Welcome to positives and negatives for every NFL team. Each week, I'll go through the good and the bad for each NFL team, and I hope you enjoy following along. I don’t want to waste your time, so let’s get right into it!

Seattle Seahawks

Positive: Sam Darnold’s Injury

Yes, I know it’s weird to claim that an injury to a team’s star quarterback is a good thing, but this has to do with the severity of the injury Sam Darnold sustained. Despite initial concerns of a more serious hip injury, it was revealed that Darnold suffered a glute injury that might only sideline him for a week at the least. And given that Seattle’s next opponent is Arizona, it’s far from the end of the world for the defending Super Bowl champs.

Negative: Too Many Penalties

Seattle was penalized 10 times for a total of 98 yards on Wednesday night. For reference, the Seahawks only reached double-digit penalties twice all of last season. That many mistakes obviously can’t be sustained over an entire season, but this should still be taken with a grain of salt, for the time being. It was Brian Fleury’s first game as offensive coordinator, and the Seahawks had to rely on their backup quarterback for pretty much the whole game. I think it’s safe to assume Mike McDonald will correct these slips in the coming weeks.

New England Patriots

Positive: Will Campbell’s performance

It was no secret that one of the main storylines going into the season for New England (besides the obvious) would be the performance of Will Campbell. Last time he took the field, he had arguably the worst performance of his young career on the biggest stage, and his first test of resilience would be against the very team that cratered his reputation last February. Campbell showed major signs of improvement, allowing one sack and one pressure. He did also have two penalties go against him, but compared to the last time he faced Seattle’s defense (eight pressures, six hurries and a sack), Patriot fans have to be feeling better about their franchise left tackle going forward.

Negative: Drake Maye’s Decision-Making

I could’ve gone a few different ways with this one for the offense alone. There was the AJ Brown injury, as well as Romeo Doubs’ costly drops, but Drake Maye stole the show (and most of the headlines for this game). Three costly picks in the fourth quarter sunk the Patriots, with all of them being poor decisions by Maye. The first was an underthrow into double coverage that was deflected into the hands of Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett, which completely swung the momentum to Seattle. The second was a great read by safety Julian Love, who baited Maye into throwing at Demario Douglas and then easily undercut the route. The third was by far the worst, with Maye tossing up a jump ball off his back foot to Mack Hollins that was snagged by Josh Jobe to end the game. There’s absolutely no excuse for Maye to not throw the ball away there, especially with the Patriots in short field goal range to send the game to overtime. If Maye thought before the season that his mistakes would be closely monitored, the end of Wednesday night’s game will only amplify the monitoring of his judgment going forward.

San Francisco 49ers

Positive: Third-Down Offense

Last season, San Francisco led the league in third-down efficiency, and they carried over that momentum into game one. The 49ers finished 7-12 (58%) on the day, which led to extended drives that killed what would’ve been precious time for the Rams.

Negative: Injuries (again)

Shocker, I know. Not including the offseason ailments currently taking place, the 49ers couldn’t even make it through the first game without someone going down with a pretty serious injury. Rookie wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter of the game. And while everyone online immediately presumed the worst, Stribling thankfully avoided the worst-case scenario with a deltoid sprain. Still, Stribling will be out for at least a month, which means someone else is going to have to step up in his place for the next few games, at least.

Los Angeles Rams

Positive: Blake Corum

It honestly took some thinking to think of an upside for the Rams after their abysmal performance in Australia, but Blake Corum was one of the very few bright spots. The third-year running back had 54 yards on 10 carries (5.4 YPC), and he’s really come into his own since his rookie season back in 2024. I don’t think he’ll ever get to that top echelon of running backs, but he is more than serviceable in his current role.

Negative: Myles Garrett’s Health

After an offseason of seemingly endless hype for the one-two monster combination of Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald terrorizing defenses, things are pretty sluggish so far. Donald didn’t even make the trip with the team (and he’s still questionable to play in Week 2), while Garrett received even worse news. During training camp, it was reported that he’d been dealing with swelling in his knee, but people assumed it wouldn’t be a big deal once the season got underway. In his opening act, however, Garrett posted a goose egg. No sacks, pressures or QB hurries; all the while, he looked completely labored on the sideline (whether you want to chalk that up to injury or jet lag is up to you). Now it’s been reported that Garrett underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, which will sideline him for at least four games. Rams fans should just be glad this is happening now versus the end of the season.

