NFL Week 1: Five things we liked and didn't like, including J.J. McCarthy's poise, unlikely heroes, bad vibes

Hope springs eternal until the games actually count. And the levels of hope around the NFL depend on how much you want to react to Week 1.

We only need to rewind one year to remind ourselves how quickly things change, for better and for worse. In Week 1 of 2024, the Commanders lost by 17 at the Buccaneers. The 49ers beat the Jets 32-19, and Christian McCaffrey's injuries were only a slight worry. Through two weeks, the Saints were the best team in the NFL.

It can be really hard to tell what's real and what's not this early. Starters play so little in the preseason, and even the starters that do play and do look good can struggle in Week 1.

But just because it's hard to parse out meaning from this week's game doesn't mean it's impossible. We can't come to any conclusions, but we can identify some trends, stats and occurrences that tell us something. Maybe they're blips that good teams overcome or bad teams can't keep up. Maybe they're the start of something legitimate.

Regardless, when surveying the league as a whole across, Week 1 had some surprises, a few great games, more than a few duds and plenty of intrigue regarding what lies ahead. Here are five things we liked -- and five things we didn't like -- from the opening week.

J.J. McCarthy hadn't played a game that counted since Michigan beat Washington for the national championship on Jan. 8, 2024. That was 610 days ago. And, frankly, it looked like that. Coach Kevin O'Connell had said he hoped to get McCarthy some easy throws, but nothing was coming easy. After a pick six in the third quarter, it looked like Minnesota was about to learn the trials and tribulations of a young quarterback the hard way.

Then McCarthy got going. The ground game helped, but the young quarterback started delivering, too. That included touchdown strikes to Justin Jefferson -- never a bad option to look for when you're struggling -- and Aaron Jones.

And then McCarthy showed off one of the more impressive and underrated parts of his game: He's an athlete.

The splits are staggering.

It wasn't pretty. The Bears certainly helped. But this was impressive regardless of circumstances and even more impressive given them.

J.J. McCarthy makes NFL history while leading the Vikings to a shocking win over the Bears

Jalen Hurts is a very good runner. A powerful runner. A smart runner. He is not a particularly creative runner, though. When pockets break down and/or first or second reads aren't readily available, things can get sticky. He can hold onto the ball too long, drift backward out of the pocket and end up taking a lot of sacks that lose a ton of yardage. His 9.5% sack rate last year was the third-highest in the NFL.

Thursday, though, we saw Hurts show off his scrambling abilities to the tune of nine scrambles for 63 yards, two touchdowns and five first downs. When passing lanes weren't open, he consistently stepped up and got his legs going.

For context's sake, Hurts had just one scramble rushing touchdown in 2023 and 2024 combined. Overall, his scrambling Thursday accounted for 7.1 expected points added, his most in a game since 2022. On a night in which Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were held in check, Hurts' rediscovered scrambling was a major development and a big reason Philadelphia emerged with a victory.

As Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports noted, Herbert targeted wide receivers on over 82% of his throws in Week 1's win over the Chiefs, the highest rate in a game in his career.

His wide receivers, in turn, came through, something that hasn't always been the case. Quentin Johnston reeled in five of seven targets for 79 yards and a pair of touchdowns. I liked how Los Angeles used him as a horizontal speedster, something he really should be used as. Watch him burn across the field on his pair of touchdown catches.

Then you have Keenan Allen, who is back like he never left: seven catches, 68 yards and a touchdown. Six of his seven targets went for a first down (the other was on third and 25).

And I can't believe I'm mentioning Ladd McConkey third, but here we are. He is excellent: six receptions for 74 yards, with three receptions from out wide, two from the slot and even one lined up as a tight end!

The term "ambiguous backfield" has been a popular one in Fantasy Football when trying to decipher how to approach drafting members of a potential by-committee running back situation. In both Fantasy and real football, though, the Jaguars and the Commanders got great starts from what appeared to be ambiguous backfields.

In Jacksonville, Travis Etienne Jr. made the backfield his, so much so that one day after a 26-10 win over the Panthers, the Jaguars traded away Tank Bigsby.

Etienne handled 16 carries -- more than he had in any game last year -- for 143 yards, the second-most in his career. That included this 71-yard burst.

Watch that clip again and see the tiny cut he makes to get through the hole and send Tre'von Moehrig (No. 7) to the turf.

Yes, Etienne had a plenty of holes against a Panthers run defense that was historically awful last year and isn't off to a much better start this year. But he also had some really nice lateral movement, on display on this 14-yard run.

