NFL Week 1 Early Window Recap: Absolute Chaos Everywhere, and the Browns Are Already Making Me Miserable

The first full NFL Sunday of the 2026 season gave us basically everything you could possibly ask for. Chicago scored 59 points. Baltimore looked like a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Josh Allen and C.J. Stroud traded punches until the final seconds. Detroit almost blew a three-touchdown lead and needed overtime. Cincinnati forced four turnovers. The Jets actually looked like a functional football team. T.J. Watt won Pittsburgh a game almost by himself. And then there were my Cleveland Browns. We will get to them. Trust me.

The 1 p.m. window featured eight games and very few boring ones. Even the games that were not especially competitive gave us something worth talking about, whether it was an individual performance, a coaching debut, an injury concern or a team immediately making us question everything we thought we knew in August. Welcome back to NFL Sundays.

Bears 59, Panthers 37: Apparently Defense Is Optional in Chicago Now

If you had Bears-Panthers becoming the highest-scoring game of the entire afternoon, congratulations on lying. Chicago went into Carolina and dropped 59 points, piling up 552 total yards and averaging almost eight yards per play. Caleb Williams finished 21-of-29 for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, but the real story was how completely Chicago destroyed Carolina on the ground.

D'Andre Swift ran for 124 yards and three touchdowns. Kyle Monangai added 100 yards and a score on only 10 carries. Williams ran for another 65 yards and scored twice himself. Chicago finished with more than 280 rushing yards and essentially spent the second half deciding which player was going to run untouched through Carolina's defense next.

This was not a game where Carolina's offense completely failed either, which somehow makes the final score even crazier. Bryce Young threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns, while Jalen Coker went off for eight catches, 138 yards and two scores. Carolina accumulated 478 yards of offense. They lost by 22.

The game was tied 31-31 in the third quarter, and then Chicago basically hit turbo mode. The Bears scored 28 more points from there and completely ran Carolina out of its own stadium. For anyone wondering whether Caleb Williams was going to take another step under Ben Johnson, that was a pretty strong opening statement. He was efficient as a passer, dangerous as a runner and did not put the football in danger. The Bears defense obviously has plenty to fix after giving up 37, but if the offense is capable of anything remotely resembling this consistently, Chicago is going to be a nightmare.

Ravens 41, Colts 23: Baltimore Looked Terrifying

Baltimore might have been the most impressive team in the early window. The Colts actually scored first and put together a solid opening drive. Then the Ravens apparently got annoyed.

Baltimore finished with 506 total yards, and Indianapolis never really recovered after Derrick Henry exploded for a 32-yard touchdown that put the Ravens ahead 28-6 in the second quarter. Lamar Jackson was ridiculous. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 324 yards and a touchdown, added 40 rushing yards and another score, and spent the afternoon reminding everyone that defending him still sucks.

Derrick Henry apparently did not receive the memo that running backs are supposed to decline with age. He ran 24 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns. Then Zay Flowers casually added 150 receiving yards, including a 54-yard touchdown, before leaving with a hamstring issue. That injury is worth monitoring because Flowers is clearly still one of Baltimore's most dangerous weapons.

Indianapolis got 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Jonathan Taylor, but Daniel Jones finished with only 166 passing yards and the Colts could not generate enough explosive plays to hang around. Baltimore went into halftime leading 31-13 and essentially controlled everything from there. If you were looking for an AFC team that wanted to announce itself immediately, the Ravens did exactly that.

Steelers 20, Falcons 13: The Most Steelers Game Imaginable

Pittsburgh football remains Pittsburgh football. The offense was not particularly good. Aaron Rodgers threw for 221 yards and one touchdown in what is supposed to be the final season of his career. The Steelers running game struggled. DK Metcalf had a couple drops. Pittsburgh committed penalties and missed chances.

And then T.J. Watt decided none of that mattered.

With Atlanta trailing 13-10 early in the fourth quarter, Cooper Rush tried to dump a pass into the flat to Bijan Robinson. Watt read it perfectly, jumped the throw, intercepted it and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. That was basically the game.

