WEEK 1 BIGGEST WINNERS AND LOSERS!
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
The first week of the NFL season is in the books, and there have already been many twists and turns. Some shocking victories and some dreadful losses and brutal injuries. So let's take a look at the teams that had a very good opening day, as well as those teams that want to lick their wounds, put week one behind them, and keep moving forward.
Losers
Cincinnati Bengals-
The first week was less than ideal for the current AFC Champions, to say the least. For starters Joe Burrow did not look like he was on a football field and was instead joining his friend Kid Cudi on the moon, throwing four picks and fumbling the ball once. Yes, the Bengals were able to bounce back but they still fell just short. Kicker Evan McPherson, made famous last year during the AFC Championship for stopping Mahomes and company from going to their third Super Bowl in a row, missed the extra point attempt for the win, causing the game to go to overtime and letting Pittsburgh put the final nail in the coffin. The reason why the Bengals are third on this list is because this game was most likely just a bad start, and hopefully by next week they will be ready to pounce on the Cowboys.
Dallas Cowboys-
I mean come on, was there any doubt? The Boys didn’t just lose, they basically got shut down by the Bucs defense. The Boys were barely able to get the ball past midfield and looked more like a peewee football team than an NFL team. If the loss wasn’t bad enough, the leader of the team and two-time pro bowl Quarterback Dak Prescott injured his throwing hand getting a “high five from hell” by number 58 Shaquil Barrett of Tampa Bay. Now he is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks from that injury, but coach Mike McCarthy is optimistic that Prescott will return before then. The damage has already been done - Prescott’s presence is enough to make Dallas a playoff contender, but his injury is enough for Cowboys fans to be concerned.
Winners
New York Giants-
Giants fans were not expecting that victory. It was a beautiful display from running back Saquon Barkley, running for 164 yards and scoring a touchdown. Also Big Blue’s Quarterback Daniel Jones looked pretty good, throwing for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Giants defense held the very dangerous Derrick Henry to only 82 yards. Henry is coming back from injury but he is known for bulldozing defenders and running more than150 yards a game against opponents. Brian Daboll did a great job executing all the plans with the Giants and it paid off with a huge upset win for the G-Men, which has given them an underdog mentality for the rest of the season. Let’s hope that Barkley can stay healthy and can give the Giants another 2,000 yard season which will be his first since his rookie year.
Buffalo Bills-
It was definitely expected that the Bills were going to be good this year. However, completely destroying the current Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams was a beautiful display of football. First the Bills defense humiliated Matthew Stafford, picking him off three times and only letting them score 10 points. Okay, Josh Allen did throw two picks, but he also threw almost 300 yards, with 3 passing and 1 rushing touchdown, making the Bills Mafia go crazy, breaking a lot of tables. This week one performance has given a lot of people up in Buffalo faith that this might be the year. After all, it was 1994 since they last made it to the big dance. Josh Allen has proven that he is the man for C-Town. This team was already very solid last year, but this year they look even better.