Just as we all hoped, the first weekend of the NFL season didn’t disappoint. In fact, the craziness started long before Sunday afternoon. Let’s try to get a handle on everything that happened this weekend.
Cross-Country Flight
Before the games began on Sunday, wide receiver Antonio Brown continued to make headlines for all of the wrong reasons. The Raiders released Brown on Saturday, bringing an end to his brief tenure in Oakland but a long saga between team and player.
Brown was upset about being fined for having some choice words for GM Mike Mayock, and that was on top of his fight over getting to wear his old helmet. The Raiders eventually decided that enough was enough, and after Brown requested his release via Instagram (you know, like a professional), Oakland parted ways with the disgruntled playmaker.
Naturally, it was only a matter of hours until Brown signed a deal with the New England Patriots. It was too late for Brown to play in Week 1 when New England was ironically facing Brown’s former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Adding to the irony is the fact that the Steelers declined to trade Brown to the Patriots during the offseason because they didn’t want him playing for a rival.
Needless to say, that plan didn’t work, as Brown is now heading to New England after an unusual stopover in Oakland. The kicker is that the Patriots don’t seem to need Brown after Sunday’s 33-3 win over the Steelers; the receiving trio of Josh Gordon, Phillip Dorsett, and Julian Edelman looked just fine on their own.
Just in Time
The other big story of the week involved Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott, who signed a contract extension with the Cowboys earlier in the week. The timing of the extension was perfect, as Elliott was able to spend the entire preseason on vacation and still get back in time to play in Week 1. The deal is worth $90 million over six years, including $50 million in guaranteed money, to keep Elliott in Dallas through the 2026 season.
Elliott had a modest day on the field on Sunday, only running the ball 13 times for 53 yards and a touchdown with one catch. However, the Cowboys didn’t need him to do much else in a 35-17 win over the Giants.
Bad Day to Have a Clavicle
Injuries are always a big part of the Week 1 storylines, and two notable players both went down with the same injury in the same game. New Jacksonville quarterback Nick Foles didn’t even finish the first quarter before suffering a broken left clavicle, which is also known as the collarbone.
The Jaguars aren’t putting a timeline on Foles’ recovery, but the injury typically comes with a four-to-eight-week recovery time. In the meantime, it appears rookie Gardner Minshew will lead the Jacksonville offense.
Later in that same game, Kansas City wide receiver Tyreek Hill also went down with a clavicle injury. The Chiefs didn’t go into specifics about the injury, only saying that Hill won’t require surgery and that he will “miss a few weeks.”
Despite Hill making just two catches for 16 yards against the Jaguars, Kansas City still scored 40 points, so they should be able to survive without him for a few weeks.
