User-Endzone: Was the Hype Too Big?

Chicago Bears

59:37 at the Carolina Panthers

by MatB

There were so many great games on this first matchday, but more on that later. There could have been many winners this week: The Ravens, the Jags, the Bengals, or even my Bills.

Who was your winner of the week? Drop it in the comments.

I chose the Chicago Bears in the game between the Division Champs and the Carolina Panthers. For three quarters, it was a more than balanced game, until shortly before the end of the third quarter, the Bears were, as almost accustomed, a touchdown ahead. But then came the decisive play of the game for me: a 61-yard touchdown run – and no, not from D'Andre Swift, but from RB #2 Kyle Monangai. The Bears were then up by two touchdowns at the start of the fourth quarter, and the Panthers were forced to act.

On the ensuing drive, the Bears capitalized on a fumble by WR Tetairoa McMillan. The Bears responded with another touchdown, and this time it wasn't a rushing touchdown. Why do I emphasize this? Because at the end of the day, the Bears defeated the Panthers on the ground. In addition to Monangai with 100 rushing yards, D'Andre Swift also had 124 yards, and QB Caleb Williams had 65 yards. Swift had three rushing TDs, Monangai one, and Williams two – so out of 59 points, 42 were scored on the ground (including extra points).

Williams didn't necessarily need to shine through the air, but when he had to be there, he was. He completed 21 of 29 passes for 269 yards, with his longest pass going for 47 yards. Seven of ten successful 3rd downs were converted by Williams with a pass for a new first down, including an 11-yard pass, a 12-yard pass, or a 28-yard pass.

Williams looked good in this game – the rest of the offense implemented by HC Ben Johnson also looked really good, as if it had taken a big step forward.

But be careful, it's only Week 1; there are still 16 games left to play for each team. The coming weeks will show what the Bears are capable of this year and what the passing game looks like when the running game isn't clicking.

However, there are still question marks: The defense left the game open until the end of the third quarter; they couldn't control the Panthers. They allowed a total of 478 opponent yards and made Bryce Young look like a top QB – with all due respect to the Panthers, stronger opponents with stronger offenses are certainly yet to come. After the first gameday, the division doesn't necessarily look strong enough to snatch the division title from the Bears.

Los Angeles Rams

7:27 Loss against the San Francisco 49ers

by Snoob

So much hype had built up around the Rams in recent weeks. The blockbuster trade, in which they acquired Myles Garrett from the Browns, further amplified this hype. The Rams, with Stafford and McVay, now seem to have gone completely all-in to secure another ring for the team. As if that weren't enough, Aaron Donald, a former world-class D-liner, was brought out of premature retirement to form one of the best D-lines in the league.

Everything indicated that the Rams would be major contenders this year. In Week 1, however, things turned out differently.

It's not to say that the Rams are no longer contenders just because of a Week 1 loss, but what they showed was not nearly what was expected. Coupled with the way McVay and the Rams handled the topic of travel to Australia, a picture is painted that can rightfully be criticized.

The game itself showcased a very strong San Francisco team, which understood how to effectively utilize all the weapons it possesses. Whether it was CMC, Evans, Kittle, or Deebo, all were able to and contributed to the victory. The opposite was true for the Rams; neither the offense nor the defense could truly keep up that day.

Overall, there were probably many different reasons that led to this Rams' opener, and it will be interesting to see how the team performs in the coming rounds. The aforementioned Aaron Donald will be part of the away game against the New York Giants and will provide reinforcement; however, Myles Garrett will be out for at least four weeks. He had to undergo knee surgery and will now have to watch from the sidelines for at least a month.

All in all, it was a modest start for the Rams, and improvement will be urgently needed to live up to the hype that was previously generated.

