Best And Worst NFL Week One

Ah its a wonderful time of the year, the National Football League is back in action. After four preseason games, the 32 teams hit the team for real and everything counts. The first games of the year are in the book, some showed up and played up to expectation, while still others came up short in finding their expectation level in the opener. We had a little a little bit of everything to start the season off. Upsets, big performances and big letdowns, both by teams and players. Among the good was an unexpected road win for a team that is known for losing. Among the bad was a quarterback performance that had people talking for all the wrong reasons. Lets get right into it, here's some of the best and worst from week one in the NFL.

Best:
Antonio Brown, Wide Receiver Pittsburgh Steelers
He's the highest paid wide receiver in the game for a reason. He showed it against the Browns on Sunday. Brown carved up their secondary like it was going out of style. Brown finished the day with 182 yards of receiving on 11 catches, pretty impressive numbers for a wide out, even of his talent. While he did not have a touchdown, he caught everything in his path. It wasn't even close on Sunday, Brown was far and away the best wide receiver on the field. Cleveland simply did not have an answer for him. Furthermore, the Steelers’ offense needed Brown to have a good game because the running was non-existent. But then again, he made it seem almost as business as usual for the Steelers star wide out.

Worst:
Andy Dalton, Quarterback Cincinnati Bengals
This was one opening week that Dalton sure wants to forget. Cincinnati went head to head with the Ravens and it didn't end well, Baltimore walking away with a 20-0 victory. Andy Dalton had a bad day that he'd really like to forget. Dalton was bad on this day, completing only 52 percent of his passes for 170 yards. Oh yeah, he also threw four interceptions. Ironically enough, the last time Dalton threw four interceptions in a game was back in Week 17 of the 2013 season against the Ravens. One has to wonder, what it would take for head coach Marvin Lewis to bench the veteran Dalton in the future. If things don't improve for Dalton, and soon, it might not be so bad if AJ McCarron would be the starter over Dalton.

Best:
Leonard Fournette, Running Back Jacksonville Jaguars
Welcome to the NFL Leonard Fournette. He had made a pretty bold statement after his first preseason game this year, saying that the transition to the NFL from college was easy. Some were left wondering if this kid was for real. He showed that in a big way on Sunday. Jacksonville took on one of the toughest defenses in the game in the Houston Texans, a team that only gave up 99.7 rushing yards per game last season. Fournette totally changed that dynamic, as he pounded Houston’s defense to the tune of 100 yards on 26 carries and one touchdown. Last season, the Jaguars did not have a 100-yard rushing game from a running back until Week 9 from Chris Ivory. With quarterback Blake Bortles’ less than stellar play to begin the season, the Jaguars would be wise to keep giving the ball to Fournette. So good on ya Leonard Fournette for making a solid impact into this league.

Worst:
Le'Veon Bell, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
We kind of started to talk about this a little bit earlier in this story, that the Steelers running attack was nowhere to be found against the Browns. Bell only had 32 yards on 10 carries, and 15 receiving yards on three receptions against Cleveland. That’s not the type of stat line you’d expect from Bell, who's considered by many to be the best, or one of the best backs in all of football. However, it doesn’t appear that there is cause for concern, as Bell missed all of preseason and training camp, which put him in a hole. He was clearly rusty from not being on the field, and was also out of sync with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That's what happens when you miss all of training camp when you hold out for a contract dispute. But I have no doubt that Bell will be back into form before too long and will be causing havock all over a football field sooner rather then later.

Best:
Alex Smith, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
Talk about a statement game, this one was it. It's Thursday Night Football, your playing the defending World Champions in their home opener and your not expected to make a whole lot of noise. Somebody forgot to tell that to Alex Smith, who went off in the opener. He's known for managing the game and isn't very comfortable when he has to throw the ball deep. Yeah, that's not the guy we saw on Thursday night. He completed two passes of at least 75 yards, finishing with 368 yards and four touchdowns in Kansas City’s shocking 42-27 win over the defending Super Bowl champs. When you go 28 for 35 on the day and have the highest QB rating in the league and top the loop in yards and TD passes, you know you had yourself a good week.

Worst:
Kirk Cousins, Quarterback Washington Redskins
There was quite a few question marks going into this year with Kirk Cousins in Washington. He lost his top weapons in the pass game with DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon not there for Cousins to rely on. There wasn't very much of an outlook on the season for the Skins. Things weren't helped any in their 30-17 loss to the Eagles. You know its bad in Washington when they have no rushing game. Take away Cousins’ 30 yards and you’re looking at a team that gained 34 yards on 13 carries. As for the pass game, Cousins went 23 of 40 for 240 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was for nothing because of the three turnovers he accounted for, one of which was turned immediately into six points when Fletcher Cox took a fumble recovery to the house. The Redskins have no balance offensively. And to make matters worse, if he continues to struggle, there is no real security blanket behind him on the roster at the moment. So Cousins better figure this thing out or its going to be a long season in Washington.

Best:
Buffalo Bills Offense
For most of the summer, and offseason for that matter, there had been question marks surrounding the things taking place in Buffalo. The Buffalo front office traded away the club best receiving weapon in Sammy Watkins and Tyrod Taylor looked horrible. So it lead one to wonder just how bad Buffalo could be. Plus they were going up against the Jets, who were supposed to be one of the better defensive teams in all of the game. Well the roles were reversed on Sunday, with the Buffalo offense looking great. Taylor rebounded from a first-drive interception to post solid numbers. He threw two touchdowns while LeSean McCoy and Mike Tolbert combined to rush for 152 yards and a touchdown. It was a solid way to start the season and helped the Bills win, 21-12, to start the season on a positive note. I know it was against the Jets, who are supposed to be the worst team in that division, but still its a pretty impressive showing never the less.

Worst:
Josh McCown, Quarterback New York Jets
Its a sad day in football land when the best quarterback you have is Josh McCown. He's been bad, having just won two of his last 22 starts. Sunday against Buffalo, it didn't get any better. McCown threw two interceptions, both with the game in reach in the final seven minutes of the contest. He also managed just 187 yards on 26-of-39 passing, averaging 4.8 yards per attempt and 7.2 yards per reception, horrible numbers for any QB at this level. Maybe that's why nobody wanted the 38 year old gunslinger other then the lowley Jets. In total, the Jets managed just 3.96 yards per play, which is just awful. Buffalo’s defense isn’t all that scary, either. It’s going to be a long, long season for Gang Green.