If you're in a survivor pool, it took probably 10 minutes for the NFL season to give you heartburn.
Or did it take less time than that for the Jaguars to jump out to a 17-0 lead on the Eagles? Or for the Bills announce that they would be more than a pushover against the favored Bears? Maybe you felt good about your Steelers pick early on ... until the Browns rallied to tie it in the fourth quarter. Perhaps you thought that Chiefs pick over the Titans was safe.
Nothing was safe in a wild NFL Week 1. There were some upsets, and some teams that needed incredible comebacks to avoid one.
The Dolphins scored an enormous Week 1 upset by beating the Patriots 33-20. Miami's defense shut down New England in the second half. The Titans, 7-9 last year, won at last season's playoff darlings, the Kansas City Chiefs 26-10.
The Steelers avoided a really bad loss when Shaun Suisham hit a game-winning field goal as time expired, and Pittsburgh outlasted a plucky Browns team 30-27. Brian Hoyer, tabbed to start for the Browns ahead of rookie Johnny Manziel, did all he could to keep Cleveland in the game, but the Steelers pulled it off in the end.
The Eagles were really on the ropes when they fell behind 17-0 by halftime. But the defense started getting stops, and Jeremy Maclin found himself wide open for a 68-yard touchdown to give Philadelphia a 24-17 lead in the fourth quarter. The 34-17 final, aided by a late Eagles defensive touchdown, didn't indicate how scared Philadelphia fans must have been about their heavily favored NFC favorites at halftime.
Those wins might not have been all too pretty, but they were wins. The folks in Chicago would gladly have taken an ugly win.
The Bears were beaten in overtime at home by Buffalo, which was a touchdown underdog. Bills running back Fred Jackson epically stiff arming Chicago safety Chris Conte down the field to get the Bills inside the 5-yard line and setting up the game-winning field goal summed up the Bears' day.
The Saints can relate. Marques Colston's fumble in overtime set up Matt Bryant's 52-yard field goal for the 37-34 overtime win against New Orleans, which was favored to beat its NFC East rival.
Almost nothing in Week 1 went to script. Or, maybe, we were just all wrong on what the script.
Frank Schwab is the editor of
Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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