What’s trending in the NFL: Overreactions from Week 1, Vikings stock rising and more

One of the more underrated things about Week 1 of the NFL season is just how perfect the buildup is to get there.

After clearing the NFL Draft, the offseason is a tough place to be for football fans. The start of training camp provides some nourishment, as does the first drive or two of preseason football. But it’s the end of August that puts Week 1 on the clock. Unlike the old days, roster cutdowns come at you with one deadline. The ensuing weekend is the first real weekend of college football. And then a few days later, it’s time to play an NFL football game, Jalen Carter notwithstanding.

There’s no doubt that everybody handled the results from Week 1 in a calm, level-headed way. So, that’s where we begin this week’s “What’s trending in the NFL.”

Bonus 5: Overreactions from Week 1

5. Daniel Jones is this year’s Sam Darnold: No matter how optimistic you were about Daniel Jones, nobody had the Indianapolis Colts quarterback having the fifth-best QBR in the NFL after Week 1. It was an impressive showing for the former New York Giants top pick, as he threw just seven incompletions, no interceptions and accounted for three touchdowns in a 33-8 romp over the Miami Dolphins. Considering what Russell Wilson did in his Giants debut, Jones may be better than what his Giants tenure would say. He needs to continue it against teams that don’t have their coaches on the hot seat, but it was a good start for Jones.

4. Aaron Rodgers is back: It’s only been three years since Aaron Rodgers was coming off back-to-back MVP awards in 2020 and 2021, so his peak form doesn’t feel that long ago. However, since then, Rodgers suffered an Achilles tear and crossed over to the wrong side of 40. You know Rodgers loved pouring on a four-touchdown, zero-interception performance Sunday against his old pals with the New York Jets, especially since he said as much.

3. Concern for the Bengals: I’d be a lot more concerned if we hadn’t seen this movie already with Zac Taylor’s Cincinnati Bengals again and again and again and again and again and again. In his six years entering this season, Taylor was 1-11 in Week 1 and Week 2 games, so merely escaping with a win is more than what we’ve grown accustomed to. With that being said, it was disconcerting to see quarterback Joe Burrow under duress all day playing behind that offensive line. Not every team has Myles Garrett, but not much has changed over the years with Cincinnati’s inability to protect Burrow.

2. Slow start in Detroit: Anybody who thought the Detroit Lions would come into the season with new coordinators on both sides of the ball and keep humming along was in for a rude awakening. New offensive coordinator John Morton has limited experience in that position, so it’s not surprising that it’s taking some time for things to come together. Speaking of overreactions, the idea of Mike McDaniel running the Lions offense someday has been hard to shake.

1. J.J. McCarthy has arrived: It wasn’t the smoothest start for J.J. McCarthy in the first half of his NFL debut against the Chicago Bears, but he eventually found his groove in the second half and helped lead the Minnesota Vikings to a Week 1 victory. McCarthy’s performance — 143 yards passing and two touchdowns, and 25 yards rushing with a touchdown — even earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Week. It was a good start for McCarthy, but I’m not sure what to make of him yet. I am sure, though, that coach Kevin O’Connell should be getting a lot more praise than he already is.

Not ranked: Game of the Year — I understand that there are 256 games left to be played this regular season, but I feel fairly confident in saying that no game will top what we saw Sunday night between the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. There may be some bigger comebacks or higher-scoring games or wacky things that leave our jaws on the ground. But Sunday’s game wasn’t just all of that combined; it was all of that between two bona fide, proven heavyweights. It wasn’t just heavy on theatrics, but it was a polished, quality brand of football that isn’t often ready for the first game of the season. Fingers crossed for Round 2 in January.

Road to Santa Clara

The five teams with the best chance at winning the Super Bowl.

5. Kansas City Chiefs: The reigning AFC champions were also No. 5 last week, but their hold on the spot has loosened a bit after a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The injury to Xavier Worthy isn’t great, but fortunately, it’s not something that will knock him out for the season. This is also a good time to remind new readers that we aren’t doing a power rankings here but instead looking at the teams with the best chance to win the Super Bowl. A one-possession loss in Brazil to a division rival isn’t enough to take Patrick Mahomes out of the top five.

