Advertisements
Five teams – DETROIT, JACKSONVILLE, LAS VEGAS, MIAMI and WASHINGTON – earned wins in Week 1 after trailing in the fourth quarter.Eight teams who missed the postseason in 2022 won on Kickoff Weekend, while nine teams secured victories on the road. Only 1983 (12) and 2006 (11) have featured 10-or-more teams winning on the road in Week 1.
- Miami quarterback TUA TAGOVAILOA passed for 466 yards and three touchdowns, while wide receiver TYREEK HILL had 11 receptions for 215 yards and two touchdowns in the Dolphins’ 36-34 win at the Los Angeles Chargers.Tagovailoa passed for 466 yards, the fourth-most passing yards in a season-opening game in NFL history, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famer NORM VAN BROCKLIN (554 yards in 1951), TOM BRADY (517 yards in 2011) and Pro Football Hall of Famer DAN MARINO (473 yards in 1994).Tagovailoa, who recorded 469 passing yards and six touchdown passes in Week 2 of the 2022 season, is the fourth quarterback all-time with two games of at least 450 passing yards and three touchdown passes in their first four career seasons, joining MARC BULGER, JOE BURROW, and PATRICK MAHOMES.Hill registered 215 receiving yards, the third-most receiving yards in a season-opening game in NFL history, trailing only FRANK CLARKE (241 yards in 1962) and ANQUAN BOLDIN (217 yards in 2003).Hill registered his third career game with at least 200 receiving yards and multiple touchdown receptions and joined Pro Football Hall of Famer DON HUTSON (four games) and CHARLIE HENNIGAN (three) as only players in NFL history with at least three career games with at least 200 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions.Hill recorded his 10th career game with at least 10 receptions and 150 receiving yards, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer JERRY RICE (10 games), ANTONIO BROWN (10), ANDRE JOHNSON (10) and JULIO JONES (10) for the most such games ever.
- San Francisco quarterback BROCK PURDY passed for 220 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 111.3 rating in the 49ers’ 30-7 win at Pittsburgh.Purdy is the first quarterback in NFL history to win each of his first six career regular-season starts and throw at least two touchdown passes in each start.Purdy is the first quarterback in NFL history with a passer rating of 95-or-higher in each of his first six career regular-season starts.
- Los Angeles Rams quarterback MATTHEW STAFFORD passed for 334 yards and rookie wide receiver PUKA NACUA recorded 10 receptions for 119 yards in the team’s 30-13 win at Seattle.Stafford has eight career season-opening games with at least 300 passing yards, tied with MATT RYAN (eight) for the second-most such games all-time. Only DREW BREES (10 games) has more.Nacua became the fifth player in NFL history to record at least 10 receptions in his NFL debut, joining SID BLANKS (13 in Week 1, 1964), KEKE COUTEE (11 in Week 4, 2018), ANQUAN BOLDIN (10 in Week 1, 2003) and EARL COOPER (10 in Week 1, 1980).
- Carolina rookie quarterback BRYCE YOUNG, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, Houston rookie quarterback C.J. STROUD (No. 2) and Indianapolis rookie quarterback ANTHONY RICHARDSON (No. 4) each made their first career starts on Kickoff Weekend.With three rookie quarterbacks starting in Week 1, 2023 joins 2012 (five rookie quarterbacks) and 2021 (three) as the only seasons since 1970 in which at least three rookie quarterbacks started in Week 1.Stroud completed 28 passes on Sunday, tied with TREVOR LAWRENCE (28 completions in Week 1, 2021) and KEITH NULL (28 in Week 14, 2009) for the fourth-most completions ever by a quarterback in his NFL debut. Only SAM BRADFORD (32 in Week 1, 2010), MAC JONES (29 in Week 1, 2021) and KYLER MURRAY (29 in Week 1, 2019) had more.Richardson, who is 21 years and 111 days old, is the youngest player in the Super Bowl era to record both a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown in the same game.Richardson became the fifth rookie quarterback since 1970 to record both a passing and rushing touchdown in Week 1, joining DESHONE KIZER (2017), ARCHIE MANNING (1971), CAM NEWTON (2011) and CHRIS WEINKE (2001).
- Minnesota wide receiver JUSTIN JEFFERSON recorded nine receptions for 150 yards on Sunday against Tampa Bay.Jefferson, who has recorded at least 100 receiving yards in 25 of his first 51 career games, surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer LANCE ALWORTH (55 games) as the fastest player to reach 25 career games with at least 100 receiving yards in NFL history.Jefferson, who is 24 years and 86 days old, surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer RANDY MOSS (25 years and 256 days old) as the youngest player to reach 25 career games with at least 100 receiving yards all-time.Jefferson has nine career games with at least 150 receiving yards and surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famers RANDY MOSS (eight games) and JERRY RICE (eight) for the second-most such games by a player in his first four seasons in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer LANCE ALWORTH (10 games) has more.
- Jacksonville’s JOSH ALLEN, San Francisco’s DRAKE JACKSON and Pittsburgh’s T.J. WATT each recorded three sacks in Week 1, making 2023 the second season since 1990 with three-or-more players each recording at least three sacks in Week 1, joining 1998 (Pro Football Hall of Famers KEVIN GREENE and DERRICK THOMAS as well as RODNEY HARRISON).With Jackson and Watt facing off in Pittsburgh today, it marked the first game since Kansas City at Denver in Week 12 of the 2016 season that opposing players each recorded three-or-more sacks in the same contest (Kansas City’s JUSTIN HOUSTON and Denver’s VON MILLER).
- Additional notes from Sunday include:
- Cincinnati wide receiver JA’MARR CHASE recorded five receptions for 39 yards in his 30th career game on Sunday at Cleveland.Chase has 2,540 career receiving yards and surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer RANDY MOSS (2,527 receiving yards) for the third-most receiving yards ever by a player in his first 30 career games. Only ODELL BECKHAM JR. (3,035) and JUSTIN JEFFERSON (2,735) had more.
- Los Angeles Chargers running back AUSTIN EKELER recorded 164 scrimmage yards (117 rushing, 47 receiving) and one rushing touchdown on Sunday.Ekeler is the fifth undrafted running back in the common-draft era with at least five career games with 150-or-more scrimmage yards and a scrimmage touchdown, joining PRIEST HOLMES (20 games), ARIAN FOSTER (17), C.J. ANDERSON (seven) and FRED JACKSON (six).
- Baltimore linebacker DAVID OJABO, playing in his third career game, registered a sack and forced fumble against Houston. He became the third player since 2000 to record a sack and forced fumble in two of his first three career games, joining CHANDLER JONES and YANNICK NGAKOUE.
NFL Communications contributed to this column