Week one of the NFL season is officially in the books, and there was a lot to unpack from the past few days. We saw the NFL debuts of the 2024 NFL draft class, and guys like Joe Burrow, Malik Willis, and Jaden Daniels all had solid debuts. However, it was not all fun and games for every team in week one. In fact, several teams disappointed in the first week of the season. Just because a team starts out 0-1 doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, but based on the expectations heading into the season, a handful of teams severely disappointed.
Some of the teams we’re going to discuss in today’s video internally, at least, think they’re headed for a Super Bowl but looked anything but Super Bowl contenders in week one. Today, we’re breaking down the biggest losers of the NFL season so far. We’ll cover what happened in week one, what’s next for these teams, and if they can play their way out of what was a nightmare scenario to start the year.
New York Giants: A Disastrous Start
We’re starting today’s video by breaking down the New York Giants. They lost in the opener to the Minnesota Vikings, and this game was about as bad as it gets. Daniel Jones played terribly in this game and looked very uncomfortable. The Giants only had 240 yards of offense. To make matters worse, they lost 28-8, but on the Vikings’ first drive of the game, fullback C.J. Ham fumbled and gave the Giants the ball on the Vikings’ 20-yard line to start. They only got a field goal out of this. If they weren’t basically handed a free three points, it would have been an even uglier loss—and this was in a game in which they already looked terrible.
Daniel Jones looking dejected on the sidelines
I don’t want to spend this entire video talking about how bad Daniel Jones was in this game, but the run game did not do this team any favors either. I was always concerned with the Giants heading into the season because, for me, it boiled down to one big question: Can Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, as a quarterback and running back duo, legitimately lead an offense in 2024, regardless of how good or bad the offensive line is?
To make matters worse, the Giants’ offensive line played poorly in this game. The answer to the question of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley, to me, was always going to be a resounding no. Heading into the year, I was hoping they could be somewhere in the 20 to 24 range in terms of points per game and yards per game offensively. They still can get there—don’t get me wrong, as there was a lot of bad offense being played across the league in week one—but I have many concerns with this organization moving forward.
When you factor in that the Giants are going to have to play the Cowboys and Eagles twice and that four of their next six games are against the Cowboys, Seahawks, Bengals, and Eagles, I don’t think a 1-5 start is unrealistic. I’m not trying to overreact to what we saw in week one, and I’m definitely not saying this team is going 0-17, but from where this team was entering the year, how many of those games would you honestly have thought the Giants would win?
If they start 1-5 or even 2-4, does anybody actually think they’re going to win eight of their final 11 games to finish the year 10-7 and make the playoffs? I don’t. This was a nightmare week one for the Giants.
Carolina Panthers: A New Beginning That Looks All Too Familiar
We now go from the Big Apple to the Queen City to have a conversation about the Carolina Panthers. This was a nightmare week one all the way around. Usually, you can say, “Well, at least X or Y player did this, and we can build on that moving forward.” But this was awful. I don’t think the Saints are going to the Super Bowl this year, and I don’t think many people do, which is what makes this loss 100 times worse.
This was supposed to be a new beginning. Everyone was okay with tossing out the 2023 season and chalking it up to Frank Reich not being a good head coach and the Panthers setting Bryce Young up to fail, which they certainly did in 2023. Young was sacked over 60 times last year. His receiving core was bad, and he didn’t have a chance. But bringing in Dave Canales to be the team’s head coach and bringing in guys like DeAndre Hopkins and Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis and even a bounce-back year from former top-six pick Ikem Ekwonu…nothing went right. And I mean nothing.
Bryce Young scrambling under pressure
Bryce Young was pressured on nearly 40% of his dropbacks. He did not look comfortable and looked like a deer in headlights all game long. He completed just 13 of 30 passes, threw for just 161 yards, and also threw two interceptions. The interception he threw on the very first play of the game summarized what type of day it was going to be for him and the Panthers. To make matters worse, the pass was intended for DeAndre Hopkins. When the ball went by him, it was so far over his head and out in front of him that you can see on tape he kind of looked where the ball went, and it was almost like you could see him think, “Wait, is this pass intended for me?”