Cincinnati Bengals

Positive: Defense

The Bengals forced four fumbles against the Buccaneers, which ended up being the difference in a 33-27 victory. Obviously, turnovers aren’t going to always swing that drastically in their favor, but considering where Cincinnati’s defense was last season, any signs of improvement will be gratefully taken in a second.

Negative: Sluggish Offense

We know from past seasons that Cincinnati’s offense is seemingly more prone to slow starts than other teams', and this game was no different. Due to the four fumbles mentioned above, Joe Burrow and co. were usually set up in favorable field position, but on full drives, the usual early-season struggles were present. Their leading rusher was Chase Brown, who only averaged 3.5 yards per carry, and Ja’Marr Chase only posted two receptions for 12 yards. Based on past seasons, though, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue in the coming weeks.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Positive: Emeka Egbuka

In the second half of the 2025 season, Emeka Egbuka really struggled after a hot start, averaging a measly 32.6 receiving yards per game over the last eight games, not exactly what you’d expect from a potential WR1. In a year where he has to step up–considering the departure of Mike Evans–he got off to a good start, snagging five receptions for 63 yards, which led the team. Expect to see his production increase as the year goes on.

Negative: Turnovers

The Bucs turned the ball over at least once in seven of their last nine games to end 2025, which was coincidentally right when their losing streak began. So losing four fumbles in the first game of the season is not what fans want to experience. The Buccaneers almost winning despite the turnovers showcases the immense talent this roster provides, so this sloppy performance should be a wake-up call to clean things up, lest they want to repeat the horrors of last year.

Detroit Lions

Positive: Jahmyr Gibbs is still a beast

I was interested to see how Gibbs would perform as the solo star in the backfield for the first time in his career, and he presented a pretty damning case that there’s nothing to worry about with the departure of David Montgomery. Gibbs torched the Saints defense for 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns (plus 30 yards on five receptions), and he was pretty much the Lions' whole offense for this game. The main question I have now is: can he keep this pace up throughout the season if Detroit needs him to carry a bigger workload, especially with Isaiah Pacheco out long-term?

Negative: Secondary Depth

Missing Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch is a tough blow to deal with, and it showed in the second half against New Orleans. After a solid start by the defense, Tyler Shough unapologetically eviscerated the secondary in the second half and overtime for over 400 passing yards. Yes, they did manage to get a two-point conversion stop to save the game at the stroke of midnight, but you can’t reliably win games if every one’s going to come down to the final play. Detroit needs to make some adjustments, and do it quickly before they face Buffalo on Thursday night.

New Orleans Saints

Positive: Healthy Chris Olave is still amazing

Chris Olave has had some bad injury luck (especially when it comes to concussions), but when he’s healthy, he is as good as they get. After an extremely slow first half for the entire offense, Olave took flight in the second half and overtime, where he finished with 182 receiving yards. Now please, for the love of God, do not let this man get another concussion.

Negative: Run game

No matter what kind of offense your team runs, it’s never good when your quarterback has to throw it 56 times in a single game. Part of that can be put on the fact that New Orleans was playing from behind for the entire game, but you still want to see a bigger impact on the ground. With Alvin Kamara out for the start of the year, Travis Etienne led the way with nine carries for 46 yards, and that was pretty much it. New Orleans is going to need much more than 46 yards from its leading rusher going forward, because defenses are going to start adjusting if they know the Saints are only going to try to beat them through the air.

New York Jets

Positive: The win column

Yes, I know it’s just the Titans, but just being 1-0 to start the year has to feel like winning the Super Bowl for the Jets. For the first time in a long time, they truly looked like a competent football team in all three phases, and Aaron Glenn didn’t look that bad with the headset on for once. Yes, they are probably still going to struggle for the rest of the season, but at least for a game, they don’t have to worry about it. Just watch Breece Hall fly past defenders and enjoy the week. Jets fans definitely deserve to.