Atlanta was already playing shorthanded at quarterback with both Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa unavailable. Rush finished 12-of-22 for 143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, with Pittsburgh turning both picks into touchdowns. Bijan Robinson did basically everything for Atlanta. He accounted for 173 of the Falcons' 238 total yards, catching eight passes for 90 yards and a touchdown while adding 83 yards on the ground.

It was not enough. Pittsburgh won without looking especially impressive offensively, which is basically the Steelers franchise mission statement at this point. Mike McCarthy gets a win in his Steelers debut. Rodgers starts 1-0. T.J. Watt is still a monster. Nothing groundbreaking there.

Jaguars 34, Browns 10: What the Hell Was That?

Alright. Here we go. I watched Cleveland today and genuinely struggled to understand what I was looking at. Not because I expected them to be great. I didn't. But this was pathetic.

Jacksonville led 31-0 less than three minutes into the second half. Thirty-one to zero. Opening day. After an entire offseason. That is not losing a football game. That is showing up completely unprepared to play one.

The Jaguars scored touchdowns on four of their first six possessions, and Trevor Lawrence basically did whatever he wanted. He finished 18-of-23 for 245 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Seven Jacksonville players caught passes in the first half alone, and the Jaguars repeatedly hit Cleveland for chunk plays through the air.

Jacksonville finished with 360 total yards and averaged 6.4 yards per play. Cleveland had 11 penalties for 75 yards, two turnovers and basically no sustained offense until the game had been dead for about two hours. The Browns had 95 total yards and five first downs in the first half. That is disgusting.

After the opening drive ended with a Deshaun Watson interception, Cleveland punted on three straight possessions and managed one first down across those three drives. Then KC Concepcion fumbled. Later in the half, Cleveland finally moved into Jacksonville territory and immediately committed three consecutive penalties. Three straight penalties. That might be the most Cleveland Browns sequence imaginable.

And now we have to talk about Watson.

His final stat line looks way less offensive than the actual performance. He finished 16-of-22 for 205 yards, one touchdown and one interception. If you only looked at that tomorrow morning, you might think he was okay. He was not okay.

Almost half of the respectable-looking final stat line came after the game was completely over, including a 46-yard touchdown pass to rookie Denzel Boston with two minutes remaining and Jacksonville leading 34-3. That was garbage time. The actual game was over long before that.

Watching Watson now is almost shocking when you remember what kind of athlete he used to be. Houston-era Deshaun Watson was one of the most dangerous off-script quarterbacks in football. He could escape pressure, change direction, extend plays, accelerate away from defenders and make throws from absurd platforms. That player looks gone. Completely gone.

There were moments today where Watson escaped the first defender and you expected the old burst to appear. It never did. He looks heavy. He looks slow. He looks hesitant. He looks like someone took his athletic rating in Madden and moved it from 90 to about 68.

And maybe this is just me being a frustrated Browns fan, but watching the decline almost feels like the football gods took every ounce of athletic ability away from him as punishment for being such a shitty person off the field. Obviously that is not literally how biology works. But if karma had a 40-yard dash, this is what it would look like.

The irony is that Watson actually led Cleveland in rushing with 38 yards. That sounds decent until you watch how difficult everything looked. The suddenness is gone. The ability to make defenders miss is gone. The confidence to attack space appears gone. And when the athletic advantage disappears, you are left asking whether the quarterbacking itself is good enough. Today it was not.

His first interception was awful. Cleveland actually started with decent field position after a kickoff return and moved into scoring range. Watson escaped a blitz and then threw directly into traffic looking for Jerry Jeudy, where Foyesade Oluokun picked it off. That immediately killed whatever early momentum existed.

The offensive line deserves blame too. This was a group starting five new players together and it looked like exactly that. The running game was nonexistent. Quinshon Judkins finished with 33 yards on 12 carries, and Cleveland rarely created anything on the ground that could take pressure off Watson.

But this is why the Watson situation remains so impossible to stomach. The Browns have spent years waiting. Waiting for him to get healthy. Waiting for him to shake off rust. Waiting for the offense to fit him. Waiting for the old Watson to return.

