The 2022-23 NFL season is finally underway and it certainly didn’t disappoint in Week 1. Here is TIBS News’ review of the action.
Thursday Night Football
Josh Allen threw three touchdowns and ran for one more as the Buffalo Bills claimed a 31-10 over the Super Bowl Champions LA Rams.
It was a sloppy first half as multiple turnovers from both teams meant the game was tied 10-10 at the halfway point. It was the Bills who cleaned up their game and stormed to a dominant win as Rams QB Matthew Stafford continued to fall apart.
Sunday Slate
The Philadelphia Eagles claimed a tense 38-35 victory over a resilient Detroit Lions team, who scored the final 14 points of the game.
The Eagles gouged the Lions on the ground, picking up 216 rushing yards. But it was a balanced attack as Philly wideout AJ Brown racked up 10 catches for 155 yards in his first game as an Eagle. Running back D’Andre Swift was the bright spot for the Lions, picking up 144 yards on 15 carries.
In torrential downpour, the Chicago Bears shocked the San Francisco 49ers by scoring 19 unanswered points to beat the 49ers 19-10.
The Bears defence held 49ers QB Trey Lance to just 164 yards in the air, with no passing touchdowns and one pick, while Bears QB Justin Fields threw two touchdowns to one pick.
The New Orleans Saints pulled off an incredible comeback as they beat the Atlanta Falcons 27-26.
The Saints outscored the Falcons 17-3 in the fourth quarter as Jameis Winston guided a pair of lightning-quick touchdown drives, setting up kicker Will Lutz to nail the game winning Field Goal. Winston ended the game with 269 yards through the air with two touchdowns.
The week one Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 6-2-1 since 2014 as they shocked the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the sloppiest football game in history.
The team that made the Super Bowl last season never even led the game but did rally from 17-3 down and had the ball in FG range with just two seconds to go, but Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked the winner, which led to overtime where once again, the Bengals missed a winning field goal, which allowed the Steelers to go down the field and score their own game-winning FG.
The Miami Dolphins demolished a lacklustre New England Patriots team 20-7.
With a defensive touchdown, an interception, a forced fumble, the Dolphins defence dominated Sunday’s season opener, shutting out the Patriots offense on all but one drive.
The Cleveland Browns denied Baker Mayfield his revenge as they beat his Carolina Panthers 26-24.
A Cade York 58-yard field goal with eight seconds left in his NFL debut means the Browns are 1-0 for the first time since 2004 and doing it against their former No 1 pick made it even sweeter.
The Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts played out to just the 15th tie in week one history as the Colts, surprisingly, had to rally back from 20-3 entering the fourth quarter.
Davis Mills, in his sophomore season, played a great game for the Texans completing 23 of his 37 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns while Colts QB Matt Ryan threw for 352 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens dominated a Joe Flacco led New York Jets team 24-9.
It was an emotional start to the game as they paid tribute on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which MetLife Stadium sits just a couple streets away from.
In a contract year, Jackson threw three touchdown passes, including two to Devin Duvernay with a garbage time pick tarnishing an otherwise great game.
The newly-named Washington Commanders commanded their way to a 28-22 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Despite back-to-back interceptions, Carson Wentz led Washington in the final quarter with his third and fourth touchdowns of the game for a comeback win.
Kevin O’Connell won his first game as Vikings head coach after they dominated the Green Bay Packers 23-7.
Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson lit up the Packers secondary for 184 yards receiving on nine catches with two touchdowns. While Aaron Rodgers, the back to back MVP, couldn’t even muster one passing touchdown in his fist game since Davante Adams left.
The New York Giants, under a new regime, shocked the Tennessee Titans 21-20.
Daniel Jones found Chris Myarick for a one yard touchdown pass and then found star back Saquon Barkley on a shovel pass on the two point conversion to give the Giants the lead with one minute left. The Giants held on to give Brian Daboll his first win as head coach.
Justin Herbert had his 13th three-touchdown pass game of his young career, and Khalil Mack had three sacks in his Chargers debut as Los Angeles beat the Las Vegas Raiders 24-19.
Los Angeles, which won its opener for the fourth straight year, also avenged last season’s finale, which Las Vegas won on a field goal in the final seconds of overtime to knock the Chargers out of a playoff spot.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 360 yards and five touchdowns, Clyde Edwards-Helaire caught two touchdown passes as the Kansas City Chiefs rolled to a 44-21 road win over the Arizona Cardinals.
The game was never in doubt, as Kansas went into the half up 23-7 and then forced a scoreless third quarter in what was a disappointing showing for the Cardinals, with Kyler Murray throwing for only 193 yards and two touchdowns.
In the final Sunday game, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the Dallas Cowboys 19-3.
Leonard Fournette ran for 127 yards for the Bucs while Mike Evans had 71 receiving yards on just five catches. The game saw five field goals before the only touchdown of the game in the third quarter.
It was a double whammy for Dallas as QB Dak Prescott fractured his thumb and will miss at least four weeks.
Monday Night Football
In another shock, Geno Smith led his new Seahawks team to a 17-16 win over former Seahawks legend Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. Brandon McManus had a 64-yard field goal attempt to win the game go wide left after controversial time management from Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett left Denver with a fourth and five with 20 seconds left.
The first half was dominated by Seahawks Quarterback Geno Smith. Making his first week one start since 2014 with the New York Jets, the former second round draft pick went 17 for 18 for 164 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Smith was calm in the pocket, dodging pressure and found wide open receivers again and again, this all led to him saying after the game: ‘They wrote me off, I ain’t write back though.’
By Charlie Parker