The Commanders backfield, on the other hand, remains split, but it was successful. Five different players registered at least one carry as Washington racked up 220 rushing yards against the Giants, its second-most in a season opener since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt led the way with 82 yards on 10 carries, including this 42-yard burst late:

Washington loves that it can combine his speed, Austin Ekeler's pass catching and toughness and the non-traditional running of Jayden Daniels and Deebo Samuel to keep defenses off balance. So far, so good.

All 53 roster spots matter, and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. If they do, show them Jake Tonges and Jackson Hawes.

Tonges, playing because George Kittle suffered a hamstring injury earlier, made a Kittle-esque play in the defining moment of the 49ers' Week 1 game against the Seahawks, coming back for a Brock Purdy pass and high-pointing the ball over Riq Woolen for the game-winning touchdown.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, it was the most unlikely completion of the week, and not just because of who caught it. What a play by Purdy as well.

There were many great moments from the Bills' instant-classic 41-40 triumph over the Ravens, and plenty of improbable twists and turns. Immediately after one of those wild swings -- Derrick Henry's fumble -- came another: a 29-yard catch from Hawes.

Hawes spent five years at Yale before spending last year at Georgia Tech. He was a fifth-round pick who was mostly regarded as a standout blocking tight end. His first NFL catch, though, proved to be a huge one. Tonges, meanwhile, had zero career catches since turning pro in 2022. He had three Sunday alone.

Winning teams get winning contributions from every single person on their team. Week 1 was a great reminder of that.

This offseason, I wrote about how badly C.J. Stroud and the Texans needed to improve against pressure and provided reasons for hope and skepticism that it would happen.

Through one week, skepticism is winning. Stroud took three sacks and was pressured on more than 41% of his dropbacks. Entering "Monday Night Football," the Texans had Pro Football Focus' fourth-worst pass blocking grade.

Lest you think it's all on the line, Stroud's bad habit of ceding ground when he's in trouble remains; he lost 37 yards on the three sacks he took. Last year, his 7.8 yards lost per sack was the fourth-highest mark in the NFL. Of course, it's hard to escape when your tackles simply crumble like this.

Throughout an ugly rookie year, Williams' two major issues were his tendency to hold onto the ball for too long (68 sacks) and his inability to hit the deep ball (41% of his throws 20+ yards downfield were off-target).

Then came the opening drive of 2025. Williams was on time and on target. He ran for a touchdown. Caleb Williams 2.0 had arrived!

No so fast. Williams took two sacks in the second half and also had a brutal intentional grounding that contributed heavily to Chicago's collapse. He missed an open D.J. Moore for a potential touchdown, too, and the mechanics there weren't ideal. There were some positives -- particularly his scrambling -- but it was mostly a reminder that he has a lot to learn and unlearn after his rookie year.

I really hate to do it, and Chris Boswell nailing a game-winning 60-yard field goal almost pushed kickers off this list for me. But I just couldn't get there. Here's a list of the kicking miscues:

• Andre Szmyt missed an extra point in the third quarter and a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. The Browns lost to the Bengals 17-16.
• Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal that would have forced overtime. The Falcons lost to the Buccaneers 23-20.
• Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter. The Bears lost to the Vikings 27-24.
• Jake Moody missed a 27-yard field goal and had a 36-yard field goal blocked. The 49ers beat the Seahawks 17-13, but still.
• Tyler Loop missed an extra point. The Ravens lost to the Bills 41-40.

There have been bad misses before, and there will be bad misses again. But this week felt particularly tough.

Yikes.

Both teams had their star wide receivers show clear frustration on the sideline. Tyreek Hill was none too happy, and Malik Nabers and Brian Daboll had an animated conversation, with Nabers saying the "energy wasn't right" with the entire offense. Both teams failed to score double-digit points. Daniel Jones somehow made both teams look bad, beating the Dolphins 33-8 while his old team, the Giants, lost to the Commanders 21-6 and Russell Wilson completed under half of his passes.

It feels like it could get late early for both teams. The Giants have lost their last three season openers and have been outscored 89-12(!) in those three games. Losing an opener is OK, but there is no way to destroy hope for a season quicker than to get absolutely steamrolled -- and produce a lifeless offensive performance -- in an opener. Jaxson Dart time seems near.

Scratch that. There is a way to kill hope quicker than that. The Dolphins' first four offensive possessions were interception, fumble, punt, interception. Tua Tagovailoa was awful. Jones absolutely roasted an undermanned secondary. It's all bad.

I'm sorry, but these are not good.