Week 1 of the 2023/24 National Football League (NFL) season is done and dusted, and the action throughout was intriguing right up to the very last play of opening week. On a weekend where Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam and Novak Djokovic won his record-setting 24th, the NFL had major winners and losers, and players that performed well above the rest of the pack.

Firstly, the losers — just after signing the best deal any player has ever signed in NFL history, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback (QB) Joe Burrow was held to 82 passing yards and less than 50 per cent completion (14 of 31) last Sunday afternoon — the worst output of his young NFL career. In the 100th instalment of the ‘Battle of Ohio’, the Cleveland Brown defence held the potent Bengals offence to a meagre three points in the pouring rain, possibly spurred on by being referred to as ‘elves’ by Cincinnati receiver Ja’Marr Chase a few days before the game.

However, all is not lost as the Bengals were in a similar situation last year after dropping the season opener to the Pittsburgh Steelers and starting 0–2, before winning 12 of their final 14 games. Their first chance at redemption comes this Sunday when the Baltimore Ravens come to visit, but the Ravens are riding a high off their win last weekend over the Houston Texans and will not surrender easily. There have been 55 games between these two franchises, with Baltimore having the slight edge (28 wins), but Cincinnati won the last two encounters in January of this year and this weekend’s game may be too close to call. JustBet gives Cincinnati the edge, but that may just be because they’re at home. This should be a good one.

The other major loser was the New York Jets who, on Monday night, won the battle against the Buffalo Bills, but may have lost the war. The Jets last made the play-offs in 2010 and, with the signing of veteran QB Aaron Rodgers during the off-season, they were more than hopeful for a return. However, Rodgers was injured on their fourth snap of the game after tearing his left Achilles tendon, and the ambitions of the New York hopeful sank. The Bills ran out to a 10-point, first-half lead before the New York defence stiffened, and after three interceptions by safety Jordan Whitehead and a 10-point Jets fourth quarter, the game went into overtime. The victory was sealed by a Xavier Gipson 65-yard punt return for a touchdown, which must have left the Bills questioning their reign as the best team in the American Football Conference (AFC) East division.

The Bills welcome the Las Vegas Raiders into their stadium on Sunday and are heavily favoured by JustBet to get their season on track, while the Jets travel to Dallas later in the afternoon to take on the Cowboys as heavy underdogs.

Regarding the Cowboys, their defence came to play last weekend and the New York Giants were on the receiving end of their full force. From the first whistle, the dominance of the defensive front was on full show, and they went on to register seven sack and two interceptions (including a pick-six from DaRon Bland), en route to a 40-0 demolition — the biggest shutout in the history of the Dallas franchise. Along with five forced fumbles, the Cowboys clearly displayed that there is no mercy in football, and they aim to inflict a similar degree of punishment on the Rodgers-less Jets this weekend.

And while there was very little to speak of on the offensive end for Dallas, the Miami Dolphins offence got it going early and very often against the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday afternoon. Miami’s QB Tua Tagovailoa was leading the league in passer rating before suffering concussions last season and started this season proving 2022 wasn’t a fluke, while receiver Tyreek Hill proved that he is still clearly a force to be reckoned with. Tua was ultra-impressive (28 of 45 passes for 466 yards and three touchdowns) and Hill was his unstoppable best (11 receptions for 215 yards and two touchdowns), and they had to be at the top of their game to eke out a very narrow 36-34 win against a formidable opponent.

Tua got the best of Justin Herbert last weekend and will go up against Mac Jones and the New England Patriots this Sunday evening, where it is expected the Dolphins will emerge 2-0. Jones performed creditably (35 of 54 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns) against the Philadelphia Eagles in their opening game but just just couldn’t generate enough offence and were beaten 20-25. Considering how the Dolphins went off last Sunday in an away game against a play-off calibre opponent, the chances for the Patriots look slim this weekend.

Elsewhere, Sunday was the first day since 1992 that someone named Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers didn’t have the starting QB job for the Green Bay Packers. Instead, they had Jordan Love, who had been understudying Rodgers for the past four years, and his play last weekend looked a lot like his mentor, with a little bit of Favre thrown in. The 24-year-old threw for 245 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, and orchestrated a second half that was almost picture-perfect. In one of the oldest NFL rivalries, the Chicago Bears had to swallow their ninth-straight loss to the Packers after giving up 14 points in each of the last quarters, leading to an embarrassing 20-38 home loss.

Both the Packers and Bears travel this weekend to tackle the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively, as JustBet underdogs and Green Bay appears the most likely to emerge with an away win. Of the 16 games played in Week 1, only six home teams managed to win, but the matchups for Week 2 should be able to flip the script and see the home teams enjoy most of the victories. There was a lot to digest in the opening games and there is as much (if not more) in store this weekend…..Enjoy.

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Super Bowl LVIII Champion

TeamOdds

Kansas City Chiefs7.40

San Francisco 49ers8.00

Philadelphia Eagles8.40

Buffalo Bills11.00

Dallas Cowboys12.00

Cincinnati Bengals14.00

Miami Dolphins16.00

Baltimore Ravens18.00

Detroit Lions18.00

Cleveland Browns21.00

*Only Top 10 odds shown (see website for full list)

Note: Odds are subject to change