The long-awaited opening week of the NFL kicked off on Thursday, September 12 night primetime with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers facing the Dallas Cowboys. The Buccaneers were the Super Bowl champions in 2020 and look to have another big season and retain their title. The game started out well for both teams as the score was tied 7-7 after the first quarter. The Cowboys were able to stay in stride with the Buccaneers all game and even took the lead late in the fourth. Their efforts were to no avail though as Tom Brady led the Buccaneers on a game-winning drive where Ryan Succop kicked the game-winning field goal. The following Sunday the brunt of the teams played their games. Rookie Trevor Laurence and the Jaguars took the loss to the Tyrod Taylor-led Texans who put up 37 points to the Jaguars 21. Taylor finished with nearly 300 yards passing and 2 touchdowns in a surprisingly good performance. Nobody expected the Texans to win many games this season but they were able to get the job done in week one. 

The Chiefs played the Browns in a close game that came down to the wire. The two teams matched up in the playoffs last year where the Chiefs barely won on a last-minute fourth down conversion. This time the game was decided by a fourth-quarter drive by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He marched his team all the way down to the end zone, throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to make the score 29-33. Browns running back Nick Chubb led the Browns offense with two touchdowns and even helped them get off to an early lead but on the other side, the Chiefs offense was a runaway train. Patrick Mahomes tossed three touchdowns, one to Tyreek Hill who also put up 197 yards receiving. 

The Los Angeles Chargers also got a win on Sunday over the Washington Football Team in a score of 20-16. Chargers’ second-year star quarterback Justin Herbert threw for 337 yards, getting the best of the Washington defense in the victory. The Seattle Seahawks started off strong in week one with a 28-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Seahawks veteran Russell Wilson tossed four touchdowns, two to wide receiver Tyler Lockett. Wilson and Lockett are once again starting off hot, looking to translate that success for the rest of the season. 

The last big game of week one came on Monday night football when the Ravens took on the Raiders. The Ravens were playing on a hurt roster with their top two running backs and a lot of the offensive line injured. The injuries proved to be the downfall of the Ravens as they fell to the Raiders 33-27 in overtime. The Raiders pass rush was getting to Lamar Jackson all game and limited his success throughout. The Ravens did have multiple chances to win though. On the Raiders’ second to last drive, Anthony Averett intercepted a pass from Derek Carr that gave the Ravens all the momentum. They couldn’t capitalize on the success though as Raiders’ defensive end Carl Nassib forced a fumble on Lamar Jackson that set up the Raiders for the game-winning touchdown. NFL fans are looking forward to the rest of the season, in hopes of their team making the playoffs. There’s still a lot of games to go and all we can do is watch.