At what point do we acknowledge the old Watson does not exist anymore?

He has not played elite football in years. Not weeks. Not months. Years. And every time he gets another opportunity, we are told maybe this is finally when everything clicks. Then Cleveland goes out and falls behind 31-0 to Jacksonville.

There were some positives if we absolutely have to find them. Rookie Denzel Boston caught his first NFL touchdown and showed legitimate big-play ability. Raheim Sanders had a 74-yard kick return that finally gave the offense some life. Mason Graham recorded Cleveland's first sack of the season.

Great. We found three things.

The defense was terrible. The offense was worse. The penalties were embarrassing. The turnovers were costly. And Cleveland is now the only AFC North team that lost today. Baltimore scored 41. Cincinnati scored 33. Pittsburgh won. Cleveland scored 10, with seven of those coming when Jacksonville was basically checking airline departure times.

Beautiful.

Week 1 and I am already miserable.

Browns football is officially back.

Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27: Cincinnati's Defense Actually Won the Game

Joe Burrow played well. That is not the surprising part. The surprising part is Cincinnati's defense creating four turnovers and essentially winning the game.

Tampa Bay fumbled four times. Cincinnati recovered all four. The Bengals scored 24 points off Tampa's mistakes, including a defensive touchdown after Baker Mayfield was strip-sacked in the first quarter.

Mayfield actually completed 23 of 28 passes for 216 yards without throwing an interception, but the turnovers destroyed Tampa. Two of his fumbles came on sacks. Another came while scrambling near the goal line with the Buccaneers threatening to score.

Cincinnati turned basically every Tampa mistake into points. Meanwhile Burrow finished 25-of-35 for 254 yards and one touchdown, and after Cincinnati went three-and-out on its first possession, the Bengals scored on six of their next seven drives.

Mike Gesicki led Cincinnati with 78 receiving yards and caught Burrow's touchdown. Tee Higgins added 59 yards and made the biggest catch late, an 18-yard reception that allowed Cincinnati to bleed out the clock after Tampa had pulled within six.

The coolest Tampa storyline was rookie Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter recorded a sack and then jumped a Burrow pass for a 38-yard pick-six, becoming the first player since sacks became official in 1982 to record a sack and pick-six in his NFL debut. That is an unbelievable first game.

But you cannot turn the ball over four times against Joe Burrow and expect to win. Cincinnati starts 1-0. More importantly, if that defense can actually create turnovers this season, the Bengals become significantly more dangerous than they have been the past couple years.

Jets 23, Titans 10: Are the Jets... Competent?

I am not ready to overreact. But the Jets looked like a real football team.

Geno Smith returned to the franchise that drafted him and played exactly the kind of game New York needed. He went 19-of-24 for 215 yards, did not turn the ball over and consistently kept the offense ahead of the chains.

Breece Hall did the rest. Hall ran 22 times for 102 yards and a touchdown, helping New York control possession for nearly 39 minutes. The Jets outgained Tennessee 367-195 and never trailed. That is not flashy. That is winning football.

The Jets defense also made Cam Ward miserable. Ward finished 19-of-32 for only 140 yards, with Tennessee averaging just four yards per play. The Jets recorded three sacks and forced a turnover while keeping the Titans out of the end zone until there were fewer than three minutes remaining.

Rookie David Bailey, the No. 2 overall pick, recorded a sack in his NFL debut. New York even got a rushing touchdown from rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq on an end-around. Everything worked.

For Tennessee, this was ugly. Robert Saleh's first game against his former team included special teams mistakes, a turnover and an offense that could not sustain anything.

It is one game. But Jets fans have been waiting roughly 400 years for a Sunday where the team just calmly controlled an opponent without creating a national controversy. Enjoy this one.

Lions 31, Saints 30 OT: Detroit Survives an Absolute Disaster

This game looked completely over. Detroit led 21-0 in the third quarter. At home. Against New Orleans. Game done.

Except apparently nobody told Tyler Shough.

Shough went absolutely nuts in the second half and finished 35-of-56 for 411 yards and three touchdowns. Chris Olave caught 10 passes for 182 yards. New Orleans scored 24 of the final 27 points in regulation and tied the game 24-24 with just over a minute remaining.

