Things & Thoughts From the NFL Week 1 | 2023
The NFL season is here. Here are some thoughts and some things I found interesting about Week 1. If you enjoy the read, please subscribe.
1. I'm one of those who believe that high school isn't such a critical stage in a person's career formation.
Before you jump on me for this "outrageous" opinion, I want you to read what I have to say.
I'm not against school or its significance, but the results you can find there matter little in adulthood.
For example, in my house, it doesn't matter if my son, Ilhan, scores 100 or 85 on a test. There's not a huge emphasis on the outcome.
What I personally value more is the process (I sound like a cliché American football coach) than the result. What went wrong? Why did it go wrong? How can we fix the path?
Or, on a more positive note, what was done right leading up to those tests, and how can that be repeated in everyday life?
The idea is for Ilhan to find discipline, understanding, and the process for when he really has to face the challenges of a job or a career and then focus directly on achieving the highest performance and results.
Those A+ and As on social studies tests get forgotten when you become an adult or are looking for a job.
And just as high school results matter little, the NFL preseason and its results don't matter either.
It sounds obvious, and most of us know it, but it's for such obvious things that they put instructions on shampoo bottles.
The Steelers saw their quarterback, Kenny Pickett, have an absolutely perfect preseason. Their offense moved imposingly, and their criticized offensive coordinator generated excitement after a few great drives in August.
Some of their fans jumped, proclaiming they would be the season's surprise and that Pittsburgh's dark horse should be taken seriously.
Such proclamations lasted less than a quarter, and the way the 49ers woke up the Steelers was like when an earthquake wakes you up at 2 in the morning... it leaves you disoriented, not understanding what just happened, and a bit scared of what's to come.
It was a different rhythm, a different intensity, and a different hierarchy.
San Francisco is not a team that beats around the bush. Their intentions are the Super Bowl. If they could play it right now, they would, but they understand that it has to be 5 months before they get to that moment.
The Niners don't need to find themselves and search for "the meaning of life." They know exactly who they are, their game identity, and what makes them often unstoppable.
Against the Steelers, they not only demonstrated it but did so with admirable confidence and determination. It was like watching two teams play a different sport and easily understanding that in the NFL, as in life, there are different levels, and at least today, Pittsburgh doesn't have a seat at that table.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Steelers was how unprepared they appeared in Week 1, which goes against the pedigree of head coach Mike Tomlin.
If I were to pitch multiple scenarios of how this game would unfold, the last one would involve a Tomlin-led team with so little energy, overwhelmed by the opponent, and without answers to what was in front of them. Even the most die-hard Steelers hater wouldn't buy into that scenario.
But that's how it played out.
Week 1 always leads to many overreactions, so Pittsburgh's loss might eventually be forgotten if the team starts winning. However, it reaffirms that school grades, or in this case, preseason results, mean very little in real life.
2. Mental note at the beginning of each year: Most offenses stink, and defenses usually have the upper hand.
We need to remember this every year.
3. Christian McCaffrey's highest rushing yards in a game last year were 121. By the 3rd quarter against the Steelers, he already had 134 yards and would finish with 152, showcasing San Francisco's complete dominance in the game.
Furthermore, CMC recorded 112 yards after initial contact, becoming the first running back in the last 15 seasons to achieve over 100 rushing yards after contact in a game against Pittsburgh.
4. Brock Purdy has never lost in the regular season in his career. It's a small sample size, but he's currently 7-0.
Furthermore, in the 6 games he started, he threw 2 TDs in each, becoming the first QB in NFL history to throw 2 TDs in his first 6 games and win each.
Beyond the numbers, the composure he displayed against Pittsburgh's typically fearsome defensive line speaks to his confidence in the system and the confidence the system (led by Kyle) has in him.
He looks comfortable, without lingering doubts to haunt him, and with quality in each of his throws.
However, his best play of the game was recovering the fumble with his buttocks. The guy is full of tricks.
5. TJ Watt achieved 3 sacks against the Niners and is now tied with James Harrison at 80.5 sacks with the Pittsburgh franchise.
6. The most curious thing about the Steelers' result is that despite their thrashing, they weren't the worst team in the AFC North.
That distinction belongs to the Bengals, who seem to make it a habit to start the season with a staggering lack of enthusiasm.
Joe Burrow now has a record of 1-3 in Week 1 games, with the only victory coming in a game that the Vikings handed to them in 2021.
How bad was Burrow's performance against the Browns this weekend?
Joe's passer rating was 52.2, the worst in his NFL career.
He also threw for 82 yards, the lowest in his NFL career.
His completion percentage was 45.2%, the lowest in his NFL career.
It was also his first game with less than 100 passing yards in his career.
