If you were a division champion from a year ago, it was a very successful start to the 2024 season. The Baltimore Ravens, the team with the best record in the league last season, were the only one of the eight division title clubs to fall short in this year’s opener. John Harbaugh’s club would lose to the defending Super Bowl champions, certainly no shame in that.
What does Week 2 hold. It’s another full slate, highlighted by an NFC playoff rematch, and a few divisional rivalries that have become pretty lopsided in recent years.
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In Week 1, 16 teams came up short. No worries, because 12 of the 58 Super Bowl champions did not win their season opener (the 1967 Packers tied in Week 1). It’s actually happened twice in the past four years, the latest example being just a season ago when the Chiefs fell at home to the Lions, 21-20, in prime time. Before that, the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened 0-1 and would go on to capture Super Bowl LV. Both teams did it the hard way.
Last year’s Chiefs had to win playoff games at Buffalo and at Baltimore to reach Super Bowl LVIII. The wild card Bucs won three postseason road contests, then beat the Chiefs in Tampa.
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The team with the longest current losing streak in the league is the Washington Commanders. In 2022, the team finished with a respectable 8-8-1 mark, then got off to a 4-5 start this past season. However, the team would drop its final eight games in 2023, and the skip continued into last Sunday in Dan Quinn’s debut as Washington’s head coach.
A year ago, the Commanders allowed a whopping 518 points, the third-highest single season total in NFL annals. Last Sunday, Quinn’s club fell at Tampa Bay, 37-20. It marked the ninth time in as many games (all losses) that the Commanders surrendered at least 27 points.
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Is it really a passing league? Quarterback play remains very important in professional football, but it would be foolish to think this game is all about one player. In Week 1, there were a total of seven individual 100-yard rushing performances. That include Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson, who scooted for 122 yards on 16 carries in Baltimore’s 27-20 Thursday night loss at Kansas City.
The seven c-notes on the ground in Week 1 were the most on opening weekend since 2014 (8). On the other hand, Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa (338) and the Rams’ Matthew Stafford (317) were the only players to throw for 300-plus yards.
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In 2017, the Buffalo Bills hired Sean McDermott and the Los Angeles Rams tabbed Sean McVay to be their newest head coach. Both sideline leaders have been successful. The former has reached the playoffs six times in seven years, while McVay’s club has made five postseason appearances and two trips to the Super Bowl-winning LVI.
Both the Bills and Rams have had their whipping boys in terms of a divisional rival, and each has a playoff win over those same teams. Hence, Buffalo owns a 13-2 record vs. Miami since 2017. Meanwhile, McVay and his club owns the same identical mark in its last 15 games vs. Arizona.
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Putting a capper on Week 1, and something to keep an eye on this week. Obviously, there were 16 games played last week. The 32 teams combined to turn over the football 41 times. There were only 12 miscues by the 16 winning clubs (3 by the Philadelphia Eagles), compared to 29 turnovers by the 16 teams that fell short on the scoreboard.
A total of nine teams played turnover-free football in Week 1, and eight of those teams came out on top. The lone exception? The Washington Commanders, who were mistake-free in the 37-20 loss to the Bucs. The Commanders finished with an NFL-worst minus-14 turnover margin in 2023.