New boy Tom Brady, Washington’s comeback and angry Aaron Rodgers… The NFL Wrap

The NFL is back, like all sports leagues not quite as we know it in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but back nonetheless.

The road to Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay began with Thursday's night's match up between defending champions Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, and by the early hours of Tuesday morning we'd gotten a glimpse of all 32 teams.

Here's what went down in week one...

There’s only one place to start with our week one round-up and that’s with a sub-par Buccaneers debut for Tom Brady, Tampa Bay going down 34-23 to the New Orleans Saints.

Brady looked every bit the new boy – understandably so, given he was playing in a team not called the New England Patriots for the first time since the 1999 college season – as he put in a performance that included a couple of self-lamented “terrible turnovers”, one of them a pick-six, though, at 43, he did become the oldest player to score a touchdown in NFL history with a first-half rushing effort.

The jury remains out – as it always should be, but rarely is, after just one week – and the fact that the major problem, some obvious miscommunications with his new receiving core, looks an addressable one is reason to remain optimistic that the Bucs could yet fulfil the offseason hype.

Brady was not the only veteran quarterback to struggle in Week 1, with Philip Rivers throwing two interceptions on his Indianapolis Colts debut as they were beaten by the supposedly-hopeless Jacksonville Jaguars.

Aaron Rodgers, however, looked invigorated in his efforts to prove he’s not part of Generation Last Legs. Ticked off by the Green Bay Packers’ drafting of Jordan Love in the first round of this year’s Draft, Rodgers was dynamite as he threw for four touchdowns and 364 yards in a big divisional win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Defying all Hulk-related logic, perhaps the franchise have done a good thing in making him angry.

At the other end of the age spectrum, last year’s MVP Lamar Jackson was straight back at it, throwing for three touchdowns with just five incompletions as the Baltimore Ravens looked every-inch a Super Bowl contender in a 38-6 romping of the Cleveland Browns.

Even when Jackson was wayward, asking plenty of a wide-open Mark Andrews in the endzone, he was bailed out by some magic from the tight end. Followers of the Premier League may have heard co-commentator Martin Keown rather prematurely dish out the goal of the season award to Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Saturday, midway through the first of 380 games to be played this year. I won’t go to the same lengths with the hyperbole around Andrews’ catch, but, well, have a look for yourself:

No one has had a more tumultuous offseason in this summer of tumultuous offseasons than the Washington Football Team and trailing 17-0 at home to the Philadelphia Eagles, things didn’t look like getting much better.

With head coach Ron Rivera on an IV drip at half-time as he continues to battle cancer, quarterback Dwayne Haskins gave a rousing team talk to inspire an incredible turnaround. The famously-fragile Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz was sacked eight-times behind a depleted offensive line, as a superb Washington defensive effort, with no.2 overall pick Chase Young to the fore, laid the foundation for 27 unanswered points.

The only man picked before Young in this year’s virtual draft was LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and he looked right at home in his first outing for the Cincinnati Bengals, even if he graded himself a harsh D. He got a taste of the task he faces to help turn around the worst team in football last year, though, when kicker Randy Bullock missed a simple 31-yard field goal that would have forced overtime in their narrow defeat to the L.A. Chargers.

Burrow and Young could end up proving exceptions, but the working theory coming into this preseason-less campaign is that rookies will struggle to have an immediate impact because of their lack of practice time. If that rings true, then increasing output from players heading into their second year in the league will be even more important than usual.

One way to make that happen is by giving your sophomore quarterback one of the best wideouts in the game to aim at and Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins were on the same page from minute one for Arizona. The latter had a career-high 14 receptions for 151 yards as the Cardinals upset last year’s Super Bowl runners-up San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, and even when Murray couldn't fine him, he didn't do a bad job with his feet:

An honourable mention too, for second-year running back Josh Jacobs, who scored three rushing touchdowns as the Raiders debuted their new Las Vegas name with victory over the Carolina Panthers.