Negative: Still can’t get an interception

At some point, the interception-less streak will break for the Jets, but the drought continues for now. They did force a fumble, though, so that’s at least something. My prediction is that they’ll get one in the next two weeks.

Tennessee Titans

Positive: Nothing

I tried to find something positive; I really did. But this performance was so uninspired that I legitimately have nothing. The best I can say is at least Tommy Townsend got a good leg workout during the game.

Negative: Literally Everything

Before the season started, there was a silent optimism that things may get better this year for the Titans. New head coach, new coordinators, a shiny new object to play with in Carnell Tate. There were legitimate reasons to think things would get better. Then Week 1 came and went, and any form of optimism had already been erased. When the best offensive performance of the day was Tony Pollard with 35 rushing yards on seven attempts, you know it’s bad. Cam Ward still looked lost at times and failed to create any kind of momentum until garbage time, while the entire receiving core apparently became magicians and pulled a disappearing act on the field. The defense did not get a single sack, and didn’t record a single pressure the entire game. Even Jeffrey Simmons was completely compromised by a Jets offensive line. This performance was as disastrous as it gets for week one. Good riddance.

Baltimore Ravens

Positive: Declan Doyle

After suffering under the reign of Todd Monken last season, the Ravens looked to a Ben Johnson understudy in Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to right things up. He more than did that in a 41-23 win over the Colts. Derrick Henry still can’t be stopped at 32 years old; Lamar looked like his old self again with 324 yards and a touchdown (as well as 40 yards and a TD on the ground), and Zay Flowers had 150 receiving yards in the first half before leaving due to an injury. The fact that there was this much improvement from last season in week one alone makes this offense much more exciting to watch in the coming weeks.

Negative: WR Injuries

Despite the offense humming to an easy win, there are still concerns with their wide receiver health. As mentioned above, Zay Flowers exited the game at the end of the first half with a minor hamstring injury that might sideline him for next week's game against New Orleans. The much bigger blow was a broken wrist for third-round rookie Ja’Kobi Lane, who had been a standout in training camp and preseason. Lane is expected to miss a month at minimum, and the Ravens have elevated WR Chris Moore from the practice squad to take his place.

Indianapolis Colts

Positive: Run Offense

In a game where pretty much everything went wrong after the opening drive, the one positive the Colts can still hold their heads high about is that Jonathan Taylor is still one of the best in the business. He finished with 98 yards on 19 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Even if the Colts' passing attack persists to be uninspiring in the coming weeks, at least they’ll still have Taylor in their corner.

Negative: Run Defense

On the other side of the ball, rushing has been the biggest thorn in the Colts’ side. Indianapolis allowed 202 rushing yards in total, and 93 of them came when the Colts had eight defenders in the box. After the first week, they currently rank 31st in the league in EPA per rush attempt. Safe to say there’s room for improvement.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Positive: Defensive Pressure

The Steelers had the lowest blitz rate of any team in Week 1 (10.5%), and still got 10 pressures on 26 total dropbacks. Both Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt posted two sacks, and Watt made the game-deciding play with a pick-six to give them a decisive 10-point lead. If any team can get consistent pressure without having to send extra players, that is a major recipe for success.

Negative: Aaron Rodgers is still old, and he isn’t going to get any better

There’s only so much you can expect if your main signal-caller is a 42-year-old who has discussed conspiracy theories on ESPN, but Rodgers somehow performed even worse than I imagined. He was only 3-12 on third and fourth down, and he posted a -0.19 EPA per dropback, which was tied for fifth-worst this week. And in case you don’t know what that number means, I’ll simply state that a negative EPA means your quarterback is doing more to hinder scoring opportunities than helping.

Atlanta Falcons

Positive: Zadarius Smith is back

Well, who saw this one coming? After playing no more than nine games in the previous two seasons, Smith signed with the Falcons, and nobody had any idea how he was going to perform when he took the field. Well, all he did in his first game was get two sacks, two QB hits and three TFL, all in just 16 snaps. Atlanta needs someone to step up with Jalon Walker out for the year and James Pierce Jr. suspended for the time being, and Smith just made a strong case for himself to be the momentary glue that holds this defense together.

