Week 1 in the NFL always feels a bit like the first week of school as new teammates and coaches acclimatize to their surroundings and certain players stand up and stand out amongst the crowd.
The first week of 2024 was the same as there were already many lessons to be learned throughout the league in the season-opening games.
Here are a few of the things from Week 1 that may have slid under the radar.
1. Speedy Schooler
We've got an early benchmark for the fastest player in the NFL — and it's not Tyreek Hill.
New England Patriots safety Brenden Schooler hit 22.42 mph (36.08 km/h) on a first-quarter punt against the Cincinnati Bengals. That's the highest top speed of any player so far.
2. Watson's passing woes
It's not exactly a secret that Deshaun Watson struggled in Week 1, but the way he failed to connect on his downfield passes is especially noteworthy.
Given that the Cleveland Browns were counting on Watson to lead a varied passing game this season, it was surely a letdown when the quarterback went 2-for-11 on passes that travelled 10 or more yards in the air.
No, Watson wasn't the sole reason for the Browns' 33-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but the lack of any real long passing threat was definitely a contributing factor.
3. Air Richardson
While Watson struggled to get the ball downfield, the opposite could be said of Anthony Richardson, who doesn't seem to be feeling the effects of the shoulder surgery that ended his rookie season prematurely.
Anyone paying attention to the NFL on Sunday would have seen the highlight of Richardson's 60-yard bomb to Alec Pierce for a touchdown. What they may have missed is that the pass actually travelled 65.3 yards in the air, which is the third-longest completion since Next Gen Stats have been tracking these kinds of things.
That he did it while partially off balance speaks to Richardson's insane athleticism.
4. Ice cold Colts
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Richardson's highlight-reel TD pass was one of the few things Indianapolis Colts fans have to be happy about after Week 1, as the team fell 29-27 to the visiting Houston Texans.
A season-opening loss has become something of a ritual for the Colts, though — this is their 11th straight season without a Week 1 victory.
That's quite the cold streak in season openers, but as the saying goes, there's always next year.
5. Williams wins first game with help from unlikely sources
(Getty Images)
Speaking of Week 1 futility records, Caleb Williams managed to avoid becoming the latest quarterback drafted first overall to lose in his debut — before the Chicago Bears' 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the previous 15 QBs who were selected No. 1 failed to win their first NFL game.
However, Williams didn't really have much to do with the victory as the rookie was 14-29 with 92 passing yards and no TDs. In fact, there were no offensive touchdowns scored by the Bears in this game, and it was the defence and special teams who boosted Chicago to victory.
After the Bears went down 17-0 late in the second quarter, Jonathan Owens executed a third-quarter scoop-and-score off a blocked punt and Tyrique Stevenson scored the winning TD on a pick-six with just over seven minutes left in the game.
Those were the only two times the Bears managed to get into the end zone, and Sunday's game was just the third time in NFL history that a team completed a comeback victory of 17 or more points without scoring an offensive touchdown.
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