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Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow hit rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase with passes 17 and 13 yards on a drive that even pulled the Bengals with the Minnesota Vikings just before halftime at 7.
The two yard touchdown pass from Burrow to Tee Higgins was set up by a pass interference penalty on Minnesota.
On the previous drive, Kirk Cousins met Adam Thielen for a 5-yard touchdown to top off a 91-yard drive for the Vikings.
Burrow, who plays on a surgically repaired left knee, has been fired twice after completing 7 of his first 9 passes.
Ryan Fitzpatrick left his first game as Washington’s starting quarterback in the middle of the second quarter after being hit by Chargers edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu. Fitzpatrick was helped to his feet, but then sank back onto the lawn.
The 38-year-old eventually walked away with coaches and waved to the fans before heading down the tunnel. Fitzpatrick was replaced by Taylor Heinicke, who was a surprise star in Washington’s playoff loss to Tampa Bay.
The Cardinals outside linebacker sacked Ryan Tannehill three times in the first quarter and stole the ball from Tannehill to set up Arizona’s lone touchdown. Jones has easily beaten the Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan in Lewan’s first second leg since tearing his right ACL in mid-October last season.
Arizona leads Tennessee 10-0 at the end of the first quarter and has beaten the Titans on the offensive with 80 to minus 1 yard. Tennessee’s only first down of the game came on a fake punt when Mathias Farley Safety hit Amani Hooker with a 6 yard pass.
San Francisco running back Raheem Mostert is questioning whether he will return to Detroit after a knee injury in the first quarter, which sent him to the sidelines where he stood without a helmet.
The team’s running back had two carries for 20 yards against the Lions. Rookie running back Elijah Mitchell, a sixth-round pick, had a 38-yard tie-break in the second quarter to put the Niners 14-7 ahead.
The Alabama Heisman Trophy winner picked up an 18-yard pass from Jalen Hurts in the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons for the Eagles’ first touchdown of the season.
Smith was released after a small pick from Zach Ertz and beat Fabian Moreau in the left corner of the end zone to give Philadelphia a 7-3 lead.
Interestingly, it was the same part of the same end zone at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that Smith caught a touchdown pass in extra time to give Alabama a stunning win over Georgia in the 2018 national championship game.
Smith was the tenth overall pick and one of six record breaking Alabama players selected in the first round of this year’s draft.
The vaunted offensive of the Tennessee Titans stumbles over the start of the season. The Arizona Cardinals have penalty problems again, but are still 10-0 ahead of Tennessee.
The Titans added seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones to an offensive that featured AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Derrick Henry and Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown. But Tennessee went three-and-off in its opening streak, then Chandler Jones fired Ryan Tannehill and stole the ball in the second game of the next drive.
Arizona’s manager Kliff Kingsbury has already used two of his time outs and the Cardinals have four penalties for 29 yards. Tennessee held Arizona and Kyler Murray to a Matt Prater field goal on its inaugural streak after scoring on Aug.
Corey Peters won the Tannehill fumble back and was expelled within the 1. Murray hit DeAndre Hopkins for a 5 yard TD pass after another penalty for a 10-0 lead mid-first quarter.
Maia Chaka is making history today and is the first black woman to run an NFL game.
Chaka said in the official NFL pre-game Instagram post that « it’s a privilege to have been chosen to represent women and women of color in America’s most popular sport. »
The Carolina Panthers waited less than an hour before kick-off to announce that starting linebackers Shaq Thompson and Jermaine Carter had changed their shirt numbers.
This could potentially be construed as a competitive advantage for the Panthers, considering rookie Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, making his first NFL start, has been preparing all week in training to see Thompson and Carter in theirs previous numbers. However, an NFL spokesman said there was no rule that clubs must make jersey number changes public before the start of the regular season.
The new NFL rules allow players to change their numbers this year if they would be willing to pay a set fee. At the start of this off-season Panthers Wide Receiver D.J. Moore changed his number from 12 to 2.
The San Francisco 49ers pursued their plan to play rookie quarterback Trey Lance to replace Jimmy Garoppolo, and gave the No. 3 a total of two snapshots on their second drive in Detroit.
Lance hit receiver Trent Sherfield on a 5 yard play action pass to help the 49ers take a 7-0 lead towards the end of the first quarter.
Justin Herbert looked sharp even though he didn’t play preseason, and Austin Ekeler’s hamstring looks good. That made for a quick start for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Herbert made his first six passes, Ekeler stormed for a 3-yard touchdown and the Chargers took a 7-0 lead against Washington less than six minutes after the start of the game. Washington’s defense, which finished second in the NFL last season, offered little resistance and helped L.A. with a red zone penalty.
The Buffalo Bills stood on the sidelines instead of retiring to their locker room to hear the national anthem for the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This is a change from last season and their preseason game against the Green Bay Packers last month when the entire Bills team waited in the locker room for the national anthem to be played.
Bill’s recipient Cole Beasley was greeted with a mixture of cheers and boos when he was introduced to the starters. Beasley was the team’s most vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccinations, even posting a song in July about not wanting to be vaccinated.
A native of Corryton, Tennessee, Knauss was among 13 Americans killed in the recent attack on Kabul airport in Afghanistan. Knauss served in the US Army’s 9th Battalion, 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne).
The Titans, like the rest of the NFL, celebrated the 20th anniversary of September 11th and used season ticket members who are veterans to display four U.S. flags on the field carried by a B-52 Overpass from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana was covered.
The first full Sunday of the NFL season kicks off with seven new head coaches making their debuts on their respective teams. Two games will feature an all-rookie coach-up match.
Urban Meyer from Jacksonville gets his first chance in professional football after a long and successful time as a college coach. He’ll have # 1 rookie Trevor Lawrence below the middle when the Jaguars battle the Houston Texans, who also have a new coach in David Culley.
The Eagles and new coach Nick Sirianni competed against the Atlanta Falcons, who hired Arthur Smith in the off-season.
The other three head coaches making their debut in the early games include Brandon Staley of Chargers, Dan Campbell of Lions and Robert Saleh of Jets.
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