PHILADELPHIA — The edge in Week 1 goes to the teams that know how to win. It is as close as the regular season gets to “survive and advance.” Nobody is playing with a full deck. The first game of the season is a chance for a coaching staff to see what it actually has, in actual games, against actual opponents. How it adjusts is how the ...Read more

Apparently, we have to do this again.

So, let me try a different tactic.

After the Niners’ last preseason game, I used this very space to publicly excoriate John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan for keeping kicker Jake Moody on the roster.

Clearly, it didn’t land. They went into the season with Moody.

How’d that work out?

I, like so many of ...Read more

DENVER — Sean Payton had all the balance of Cosmo Kramer.

And like“Seinfeld,” the sitcom where Kramer’s falls became part of the joke, the Broncos spent most of the first half against the sloppy Titans providing a show about nothing.

Denver threw the ball on 15 of its first 19 plays. If that’s Payton’s idea of balance, I’d think ...Read more

MIAMI — It was either a moment of denial, misinterpretation or naivete.

At least that’s what I’m trying to convince myself, attempting to explain Tua Tagovailoa’s reaction to my question about why the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback’s turnovers tend to come in bunches during his six NFL seasons.

Tagovailoa has delivered three ...Read more

SEATTLE — On Sunday, the Seahawks had so much new to debut.

A new offensive coordinator (Klint Kubiak). A new reliance on a run-first scheme. A new quarterback (Sam Darnold), wide receiver (Cooper Kupp) and left guard (Grey Zabel). A new look at Lumen Field, where green poms were spread throughout the stadium, the 12s’ own terrible towels. ...Read more

CHICAGO — On Wednesday afternoon, as the Minnesota Vikings prepared for their first game week with their 22-year-old quarterback, coach Kevin O’Connell called to mind the ineffable quality that always seemed to make the difference for J.J. McCarthy.

The Vikings made McCarthy the highest-drafted quarterback in Vikings history, selecting him ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles are acquiring Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby, a source confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday night.

NFL Network was first to report the trade. The Eagles are sending 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks for the 24-year-old who ran for 766 years and seven touchdowns for the Jags last season.

...Read more

BALTIMORE — To go, or not to go; that was the question.

It was the one the Ravens were facing late Sunday night in Orchard Park, N.Y., where they were clinging to a two-point lead over the Buffalo Bills and facing fourth-and-3 from their own 38-yard line with 1:33 remaining. It was the one still lingering uneasily less than 24 hours after a ...Read more

DENVER — Bo-lieve? More like Bo-ring!

The Broncos’ season opener lacked thunder, but featured a lightning delay. The horse was under the weather. Or perhaps he received an advanced copy of the offensive game plan.

It was one game, the first game. And the Broncos won. Can’t forget that after the previous eight seasons. But tabulating the ...Read more

SEATTLE — This was almost a column about a collection of clutch plays that saved the Seahawks' season opener. Instead it's about a team that got the result it deserved.

It's one thing to lose because of a few highlight-reel moments and unfortunate bounces. It's quite another to lose despite them.

In Sunday's 17-13 loss to the San Francisco ...Read more

CHICAGO — One thing Ben Johnson said in January when he was hired as the 19th head coach in Chicago Bears history is that the quarterback has to see the game through the eyes of the play caller.

To understand the foundation of where Johnson, the play caller, is as an offensive mind, you have to trace his history in the profession. Not through...Read more

MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins came into the 2025 season with a mantra of “they say, we do,” and used it to respond to every criticism that got doused on South Florida’s NFL franchise all offseason.

After watching Miami’s abysmal performance in the 33-8 season-opening loss to the Indianapolis Colts, I’m starting to wonder what exactly ...Read more

Longtime Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts, left his former quarterback in Miami with a parting shot Monday after his new team’s convincing 33-8 victory in the season opener.

Howard didn’t hold back in his assessment of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and why the Colts were successful ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson expressed regret Sunday night for shoving a Buffalo Bills fan in the stands after the fan had slapped the helmets of Jackson and teammate DeAndre Hopkins as they celebrated a touchdown next to the stands at Highmark Stadium in upstate New York.

"I seen him slap D-Hop ... and he slapped ...Read more

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — You weren’t wrong to believe.

They were favored, after all.

And by the time anyone pulled up to Gillette Stadium, bad weather – a time-tested tell for major moments in Patriots history – had already descended on Foxbororough.

So as rain doused Mike Vrabel’s head-coaching debut, it was no surprise to see the ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The quarterback who has donned a yellow no-contact jersey for the past six weeks sprinted to the sideline, not in search of a reprieve but in search of the risk.

Patrick Mahomes could have stepped out of bounds on a third-quarter scramble, could have avoided contact altogether after clearing the first-down marker, but ...Read more

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — A little more than seven months after the Baltimore Ravens’ painful loss to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs, they found a new low on Sunday night.

With Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass placed on injured reserve just days before the season-opener at Highmark Stadium, 41-year-old Matt Prater, signed to ...Read more

ATLANTA — Nobody is sending tape of this game to the Hall of Fame.

Not unless there is an exhibit for screwball comedies. Or a lecture on perils to avoid.

Tampa Bay’s offense could not run the ball. The defense could not get the Atlanta Falcons off the field. The Bucs kept running afoul of the referee, and Chase McLaughlin missed two kicks...Read more

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for the San Francisco 49ers in their season-opening game Sunday in Seattle.

You had a special teams unit that looked like the players had never met each other before and a kicker who missed another easy field goal.

You had star players going down faster than the stock market on a bad day — ...Read more