From rookies having a tough time in their first games, to highly paid quarterbacks not meeting expectations, to experienced players returning from injuries, the passing game in Week 1 of the NFL season seemed out of place compared to recent years.
More than half of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL did not reach the common benchmark of 200 yards passing in a game, making it the least productive week for passing in the NFL since the 2007 season.
Teams averaged just 188.3 net passing yards per game, the lowest for any week since Week 15 of 2007 when the average was 187.1. This was a significant drop of 28.6% from the Week 1 record average of 263.8 set five years ago.
Seventeen starting quarterbacks threw for less than 200 yards, a figure only matched once before since the start of the 2011 season. There were 18 such cases in the last week of the 2023 season when several regular starters rested before the playoffs.
The three rookie quarterbacks combined for only 415 passing yards: Jayden Daniels of Washington had 184 yards, Bo Nix of Denver had 138 yards, and Caleb Williams of Chicago had 93 yards.
Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins were both far below their usual performance in their first games back from Achilles injuries. Rodgers threw for 167 yards and Cousins for 155 yards. High-paid veterans like Daniel Jones and Deshaun Watson also faced difficulties.
Jones threw for 186 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in the New York Giants’ 28-6 loss to Minnesota. He threw an interception returned for a touchdown by Andrew Van Ginkel and has now thrown more touchdowns to opponents (three) than to his own teammates (two) since signing a $160 million, four-year contract before the 2023 season.
Watson threw for 165 yards on 49 attempts in Cleveland’s 33-17 loss to Dallas and had trouble completing long passes. He failed to complete any of his 10 attempts at throws of at least 15 yards downfield. Since Sportradar started tracking air yards in 2006, there have been 1,753 instances where a quarterback had at least 10 attempts of 15 or more yards downfield, and Watson is the first to have zero completions.
