- For the first time since September 17, 2011, Jacksonville is over .500
- 2016 saw one of the closest seasons in terms of margin of victory. In week one of 2017, 11 of the 15 games were settled by more than one score
- Giorgio Tavecchio, the first Italian-born player in the last 30 years, became the first player to kick two 50+ yard field goals in his first game. Moved up from the practice squad after Sebastian Janikowski went on IR, Tavecchio sailed his first kickoff through the uprights and went 4-for-4 on field goals
- Atlanta won in Chicago for the first time in 34 years. Chicago had won the previous six meetings at Soldier Field
- The highest-finishing consensus top 12 ranked fantasy quarterback (standard scoring) was Marcus Mariota, at 8th. Above him finished DeShone Kizer, Tyrod Taylor, Carson Wentz, Trevor Siemian, Sam Bradford, Matthew Stafford and Alex Smith
- How does Thursday Night football do it so well? By “it” I mean “consistently put out horrible matchups.” Four teams scored 7 or fewer points, this week, and two of those teams square off on TNF week 2. Another one of those four teams plays week 3
- Andy Dalton has had 9 games with 3+ interceptions. Four of those games came against the Ravens, who picked Dalton off four times on Sunday
- Cleveland has still not won a week 1 game since 2004. In the 19-year history of the franchise, Cleveland has only one win opening week
- His week 1 ravaging of the Colts was actually Jared Goff’s first-ever win as an NFL starter
- Two quarterbacks led their teams in rushing yards (or were tied for the lead): Russel Wilson and… Kirk Cousins, who had all of 96 total rushing yards in 2016
When I searched for NFL week 1, this image popped up. While it’s not from this week, it made me laugh because it portrays the Jets as triumphant. So I thought I’d share - Kareem Hunt had the most yards from scrimmage(246) of any new NFL player since the 1970 merger
- Alex Smith became the first quarterback with 300-plus yards, four TDs and no interceptions against coach Bill Belichick. Chiefs became the first team to drop 42 against the Patriots since 1993
- Detroit set an NFL record last year by rallying to win eight games after trailing in the final quarter. The Lions opened this season with another 4th quarter comeback.
- The 49ers only have 16 players on their roster from the end of last season, an NFL record for turnover
- The Redskins had a dismal outing, managing only 304 yards from scrimmage. Yet this was better than almost half the league. 13 teams couldn’t even top 300. So don’t despair if your fantasy team scored significantly worse than in past years (but do check out our start/sit and waiver wire advice)
- Monday night saw the first time two black coaches faced each other in their head coaching debuts
- All three of Houston’s tight ends got concussions in their horrific loss to the Jags
- Speaking of Jacksonville, their record for most sacks by a single player in a game was 3.5. Free agent pickup Calais Campbell tied that record in the first half
- The Rams scored 46 at home on Indianapolis, their highest score since beating Oakland 52-0 in 2014. Last year, the Rams only scored 89 total points at home (they played 7 home games in 2016)
- Adrian Peterson got a front row seat to see his record fall for most rushing yards by a Vikings rookie to open the season. Dalvin Cook ran for 127 yards, beating AP’s mark of 103
Special thanks to the following additional resources: The Around The NFL podcasts, ESPN’s Box scores and recaps
