3 NFL teams that were surprisingly impressive in Week 1

New York Giants come up big with surprising win in Tennessee vs. Titans

Regardless of which team you root for (okay, unless you root for the Tennessee Titans), how could any football fans not be absolutely thrilled to see a “vintage” performance from Saquon Barkley like we saw on Sunday? It was a tremendous sight to see after three years of battling through injuries.

It’s been three years since Barkley has had a run of 50-plus yards, and this is the kind of explosiveness that made him one of the top picks of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Overall in this game, Barkley finished with 194 yards from scrimmage, averaged over nine yards per carry, looked explosive, got himself into the end zone for a touchdown, and most importantly: The Giants got a nice win on the road against the reigning top seed from the AFC.

On their home field, no less.

The victory by the Giants is even more impressive when you break down other layers. They were obviously not the favorites to win this game. They had to come back from being down 13-0 deep into the third quarter. They had to do it with a brand-new head coach going up against the NFL’s coach of the year.

Playing on the road with a two-score deficit late into the third quarter isn’t easy regardless of who you’re going against, but then you have the added difficulty of having to stop a team with Derrick Henry at the running back position from grinding out the clock. The Giants also had rookies starting on the offensive line. Even with the high expectations from some of those picks, that also was a tough hurdle to overcome as they allowed pretty significant pressure on Daniel Jones all game.

All of this to say, the Giants really overcame a lot to grind out a win against the Titans in Week 1 and their ability to finish the game is commendable.