The 32 things we learned from Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season:
1. The 2024 campaign was always going to be partially defined by its rookie quarterbacks after six were taken in the first 12 picks of this year’s draft. Three – the Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams, Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix – started Sunday, marking the fourth time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger that at least that many rookie passers were under center for Week 1. None of them played particularly well, but they’ve got time to sort out the mistakes … if not as much time as freshman QBs used to be afforded.
2. It wasn’t pretty, but Williams became the first quarterback drafted No. 1 overall to win his NFL debut in 22 years, the Houston Texans’ David Carr the last to manage it. Williams only completed 14 of 29 throws for 93 yards in a 24-17 win fueled by Chicago’s defense and special teams, but the hopeful Bears will take the W.
2a. Fifteen passers were selected atop drafts between Carr and Williams and debuted to a collective record of 0-14-1.
3. Overall, 10 teams had different starting quarterbacks compared to their 2023 openers – four of them earned victories.
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4. Yards gained by Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (on one reception), who earns this vote for the most disappointing rookie debut.
5. Better than Bill Belichick? OK, OK … but New England Patriots rookie HC Jerod Mayo, 38, who earned a ring with the Pats while playing for BB in 2014, does have the better winning percentage – likely for a very brief moment – after winning his inaugural game as Belichick’s successor in a 16-10 upset of the listless Cincinnati Bengals.
6. In fairness, Cincy rookie P Ryan Rehkow was hardly listless, averaging 64.5 yards over his first four NFL punts, one of them an 80-yarder.
7. As for the league’s seven other head coaches debuting with new teams? They went 2-5, the Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald and Los Angeles Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh notching the wins – the Bolts doing so against the Las Vegas Raiders and first-year boss Antonio Pierce, whose interim tag was removed in the offseason.
8. Sunday’s costliest mistake? Sorry, Travis Etienne, but that third-quarter fumble – when you were on your way to the end zone and a 24-7 lead for the Jacksonville Jaguars – takes the cake, especially since Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill scored an 80-yard TD on the ensuing snap. The Fins won with a field goal at the gun, 20-17.
9. For Hill, it was a nice moment amid an otherwise challenging day, part of which he spent in handcuffs after committing a traffic violation on his way to South Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium prior to kickoff. While the particulars of an apparently regrettable incident get sorted out – one of the police officers involved has already landed on administrative duty, and Hill’s agent (Drew Rosenhaus) vowed his own investigation Sunday morning – Hill was his typical field-flipping self on the field with seven receptions for 130 yards and the long TD. He now has 12 in his career covering at least 75 yards, two shy of Hall of Famer Devin Hester’s all-time record.
10. Apples and oranges, but Hill’s unfortunate run-in with the Miami-Dade authorities shared the spotlight with the new contract signed by Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, now the highest-paid player in NFL history, as part of a fusillade of Sunday morning news. The league’s first $60 million man after inking a four-year, $240 million extension, Prescott had a quieter day between the lines – passing for 179 yards and a touchdown, modest numbers after he lofted a league-high 36 TD passes in 2023.
11. The big news in Dallas’ 33-17 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns was its defense, now run by veteran coordinator Mike Zimmer, after it allowed just 230 yards, sacked QB Deshaun Watson six times and took the ball away twice.
TB12. Oh, one other bit of news coming out of Huntington Bank Field (that’s Cleveland, btw) on Sunday – Tom Brady’s debut as Fox’s No. 1 NFL analyst. Early returns? What does it matter? Brady’s already clinched another berth in the Super Bowl, Fox set to broadcast the scene from Super Sunday in New Orleans in February.
13. Speaking of Brady, if you didn’t know, his former Patriots teammate, Drew Bledsoe, apparently greatly preferred backing up TB12 to former Cowboys star Tony Romo, who now broadcasts for network rival CBS. But now, we definitively know. “Romo, you know this is true,” Bledsoe said on a feature during ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.” “The minute that he became the starter, he became pretty big in his own mind. He was no longer the curious, inquisitive guy. That was the difference between him and Tommy. … All of a sudden Romo was the guy that had all the answers.”
14. If Pittsburgh Steelers K Chris Boswell doesn’t win AFC special teams player of the week, there needs to be an investigation. Boswell scored all 18 of his team’s points, half of his six field goals in an eight-point win beyond 50 yards. He also stepped in for injured Cameron Johnston to provide a nifty 43-yard punt in the fourth quarter.
14a. Going into Sunday night, 9 field goals of at least 50 yards had been made league-wide, already a record for any week in league history.
