SI:AM | Most Notable Performances From Week 1 in the NFL

Including a cornerback who tallied a record-tying three sacks.

Williams’s (18) debut showed the Bears rookie QB will take some time to get acclimated. / Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I guess we’ll have to wait at least another year for an American men’s U.S. Open champion.

In today’s SI:AM:

🤔 Time to bench Daniel Jones?
🎙️ Brady’s lousy debut
🎾 U.S. Open recap

The good, the bad and the ugly

Week 1 of the NFL season is (mostly) in the books, with only Monday night’s San Francisco 49ers–New York Jets game left to play. It was a solid week of football, full of entertaining games, and there were plenty of players who showed out and made a big impression in their season debuts. Here are a few of the most notable performances from the first week.

Caleb Williams

Williams’s debut for the Chicago Bears was one of the most anticipated story lines of Week 1, but he didn’t really look like a No. 1 pick in his first real pro action.

First, the good news. The Bears beat the Tennessee Titans, 24–17, overcoming an early 17–0 deficit. That makes Williams the first quarterback taken with the No. 1 pick to win his first NFL start since David Carr in 2002. Fifteen QBs had been taken with the first pick in the draft since then and all but one of them lost their debut (Kyler Murray’s team tied in his first game).

But Williams didn’t do all that much to help his team win. The Bears’ offense managed just three field goals, while defense and special teams accounted for two touchdowns (a blocked punt return and an interception return). Williams completed just 14 of 29 pass attempts for 93 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

You can watch every one of his pass attempts here. Williams had to deal with a decent amount of pressure from the Titans’ pass rush, but he also missed plenty of open receivers when he had time to throw, especially on deep routes. He did show off some impressive arm strength, though, in fitting the ball into tight windows.

The list of first-round quarterbacks with less than 100 passing yards in their first career start is an interesting one. It includes draft disappointments like Justin Fields and Johnny Manziel, but also stars like Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb and John Elway. So while Williams’s debut didn’t go how Bears fans wanted, it’s obviously too early to panic.

Cooper Kupp

The Los Angeles Rams lost in overtime to the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football, but the only reason it was even close was that quarterback Matthew Stafford expertly piloted an injury-ravaged offense and led a fourth-quarter comeback. The Rams were already without starting left tackle Alaric Jackson (who is serving a two-game suspension) and lost backup left tackle Joe Noteboom and starting left guard Steve Avila to injury during the game. Puka Nacua, last year’s breakout star wide receiver, also left with an injury.

Without Nacua, Stafford leaned on Kupp as his primary target. The 31-year-old finished with 14 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. He was targeted 21 times by Stafford. Or, put another way, 42.9% of Stafford’s 49 pass attempts were to Kupp. On the Rams’ fourth-quarter touchdown drive where they took a 20–17 lead, Kupp had four catches for 36 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown grab to cap the drive.

TOE TAP COOP

📺: @SNFonNBC | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/9OUuoaOkE8

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 9, 2024

It’s been a tough couple of years for Kupp after he was named Offensive Player of the Year during the Rams’ 2021 Super Bowl season. Injuries caused him to miss 13 games over the past two seasons and he had fewer catches, yards and touchdowns in the ’22 and ’23 seasons combined than he did in that historic ’21 campaign. But he’s healthy now and apparently back at the top of his game.

New England Patriots defense

Expectations are low for the Patriots this season after they sputtered to a 4–13 finish last year, but they got their 2024 off to a great start with a 16–10 upset over the Cincinnati Bengals on the road—led by a stout defensive effort.

Defense was the bright spot for New England last season. The Pats ranked 15th in the NFL in points allowed and seventh in yards allowed, while the offense was 31st in scoring and 30th in yards gained. And they’ll have to lean on the defense again this year while either mediocre veteran Jacoby Brissett or rookie Drake Maye leads the offense.

That strategy worked out just fine on Sunday. Brissett played unspectacular, but  mistake-free football, completing 15 of 24 passes for 121 yards while running back Rhamondre Stevenson led the way offensively with 120 yards on the ground and a touchdown on 25 carries. That was just enough to hold on for the win after the New England defense completely shut down Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

Cincinnati was held to just 224 yards of total offense. Burrow completed 21 of 29 passes for 164 yards, just the fourth time in his career that he’d attempted at least 25 passes and thrown for fewer than 175 yards. Part of the Bengals’ offensive struggles can certainly be attributed to question marks at the receiver position. Tee Higgins was out with a hamstring injury, while Ja’Marr Chase was in the lineup after holding out during the preseason in search of a new contract. He was targeted just six times but did catch all six passes for 62 yards. After the game, he deferred questions about his lack of usage to the coaching staff.

Daniel Jones

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’s return from a torn ACL was a nightmare. He was horrendous as the Giants lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 28–6. Jones completed just 22 of 42 pass attempts for 186 yards and threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Since Jones signed his four-year, $160 million contract extension before last season, he’s thrown three touchdowns to the opposing team and just two touchdowns to his own team.

Alontae Taylor

The New Orleans Saints terrorized the Carolina Panthers at the Superdome on Sunday, coming away with a 47–10 victory. Carolina quarterback Bryce Young was terrible (13-for-30 for 161 yards and two touchdowns), but to be fair, he was hung out to dry by his offensive line. Young was sacked four times, including three times by Taylor. If that name doesn’t ring a bell as one of the most fearsome pass-rushers in the league, don’t worry. Taylor is a cornerback.

This is Taylor’s third season in the NFL. He was a second-round pick out of Tennessee in 2022 and has been a key part of the Saints’ defense, starting 22 games. He picked up his first career sack last year, but the Saints’ coaches clearly saw a matchup they liked in Sunday’s game and sent him on a trio of DB blitzes. The Panthers had no answer.

👎 ALONTAE 👎

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/vIjXDET3Hp

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 8, 2024

Taylor set a record for sacks in a game by a Saints defensive back and also tied the NFL record for sacks in a game by a DB.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Conor Orr is calling for the Giants to bench Daniel Jones.

• The Texans’ close win over the Colts highlights the five things Gilberto Manzano learned in Week 1.

• Jimmy Traina reviewed Tom Brady’s debut in the Fox broadcast booth. Spoiler alert: He wasn’t impressed.

• Kyle Koster argues that Fox has no one to blame but themselves for how the Brady situation is going.

• If you weren’t following the U.S. Open, here are Jon Wertheim’s 50 parting thoughts.

• Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois might have already eliminated the Irish from College Football Playoff contention, Pat Forde writes.

The top five…

… plays from Sunday’s NFL games:

5. Jason Sanders’s 52-yard game-winning field goal for the Dolphins.
4. George Pickens’s diving grab on a 40-yard catch.
3. Matthew Stafford’s throw under pressure on a big third down late in the game.
2. KaVontae Turpin’s 60-yard punt return touchdown.
1. Derek Carr’s 59-yard touchdown bomb to Rashid Shaheed.