Sports Then and Now

After seven long months of OTA’s and talking about Tim Tebow, football returned this Thursday under the lights in Denver, Colorado. And this time the lights stayed on for the whole game. The season got started with one of the best players of this generation reminding us all that he can still get it done, included a first for a veteran wide receiver, the extension of a couple of Opening Day streaks, one milestone coaching victory and a first for a Lions‘ player since the days of Barry Sanders. Here are all the important notes, interesting accomplishments and head-scratching statistics from Week 1 of the brand new season.

Peyton Manning tied the all-time single-game record with seven touchdown passes in the Broncos‘ 49-27 win over the defending champion Ravens Thursday night. He became the first quarterback to throw seven TD passes in a game since Joe Kapp in 1969. It was the 74th time in his career he has thrown three or more touchdown passes in a game – the most all-time. Denver’s 22-point win was the largest ever opening-week win by a team against a defending Super Bowl champ.

With two against the Bills, Tom Brady has now thrown at least one touchdown pass in 49 consecutive games for the Patriots – five shy of tying Drew Brees for the all-time record. He also improved to 21-2 in his career against Buffalo. New England won its 10th straight opener and they forced at least one turnover in their 28th straight game.

The Bucs fell to 0-7 all-time in road games against the Jets as New York pulled out the 18-17 win on a last-second field goal. Tampa committed 13 penalties in the game, leading to five New York first downs and helped put them in position to kick the game-winning field goal. Rookie Geno Smith helped lead the Jets with a 76.0 QBR in the fourth quarter.

A.J. Green hauled in nine passes for 162 yards to break Chad Johnson‘s franchise record for receiving yards in a season opener, but the Bengals fell to the Bears in Marc Trestman‘s debut, 24-21.Bears kicker, Robbie Gould, set a Soldier Field record with a 58-yard field goal in the win.

Seattle and Carolina combined for just 19 points in the Seahawks‘ 12-7 win. Cam Newton put up career lows in total yards (163) and passing yards (125) for the Panthers in the loss. Russell Wilson threw for 320 yards, despite managing just the 12 points and it was the first 300-yard game of his career.

Ben Roethlisberger threw for just 191 yards as the Steelers mustered just nine points and fell to the Titans, 16-9. It was the fifth time since 2011 that Big Ben threw for less than 200 yards in a game. Though this was Pittsburgh’s first loss in a home opener since 2002, Roethlisberger did go over the career 30,000-yard passing mark on the day. Pittsburgh got on the board three seconds into the game after it was ruled that Tennessee kick returner, Darius Reynaud, fielded the opening kickoff before the goal line and then took a knee in the endzone. The safety tied the fastest score in any game since the merger.

The Browns lost their ninth straight season opener, 23-10, at the hands of the Dolphins. Nine straight is the longest active streak in the league. The teams combined for just 67 rushing yards and the Browns were just 1-for-14 on third down. Brandon Weeden set a new career-high for pass attempts in a game with 53, but threw three interceptions and was sacked three times.

The Rams broke their six-game opening day losing streak with a 27-24 win over the Cardinals, who have now lost 12 of their last 13 since beginning last season 4-0. Jeff Fisher became the fourth active coach to win 150 career games. Larry Fitzgerald‘s two touchdown catches gave him the 13th multi-touchdown game of his career – one shy of tying the Cardinals’ all-time record. Last year, he had four touchdown catches.

New Chiefs quarterback, Alex Smith, threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter of Kansas City’s 28-2 win over the Jaguars. Last season, their quarterbacks combined to throw eight touchdown passes in 16 games. Smith finished the game with those two scores and 173 yards. Andy Reid opened his tenure with the team with a 26-point win.

Anquan Boldin had a decent debut in San Francisco as he became the first 49ers‘ player in the Super Bowl era to record 10 catches, 100 receiving yards and score a touchdown in the team’s season opener as San Fran topped the Packers, 34-28. It was also his highest receptions total since Week 12 in 2008 against the Giants as well as the second time he went for 10 and 100 in a season opener. He is the first player since 1966 to accomplish that twice. Boldin also became the first player in league history to record 100-yard games in debuts with three different teams. Colin Kaepernick became just the second 49ers quarterback since 1960 to throw for 400 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a game. The other was Joe Montana. Jordy Nelson caught a touchdown and now has 23 TD receptions since the start of 2011, the most of any wide receiver in that span.

Terrelle Pryor became the third quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for 200-plus yards, rush for 100-plus yards and lose the game as Andrew Luck led another fourth-quarter comeback in the Colts‘ 21-17 win over the Raiders. The last was Donovan McNabb in 2002. Luck now has eight fourth-quarter or overtime game-winning drives since the start of last year – more than any other quarterback in the league. He also became just the third quarterback in the last 10 seasons to complete 78 percent of his passes, throw for multiple touchdowns and have no interceptions in a season opener, joining Brady and Roethlisberger.

Reggie Bush became the first Lions player with 90 rushing and 100 receiving yards in a game since Sanders in 1990 as Detroit got off to a 1-0 start with a 34-24 win over the Vikings. His 77-yard touchdown reception was the longest of his career. This was, however, Adrian Peterson‘s 19th career multi-rushing touchdown game – the most in the league since 2007 – though he finished with just 93 rushing yards.

The Eagles, using Chip Kelly’s new offense, ran 19 plays on Monday Night Football before the Redskins ran two. They finished with 53 plays run in the first half, including 21 first downs to 21 plays by the Redskins and just three first downs. The Panthers ran just 50 plays in four quarters on Sunday. Philly forced three turnovers in the game after being tied for last in the league with just 13 turnovers forced a year ago. Lesean McCoy’s 184 rushing yards were the most by a player in a road opener since Duce Staley had 201 in 2000 also for the Eagles.

Andre Johnson recorded his 45^th career 100-yard game for the Texans, who topped the Chargers, 31-28, to open their season in the final game of the week. Johnson’s mark is top in the NFL since he entered the league in 2003. All four of Philip Rivers’ touchdown passes came against five or more pass rushers.

There were 12 games decided by seven or fewer points – the most in a Week 1 since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970. Also, this was the first Week 1 in NFL history to feature four safeties around the league. Finally, NFL players combined to throw 63 touchdown passes this past week, the highest total number of touchdown passes in any week in league history.

One other interesting fact: this was the first time ever that the Seahwks, Lions and Saints all won their opening games in the same season. One down, 16 to go. The intriguing should only get more intriguing from here.

Some information taken from ESPN Stats & Info.

 

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