Season 104 of the NFL kicked off over the weekend and there was no shortage of drama across the opening 16 games.
There was the usual combination of upsets, blowouts, big performances and a couple of potentially season defining injuries and there’s another 17 weeks of this before the playoffs.
Geno Smith gave viewers the most relatable moment of the entire week up in Seattle as pretty much everyone would have this reaction when Aaron Donald was bearing down on them with that look in his eye.
For the sixth season we are back to review all of the NFL action on Ladbrokes with our weekly recap of the best moments, the biggest storylines and more with 5 Lessons Learned.
1: No need to push the panic button
A couple of Super Bowl contenders were well below par in first up defeats, but there’s no need to write them off just yet.
Kansas City looked horribly disjointed and at times flat out bad in their loss at home to Detroit.
Patrick Mahomes didn’t have his best game as the Lions frustrated him all night, although some of the blame does have to go to his receivers who did him no favours.
Aidan Hutchinson didn’t record a sack, but he was disruptive presence in the backfield all night and the Chiefs will have to get that line sorted out quickly.
Meanwhile Joe Burrow had a week of extremes, first becoming the highest paid player in the NFL after signing a five year extension with the Bengals.
Then a few days later he went out and got belted by his apparent nemesis in the Cleveland Browns.
That moved his career record against the Bengals in-state rival to 1-5.
It’s not time to jump off either bandwagon just yet though, both teams will be able to chalk it up to a bad day at the office.
Mahomes was definitely missing his favourite target Travis Kelce but if the tight end is out for a few weeks, he will have plenty of time to prepare with the other pass catchers before their Week 2 outing.
As for Burrow there is just something about the Browns that gives him fits compared to the rest of the league, but after missing preseason, a slow start should have been foreseen.
2: Points are at a premium
One thing the opening weekend of the season did not deliver was points, with 13 of the 16 games going under the total points number.
Heading into the Monday night game, there were 618 points scored across the weekend at an average of just 41 points a game.
With plenty of players now sitting out preseason and enjoying a much more laidback training camp than what there used to be (just ask any former player), some teams are going to need a few weeks to get going.
Not that it was an issue for the Chargers and Dolphins who engaged in a track meet at SoFi Stadium with the Dolphins coming out on top 36-34.
Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill had a field day on the Chargers secondary who decided their best course of action was to let Hill do whatever he wanted.
It was an odd strategy but when you’re facing a guy with that much speed, it can be tough to keep up.
The question now is what do the Dolphins have in store next week when they head to New England to take on a tough Patriots defence that kept the Eagles largely in check.
3: Growing pains
A trio of rookie quarterbacks got their first exposure to live NFL action and it’s fair to say they all have a long way to go, even with some promising signs.
First overall pick Bryce Young made some good throws including his first career touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as the Panthers went down to the Falcons.
Texans quarterback CJ Stroud is going to need some help from his offensive line because he was under constant pressure from Baltimore’s front.
Considering they let rookie David Carr get belted into submission in his first season back in 2002, Houston should know all too well how they can screw up a rookie quarterback.
The same applies to Anthony Richardson and the Indianapolis Colts after he was on the wrong end of some big hits from the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line.
Trevor Lawrence, who had a rough rookie campaign himself had some words of advice for Richardson after the game.
There’s a long way to go for all three of those guys but they have to treat this year as a learning experience.
4: Dallas means business
It’s only September so you don’t want to overreact to the good and the bad, but it’s impossible not to be impressed by the Cowboys absolute demolition of the New York Giants.
Beating your divisional rival is one thing, belting them in every facet of the game in their home stadium is a whole other thing.
New York set all sorts of records and none of which are ones they are going to be happy to claim.
Remarkably the first drive started off on a decent note with the Giants driving down and getting a field goal attempt… which the Cowboys blocked and returned for a touchdown.
Micah Parsons got his Defensive Player of the Year case off to a good start, when he wasn’t disrupting the Giants backfield himself, he had so many players trying to block him, he was freeing up space for teammates.
There are still plenty of things that could go wrong for the Cowboys between now and February, and knowing their history something will, but for now, you just have to be impressed.
5: Life comes at you fast
Especially if you are the New York Jets, who entered the season full of hope after acquiring Aaron Rodgers.
Considered by many to be a legitimate threat not just in the division, but the entire AFC their season might have come to an end on their fourth offensive play when Rodgers went down with an injury.
There was no shortage of speculation on what the injury was but needless to say, it did not look good for the 39 year old as he was helped on to a cart.
They spent their offseason tailoring their offence to Rodgers’ preferences, bringing in Nathaniel Hackett who worked with him in Green Bay, plus a couple of his favourite targets in Randall Cobb and Alan Lazard.
And on the fifth play they had to go back to Zac Wilson who was, to put it lightly, not overly popular in the locker room during his first two seasons.
It did not go well early.
Long time fans of the NFL will have without a doubt dipped into the cliché bucket for this line which continues to ring true five decades on: Classic Jets.
However it wasn’t all bad for the Jets, as they capitalised on four Josh Allen turnovers to get a massive season opening win thanks to their rookie punt returner.
Counting on that sort of play week in, week out is not a recipe for sustained success, but it will stop them from bottoming out completely.
If Rodgers is done for the season though, their playoff hopes are just about done.