Negative: All of their quarterbacks

Yeah, I know. This one is pretty cut and dry, but was there really anything else for me to talk about? No one expected Cooper Rush to play well, and he didn’t by any metric you want to choose. 143 passing yards, two interceptions, only two passes completed of 10+ yards and the worst EPA grade of any quarterback for Week 1 (-0.61). The worst part is he might have to start next week against Carolina as well. Even beyond Rush, are we really expecting any of their QBs to play well? We saw Tua Tagovailoa in the preseason, and it was extremely grotesque, even before he suffered a back injury. Even with Michael Penix Jr., he was very hit-or-miss when he was in the game. Combine that with him recovering from his third ACL tear in his career with seemingly little to no practice time at all, and you get one of the most volatile quarterback rooms in the league.

Chicago Bears

Positive: Caleb Williams’s accuracy

Caleb Williams definitely has all the talent to be the best quarterback in the NFL, but the one thing that stopped him from reaching that echelon last season was his accuracy. In 2025, Williams ranked 32nd among 33 eligible quarterbacks in completion percentage, but it was brushed aside often due to the otherworldly heroics that earned him the moniker “Iceman”. Caleb emphasized that accuracy would be his main focus this offseason, and it sure appears to have paid off. Williams was 21-for-29 passing on Sunday, which is good for 72%. For reference, his highest completion percentage in all of 2025 was 67.9% against Dallas in Week 3. The entire NFL saw what Caleb can do against Carolina when he’s on target; now he just has to keep it up.

Negative: The Defense

Ben Johnson said before the season that he wanted to have the highest-scoring offense in NFL history, which would break the 2013 Denver Broncos record of 37.9 points per game. Apparently, Johnson was so infatuated with one-upping this statistic that he didn’t care to reinforce the defense. Chicago gave up 37 points to the Panthers, including 24 by halftime, and that won’t work in the long run. The Bears got lucky last season with the amount of turnovers they forced, but that number is very likely to decline this season. You can’t rely on your offense to be near-perfect every single time they take the field in order to win games. Just look at the Bengals from last season.

Carolina Panthers

Positive: Bryce Young looked good again

Bryce Young, over the last two seasons, has probably been the most inconsistent quarterback in the entire league. It felt like, on any given week, that there was an equal likelihood of him throwing for 300 yards or 90 yards, with not much in between. He ended 2025 with a solid performance in their Wild Card loss to the Rams (which might’ve bought him another year as the starter), and that momentum continued into this matchup. Granted, the Bears aren’t exactly a good defense, but considering Bryce’s past, I’d take 361 yards and three touchdowns as a very positive sign.

Negative: Their defense was historically bad

The Panthers gave up 59 points to the Bears, the most they’ve ever allowed in a game in their team’s history. As well, they surrendered 552 net yards (third-most yards in Bears history) and six rushing touchdowns. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero already left Panthers fans with a bad taste in their mouths when he decided to go into prevent defense against the Rams in their Wild Card loss, and this performance isn’t going to do much good for his reputation. The good news is Carolina’s not going to be facing a Bears-caliber offense every week.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Positive: They beat Deshaun Watson

Yes, I know this isn’t really about the team or individual performances, but as long as Deshaun continues to be Cleveland’s starter, any team that beats him will automatically get praise and nothing else. So thank you, Jacksonville, for doing the NFL and common decency a service today.

Cleveland Browns

Negative: Deshaun Watson is still their starting quarterback

Until someone else takes the starting role from Deshaun, this is all you will see in this section. I don’t care that the defense looks way worse than it has in years past or that Todd Monken was probably a mistake hire. All Cleveland fans wholeheartedly agree that this man is the single biggest inconvenience on their team, and that he should never be allowed to play in the league again. And that’s good enough for me.

Buffalo Bills

Positive: Josh Allen finally looked good against Houston

Coming into this matchup, Allen’s career record was 1-4 against the Texans, dating all the way back to 2018. Last season, we saw him struggle mightily against Houston in a Thursday night loss on the road, where he threw no touchdowns and two interceptions. He more than redeemed himself today, throwing for 334 yards and two touchdowns in a win that could go a long way for seeding as we get closer to the postseason.

