The NFL's opening-week offensive explosion

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The NFL's opening-week offensive explosion

Mon, Sep 14, 2026 ·

10 min read

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 Ballmer backs down:After vowing to fight back against the severe punishments handed down by the NBA for salary cap circumvention related to Kawhi Leonard, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has reversed course and will accept the sanctions .

🏈 Garrett lands on IR:Myles Garrett will miss at least the next four weeks due to arthroscopic knee surgery, as the reigning DPOY continues dealing with the pain that hampered his training camp and led to an underwhelming Rams debut last week.

🏎️ Kimi wins again:Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) held off Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lando Norris (McLaren) to win the inaugural race at Spain's Madring , giving the youngster eight victories in 14 races this season to extend his lead atop the Formula 1 driver standings.

⚾️ An immaculate weekend:Diamondbacks RHP Justin Martinez and Red Sox LHP Payton Tolle both threw immaculate innings over the weekend (three strikeouts on nine pitches). Why is that notable? Because there have only been 122 other such innings in MLB history.

⚽️ City, Arsenal stay perfect:Manchester City beat Manchester United , 1-0, and Arsenal beat Sunderland , 2-0, as the two English giants remain the Premier League's only perfect teams (4-0-0) through four weeks. Hull City (2-2-0) surprisingly sits behind them in third.

🏈 The NFL's offensive explosion

The NFL came roaring back on Sunday, with offenses leading the charge. Defenses, apparently, are still on summer vacation.

By the numbers:Sunday's 13-game slate averaged 53.3 points per game, making it the highest-scoring Week 1 Sunday in NFL history. The week in total is at 50.0 points per game entering "Monday Night Football," which would mark a new Week 1 record in the Super Bowl Era, per the league.

Sunday scoreboard:

Earlier in the week:49ers 27, Rams 7 (Thursday); Seahawks 13, Patriots 10 (Wednesday)

What they're saying:What caused this offensive explosion? While it's important not to overreact to a single week of football, recently retired Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, now with NBC, shared his theory during halftime of "Sunday Night Football."

I think how we practice and how we prepare our teams today really kind of lends itself to offenses starting faster than they have historically.

What I mean by that is there is less violence in team development. There are less padded practices. Even the drills that they do are more geared to skill development — 7 on 7 and things of that nature.

Defenses spend less time shedding blocks and tackling than they used to 25 years ago when I came into the league.

More from Sunday:

Must-see highlight:Washington's Tyler Owens with the special teams play of the century . This clip will be shown in film sessions for eternity.

👑 Champions crowned

🇺🇸 Queens, New York

Alexander Zverev brushed aside Ben Shelton's bid for history on Sunday at the US Open, defeating the young American in four sets to claim his second Grand Slam title of the year. The German proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's the world's third-best player, going 25-2 this year in majors with his only losses coming against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

Rybakina's reign begins:On the women's side, Elena Rybakina defeated two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three sets to win her first US Open and third Grand Slam title. This victory, paired with the fact that Rybakina had already dethroned Sabalenka as the world's No. 1 player earlier in the week, cranks up the heat on tennis' next great rivalry .

🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany

The U.S. women's basketball team won its fifth consecutive FIBA World Cup on Sunday, erasing a 14-point deficit and riding a second-half surge for a 97-79 victory over France. Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 22 points en route to being named tournament MVP for the second time.

Stewie's body of work:Stewart has been overshadowed in recent years by the likes of A'ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark, but the 32-year-old continues to compile a legendary résumé. In addition to her four World Cup titles, she's also a three-time Olympic champion, three-time WNBA champion, two-time WNBA MVP, four-time NCAA champion and three-time NCAA POY.

🇪🇸 Granada, Spain

Enric Mas finally broke through at the Vuelta a España , winning his home Grand Tour after finishing runner-up three times since 2018. The victory was also the first by a Spaniard since Alberto Contador donned the red jersey in 2014.

Season in review:Seven of the year's nine biggest races are now in the rearview, with Tadej Pogačar (Tour de France) and Jonas Vingegaard (Giro d'Italia) taking the other two Grand Tours, while Pogačar also took three Monuments (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège) and Wout van Aert (Paris-Roubaix) took the fourth. Still to come: The World Championships (Sept. 27) and Giro di Lombardia (Oct. 10).

🇳🇱 Cromvoirt, Netherlands

Europe prevailed over Team USA at the Solheim Cup, winning the 20th edition of the biennial tournament, 15-13, thanks to a dominant showing at Sunday singles. With the win, Europe has now won (or retained) the cup in four of the last five editions.

The last laugh:The Americans celebrated with some beers on Saturday night after Jennifer Kupcho's two clutch putts (including a 93-footer ) tied things up at 8-8 entering the final day. The Europeans weren't about to let them live down that preemptive celebration, starting their post-victory festivities with a quintessentially European chant : "They drink on Saturday, we drink on Sunday!"

