The Bengals kept an icky tradition alive, the Falcons Falcons-ed and 10 things we learned in the NFL's Week 1

It took minutes for the 2024 NFL season to shatter some of our preconceived notions about the long, arduous road to Super Bowl 59.

The Chicago Bears didn't get much from No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams but won anyway. The Atlanta Falcons, with a fresh sheen of hype following a productive offseason, signaled that the NFC South remains very much anyone's to claim (except the Carolina Panthers). The Los Angeles Chargers squashed the goodwill that followed Antonio Pierce's journey from Las Vegas Raiders' linebackers coach to interim coach to full-time head coach this fall.

It's way too early to make lasting judgments after one weekend of football. But it's not too early to begin building a case for and against each team's Super Bowl chances. After the first Sunday of the 2024 regular season, here are a few of the things we know, ranging from Josh Allen's wizardry to Mike McCarthy's continued feud with his own timeouts.

1. The Bills are the one-man show we expected

Through the first half against the Arizona Cardinals, Josh Allen had only thrown five passes. This was not thanks to a dominant run game (though James Cook was great) or a grind-the-clock gameplan; his Buffalo Bills trailed as much as 17-3 in that stretch.

It made sense, however. Allen was missing the top two targets from his previous four seasons as a Bill after Stefon Diggs was traded to the Houston Texans and Gabe Davis signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Instead of an unquestioned WR1, the Pro Bowl quarterback had a smorgasbord of unproven talent in the lineup, each with his own strengths and weaknesses.

So with his team in need of instant offense, Allen sprung back online. He spread his 18 completions out to 10 different players. Only one player, rookie Keon Coleman, was targeted more than three times.

This was efficient and useful, but it wouldn't be enough for Buffalo to put up 34 points on its own. That's where the other version of Allen came in.

Allen added 39 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns en route to 17.7 expected points added (EPA) -- more than double his 2023 average of 8.4 per contest. On a day where Buffalo needed every advantage its quarterback could give, Allen stepped into the void and showed us everything of which he's capable.

2. It's September so the Bengals stink, as is tradition

The Cincinnati Bengals were Week 1's biggest favorites thanks to a 7.5-point spread at home. They didn't lead for a single second against a New England Patriots team many expected to be one of the worst in the NFL.

Cincinnati lost 16-10 in a game where no one dressed in tiger stripes looked particularly good. Joe Burrow, back on the field for his first meaningful snaps since November, struggled to find a rhythm and spent the space between plays stretching and flexing his formerly injured thumb. He also failed to stretch the field without wideout Tee Higgins and with a rusty Ja'Marr Chase, fresh off a contract holdout. All but three of his 21 completions came within seven yards of the line of scrimmage.

Chase had just six catches for 62 yards on six targets. As expected, second year wideout Andrei Iosivas was the team's second-leading receiver... with three catches. He and Chase were the only players with more than 20 receiving yards.

This was surprising but not shocking. The fact of the matter is Burrow's Bengals are a very different team early in the season than they are late. Last year they were routed 24-3 by a flawed Cleveland Browns team in Week 1. In 2022 it was the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2021 they needed overtime to put away an 8-9 MInnesota Vikings team, then lost to a six-win Chicago Bears outfit seven days later.

Since drafting Burrow, Cincinnati is 7-9-1 in the first four weeks of the regular season. Burrow, as a starter, is 22-13 the rest of the year. The Bengals have finished each of the last three years with a winning record.

Chase will get his practice reps in and improve in a contract year. Tee Higgins will return from injury. Burrow will heat up, because he always does. And the bad luck that swings touchdowns into turnovers:

will roll back in the Bengals' favor. Cincinnati will be fine. Just maybe not while Oktoberfests remain in season.

3. Sam Darnold can do the dang thing

The Vikings' best laid plans for 2024 were immediately dismissed by the football gods, who decreed rookie first round pick J.J. McCarthy's meniscus wouldn't survive beyond the first preseason game of the year. That led Sam Darnold, who once memed his New York Jets career to death, as the team's QB1.

Fortunately, Minnesota is used to spinning straw into gold; it made Joshua Dobbs a viable starting quarterback for about a month last season. And Darnold, quietly one of the league's most efficient players in 2022 before backing up Brock Purdy in 2023, is better than Joshua Dobbs.

Darnold came out on fire to take an early 21-3 lead against the New York Giants, playing the opening notes of a funeral march that will close the books on the Daniel Jones era. His first half stats: 14 attempts, 12 completions, 141 passing yards and a touchdown strike to Justin Jefferson. His 0.41 EPA per dropback made him exactly as helpful to the Vikings offense as Jones was harmful to the Giants.