4. Baltimore Ravens: Few coaching cliches get used more than a team needing to “play 60 minutes of football.” John Harbaugh is a fantastic coach but it’s hard to ignore the mountain of blown double-digit leads. The Ravens made an argument for the NFL’s most talented team. Now, they need to train their brains that every minute of a football game is being played in the second quarter.

3. Philadelphia Eagles: It’s pretty hard to draw too many conclusions about this team from its Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys, which was made funky by an hour-long weather delay. The Eagles won without their best defensive player, with Jalen Hurts as their leading rusher and with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith combining for four targets. I don’t think any of that holds up in the long haul, but kudos to the defending champs for finding a way to win.

2. Green Bay Packers: It wasn’t a dominant performance, but the Packers played a clean football game. No interceptions thrown, no fumbles lost and just four penalties for 40 yards. The talent on this football team, even with a limited Micah Parsons right now, is enough for that sort of game to result in a win most Sundays.

1. Buffalo Bills: When the Bills trailed 40-25 late in the fourth quarter, I wondered how to deal with their spot on this list. Then, Josh Allen reminded the world why he’s capable of being the best quarterback in the world on any given Sunday. The Bills needed one miracle to help Allen out, which they got by forcing a late Derrick Henry fumble.

Not ranked: Minnesota Vikings — As we mentioned above, it’s probably wise to slow the roll a little bit on anointing McCarthy in Minnesota. I have questions about what his ceiling could be, but his performance Monday night does make you wonder what his floor is. If it’s just being as serviceable as Darnold was last year, that’s still 14 wins, which feels like a wild thing to scoff at. The main thing is watching McCarthy and the Vikings do that against better competition and in high-leverage situations. Fortunately, after their early bye week in Week 6, we’ll have a long stretch, almost through the end of the season, that will provide us with some clear answers.

Bottom five

The five teams with the best chance to land the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

5. Tennessee Titans: Last week, we clowned the AFC South by saying three teams in the division had an argument to be in the bottom five, and the one that didn’t was the Houston Texans. So, naturally, the team we did include, the Indianapolis Colts, had the best performance from the division, and the Texans joined the Titans at 0-1 to begin the year.

4. New Orleans Saints: It’s hard to feel good about anything going on with the New Orleans Saints right now outside of Alvin Kamara. Is it too early to talk about trade destinations for the running back?

3. Cleveland Browns: If Sunday didn’t give you a feel for Browns football, I don’t know what to tell you. The Browns were in position to take a three-point lead in the third quarter, but a missed extra point kept the lead at two points. They were in position to win the game late in the fourth quarter, but missed a 36-yard field goal.

2. New York Giants: You know things are not going great when the coach can’t give a firm confirmation that the 10-time Pro Bowl quarterback the team signed in the offseason will be the starter in Week 2. Eventually, Brian Daboll said that Russell Wilson will start against the Cowboys on Sunday, but his performance didn’t inspire much confidence that things will look better.

1. Miami Dolphins: No team looked worse in Week 1 than the Dolphins, and the worst part is that it didn’t really look like a fluke. The offense had 43 yards in the first half. For some context, there were 12 plays of over 43 yards across the league in Week 1. And the Miami defense has everybody reevaluating their longstanding conclusions about Daniel Jones. Nobody viewed the Dolphins as Super Bowl favorites, but they have too much talent on the roster to look as inept as they did Sunday. That doesn’t bode well for McDaniel.

Not ranked: Chicago Bears — The Ben Johnson era got off on the right foot, with a 10-play drive to open the season with a touchdown. The next time the offense scored a touchdown was with two minutes left in the game. The NFC North may be the best division in football, and the Bears are getting an early dose of what it’s going to look like if they want to climb out of the basement. If the 14-wins-a-year-ago Vikings weren’t tough enough, in Week 2, Chicago next faces a hungry Lions team that won 15 games last season.

(Top photo of J.J. McCarthy celebrating with Brian O’Neill and Justin Jefferson: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)

Click here to read article