This is the day that most football fans have been waiting for since the Super Bowl back in February. Nothing against the Thursday night game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, but opening Sunday of the NFL season is like a football fan’s Christmas. With 13 games on the opening week schedule, there was plenty of things that transpired in almost 12 hours of football. For those who didn’t have a chance to watch all of the games or might have missed something, lets catch you up on the opening Sunday with a weekly recap of the seven things you might have missed.
1. Kansas City Opened Their Season Picking Up Where They Left Off
2. Not One Flag, Not Two Flags, but 18 Penalty Flags
Week one wasn’t very kind to the Cleveland Browns. Besides Baker Mayfield being intercepted three times, including one of them being returned for a touchdown, the Browns committed the most penalties (18) in a single game since 1951. The game went downhill after Cleveland committed four penalties on a single drive that led to a Tennessee Titans touchdown in the second quarter. After that series, Cleveland lost their starting left tackle, Greg Robinson, due to an ejection and the team couldn’t escape the yellow flags flying against them the rest of the game. Only the Oakland Raiders (23 penalties in 2016) have committed more penalties in a single game.
3. Missed Kicks Everywhere
Kicking struggles continued in the NFL on Sunday. A total of eight field goals and five extra points were missed in the 13 games played in week one. Indianapolis Colts kicker, Adam Vinarieri, the league’s oldest kicker, missed two field goals and an extra point in the Colts overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
4. Speaking of the Colts and Chargers, This Game Also Had the Highlight of the Week.
5. Mr. Perfect Shows Up Not Once, but Twice on Sunday
Lamar Jackson couldn’t have imagined his opening day of the 2019 season ending up like this. Not only did his Baltimore Ravens score 59 points against the Miami Dolphins, he finished the day with a picture perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. Lamar finished the game going 17 for 20 for 324 yards and five touchdown passes in the 49 point victory. He started the game completing his first nine passes for 204 yards and threw four of his five touchdown passes in the team’s first 11 minutes with the ball. The last time he had a game similar to this was when he was at Louisville. On September 1st 2016, he went 17 for 23 for 286 yards and 6 touchdowns against Charlotte. His passer rating was 264.5 on that day.
Not to be outdone, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott had a perfect day of his own. After the New York Giants took an early 7-0 lead, Prescott went to work. The next four possessions, Prescott threw four touchdown passes including three of them over 20 yards as the Cowboys took control of the game. He finished 25 for 32 for 403 yards and four touchdown passes. It was his second career 400-yard passing game.
6. Pass Catchers Having Big Games And Plays
Week one included:
- 16 players having 100 or more receiving yards in a game. (Chicago’s Allen Robinson had 102 on Thursday night)
- 8 players had three or more catches over 20 yards or more (Robinson had 3 on Thursday night)
- 6 players had two catches of 40 yards or more
- 11 touchdown catches were 40 yards or longer, including 4 of them over 68 yards
- John Brown having all 7 of his catches on the day and they all were either a first down or a touchdown (Evan Engram led the day 8 with combined)
7. Kyler Murray’s Fourth Quarter Magic
The Arizona Cardinals and their fans looked at a 24-6 defect to start the fourth quarter as nothing they have not seen over the last few years. A bleak start to another season with more issues at the quarterback position. But in the span of one quarter, the fate of the franchise going forward might have changed. One rookie quarterback wearing number one, who was also the number one overall pick in last April’s NFL draft, provided the fan base something to cheer about. Kyler Murray spent three quarters looking out of place and Cardinal fans were wondering if new head coach Kiff Kingsbury’s signal-caller was the right fit.
Murray erased everyone’s doubts by completing 15 of 19 in the final quarter and led the team on three scoring drives. He threw two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion as the Cardinals erased an 18 point defect and sent the game into overtime. Even though the Cardinals and Lions finished in a 27-27 tie, Arizona might have found a star in the former Oklahoma signal-caller.
