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09/16 05:00 CDT NFL teams only need to look back a year to see how little a
Week 1 loss might mean
NFL teams only need to look back a year to see how little a Week 1 loss might
mean
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Pro Football Writer
With a nearly seven-month wait since the Super Bowl for meaningful NFL games,
it's only natural for Week 1 to fuel some overreactions.
What happened last season was the latest example of why that might not be wise.
The Seattle Seahawks won the title against the New England Patriots in February
in the only Super Bowl matchup ever played between two teams that started the
season with a loss. Seattle lost to division rival San Francisco but got
revenge in a blowout win in the playoffs. The Patriots shockingly lost at home
to the Las Vegas Raiders, who won just two more games the entire season and
wound up with the No. 1 overall draft pick.
That should be good news for the Los Angeles Rams, who came into the season as
heavy Super Bowl favorites only to lose their opener 27-7 to San Francisco in
Australia last week in their lowest-scoring game with MVP Matthew Stafford at
quarterback.
In all, five teams made the playoffs last season after losing in Week 1, with
Chicago, Houston and Carolina joining Seattle and New England in the
postseason. Nearly half of last year's Week 1 winners --- seven of 16 ---
missed the playoffs, with Arizona, Cincinnati and Washington all winning six
games or fewer for the entire season.
Since the playoffs expanded to seven teams per conference in 2020, an average
of 4.3 teams per season have lost in Week 1 but made the playoffs; and 6.2
teams per season have won in Week 1 and missed the postseason.
But the Rams won't be satisfied with just a playoff bid. After adding Myles
Garrett and Trent McDuffie to a team that fell just short last season, they
entered this one with plus-500 odds to win it all.
Just 12 of the 60 Super Bowl champions lost their season opener but the
Seahawks were the third to do it in the past six seasons, joining Tampa Bay in
2020 and Kansas City in 2023.
But doing it after such a lopsided Week 1 loss would be unusual. Only one
eventual champion, New England, lost the opener by at least 20 points. The
Patriots lost 31-0 in Week 1 to Buffalo in 2003 before winning 34 of 37 games
the rest of 2003 and '04 to win back-to-back titles.
New York teams get off to rare winning start The New York City area has been at the bottom of the NFL over the past decade, with the New York Jets having the league's worst record since 2016 and the Giants ranking second-worst. That's what made the start of this season so surprising. The Jets beat Tennessee 23-10 on Sunday afternoon and the Giants upset Dallas 28-20 on Sunday night. That marked the first time both those teams won in Week 1 since 2009. Both had lost the opener in five of the last seven years. With both teams taking a 1-0 record into Week 2, this is just the second season since the start of 2016 that both the Jets and Giants had winning records at the same time. It also happened for a 10-week stretch in 2022, ending after the Jets lost in Week 15 to fall to 7-7 on the way to a 7-10 finish. There have only been five times that both teams made the playoffs in the same season. It happened in 2006, 2002, 1986, 1985 and 1981.
New coaches get off to a winning start Coach John Harbaugh won his debut with the Giants as part of a winning weekend overall for the record-tying 10 new head coaches. Six of the 10 opened with victories, including two in head-to-head matchups, with Mike McCarthy's Pittsburgh Steelers beating Kevin Stefanski's Atlanta Falcons, and Klint Kubiak's Las Vegas Raiders beating Jeff Hafley's Miami Dolphins. The other winners were Arizona's Mike LaFleur against the Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore's Jesse Minter against Indianapolis, and Buffalo's Joe Brady beating Houston. The other two losing coaches were Tennessee's Robert Saleh against the Jets and Cleveland's Todd Monken against Jacksonville.
Rough start for the NFC South One season after Carolina won the division and became the fifth team to make the playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike season, the NFC South got off to a rough start in 2026. The Panthers lost 59-37 to Chicago and their three division rivals also lost. Tampa Bay fell 33-27 to Cincinnati, New Orleans lost 31-30 to Detroit in overtime and Atlanta fell 20-13 to Pittsburgh. This marked just the eighth time since the merger that every team in one division lost in Week 1. That last happened with the NFC North in 2021. The offenses weren't the issue. Three of the teams topped 30 points and had 107 combined points, the most in any week for a division without a single win, topping the 100 for the NFC North teams in Week 2 of the 2023 season.