To put it in perspective, the only time Patrick Mahomes threw for less than 100 yards was in 2019, when he recorded 76 yards, and that was because he only played half the game as his team had a significant lead.
The Browns are 5-1 against Burrow, clearly not fearing him and having his number.
But things are about to get more complicated in the future as Cleveland has hired Jim Schwartz as their new defensive coordinator.
Schwartz is a character.
Here's what I wrote as part of the Browns' preview this season:
"With the departure of Joe Woods, the Browns turned their attention to a veteran defensive coordinator, excessively energetic, with an ego the size of Myles Garrett's biceps, and a former Super Bowl champion: Jim Schwartz.
For those new to the NFL, the first thing to know is that Schwartz is quite a character. Those following the league in the last decade can attest to that.
Schwartz earned the head coaching job with the Detroit Lions in 2009 after a successful stint as the defensive coordinator for the Titans.
In Detroit, he led the Lions to their first postseason appearance in 12 years, but his defining moment was when he got into a heated exchange with then-49ers coach Jim Harbaugh simply because he didn't like the way Harbaugh shook his hand at the end of a game. Check out the video:
I told you the guy was intense.
After leaving Detroit, his best stint was in Philadelphia, where he won the Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator for the Eagles in Super Bowl 52. Although I'm not sure if he's willing to brag too much about that performance, considering they allowed 500+ yards and 31 points toTom Brady. I guess a ring is a ring.
Schwartz left Philadelphia due to intense health issues, and since 2021, he worked as a defensive assistant in an advisory role for Mike Vrabel and the Titans.
Overall, the hiring of Jim Schwartz by the Browns intrigues me because his personality seems to be exactly what Cleveland needs."
Cleveland had so much confidence that we even saw Myles Garrett playing "basketball" as he goes after Joe Burrow."
7. We can't say that Deshaun Watson had a great game either, although compared to Joe Burrow, anyone had a great game.
Watson still needs more confidence within the protection pocket, missing the timing he had in Houston, and this led to the Tweet of the Week.
By the way, the Browns rushed for 206 yards against the Bengals, and that's no longer a coincidence.
We often talk about defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's quality in stopping someone like Patrick Mahomes, but Cleveland has been his kryptonite. Look at the numbers he has allowed on the ground since 2020:
2023 season vs. Browns: 206 yards
2022 season vs. Saints: 228 yards
2021 season vs. Browns: 205 yards
2020 season vs. Ravens: 404 yards (No joke, it looks like a typo, but it's not)
2020 season vs. Titans: 218 yards
2020 season vs. Browns: 215 yards
Three out of the six times the Bengals have allowed over 200 rushing yards were against the Browns. That's far from being a coincidence.
8. With his Sunday performance, Tua has 2 games with over 400 yards in his career.
2022 season: 469 yards | 6 TDs | 2 INT vs Baltimore
2023 season: 466 yards | 3 TDs | 1 INT vs LA Chargers
Both games ended in victories for the Dolphins, and in both, he faced rival quarterbacks that most consider as Top 10 QBs in the NFL. Oh, and here's another detail: both performances were on the road.
The conversation that Tagovailoa can't carry a team will gradually fade away. We will reconcile yearly with the idea that this quarterback can win in various forms.
Look at the pass below on 3rd and 10 with the game on the line. What more can you ask for?
The guy is quite intelligent when it comes to leading his offense; his teammates trust him, and his coach does him a lot of favors with a system that basically gives him the answers to the test.
But credit to Tua. Some quarterbacks also get the answers and still fail often.
It also doesn't hurt that the Dolphins have one of the fastest teams we've ever seen. Tyreek Hill alone recorded 215 yards and 2 TDs against the overrated Chargers' defense, and in the process, he made JC Jackson look like one of the worst contracts in NFL history.
I've gradually concluded that the Tua issue is basically aesthetic but without substance. Many people don't like how his throwing motion looks, given that he's the only left-handed QB in the NFL.
It looks weird. It feels strange - we can't deny that. But putting aesthetics aside, Tua is effective and a very good quarterback. It's time to accept it.
By the way, Justin Herbert hasn't had a single game in his career where he threw for 400 yards.
9. Players with the most yards during Week 1 in NFL history:
1951 Norm Van Brocklin (554)
2011 Tom Brady (517)
1994 Dan Marino (473)
2023 Tua Tagovailoa (466)
10. As for the Chargers, it seems like time is standing still.
Brandon Staley, technically from a defensive background, can't stop anyone to save his life.
And Justin Herbert, no matter how much praise we give him, still can't win close or essential games. In fact, it frustrates me the most because I can't understand why he's always on the wrong side of these games.
Herbert is 25-25 in his career in one-possession games. Contemporaries like Burrow (24-18-1) and Tua (24-13) are clearly above .500 in these games.
