The 2025 – 26 NFL season has officially kicked off, with week one of the NFL season in the books.
This week was as good a start to the football season as any, with high stakes nail biters, defensive showdowns, 4th quarter comebacks, and offensive explosiveness.
The season opened with a Thursday Night rivalry matchup of the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys taking on reigning super bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles. The game opened up with the Eagles young pass rusher Jalen Carter being ejected from the game for spitting on Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. The Cowboys would use his absence to score as many points as possible, but unfortunately for them, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense came to play, outscoring them 24-20 to take home the win.
The game of the week came from your hometown Baltimore Ravens, who had a strong opening game facing MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The Ravens had 3 scores on the ground, 1 from QB Lamar Jackson, and 2 more from star Running back Derick Henry, as well as a pair of touchdowns caught by Zay Flowers, and Deandre Hopkins respectively. Tragedy struck for the Ravens when Bills Defensive Tackle Ed Oliver forced a fumble from Derrick Henry in the 4th quarter in which the Bills would take advantage of to lead a successful comeback. Despite the loss, and the defenses shortcomings, being labeled as “mentally and physically worn out” by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, this game has many a bright spot for the Ravens. The Offense was churning like no other for most of the game, and they almost won what may well go down as the NFL’s game of the year.
Some of the most surprising games of the week include the Indianapolis Colts’ onslaught of the Dolphins with their freshly acquired QB newly coined “Indiana Jones,” defeating the Dolphins by a score of 33-8. Next, we have the showdown in Sao Paulo featuring Justin Herbert’s Chargers and AFC reigning champs The Kansas City Chiefs, where Herbert delivered a stunning upset, winning the game 27-21. We also saw the major underdog Cleveland Browns and Cincinatti Bengals face off in an AFC North game, where former Ravens super bowl MVP Joe Flacco faces the Bengals in week just as he did on September 7th of 2008 with the Ravens in his first NFL game. Flacco threw nearly triple the yards of Bengals QB Joe Burrow, but unfortunately for him, his kicker missed several game sealing kicks, and so the Bengals snuck away with a slim 17-16 win described by head coach Zac Taylor as an “Ugly” win.
Some of the biggest rivalry matchups of the week included The Lions heading to Lambeau field to take on the Packers, where they would get very much outshined, and simply outperformed in a 13 – 27 loss. We also saw an NFC West matchup by two potential playoff teams in the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers, where the Seahawks offense simply didn’t show up aside from receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. And on top of it all, Defensive Back Tariq Woolen was completely lost in the 49ers closing drive, giving away a sequence of easily defendable plays to lose the game 13-17. The 49ers now head into week 2 without star Tight end George Kittle, and QB Brock Purdy after injuries suffered from this game.
Other games played this week include the reentrance of coaches Pete Carroll with the Raiders and Mike Vrabel with the patriots into the NFL world. Pete Carroll and the Geno Smith led Raiders took down the Patriots with a lethal passing attack, throwing for 362 yards in a close 20-13 win. We also saw first overall draft pick Cam Ward and the Titans open against the Denver Broncos, where he learned just why the Titans earned the number 1 pick, losing 12-20, although this loss was not as bad as many expected. The Rams took on the Houston Texans in their week one matchup, where the Rams won 14-9 in a defensive showdown. We also saw The Jaguars dominate the Panthers, with Bryce Young seemingly taking another step back. The Commanders took out the Giants, as expected, in a 21-6 victory, and The Cardinals outdueled the Saints with a 20-13 victory. We also saw Baker Mayfield and the Bucs take on the Atlanta Falcons in a divisional matchup, which was close until the end when Rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka cought his second touchdown of the day to close out the game. Lastly, we saw the Viking and J.J. Mcarthy take on the Chicago Bears, where the Bears took most of the game, but then lost to The Vikings 3 touchdowns in just the 4th quarter, when they’d had none up to that point.
Tonight, catch Monday Night Football on ESPN starting at 7:00 pm eastern time.