Jaxson Dart (QB, New York Giants)

28:20 Victory against the Dallas Cowboys (23 of 29 for 230 yards and 3 Touchdowns)

by MatB

Here, too, several players vied for the "world-famous and almost most prestigious" LAOLA1 Player of the Week Award. Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, Chris Olave... this week once again brought many top performances from many big stars – but also from hopefully future stars, among whom I'd like to count Jaxson Dart.

Against the Dallas Cowboys, ranked above the Giants by many experts – but the Giants, led by Dart, proved them wrong.

I was already very impressed by Dart last year, actually since college – yes, I count myself among the Ole Miss brethren, from which college he comes, so I had him on my radar a bit more back then. I was really curious to see how he would perform in the NFL. In the draft, Dart was still considered a player with many question marks; many didn't see him as a 1st-round pick. After one year, the Giants see him as their future franchise QB. He was able to disprove some of his question marks in his first season, including arm strength.

In this game, he showed even more progress; he operated much calmer under pressure, only taking two sacks. His stat line on 3rd downs in the first half was 4/4, converting them into 1st downs.

Another important aspect of his game is the new TE Isiah Likely, who came from the Ravens. The reports from training camps and preparations proved true in the first game – the connection with Likely is definitely there, and above all, he has another target with him. To what extent the newly structured coaching staff, under the direction of John Harbaugh, contributed here, I cannot say, but it is widely known that OC Matt Nagy is supposed to be a 'QB whisperer'. Nagy can only do Dart good. I'm already looking forward to these Giants and Dart this season.

Deshaun Watson (QB, Cleveland Browns)

10:34 Loss at the Jacksonville Jaguars (16/22 for 205 Passing Yards. 1 TD, 1 INT, 38 Rushing Yards)

by Snoob

For this issue, the two hosts already had a strong favorite for the 'Underperformance of the Week' after the first half of the 7 PM games. This favorite then did nothing in the second half to shed these 'honors'.

Deshaun Watson's comeback game went even worse than expected for many. That he hadn't played a game in a long time and would need some time could have been expected, but the way he presented himself was dismal to watch.

Already on his third pass, he threw a boneheaded interception, and could have thrown even more later on. The Jaguars' pass rush was clearly too much for Watson. It felt like the game had become too fast for him, and he couldn't keep up mentally. The only successful action of the day was the pass to rookie Boston for his first NFL TD. Everything else doesn't necessarily make the Browns fanbase look positively into the future.

The decision to start Watson already caused head-shaking upon its announcement; this criticism will not quiet down after this poor performance. The only question now seems to be when Todd Monken will pull the plug and bench Watson.

A small, lighthearted side note: Our host colleague 'RP74' suggested during the games that we should nominate him for 'Underperformance of the Week'. The background was that he was a little overwhelmed by the RedZone coverage, keyword 'sensory overload'. I wanted to briefly fulfill this request here. 😊

It must be said, once you're immersed in RedZone, you can't get out. You learn to love it. Or as another colleague said: "Normally, you'll learn to love it! 1x RZ always RZ 😉."

Josiah Trotter (LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

27:33 Loss at the Cincinnati Bengals (10 Tackles, 1 Sack, 1 Interception, 1 Interception Touchdown)

by MatB

For Rookie of the Week, we didn't choose one of the numerous offensive players this week, but rather a defensive player in Josiah Trotter.

Although his Bucs suffered a loss against the Bengals, Trotter really impressed me during Sunday's game, always being where things got dicey. He left his first mark in the NFL; for a 2nd-round pick (46th overall), it wasn't a bad first game.

In addition to ten tackles, including two tackles for loss, he was also consistently around the QB, as shown by a sack and a QB pressure, plus an interception that he converted into a pick-six.

A first step would be taken to succeed Lavonte David. I don't want to write 'step into his footsteps'; he should write his own story.

"Unfortunately” 791 and 96

by MatB

I already had the 'Number of the Week' in mind on Monday, even before the Monday Night Game was played – and actually, it said 'hopefully 792 or more' here. But why?

