ending with the favored Chiefs being upset by the Lions in a 21-20 final. The defensive dogfight theme would carry out through the rest of the week one games, excluding a few blowouts.
The remaining week one results are as follows:
Cincinnati Bengals at Clevland Browns, 24-3 Browns
Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens, 25-9 Ravens
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings, 20-17 Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons, 24-10 Falcons
Arizona Cardinals at Washington Commanders, 20-16 Commanders
Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts, 31-21 Jaguars
San Francisco 49ers at Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-7 49ers
Tennessee Titans at New Orleans Saints, 16-15 Saints
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos, 17-16 Raiders
Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots, 25-20 Eagles
Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, 30-13 Rams
Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers, 36-34 Dolphins
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, 38-20 Packers
(Sunday Night Football) Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants, 40-0 Cowboys
(Monday Night Football) Buffalo Bills at New York Jets, 22-16 Jets
Now into some of the storylines from week one:
Jets quarterback Arron Rodges is ruled out for the season after taking just four snaps for the Jets Monday night. Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles after an awkward landing from a sack in the first quarter. The Jets played most of the game in a somber mood. However, backup quarterback Zach Wilson led the Jets to turn around in the 4th quarter and come back and upset the Bills with a punt return touchdown in overtime.
Sunday Night Football was a blowout. The Cowboys took advantage of being the favorite going into Sunday night’s prime-time game in New York. As the game began the Giants easily worked the ball down the field into the red zone. They settled for an easy field goal hoping to take a 3-0 lead. However, Dallas blocked the kick and returned it for a touchdown to go up 7-0. From there on the Giants struggled, their game was filled with a heavy Cowboys rush, interceptions, and fumbles. Both the Giants’ offense and defense seemed non-existent.
The undefeated preseason favorite Pittsburgh Steelers were blown out in their home opener. The 49ers coming off of an NFC Championship game appearance dominated the Steelers Sunday afternoon. They forced the Steelers into complete disarray. Second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett struggled in the passing game against the 49ers pressure and secondary. The Steelers were not able to find their rhythm all afternoon with poor offensive play calling. San Fransico took advantage of this holding down the Steeler’s offense and exposing the Steeler’s secondary to put up 30 points.
The underdog Clevland Browns held down their AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals in a downpour Sunday afternoon. Maybe the rain was Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow’s kryptonite because their explosive offense was held to only a field goal. Although Cleveland’s offense did not look special, their defense did. Cleveland’s defense was dominant Sunday, bringing constant pressure to the quarterback, covering the open field, and keeping the momentum in their favor. Clevland, as of week one, is the leader in the AFC North rankings.
Week two of the 2023 NFL season will kick off this Thursday at 8:15 p.m. on Amazon Prime Video. The game will feature the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Eagles in Philadelphia. The Sunday night primetime game will feature an AFC East rivalry between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots in Foxborough at 8:20 p.m. on NBC. For week two there will be two Monday night games, an NFC South match-up at 7:15 p.m. between the Carolina Panthers at the New Orleans Saints on ESPN. The second Monday night game is an AFC North rivalry with the Cleveland Browns going into Pittsburgh to face the Steelers at 8:15 on ABC.