11. The Bears were basically the guy who spent weeks texting the girl, promising her a spectacular date and a night of unparalleled passion.
However, when the time came, he didn't know what to do with her. The expectations were so high because of his own words that he could never fulfill them.
Chicago had been waiting for Aaron Rodgers to leave the division for so long that they thought winning games was solely about the quarterback's departure. They didn't understand that success in the NFL requires many other factors to succeed.
The Bears fan is undoubtedly the most embarrassed today.
They never understood that they shouldn't write checks their team couldn't cash.
12. For Green Bay, the victory is more than sweet. In recent years, Chicago has been the dedication page in a book; the one that nobody bothers to look at.
But beating the Bears with Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and now Jordan Love is just a small sample of the established dominance in this relationship. It brings satisfaction, more for the pleasure of seeing the rivals suffer than for the actual value of the victory. It's the purest feeling of mastering a "rivalry."
13. No game surprised me more than the Rams' victory in Seattle. I didn't see it coming from anywhere, and clearly, neither did Pete Carroll.
I was as scared by the score as Geno Smith was when he saw Aaron Donald. (Turn up the volume).
14. The Rams piled up 426 total yards against Seattle, including 119 from Tutu Atwell and 119 from Puka Nacua, two names that wouldn't even make it onto the Seahawks' roster.
15. Daniel Jones was sacked 7 times.
At times, I felt that Brian Daboll was punishing him by keeping him in the game, in the rain, 40 points behind. It was irresponsible.
The offensive line is clearly deficient, but the Cowboys also have one of those killer defenses under Dan Quinn, which doesn't get enough credit... probably because they're the Cowboys.
Last year, Dallas led the NFL in forcing 33 turnovers. In Week 1, they kept their way and added 3 more to the tally.
16. The Broncos have lost:
7 in a row against the Raiders
15 in a row against the Chiefs
8 out of the last 13 against the Chargers.
Ugh.
17. If someone tells me that the Titans vs. Saints game was played in a torrential downpour, I believe it.
The game had 5 turnovers between both teams, including this fumble that not only led to 7 points for Tennessee but also, the refs mentioned, was not a fumble... what?
18. Here we go again, Baltimore...
The Ravens lost RB JK Dobbins for the rest of the year with an Achilles tendon injury.
When you read this, it might be confirmed that safety Marcus Williams will miss the entire year with a pectoral injury.
LT Ronney Stanley suffered a knee injury. The severity is unknown.
And center Tyler Linderbaum also left with an ankle injury.
Not to mention that the TE Mark Andrews didn't even play in Week 1... due to injury.
Sometimes, the football gods focus on making life miserable for one team.
19. The guy responsible for the on-screen graphics had a bit too much to drink on Sunday.
20. If I told a Patriots fan before the game that they would win the total yardage battle 382-251 against the reigning NFC champion Eagles, they would sign up immediately.
If I mention that they would also force a fumble in the fourth quarter against Jalen Hurts, they'd guarantee victory.
Unfortunately for them, none of that mattered.
Looking at the glass half full, New England was one of the few teams that fought back from a rough start, and that has to mean something good. Just take a second to look at how the Steelers and Giants handled their terrible starts.
21. The Patriots lost the first quarter 16-0 against the Eagles.
The last time the Patriots ended the first quarter with such a substantial deficit was against Denver in 2013, when they were trailing by 17 points.
Many of you will remember that game because New England came back from a 24-point deficit against Peyton Manning and the Broncos on a Sunday night.
It was one of the most epic comebacks of the Brady-Belichick era. Those were different times.
22. The AFC West:
23. The Bucs averaged 3.6 yards per play... and still won the game.
24. 41 rushing yards in the entire game against the Bucs suggests that the Vikings either miss Dalvin Cook right from the start or have no intention of running the ball with Alexander Mattison.
Under Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings have lost the art of running the ball, which was often their strength, at least in the Mike Zimmer era.
25. There's not much to highlight about Houston in the loss to Baltimore. Still, the defense showed something expected of DeMeco Ryans' personality, led by rookie Will Anderson, who had a significant game.
Anderson matched Nick Bosa and Josh Allen - the other one - in quarterback pressures in his debut game.
To give you an example, take a look at this screenshot. He survived a blatant hold and managed to sack Lamar Jackson by not giving up on the play. That effort is what you expect from your star rookies.
26. In NFL history, no team had ever:
Lost 40-0 Lost the sack battle
7-0 Lost the turnover battle 3-0
Had a field goal blocked and returned for a TD
Thrown a Pick-Six
In the same season.
The Giants did it all on Sunday night.
This must be celebrated.
I will write these columns every Monday during the football season. They aim to be fun. If you like them, please subscribe and share the columns with a friend.
Have a good one.
Alonzo.