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The NFL’s launch of the 2025 season was a success. It had something for everyone.
Running into… the Ex – Aaron Rodgers donned the Steelers uniform while Justin Fields, who let Pittsburgh to join the Jets, was suited up on game day as each quarterback faced his prior season’s team that parted with each of them after their respective 2024 campaigns.
The quality of quarterback play was top notch for each combatant, but one has to go home with the loss. It was Fields although he played one of his best NFL games, especially compared to issues he had with timing and vision in the pocket in previous seasons.
Aaron Rogers played very well, but instead of him making a play off his back heel, or ad-libbing, it was a kicker who furnished the winning score. Rogers enjoyed – as noted in the post-game press conference – his awareness of cat calls from Jets fans, and some former teammates who were hoping to get their schadenfreude fix at MetLife Stadium.
The battle of Ohio - Joe Burrow and the Bengals were able to hang on against a Browns squad whose defensive line knocked Burrow around early and often. Joe delivered when it mattered, and Browns fans, who have a 40-something quarterback and probably one of the weakest receiving corps in the league played above their heads at a stadium they’ll part in at least two seasons. Cincinnati escaped the shores of Lake Erie with a 17-16 win.
The best team on the losing end of the score last Sunday – The Seattle Seahawks faced the already injury-plagued San Francisco 49ers, whose elite tight end and eventual Hall-of-Fame offensive tackle were two of at least a handful of athletes not available for action. Purdy, The Niners’ QB, suffered an injury in the game that will keep him sidelined for at least five weeks. San Francisco started their season in the loudest stadium against a Seattle defense that is not quite Legend of Doom era good as they were in their Super Bowl years, but they were very solid. Seattle fought hard, flew around the ball on defense, and Sam Darnold, the Seahawks much traveled signal caller, already looks comfortable. The hosts were at the wrong end of the 17-13 final score.
A tale of two QBs – If you’re thinking Minnesota’s JJ McCarthy and Chicago’s Caleb Williams on Monday Night Football, think again. It was more like JJ McCarthy and… well… JJ McCarthy. The University of Michigan alum salvaged his first three corners of panic with the pigskin to make a 180-degree turn in the final stanza, saddening the host Bears fans and their fans with a 27-24 win.
McCarthy spent the first three quarters in a dirty pocket and responded to the pass rush and tight coverage (for a while) in a fully flustered state. The Vikings defense adjusted int eh second half and set up McCarthy with a few stops to facilitate the comeback.
MVP Bowl – The 2024 MVP who is also best current football player on planet Earth and another guy who has hoisted the MVP trophy, Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, served up the best thing on the Week 1 NFL menu appropriately serve in prime time with no other contest in its way on the nationally televised Sunday Night Football telecast.
The Bills’ 41-year-old kicker Matt Prater, who was born on my 20th birthday, mailed a game-winning field goal as time expired to punctuate Buffalo’s 18 unanswered points when they faced a 40-25 deficit with five minutes left in the ballgame. The Bills won their final home opener in “Th Ralph.”
This might be an AFC Championship rematch in the making, depending on how Kansas City progresses as each week of play is completed. Anyway, the only thing that makes me nervous about Buffalo is the LeBron Jamesian lifting the Bills so heavily rely on the big QB, Josh Allen to do for them in late games.
The Ravens are one of my favorite teams since they are THE original Cleveland Browns… not those cursed fake Browns already discussed in this column. However, I was compelled to root for the Bills as they put their first dent in the Ravens lead with a comeback that included some brute-like running by Allen.
What else? I’ll tell you what else. If you have NFL Replay in your NFL app, or if you can record the game re[lays the NFL Network will run for another day or so, also take a look at Tampa Bay at Atlanta, and Denver and Tennessee (rough Titans start but Cam Ward shows promise), and the LA Chargers 27-21 win over the Super Bowl LIX runner-up Kansas City Chiefs.
Week 2 will furnish some revenge games, and Week 1 did not disappoint. It was, by far and even though even the best teams had some kinks to work out – the best opening week in the most recent ten years of NFL action.
We’ll see if it holds up well against the best launch in a long time.