Detroit suddenly went from cruising to Week 1 disaster territory.

The Lions got the ball first in overtime and finally remembered that Jahmyr Gibbs exists. Gibbs had carried Detroit all afternoon, finishing with 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. Jared Goff eventually found Amon-Ra St. Brown for a four-yard touchdown to give Detroit a 31-24 lead.

New Orleans answered. Shough marched the Saints back down the field and found Noah Fant for an eight-yard touchdown with 1:38 remaining.

Then Kellen Moore decided he was not interested in overtime continuing.

The Saints went for two.

Shough's pass fell incomplete.

Detroit escaped 31-30.

I actually love the decision from New Orleans. You are on the road. You have already come back from 21 down. You have Detroit on the ropes. Go win the football game. The play simply did not work.

Detroit gets to celebrate being 1-0, but Dan Campbell is going to have approximately 7,000 things to scream about in the film room. The Lions turned the ball over once, gave up 470 yards, allowed 411 through the air and nearly blew a three-touchdown lead.

That cannot keep happening.

But 1-0 is 1-0.

Bills 36, Texans 31: Josh Allen Is Still Completely Ridiculous

This might have been the best football game of the early window. Buffalo and Houston traded the lead four times in the fourth quarter, and Josh Allen eventually did what Josh Allen always seems to do. Something ridiculous.

Allen finished 20-of-29 for 334 yards and two touchdowns, added two rushing touchdowns and averaged nearly 12 yards per pass attempt. Dalton Kincaid had five catches for 130 yards. DJ Moore added 100 yards and a touchdown.

Buffalo's offense generated 409 yards despite possessing the football for less than 24 minutes. That is absurd efficiency.

Houston was good too. C.J. Stroud threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns, while David Montgomery scored three times in his Texans debut, twice rushing and once receiving. Nico Collins caught seven passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

Houston took a 31-30 lead on a 58-yard Ka'imi Fairbairn field goal with 6:49 remaining.

Then Allen did what elite quarterbacks do.

With 1:41 left, he found Joshua Palmer deep for a 34-yard go-ahead touchdown. Buffalo led 36-31.

Houston still had a chance. Stroud moved the Texans all the way down near Buffalo's red zone with under 30 seconds remaining.

Then the Bills defense finally ended it.

Greg Rousseau sacked Stroud with nine seconds left, knocked the football loose and

Terrel Bernard recovered.

Game over.

That is the kind of win Buffalo has needed. Houston is good. It was on the road. The Texans took the lead late. Allen responded. The defense closed it.

If Buffalo is finally going to get over the playoff hump this season, those are the moments that matter.

What We Learned From the First Sunday Afternoon

Baltimore looked terrifying. Buffalo looked exactly like Buffalo. Chicago might have one of the most explosive offenses in football. Cincinnati might finally have a defense capable of helping Joe Burrow instead of forcing him to score 35 every week. Detroit escaped but has some major defensive problems to clean up. The Jets looked surprisingly competent. Pittsburgh remains physically incapable of playing a normal football game. Jacksonville looked like a team ready to defend its AFC South title.

And Cleveland looked like Cleveland.

That last one is probably what bothers me most. Nothing about today felt new. The quarterback situation still feels hopeless. The offense still feels like it is searching for an identity. The defense gave up explosives. The penalties were ridiculous. And by halftime I was already asking myself why I spent an entire offseason convincing myself things might be different.

Deshaun Watson does not look like the player Cleveland traded for. He does not move like him. He does not create like him. He does not scare defenses like him.

And at some point we have to stop evaluating him based on memories from Houston.

That guy might as well be retired.

The guy wearing No. 4 for Cleveland today looked like a quarterback whose athletic advantage has disappeared and whose game has not evolved enough to compensate for it.

Maybe he proves me wrong. I would love nothing more.

But after watching Jacksonville lead my football team 31-0 less than three minutes into the second half on opening day, I am not exactly overflowing with optimism.

Seven more days until we do this to ourselves again.

Football is back.