What We Learned From Week 1 of the N.F.L. Season

49ers 10, Bears 19: The torrential downpour before the game dictated that this game would be a run-heavy brawl, which in theory should have benefited a Kyle Shanahan team. But the Bears persisted, coming alive in the second half after laying an egg early. Quarterback Justin Fields finally got a few chances to rip it down the field, finding the end zone twice, and the Bears new-look defense completely shut out San Francisco’s new starter, Trey Lance, when he needed to drop back and throw the 49ers back into the game.

Steelers 23, Bengals 20 (overtime): This was a tale of two Steelers units. On defense, Pittsburgh looked as suffocating as it ever has in the Mike Tomlin era. On the other side of the ball, the offense completely ran out of steam after finding some success with screens, flea flickers, and other cheap nonsense despite being gifted the ball time and time again. Joe Burrow’s late-game magic fell short of 2021’s standard through no fault of his own as kicker Evan McPherson whiffed a potential game-winner in overtime.

Eagles 38, Lions 35: It took the Lions a long time to make this a game. Quarterback Jared Goff was 3-for-10 with 6 yards passing and a pick-6 early, but got a boost in the second half from D’Andre Swift, who ripped off a number of chunk gains to keep the offense ahead of the sticks. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Eagles rode A.J. Brown’s 155 receiving yards to a win.

Patriots 7, Dolphins 20: Both offenses came into this game with questions about their new schemes and young quarterbacks. Only the Dolphins left it feeling optimistic about their makeover. Even with a useless Miami running game, Tua Tagovailoa rattled off 23-of-33 passing for 270 yards, a touchdown, and no picks, finding Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle for 163 of those yards. New England’s Mac Jones wasn’t so fortunate as he was constantly under siege, making it difficult to do anything but get the ball out quickly to the flat or throw up hope-and-a-prayer go balls.

Ravens 24, Jets 9: The Jets decided that making backup quarterback Joe Flacco throw 59 passes was the way to win a game. In the year two thousand twenty two. Against Lamar Jackson. The Ravens quarterback found his stride on vertical passes, connecting with Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay for touchdowns of more than 25 yards. Jackson’s contract campaign is off to an excellent start.

Jaguars 22, Commanders 28: Carson Wentz had an extremely Carson Wentz game, tossing four touchdowns (a couple of which required excellent touch) and appearing to try to throw the game away in the second half. His two interceptions led to 10 Jaguars points and jolted Trevor Lawrence back to life. In the end, Wentz led Washington on a 13-play touchdown drive to put this one away.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/sports/football/nfl-week-1-scores.html