🏈 Horns up, Buckeyes down

Texas is the new No. 1 team in the nation after taking down former top dog Ohio State on Saturday in Austin, where it looked like they were toast until the final 15 minutes.

Texas-sized thriller:The Longhorns scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to stun the Buckeyes, 24-23 , in front of a raucous home crowd and send Ohio State tumbling five spots to No. 6 in this week's poll. Entering the day, AP No. 1 teams were 197-0 since 2004 when leading by 20+ points at any point in the fourth quarter. They are now 197-1.

The end of an era?Everyone lucky enough to witness Saturday's blockbuster should hold onto this feeling for a long time. Because if the CFP expands to 24 teams next year, it may be the last time something as dramatic ever happens in September, writes Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken:

Realistically, in a 24-team playoff world, you can play this exact same game and it will not feel the same. Every player, every coach and every fan will know that two elite college football brands meeting on a stage like this will be a spectacle without a shred of consequence because they will both be ticketed for the postseason in the end.

Sure, everyone will want to win these games but they will not need to. Are we sure that's a good idea? Because the essence of college football is what happened here Saturday night: Even in Week 2 of the season, every moment felt like a national championship was potentially on the line. Every dropped pass, every play call, every field-goal attempt was massive, not just for this game, but how the rest of the season will play out.

Only college football has that intensity and those stakes every single week. That doesn't seem like something the sport should sacrifice for the sake of a little more TV money and a bloated playoff that gives everyone a trophy.

More from Saturday:Oregon fell 15 spots to No. 21 after a shocking 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State, which ended their 21-game losing skid against FBS opponents … Michigan re-entered the poll at No. 19 after beating Oklahoma , which fell 13 spots to No. 24 … BYU jumped four spots to No. 11 after downing Arizona … and more .

⚾️ MLB playoff picture

The MLB playoffs are right around the corner, so let's survey every postseason race with just under two weeks left in the regular season.

American League

East:The Rays (90-59) already clinched a spot in the postseason, but the Yankees (86-63) remain an outside threat in the division, sitting four games back with a four-game series between the two coming next week in the Bronx.
Central:The White Sox (76-73) are holding on for dear life with the Guardians (76-74) just 0.5 games back as the division rivals begin a pivotal three-game series tonight in Cleveland.
West:The Astros (75-75) are zeroing in on their eighth division title in the last 10 years, but the Rangers (74-76, 1 GB) are right on their tail and the Mariners (70-80, 5 GB) could still have one run left in them.

Wild Card:The Yankees (86-63) and Red Sox (82-68) have both all but clinched, and the Guardians (76-74) lead the pack of seven teams who've still got a fighting chance: Blue Jays (75-75, 1 GB), Rangers (74-76, 2 GB), Orioles (72-78, 4 GB), Twins (70-79, 5.5 GB), Tigers (70-79, 5.5 GB), Mariners (70-80, 6 GB).

National League

East:The Braves (88-62) are close to wrapping up their first division title since 2023 after taking two of three against the Phillies (83-67, 5 GB) this weekend.
Central:The Brewers (93-57) already clinched a playoff spot, should clinch the division any day now (10-game lead over the Cubs) and have the inside track to the best record in baseball for the second consecutive season.
West:The Dodgers (90-59) are putting the finishing touches on their 13th division title in the last 14 years, with the Padres (81-68, 9 GB) a very distant second place.

Wild Card:Unlike the chaotic AL, this race features just four teams fighting for three spots. But the battle among the Cubs (83-67, +2 GB), Phillies (83-67, +2 GB), Padres (81-68) and Diamondbacks (79-71, 2.5 GB) should come down to the wire.

📺 Watchlist: Monday, Sept. 14

🏈 Broncos at Chiefs

Week 1 comes to a close this evening in Kansas City (8:15pm ET, ABC/ESPN) , where the Chiefs are coming off their worst season in more than a decade and the Broncos are coming off their best.

Back from injury:Last we saw Patrick Mahomes on a football field was when he tore his ACL exactly nine months ago, and last we saw Bo Nix (outside of preseason) was when he broke his ankle a month later. Both are expected to start tonight .

More to watch:

⚾️ MLB:Braves at Cubs (7:40pm, MLB) … NL contenders go head-to-head at Wrigley Field.
⚽️ Premier League:Leeds vs. Newcastle (3pm, USA) … This matchup of 1-2-0 clubs closes out Matchweek 4.
⚾️ WPBL Semifinals:Los Angeles vs. New York (7pm, ESPN+) … Winner advances to championship against San Francisco.

🏈 Trivia time

Derrick Henry scored his 123rd, 124th and 125th career rushing touchdowns on Sunday to move past Marcus Allen for third on the NFL's all-time list.

Question:Which two players are ahead of him on that list?

Answer at the bottom.

🎾 Chart of the day

88 of the past 89 men's singles Grand Slams have been won by Europeans. When will a non-European finally break through?

Trivia answer:Emmitt Smith (164 rushing touchdowns) and LaDainian Tomlinson (145)

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