The first week of the NFL season has officially come and gone and it feels incredible to be back to our normal rhyme and rhythm.
Overreactions are popular after Week 1, as unwise as they are, and our goal here at The Skinny Post is to never have any. We, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, know that this thing is a marathon and not a sprint and apply the proper speed limit to keep everything under control.
Here are our thoughts on everything we have seen through that lens.
Which team(s) blew away your expectations in Week 1?
They did not win by a serious margin, but I entered this season with a lot of questions about the Las Vegas Raiders. We obviously have to hold before we overreact to anything from this week for fear of public ridicule… but I really like how controlled things were.
It didn’t even seem like they were trying that hard if I am being honest. Pete Carroll’s regime is off to a nice start, Geno Smith looked comfortable and Ashton Jeanty looked a lot like the player we anticipated him to be. The Raiders always find a way to disappoint and I am certain that this will hold true again in 2025.
For now… I am impressed.
Aside from my Chargers exorcising some demons in the Southern Hemisphere? I gotta say the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones putting up 33 points on the Dolphins while also holding Miami to just eight points is absolutely NOT what I would have expected from that matchup.
Jones completed 22-of-29 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown while also finding paydirt twice on the ground. Defensively, the Colts put a lid on Tua Tagolvailoa as the former fifth-overall pick recorded just 114 passing yards to go with one score and two interceptions. All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill was also limited to just four catches for 40 yards on six targets.
It was a literal dismantling by the Colts against one of the best offensive head coaches in the NFL (Mike McDaniel) and I’m going to be very curious to see whether or not this game was a fluke for either side, or simply the beginning of two very different season trajectories.
Which team(s) underwhelmed to begin the 2025 season?
The Bengals ended up winning 17-16 over the Browns on Sunday, but I don’t think they deserved to win that game. All-Everything edge rusher Myles Garret and the Cleveland defense held Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and that high-powered Cincy offense to just seven (7!) total yards of offense through the entire second half and still somehow could not come out on top.
So while this was a disasterclass for the Browns, I’m not letting the Bengals off the hook. This team made a push for the playoffs late last year on the backs of Burrow and Chase alone. Those two not being able to get anything going for over 30 minutes of game time is insane, but this franchise has shown in the past they are slow starters. I believe they’ll pick it up, but it was another head-scratching Week 1 for the Bengals yet again.
The Houston Texans came out really flat. I know that they are dealing with a number of injuries and still have offensive line issues, but I am definitely worried.
Houston has been impressive through the first two years of the C.J. Stroud era, but it is time for him and Demeco Ryans to take the next step with regards to the era that the franchise is in the middle of. Losing a single game is not going to make any season-long goals impossible or anything and anybody suggesting so is definitely overreacting.
Still though we need to see more. It does not help that they get Tampa Bay up next.
Which teams completely and totally surprised you?
I did not have high expectations for either the Pittsburgh Steelers or New York Jets. It made sense in my mind for their game to be super boring and uneventful.
Nothing will top what Buffalo and Baltimore did, but wow this was fun. What’s more is that I think both the Steelers and Jets have futures that will be at the very least entertaining to monitor over the course of the season.
Obviously Aaron Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer and even though his own Jets tenure was rough it feels possible in our minds for him to play well.
But Justin Fields? So many people have written him off so many times. Sunday may prove to be a flash in the pan, but wow he was fun to watch.
The Dolphins scoring eight points with a healthy group of skill position players. How does that happen? They are still a track team on the field with Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and De’Von Achane. Mike McDaniel is supposed to be the next up-and-coming offensive mastermind in the NFL, but the 2024 season – and now this season opener against the Colts – have shed massive doubts on whether or not he’s cut out to be a head coach in this league.
Miami’s defense was always going to be the weaker side of the ball for them, but if your offense can’t outscore Daniel Jones? You’ve got much, MUCH bigger problems on your hands.
What went exactly how you thought it would?
The Ravens-Bills game was always going to be one of the most entertaining games on the Week 1 slate, but it ended up being another instant classic between two AFC powerhouses. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry led the way for Baltimore. Josh Allen did what MVPs are supposed to do.
If you fell asleep at all when the Ravens were holding a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, then shame on you. You missed some serious football being played between two great teams.
Vibes were (are still) enormously high around the Green Bay Packers in the aftermath of the Micah Parsons trade. That they got to play at Lambeau Field where they could harness all of that felt unfair.
On the other side of the coin the Detroit Lions trotted out for the first time without Aaron Glenn (whose Jets looked impressive as noted) and Ben Johnson (whose Bears have yet to play at the time of this writing) and therefore under a lot of questions.
The Packers absolutely smashed the Lions and may have set the tone for the NFC North this season. It felt inevitable and it bore out to be.