Darnold had help. Aaron Jones ran for 94 yards on nearly seven yards per touch. Jefferson remains a cheat code, even if he only finished with six official targets. Brian Flores' defense is a chaos engine once more, notching five sacks, six tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits against an overwhelmed foe.

It's tough to read too much into a win over the New York Giants. But Darnold and company looked roughly as good as they could have. Despite McCarthy's injury, Minnesota could hang around a wide open NFC playoff race after all.

4. The Panthers' hype train got up to 15 mph before derailing

It was modest, but there was a modicum of good feelings softly sprinkling onto the Carolina Panthers this offseason. Bryce Young had a new head coach who'd revived the careers of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in his last two stops. Carolina upgraded its receiving corps to help him out, adding Diontae Johnson via trade and Xavier Legette and Ja'Tavion Sanders in the draft. Sure, the defense still stunk, but maybe the offense could provide proof of concept for a brighter future.

And then...

Young, perhaps in an effort to extinguish the growing flames of criticism regarding his ability to make connections downfield between the hash marks, dialed up a shot to Johnson on his first play of the game. He missed so badly the only player who could get a hand on it was safety Will Harris, who picked it off and briefly put the second year quarterback on a trajectory for roughly 510 interceptions this season.

The Panthers improved from there, but just barely. Young waited three plays after halftime before throwing his next interception. He did run in a three-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal, but that only made the score 40-10 in some true Homer Simpson-in-witness-protection cosplay. He finished the game with just 13 completions in 30 attempts, two interceptions four sacks and a 32.8 passer rating. For comparison, Andy Dalton came in, threw a single incompletion, and finished his day with a 39.6 rating.

Eventually, things got so bad even the Superdome's PA team was able to pinpoint the problem.

Buddy, when you're getting Lit weaponized against you, things are baaaaad.

5. The Jaguars may have the WR1 they so badly need (but they're still the Jags)

Calvin Ridley was supposed to be the jet pack that boosted Trevor Lawrence into the thick of the MVP race after a successful 2022. Instead, Ridley was misused and inefficient and Jacksonville's offense backslid, going from 0.045 expected points added (EPA) per play in that AFC South winning season (eighth-best in the NFL) to -0.032 (19th) last fall.

Ridley left as a free agent, and last year's nine-win campaign left the Jaguars out of the running for the top three wideouts in this year's draft. But they still managed to land a blue chip target with the 17th overall pick: LSU's Brian Thomas Jr.

Thomas finished the game with four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown on four targets along with drawing a 40-yard pass interference penalty. But he didn't see a single target in the second half as Jacksonville saw a 17-7 lead fizzle into a 20-17 Miami Dolphins win. Part of that was the challenge of playing against Jalen Ramsey, who didn't take kindly to the rookie's first quarter chirping.

Still, on a day where Thomas was by far the Jaguars' most valuable offensive player head coach Doug Pederson couldn't find a way to keep feeding him. Expect that to be a priority in practice leading up to Week 2.

6. Caleb Williams wasn't an instant star, but he's still the Bears' quarterback of the future

Optimism was in no short supply for the Chicago Bears this offseason. Not only did Caleb Williams arrive, but so did Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, giving him one of the most dynamic receiving corps any first overall pick has ever had. That, paired with a defense that finished the season as a top three unit after acquiring Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders, set the bar high in Illinois.

The Bears' 2024 season officially started 1-0 Sunday. But it happened without a single offensive touchdown.

Chicago overcame a 17-0 second quarter deficit thanks to a blocked punt, a pick-six and three Cairo Santos field goals. It happened on a day where Caleb Williams had just 108 total yards while averaging a gruesome 3.2 yards per pass attempt. And nearly 11 percent of his passing yards came on a play that probably should have been an interception.

Williams dazzled no one and outplayed Will Levis, who stunk. He completed exactly one pass that traveled more than 10 yards downfield. He led five drives that gained seven yards or fewer.

But the rookie also failed to create opportunities for his team to lose this game. He didn't panic or sink his team with ill-advised hero ball. He was only sacked twice -- albeit for a loss of 29 total yards.

The Bears won in very late-2000 Bears fashion, but they may not be there for long. Williams has a long way to go after an underwhelming debut, but he didn't mortally wound Chicago in the process. And with a history as tortured as the Bears', that counts as a win.

7. The Falcons aren't fixed yet

Kirk Cousins was supposed to be a stabilizing presence for an all-in team. The Atlanta Falcons understood the opportunity of a weak NFC South and spent big to bring in their highest profile quarterback since Matt Ryan aged out of MVP contention. This, paired with a lineup of skill players each taken with top 10 draft picks and a defense loaded with veteran talent, was supposed to propel Atlanta out of a six-year playoff drought.