15. Atlanta-area native Justin Fields, who was widely speculated to be a target of the Falcons early in the offseason, got the start for Pittsburgh in place of still hobbled QB Russell Wilson (calf). Fields wasn’t otherworldly Sunday but was efficient (17-for-23, 156 yards passing, 57 yards rushing, 0 turnovers) and outplayed counterpart Kirk Cousins. After a captivating – if uneven training camp battle – it will be interesting to see how quickly the Steelers are willing to go back to Wilson, if at all.
16. Meanwhile, after Cousins’ two-interception debut with the Falcons, you know the Michael Penix Jr. truthers will be calling for the veteran’s job soon enough – fairly or not. (And it’s not.)
17. Might help if some Falcons fans showed up to support the local team rather than letting Mercedes-Benz Stadium get overrun and pumped up by Steelers stars like OLB T.J. Watt.
18.New Pittsburgh OC Arthur Smith, Atlanta’s head coach the past three seasons before being fired, got a small measure of revenge Sunday. Next weekend could mark Wilson’s return – if he’s able to post and beat the Broncos in Denver in Week 2.
19. The New Orleans Saints’ 47 points in Sunday’s win were their most over in an opener … and, yes, it counts even if the outburst occurred against the (still) lowly Carolina Panthers.
20. In another first, CB Alontae Taylor became the first defensive back in the 58-season history of the Saints to register three sacks in a game.
21. The Broncos didn’t win in Seattle, but they did become the first team in seven years to record multiple safeties in a game.
22. The league’s new “dynamic kickoff” has generally been anything but during preseason and opening weekend. But the outlier surfaced Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y., where the Buffalo Bills got a 53-yard return from Brandon Codrington … who was summarily topped by the Cardinals’ DeeJay Dallas, whose 96-yard TD was the first kickoff returned all the way under a 2024 format heavily influenced by the former XFL’s approach to the play.
22a. And the new rule is having a statistical impact, more kickoff return yards already racked up before all of the openers were complete than in any week in all of last season.
23. What a return for Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins, who missed 42 of 51 regular-season games over the past three seasons due to various knee and Achilles injuries in Baltimore. But he’ll never forget his Bolts debut, when he rushed for 135 yards – the second-highest total of his career – on just 10 second-half carries and scored on a 12-yard run in Harbaugh’s victorious debut.
24. Who says a Wolverine (Harbaugh) and Buckeye (Dobbins) can’t collaborate in a positive manner? “It’s good. We are the same side now,” said Dobbins, who terrorized Harbaugh’s Michigan teams when he played for Ohio State. “That’s all I can say, and we’re going to keep working together.”
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield is on pace to throw for an NFL-record 68 TD passes this season after posting four in a 37-20 rout of the Commanders. Incidentally, it’s early.
26. The Philadelphia Eagles offense seems certain to look significantly different in 2024 – and not just because RB Saquon Barkley (3 TDs in Friday night’s win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil) is there and retired C Jason Kelce is not.
27. A team that used the least amount of pre-snap motion (35.1%) in the league in 2023 essentially doubled it in OC Kellen Moore’s first game calling plays, per Next Gen Stats.
27a. As for Barkley, he became the first Eagles player in 20 years to hit pay dirt three times in his debut with the club, the last being Hall of Fame WR Terrell Owens.
28. No “WR1” for the Pack, Matt LaFleur? Maybe that assessment will prove true. But Jayden Reed definitely became the first player of the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to have touchdowns covering at least 30 yards both rushing and receiving in Week 1.
29. Greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history? The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson rushed for 122 yards in Thursday night’s loss – the 55th time in his career that he’d run for at least 50, surpassing Michael Vick’s league record among quarterbacks. Jackson is the only man at his position to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season twice.
29a. Jackson needs 730 more rushing yards this season to break Vick’s all-time record among quarterbacks (6,109).
30. Get used to seeing players wear Guardian Caps in games, Patriots S Jabrill Peppers and Steelers G James Daniels among the early adapters to an allowance made in the offseason.
31. Uniform notes of the week – and remember, as Deion Sanders has been known to say, “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play well. If you play well, they pay well.”
31a. The Seahawks (throwbacks) and Eagles (new black combination to ingratiate themselves to the São Paulo locals) both looked very good – and won.
31b. The Bengals (newly clad as pumpkins) and New York Giants (100th anniversary, Michigan-and-the-Montreal-Canadiens-bred-a-horrid-alternate) did not look good – literally or figuratively. At all.
32. MVP of the week (to this point): Bills QB Josh Allen. He accounted for four TDs (2 passing, 2 rushing) in what’s going to be a lower-octane offense given how many wideouts it was stripped of in the offseason.
32a. Allen now has four career games with multiple rushing and passing TDs, tied with Hall of Famer Steve Young for the all-time record.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.