Odds and ends Here are a few other statistical standouts from Week 1: --- The Philadelphia Eagles won their sixth straight opener as Nick Sirianni became the only coach in NFL history to appear in at least six openers and win them all. That's the longest active winning streak in Week 1. The last team to have a longer streak was Kansas City with eight straight from 2015-22. --- Carson Wentz replaced an injured Kyler Murray to throw three TD passes and no interceptions in a 39-22 win for Minnesota over Green Bay. The only other QB to come off the bench in an opener and throw at least three TDs and no INTs since starts were first tracked in 1950 was Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, who did it in the first game in Vikings history in 1961 against Chicago. --- Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt had two sacks and a pick-6 in a win over Atlanta. Watt now has 117 sacks and 10 interceptions in his career, joining Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only players with at least 100 sacks and 10 INTs. --- Bijan Robinson was nearly the entire offense for the Falcons with 83 yards rushing, 90 yards receiving and the team's only TD in the loss to the Steelers. Robinson had 65.8% of the offense for the Falcons and 10 of the team's 19 targets in the passing game. The last running back who had at least half of his team's targets was LaDainian Tomlinson with 15 of 28 for the Chargers in Week 17 of the 2003 season against the Raiders. ___ Inside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here. ___ See AP's full NFL coverage here
New York teams get off to rare winning start The New York City area has been at the bottom of the NFL over the past decade, with the New York Jets having the league's worst record since 2016 and the Giants ranking second-worst. That's what made the start of this season so surprising. The Jets beat Tennessee 23-10 on Sunday afternoon and the Giants upset Dallas 28-20 on Sunday night. That marked the first time both those teams won in Week 1 since 2009. Both had lost the opener in five of the last seven years. With both teams taking a 1-0 record into Week 2, this is just the second season since the start of 2016 that both the Jets and Giants had winning records at the same time. It also happened for a 10-week stretch in 2022, ending after the Jets lost in Week 15 to fall to 7-7 on the way to a 7-10 finish. There have only been five times that both teams made the playoffs in the same season. It happened in 2006, 2002, 1986, 1985 and 1981.
New coaches get off to a winning start Coach John Harbaugh won his debut with the Giants as part of a winning weekend overall for the record-tying 10 new head coaches. Six of the 10 opened with victories, including two in head-to-head matchups, with Mike McCarthy's Pittsburgh Steelers beating Kevin Stefanski's Atlanta Falcons, and Klint Kubiak's Las Vegas Raiders beating Jeff Hafley's Miami Dolphins. The other winners were Arizona's Mike LaFleur against the Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore's Jesse Minter against Indianapolis, and Buffalo's Joe Brady beating Houston. The other two losing coaches were Tennessee's Robert Saleh against the Jets and Cleveland's Todd Monken against Jacksonville.
Rough start for the NFC South One season after Carolina won the division and became the fifth team to make the playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike season, the NFC South got off to a rough start in 2026. The Panthers lost 59-37 to Chicago and their three division rivals also lost. Tampa Bay fell 33-27 to Cincinnati, New Orleans lost 31-30 to Detroit in overtime and Atlanta fell 20-13 to Pittsburgh. This marked just the eighth time since the merger that every team in one division lost in Week 1. That last happened with the NFC North in 2021. The offenses weren't the issue. Three of the teams topped 30 points and had 107 combined points, the most in any week for a division without a single win, topping the 100 for the NFC North teams in Week 2 of the 2023 season.
Odds and ends Here are a few other statistical standouts from Week 1: --- The Philadelphia Eagles won their sixth straight opener as Nick Sirianni became the only coach in NFL history to appear in at least six openers and win them all. That's the longest active winning streak in Week 1. The last team to have a longer streak was Kansas City with eight straight from 2015-22. --- Carson Wentz replaced an injured Kyler Murray to throw three TD passes and no interceptions in a 39-22 win for Minnesota over Green Bay. The only other QB to come off the bench in an opener and throw at least three TDs and no INTs since starts were first tracked in 1950 was Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, who did it in the first game in Vikings history in 1961 against Chicago. --- Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt had two sacks and a pick-6 in a win over Atlanta. Watt now has 117 sacks and 10 interceptions in his career, joining Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only players with at least 100 sacks and 10 INTs. --- Bijan Robinson was nearly the entire offense for the Falcons with 83 yards rushing, 90 yards receiving and the team's only TD in the loss to the Steelers. Robinson had 65.8% of the offense for the Falcons and 10 of the team's 19 targets in the passing game. The last running back who had at least half of his team's targets was LaDainian Tomlinson with 15 of 28 for the Chargers in Week 17 of the 2003 season against the Raiders. ___ Inside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here. ___ See AP's full NFL coverage here