791 was previously the most points scored on an opening game day since the NFL merged in 1970. These 791 points came from 2012, and my hope after Sunday's games was that this number would be surpassed this year.

The hope was admittedly justified. The Broncos and Chiefs together needed to put a full 42 points on the board – and what do they do? They stop at 41 points, failing to set a new record. Okay, so the number of the week is 791 – and still the most points on an opening game day since the merger, shared with Week 1 of 2012.

On average, we saw 49 points per game. That wasn't quite the case, as a full 96 points came from the game of our 'Winner of the Week' (see above): the Chicago Bears against the Carolina Panthers. There were even six games that exceeded the average, all of these games had more than 60 points.

However, this season holds one record: the game with the most points on an Opening Weekend. The aforementioned 96 points have never been seen before in Week 1. For the Bears, it was also the game with the most points scored in Week 1 in their history, and the Bears are an original franchise, having existed since 1919.

I've now looked back at the numbers up to 2020, and you can see that it goes up and down – but you also see the trend that defenses have caught up in recent years. Will they show that again this year, or will we continue to see such entertaining weekends? While I am a fan of a great defense, to each their own. And what do you think?

Weekend Scoring History:

2025: 661 Points

2024: 733 Points

2023: 618 Points

2022: 673 Points

2021: 718 Points

2020: 760 Points

MatB:

I already touched on this at the beginning, and after six years of User Endzone – or rather, in the seventh year of User Endzone – we can look back with some pride.

The question about the origin of this User Endzone came up in our group... I'd be interested to know how many of you have been following and reading along since the beginning in 2020 – today is the time for you to leave a comment. We would be delighted if you'd write your User Endzone highlight in the comments.

As already mentioned in the introduction, in this year's author round, only Snoob and I remain. It was also clear that he was 'conscripted' for this week. Users mundafinga and kloisg have also been involved since the beginning and are still diligently supporting us with specials, as well as in the fantasy leagues we have.

I also want to leave my highlight – no, I even want to leave three points about the User Endzone. However, the order doesn't indicate importance:

• What I admire most is the fantastic group of NFL people who write here week after week. It's like real life, a good exchange. Authors leave for understandable reasons, but new authors always come forward who are willing to take on this effort – therefore, from my side, a big THANK YOU. Without all of you, whether for one issue or many issues, no matter the year, this format would not exist.

• This leads me directly to the second point. Without you, dear readers, this format would not have existed for so long, so you also play a big part in its existence – a big THANK YOU from us for that, too.

• The third point: Without LAOLA1 and the people behind it, we would have no opportunity to write about the football league every week and reach such a large audience – so a big THANK YOU to Peter Altmann, who let me persuade him and accommodated this format at LAOLA1, and of course to our current contact person Chrisi Köller, who always has an open ear for us and supports us wherever he can.

For me, every issue of the User Endzone is a highlight. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we are very proud of it. My highlight, however, was the User Touchdown Tuesday (Touchdown Tuesday Special: Our Users Take Over >>>), meaning our first issue. This was in 2017, the Touchdown Tuesday that we created for the then-hosts Peter Altmann and Bernhard Kastler behind their backs, and with the help of Johannes Bauer from LAOLA1, got online without either of them knowing.

Two points especially stuck with me: that almost all the users at the time, who discussed in the comments, participated, as well as the reactions from both – unfortunately, the comments are no longer available today, but I was quite sentimental then – especially when Peter Altmann counted this as one of his highlights in the sports year 2017, or when it was discussed again in the last Touchdown Tuesday in 2018.

That was, so to speak, the starting gun for today's User Endzone.

We are already looking forward to many more issues and, of course, to every new author.

Precisely for this, we have set up an email address; anyone who wants to try their hand at it is welcome to contact us at @userendzone.at. If anyone wants to participate in our fantasy games (picks and survivor), they are also welcome to contact us there. Or if you have a question that we should address, or a "Question of the Week," then don't hesitate to write to us if we can't address it here in the comments.