And then they ran into Mike Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers, who won in the most Steelers way possible; without a single touchdown.

Cousins couldn't take advantage of the souped up lineup of theoretical playmakers handed to him. Kyle Pitts had a touchdown, but also only 26 receiving yards on three targets. Drake London saw the ball even less, finishing with two catches and 15 yards. Bijan Robinson had 111 total yards, but only 4.8 yards per touch -- down from 5.4 yards per touch as a rookie with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke as his quarterbacks.

As a result, he threw for just 155 yards on 26 attempts. He threw a pair of interceptions against a lone touchdown strike to Pitts. He was, for at least one week, worse than the quarterback for whom Atlanta could have traded a Day 3 draft pick to acquire last offseason:

Of course, Cousins is also working in a new offense and just played his first game since tearing his Achilles last October. He won't have to face T.J. Watt each week, a player that timed his snap cadence so accurately it drew a flag simply because the officials had no other explanation but an offsides call.

The Falcons will probably be fine. They'll just want a do-over on Week 1.

8. Mike McCarthy remains a master of clock management

After forcing a Cleveland Browns punt late in the second quarter, a quick completion gave the Dallas Cowboys the chance to pad their 20-3 lead just before halftime. It wouldn't be easy; with four seconds left in the half, head coach Mike McCarthy trotted out big-legged kicker Brandon Aubrey for what would be a record-tying 66-yard field goal attempt.

The snap was on the money, the hold was good and a line drive kick sliced through the breezy northeastern Ohio atmosphere and through the uprights for three points.

Except, technically, the play never happened. The Cowboys, despite two timeouts, were flagged for delay of game. This was wholly unavoidable, and it just furthers the legend of Mike McCarthy, clock management superstar. The veteran head coach has long been lauded for his ability to design plays for Pro Bowl quarterbacks. But when forced off schedule, his gears turn a little too slowly at times, leading to moments where he burns too much time, or not enough, or takes points off his own scoreboard because, again, he didn't use one of his two timeouts with four seconds left in the half.

9. The Browns are stuck with this doofus another two seasons (at least)

The Cleveland Browns were so desperate for a franchise quarterback they traded three first round picks for the chance to add a player who'd sat out the previous year thanks to a combination trade request and NFL investigation. Deshaun Watson was accused of more than 20 counts of sexual misconduct and what the league itself later called "predatory behavior," but that didn't stop Cleveland from dealing for him, then handing him an unprecedented fully guaranteed $230 million contract extension.

In the two years since, Watson played only 12 games. He was the 34th-most efficient quarterback in a league with 32 starters. But after restructuring his contract to effectively guarantee he'll be on the roster through 2025 (and probably 2026, unless the Browns want to eat at least $72 million in dead salary cap space), Cleveland made it clear it was sticking with its embattled QB1.

This was a mistake. He faced a brutal Dallas Cowboys defense in Week 1 and, well:

Through one half, his longest completion had traveled all of five yards downfield. This led to a 20-3 halftime deficit from which head coach Kevin Stefanski trusted his quarterback to throw the Browns back into. This, too, was a mistake.

While Watson did have a well placed garbage time deep ball dropped by Amari Cooper (nine targets, two catches) on what should have been a 36-yard touchdown, it wouldn't have affected the overall lesson. In a battle of elite defenses, Dallas cracked Watson with ease while Prescott put up a fight. The Browns' quarterback needed 45 passes to throw for just 169 yards. He scrambled for 39 yards, but was also sacked six times for a loss of 32.

All told, he controlled the ball for 56 plays and gained a total of 176 yards -- a brutal 3.1 yards per play. The Carolina Panthers ranked dead last in yards gained per play in the 2023 season... at 4.1

10. Fantasy team you absolutely didn't want to field in Week 1

• QB: Daniel Jones (186 passing yards, 15 rushing yards, five sacks and two interceptions, 8.84 fantasy points)

• RB: D'Andre Swift (10 carries, 30 yards, 3.0 fantasy points)

• RB: Chuba Hubbard (six carries, 14 yards 1.4 fantasy points)

• WR: Marvin Harrison Jr. (one catch, four yards 1.4 fantasy points)

• WR: Drake London (two catches, 15 yards 3.5 fantasy points)

• WR: Chris Olave (two catches, 11 yards, 3.1 fantasy points)

• TE: Dalton Kincaid (one catch, 11 yards, 2.1 fantasy points)

• D/ST: Carolina Panthers (one sack, zero turnovers forced, 47 points allowed, -5.0 fantasy points)

Total: 21.34 points

This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Bengals kept an icky tradition alive, the Falcons Falcons-ed and 10 things we learned in the NFL's Week 1