Negative: Cornerbacks

Christian Benford is the Bills CB1, but he didn’t look the part when going against Nico Collins for most of the day. Collins burned him for 75 yards and a touchdown, and it really felt like Benford was a step behind. Maxwell Hairston was alright, but the second-year corner from Kentucky needs to take bigger strides moving forward. Dee Alford looked out of place in coverage for a lot of the game, and he got burned by Xavier Hutchinson on a 3rd and 20. It’s still early, but the Bills secondary hasn’t shown much promise yet.

Houston Texans

Positive: Running Game

David Montgomery was a big signing for Houston in the offseason, and he showcased his craft on Sunday. He only averaged three yards per carry, but still picked up eight first downs. Woody Marks showed some resolve as well with 42 yards on nine carries. The Texans need a strong running game to take more of the pressure off of Stroud.

Negative: Reed Blankenship

I really wanted to give this to Kamari Lassiter for dropping the game-winning interception and then subsequently getting burned on the next play for a touchdown, but Reed Blankenship was too bad to avoid. In 28 snaps played against the Bills, Blankenship gave up six receptions, a 100% catch rate, 118 yards allowed, 1 touchdown, and a 158.3 passer rating. That is at the bottom of the league for Week 1, and it’s probably not going to get much better, considering they play Cincinnati next week.

Las Vegas Raiders

Positive: Ashton Jeanty

We finally got to see what Ashton Jeanty can do if he has some help around him, and boy did he put on a show. Jeanty finished with 102 yards on the ground, as well as 45 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. This kid is special, and the Raiders should protect him at all costs.

Negative: The receiving corps

Not having Brock Bowers would hurt anyone’s lineup, but to the Raiders, it apparently means the entire receiving unit shuts down until he comes back. Ashton Jeanty was the Raiders’ leading receiver on the day with 45 yards, and Cousins only passed for 160 yards on the day. The part that makes this more concerning is that it came against a Dolphins team that’s so depleted of talent at every position that their starting cornerback is a rookie. Something’s going to have to change in the next few weeks.

Miami Dolphins

Positive: They didn’t look as bad as most people were expecting

It’s going to be a long season for Miami, so these types of games are probably better for their fans’ mental sanity. The Dolphins were actually in this game for a while, and even got it down to a four-point game in the third quarter before finally collapsing. Any signs of fight from this team in its games this season will be taken as a victory.

Negative: The entire offensive line

When Austin Jackson is the most experienced starter on your offensive line, things are not going to go well. Malik Willis was sacked five times (to be fair, some of those were partially his fault) and hit 11 times throughout the game, highlighting the poor pass protection. The run blocking was not much better, as De’Von Achane had 36 rush yards on 11 carries where there was absolutely nowhere to run. Don’t expect this team to put up many points this year.

Minnesota Vikings

Positive: Brian Flores is him

After three quarters of uninspiring football on both sides, the defense swung the momentum in Minnesota’s favor with an onslaught of blitzes called by Brian Flores (just below an 80% rate) that decimated Jordan Love in the backfield. I’m keeping this one short. Brian Flores is still the man.

Negative: Quarterback situation

Obviously I couldn’t get through this without discussing the current QB situation in Minnesota. Between Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz, Carson was always the better choice if you want an offense that won’t take any risks and play it safe. Kyler still has the talent to elevate the offense to higher levels, but that’s only if he can stop the careless turnovers, and that is a huge if. I don’t necessarily think either option will lead them on a playoff run, though, so we’ll have to see how Wentz/Murray plays in the coming weeks to get a good grasp of the situation.

Green Bay Packers

Positive: Matthew Golden looks better

Golden started his Green Bay career by receiving a great standing ovation at the 2025 NFL Draft after Green Bay finally picked a receiver in the first round. He didn’t get too many of those after the 2025 season, however, when he didn’t even get in the end zone until the Wild Card game against the Bears. He didn’t get in the end zone against Minnesota either, but 95 yards on six receptions (one of them being a 42-yarder) is still a good step in the right direction.

Negative: Whatever the offensive line was doing

All I’m going to do is post this chart of team pass blocking grades from week 1. I think it does enough justice on its own.