Opening weekend in the NFL is one of the most exciting times for fans as every team once again has a fresh chance at winning a Super Bowl.

There are a few storylines in specific that I would like to take a deeper dive into.

Starting with the Friday night lights between the Packers and Eagles in São Paolo, Brazil. 

The field conditions were not great leading to players slipping on what felt like every play. I love the idea of the NFL expanding the game to new places but they have to do better in getting the field and stadium ready for the players.

The Eagles had a sloppy start but still managed to clean things up in the end and win the game. Saquon Barkley, the Eagles prize free agent signing, had three touchdowns en route to the win. 

The real story of the game though was the injury of the Packers quarterback Jordan Love. The Packers quarterback suffered a sprained MCL and his timetable for return is believed to be three to six weeks. 

(Hopefully sooner)

The Packers will now have to rely on newly acquired backup quarterback Malik Willis. I believe this could be a reason to worry for Packers fans as we have seen next to nothing from Willis on the field yet. This is a golden ticket for Willis to prove he belongs at the NFL level.

 It will be interesting to see how the Packers handle the next few weeks without Jordan Love and how if they’re not careful it can potentially ruin the season before it even starts.

My next deep dive will be into Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Browns signed Waton in the 2022 offseason to one of the richest deals in NFL History for any player. 

Watson signed a five-year contract with the Browns totaling $230 million fully guaranteed. Since signing this contract Watson has barely produced at all on the field and has had two major injuries sidelining him for the majority of his time with the Browns.

Going into 2024 it seemed this season was a make it or break it for Watson and in his first game he put up one of the worst performances of the entire weekend. 

Watson finished the game with just 169 yards passing and two interceptions. I thought the entire Browns offense looked terrible in week one but Watson didn’t do them any favors. 

In my opinion, he looks like a shell of his former self that we saw with the Houston Texans. It’s almost as if during the time away from football he forgot how to play the game at a high level. 

Now as of September 9th, 2024, Watson has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit. This marks the 27th different lawsuit against Watson for similar reasons since 2022. 

I don’t know if I can remember the last time I saw a superstar player fading away in such a short amount of time. I’m interested to see if he’ll be able to turn it around on the field or be out of a job soon. Only time will tell.

Lastly, it was announced this week that Kendrick Lamar was headlining this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. Most people can agree Kendrick is a great artist but I still think the NFL messed this one up. 

The Super Bowl is being held at the Cesar’s Super Dome in New Orleans so in my opinion there were better artists that could have been chosen that are native to that area. 

Just like the whole internet, I wanted someone like Lil Wayne to perform. I’m not sure why the NFL would choose an artist from Los Angeles especially when he was a part of the halftime show a few years back already.

I don’t get paid to make decisions or have opinions but it’s always fun to take a deeper dive into the best stories of the week.