Week 1! What a thrill it was to drop my butt in a seat and not move it for seven straight hours.
The first Sunday of the 2026 NFL season had everything we could have asked for: Record-setting offense. Defensive touchdowns. Last-second plays. Overtime. There will be many takeaways from such excellent football. Here are a few of mine.
Every Sunday, I'll find several of the coolest advanced stats from the day's NFL action to share with you. Some call them NFL Next Gen Stats. I call them Next Ben Stats -- the data that might not make it on the broadcast but will make you a smarter fan (and laugh a little bit, probably).
Jump to:
Williams' speed | Mayfield vs. line of scrimmage
Kincaid's big day | Texans' big play problem
Brissett's efficiency | Bears' scoring surge
2: That's how many rushing TDs Caleb Williams had vs. Panthers -- and the number of times he cleared 20 mph.
That's some legitimate acceleration -- special stuff. Williams has cleared 20 mph seven times as a ball carrier since the start of last season. The rest of the quarterbacks in the NFL have six such plays combined.
His fastest touchdown (20.8 mph) was a 29-yard scamper at the end of the first half, but it's easier to see the impact of his extra gear on his first touchdown (20.45 mph). Williams is as dangerous as anyone in the league when throwing on the run (and especially to his left), so he initially runs only fast enough to outstrip pursuing Panthers defensive end Princely Umanmielen. Once he realizes he can make the pylon, he rounds the corner and hits the gas. It looks as easy for him as it does for quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
Caleb Williams reached a top speed of 20.35 mph on his 9-yard scramble TD run, the third-fastest speed by a QB as a ball carrier since the start of last season (Williams also owns the top two speeds).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 13, 2026
Williams has reached 20+ mph six times since the start of last season. No...
Williams was sharp as nails as a thrower in this one, too. He ended the day 21-for-29 with 269 yards and two passing touchdowns in the Bears' 59-37 win over the Panthers. There will be stiffer tests than Carolina's defense down the Bears' schedule, but for the second year of the Williams-Ben Johnson pairing, you couldn't ask for a much better start.
21.2%: That's the Bills' explosive play rate -- the highest ever achieved vs. the Texans' defense under coach DeMeco Ryans.
Wow.
After all the offseason excitement for the Texans' defense, it surrendered 36 points in a season-opening loss to the Bills. Explosive plays were the primary culprit. The Bills had nine completions of 16-plus yards and tacked on two more runs of 12-plus yards, including a 21-yard scramble from Josh Allen for an early touchdown. We're not even counting the 46-yard defensive pass interference penalty that set up the Bills at the 1-yard line. That 21.2% explosive play rate is easily the Texans' worst figure with Ryans as coach (since 2023).
If the Texans' defense had a weakness last season, it was how often it gave up explosive plays. Houston was second in defensive success rate and second in defensive EPA per drive -- but 14th in explosive pass rate allowed. As an aggressive defense that trusts its defensive backs on islands, when the Texans lose, they lose big. Such was the case on DJ Moore's 43-yard touchdown, which was inches away from Reed Blankenship's outstretched hands. It takes a special talent at quarterback (such as Allen) and an excellent performance by the offensive line to pull off such a game against Houston, but it is possible. No defense is perfect.
130: That's how many receiving yards Dalton Kincaid had in Week 1 -- the most for a Bills tight end since 1967.
The Bills added Moore this offseason (he had a great game), but his arrival overshadowed the importance of Kincaid's return to full health. Recovering from a 2024 PCL injury to his left knee, Kincaid was kept on a strict pitch count last season, playing only 37% of the snaps in the 12 games he was active -- well below that of fellow tight ends Dawson Knox and Jackson Hawes.
No such limitations were seen in Week 1 against the Texans. Kincaid played 76% of the offensive snaps with 40 total plays, his most in a game since Week 1 of last season, when he had 41.
Kincaid's downfield ability is rare for a tight end. He can line up in the slot, work vertically and track the football in a manner reminiscent of a true receiver -- and he has the sort of quarterback chemistry with Allen that rivals Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. Kincaid skied for a beautiful grab over Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. (an All-Pro) on an extended rollout, then beat corner Kamari Lassiter on a crossing pattern in which he broke a tackle and picked up yards after the catch. To do that against any corners, not just Houston's duo, is scary stuff.
42.9%: That's the percent of Baker Mayfield's pass attempts that were behind the line of scrimmage. It's a career high.
This number isn't even as high as it could have been in the Buccaneers' 33-27 loss to the Bengals. Before Mayfield started pushing the ball down the field for multiple scores in the fourth quarter, more than half of his targets were behind the line of scrimmage.
This is concerning. No offense wants to live behind the line this often, and certainly not the Buccaneers, who have a deep pass-catching core featuring Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin Jr., Ted Hurst III and Jalen McMillan (who was inactive). The Bengals played plenty of zone coverage (65% of dropbacks) but not a ridiculous amount. It shouldn't have been this hard to get the ball down the field.
Baker did a good job scrambling when downfield routes weren't available and used his running backs to stay ahead of the sticks -- Bucky Irving caught seven passes on the day. But the Buccaneers under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson cannot become this passive of a passing attack -- it's untenable in the modern NFL.
40.5%: That's the rate at which Jacoby Brissett threw in-breakers vs. the Chargers en route to a 26-14 upset win.
Here are the final passing stats: 27-for-37, 277 yards, one touchdown and one sack. It's about as clean and efficient of a sheet as you can get.
It was a day for in-breaking routes. Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud threw an in-breaker on a whopping 50% of his attempts, and the Ravens' Lamar Jackson was just behind at 48%. But the Cardinals excelled because of how well Brissett delivered the ball to tight windows: six completions on eight such attempts for 61 yards and a 135.9 passer rating.
If this Cardinals/Chargers result is surprising, remember that Chargers defensive coordinator Chris O'Leary is stepping into big shoes left behind by Jesse Minter (now the Ravens' coach). The Chargers could not create any negative plays defensively. The Cardinals averaged 5.9 yards to go on third down, while the Chargers averaged 12.4.
59: That's how many points the Bears scored in Week 1. They are on pace to break the scoring record.
For those who don't remember: Chicago coach Ben Johnson said his goal this season was to break the 2013 Broncos' scoring record of 37.9 points per game. Well, he has 21 points of margin after dropping 59 on the Panthers -- the fourth most in a game in the history of Chicago football. And that's a long history.