Philly Philly, Bad News Buffalo – 2023 NFL Week One Takeaways

Scott Logush

Associate Editor

With a week full of upsets to kickoff the 2023 NFL season, what can we actually take away and what would be an overreaction? Through the good, the bad, and the ugly, let’s see what we learned after one week of NFL action.

The Good

Philly Philly

The Philadelphia Eagles look just as good as they did last season, or at least their defense does. They absolutely dominated the offensive line of the New England Patriots, especially on the interior. Jalen Carter led the way with eight total pressures, the most of any player in the NFL in week one, and the Eagles as a whole had 23 pressures against New England. 15 of their 23 pressures, 65%, came from interior defenders as New England had two backup guards in their lineup on a bad weather night. The Eagles were opportunistic, with Darius Slay capitalizing on a tipped ball by not only securing the interception but running it back for a touchdown that ultimately became the difference in the game. 

Mac Jones Might Be Back

On the flip side of the ball, you have to be encouraged by what was seen. We saw gunslinger Mac Jones, we saw a throwback to rookie Mac Jones. We saw accurate passes, mostly good decisions and taking good chances downfield with some paying off and some not. Ultimately, New England was incredibly overmatched from a roster perspective, and Mac Jones kept them in the game. Also, sixth-round rookie Demario Douglas was a very nice surprise, there’s some promise there.

The Bad

Josh Allen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Josh Allen had an absolutely terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. He had four turnovers, four turnover-worthy plays, and actively attempted to and succeeded in throwing the game away against a New York Jets team that played the entire game without Aaron Rodgers. He couldn’t stop himself from pitching the ball to the defense, and Jordan Whitehead will live in his nightmares for a while. This was brutally similar to when the Bills played the Jets in week nine of 2022, where Allen again actively threw the game away while New York won by having Zach Wilson simply not suck

Aaron Rodgers Done For The Season

Even with the win, the New York Jets have to have a sinking feeling as they walk out of week one knowing Aaron Rodgers is done for the season with a torn achilles. They managed an incredible win, fueled by the defense, special teams and Zach Wilson not sucking. With Wilson being the anticipated starter for the rest of the year, it may be a lost cause for the Jets in 2023.

The Ugly

Saints & Titans Trying To Lose

This game felt like nobody wanted to win and only served to lower confidence in both parties. We walked about Josh Allen trying to pitch the game away, Ryan Tannehill had the same motivation apparently with him repeatedly pitching the ball to defenders, ultimately having three interceptions off four turnover-worthy plays, and multiple bad misses in there as well. Tannehill looked worse than he did in Miami. Derek Carr’s poor pocket presence was on display as well, and he looked very similar to how he did last year with the Raiders. It seemed like both teams desperately wanted to lose, and I feel worse about both teams going forward. 

New York Giants Collapse

The Giants failed to score a single point, and Daniel Jones was under pressure 28 times on 42 dropbacks, 66.7 percent of the time. Nothing good can come from that and New York never had a shot at competing. The team clearly overachieved in 2022, and we’re seeing them regress to where they should be now, albeit in a very dramatic fashion.