EYE ON THE NFL… WEEK 1
Each week throughout the 2025 NFL season I will be casting an eye over three key storylines for the coming weekend. With Week 1 finally here, I’m excited to see familiar quarterback faces in new places, to witness some heavyweight clashes to start the season and to find out a bit more about two teams playing on Monday Night Football.
Quarterbacks with new homes
I will be in New York on Sunday to see Aaron Rodgers in the black and gold (although they will likely wear white, but you know what I mean) of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he will go against the team where things never quite worked out for him over the past two years in the New York Jets.
Rodgers wants one final successful swansong like Peyton Manning enjoyed in Denver. He won’t want the last three years of his career to have been a limp around the AFC. His opponent on Sunday will be former first-rounder Justin Fields, who still has much to prove as he moves from the Steelers to the Jets and is now on his third team in five seasons.
Can Fields resurrect a career that has stagnated? Or is he just a stop-gap for a Jets team at the beginning of a rebuilding phase under new head coach, Aaron Glenn? Both quarterbacks have much to prove as they settle into their new roles, backed by excellent defenses.
There are other veterans who have been on the move. Geno Smith left Seattle for the Las Vegas Raiders, paving the way for Sam Darnold – one of the feel-good stories of 2024 – to join the Seahawks.
Will Geno bring stability and winning ways to the Silver and Black as he teams once again with Pete Carroll? That is a head coach-quarterback partnership with a proven success rate. And what of Darnold, who had a rough couple of games to end a storybook year? How will he fare without Kevin O’Connell whispering in his ear and without Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at receiver?
A total of 12 teams will roll out new quarterbacks in Week 1 (an incredible turnover when you think about it) and each will come with a fascinating headline. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out at the game’s most important position.
Heavyweight clashes on opening weekend
Some big games in Week 1 could be impactful when it comes to the playoff rankings in January. While they are exciting, I’m not sure I like contests that could decide a conference’s number one seed being played when teams are barely out of training camp. Give them to me in November and December.
And we have two of them on Sunday as the Detroit Lions visit the Green Bay Packers in the NFC, while the Buffalo Bills will host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC. Massive games!
All the NFC talk in recent days has been about the Packers and their Super Bowl chances following their trade for pass-rushing phenom Micah Parsons. They do look pretty good, to be fair. Josh Jacobs is one of the NFL’s best running backs, Matthew Golden could be a true number one as a rookie receiver and the defense should be even stronger than the unit that ranked fifth in the NFL a year ago. Tying it all together and turning that into a Super Bowl season will depend on the hugely-talented Jordan Love. But he blew so hot and cold in 2024 and was “inconsistent” by his own admission. Much rides on the fifth-year passer who now has a weight of expectation on his shoulders.
The Lions seem to be getting forgotten and every time they are mentioned it is in context of losing both coordinators from a year ago in Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. Could we please still remember that this team went 15-2 a year ago despite being decimated by defensive injuries? And they return 20 of 22 starters. Jared Goff ranked second in the NFL with 4,629 passing yards, the running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 3,016 scrimmage yards and 32 touchdowns; and Amon-Ra St. Brown is as reliable as ever on offense. Then, the D will welcome back the dynamic Aidan Hutchinson. This is still a Super Bowl-calibre team, brain drain or not.
I’ll keep things simple when it comes to Sunday Night Football. This is what it’s all about. Massive stage, a roaring crowd and, in my opinion, the two best quarterbacks and showmen in the league in Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson going toe to toe.
This will be box office and I genuinely believe this will be a dress rehearsal for the AFC Championship Game. I cannot wait!
Into the unknown
Monday Night Football will wrap Week 1 with the Minnesota Vikings visiting the Chicago Bears. I’m intrigued by the talent and possibilities for both teams. The Vikings are loaded on both sides of the ball and went 14-3 last season. And the Bears have beefed up the offensive line that allowed promising rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to be sacked a painful 68 times!
And yet I need to see two questions answered to believe these teams can contend in 2025, albeit at different levels. If the Vikings deliver what I’m looking for, they can be a Super Bowl contender. The Bears? That would be a step too far, but I could see them in the playoff picture after winning just five games a year ago.
For Chicago, I’m keen to see how rookie Ben Johnson fares as a head coach. How quickly will we see his fingerprints over an offense that ranked dead last in the NFL a year ago? Williams has plenty of weapons in receivers DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, rookie Luther Burden III and tight ends Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland. How it all comes together in Johnson’s mind and then out on the field will determine Chicago’s prospects. But they could be sneaky good.
As for the Vikings, they are unveiling a quarterback who should have been at the helm in JJ McCarthy, who lost his entire rookie season to a knee injury. McCarthy has a world of talent and Kevin O’Connell in his corner. And his weapons are awesome. That’s the good news. But I know he blew somewhat hot and cold in camp (certainly on the day I was in Minneapolis). I am keen to see how he settles into this new role now that the action is about to become real and meaningful.