Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season will wrap up with a huge matchup on Monday Night Football between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. You don’t have to wait around for that game, though, to come up with some firm statements about a handful of teams in the league.
Things can always change pretty quickly in the NFL, but this is also a league where every single week matters. There were six teams that really stood out in week one, both in good and bad ways.
Many of the games that were played went according to how the pregame odds were set, but that’s not the case in every single matchup.
Check out the full 2023/24 NFL season odds over on Bookmaker
Trio of Impressive Winners
The most impressive win of the 2023 NFL season so far might have come in the first game of the year as the Detroit Lions went into Kansas City and upset the Chiefs. Detroit opened up as 6.5-point underdogs in this matchup, but the line got down to just 4.5 points by the time the ball was kicked off.
Detroit never wavered all night long, and the defense did a great job of keeping pressure on Patrick Mahomes throughout the night. The Chiefs were playing without Travis Kelce, but this was still a terrific performance by the Lions in winning this game.
Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into Minnesota and stunned the Vikings on Sunday, and that was not supposed to happen. Minnesota was a four-point betting favorite in this game, and the Vikings were expected to compete for an NFC North title.
Mayfield continues to prove that there is a place in the league for him, and he did all he needed to do on Sunday to win the game. Another big winner in Week 1 was Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins.
Miami was only a three-point underdog in Los Angeles to face the Chargers, but this win was impressive because of how the Dolphins got it done. Tagovailoa was hitting all of his receivers in this game, and the Dolphins looked like a team that can win the AFC East this season with that offense.
These Teams Need Help
No team wants to start off the season with a 0-1 record, but there were some teams that could at least be proud of their Week 1 performance. That wasn’t the case for the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, or Pittsburgh Steelers, as all three teams looked terrible.
The Chicago Bears were one-point favorites at home against the Green Bay Packers, and this was supposed to be an opportunity for Chicago to get one back on their rival. Instead, Chicago was embarrassed throughout the day on Sunday as Green Bay rolled to a 38-20 win.
Nothing could have prepared the New York Giants or their fans for what was about to transpire on Sunday Night Football as they were blown out by the Dallas Cowboys. This game was over in the first quarter, but things kept getting worse as Dallas rolled to a 40-0 win.
The final team that should have some major concerns after Week 1 is the Pittsburgh Steelers, as they looked completely overmatched at home against the San Francisco 49ers. The betting line on this game was just one point, but this looked like two teams that were playing different sports at times.
Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh are all going to see their playoff odds take a big hit after Week 1, and not just because they started the season off at 0-1. These teams must find a way to improve.