I wouldn’t be so upset with the Panthers after one game if they lost 24-20, the Panthers were driving down the field, and Bryce threw an interception trying to make a play with the game on the line. But this wasn’t even close. The other interception was just a blatant overthrow intended for Adam Thielen. The run game was also terrible as they averaged just 2.9 yards per carry on the day.
I give the Panthers’ front office credit for going out and making things happen this offseason, spending over $150 million to bring in Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt to try and attempt to help their young quarterback. However, Bryce was under pressure a lot and also looked awful in this game. The player Bryce Young was at Alabama is nowhere close to the Bryce Young we saw in 2023 or now in week one of 2024. I’m not entirely out on Bryce and the Panthers, and I don’t want this to be a “We’re done already and move on” take because it was only one game, and every team will play a bad game in 2024.
But the leash on how far I’m willing to be optimistic with this team definitely shortened. I thought the Panthers were going to lose this game but not by 37 points and not by starting the game out by spotting the Saints 30. What adds to how bad this game was for Carolina is that the Saints are probably not a Super Bowl team. This was not the 1985 Bears out there eating Bryce Young alive. This is about as ugly of a situation as you’re going to find.
Cleveland Browns: The $230 Million Problem
Cleveland lost their home opener by a score of 33-17. A 16-point loss is not good, but this game was a lot further apart than even a 16-point loss. It was a beatdown. Deshaun Watson was sacked six times. He did not look comfortable in this game, and it showed. Now, I think this was a combination of a really good Cowboys defense, along with a bad quarterback leading Cleveland’s offense, but the results were terrible.
The reason why Cleveland is one of the biggest losers to start the 2024 season is due in large part to the situation around their quarterback. Obviously, we all know about the trade to go get Deshaun Watson, which occurred a couple of years ago, but they let go of Baker Mayfield to make this happen, and the gamble certainly has not paid off for Cleveland.
I was willing to let the 2022 season go when Deshaun came back for the Browns simply because of how long it had been since he had played football at the NFL level. I believe if any of the premier quarterbacks took nearly two full years off in their prime, there would be a lot of rust, which there was for Deshaun at the end of the 2022 season.
Deshaun Watson pressured in the pocket
I also don’t think he looked good during the time he played in 2023 outside of one half against the Ravens. The problem with that is having a full offseason go by, banking on the fact that a player who has played one good half of football in the past three years could somehow be that guy on a down-to-down basis. That’s a big problem because that is setting him up to fail. Deshaun finishing the day 24 of 45 for 169 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions is who he is at this point in his career. He doesn’t see guys open. He doesn’t hit the NFL open passes when he should, and the financial implications of this trade are significant.
Fully guaranteeing him $230 million set this franchise back several years because of where they are now. It’s extremely unfortunate for every player on that defense because of how good of a unit it is. For any Browns fans out there that still want to believe in Deshaun Watson moving forward and are holding on to any sliver of hope they may have, I don’t think both tackles being out in week one is going to change things all that much. Is Jedrick Wills playing going to help Deshaun read Amari Cooper being wide open on a dagger route on third and eight when Deshaun willingly chooses to roll out of a clean pocket and force himself into a tough throw?
Is even a prime Joe Thomas going to help Deshaun read the defense? No. That’s the problem. It also doesn’t help that the Browns are in a tough division notorious for playing great defense and being hard to score on. That’s only going to magnify the problem. From a national media standpoint, Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy had a combined 17 targets in week one. Together they hauled in just five receptions for 41 yards. Together they had a catch percentage of just 29.4%.
Cleveland’s next few games are against the Jags, Giants, Raiders, and Commanders. All those games are winnable, but even if they start out 3-2 or 4-1 because their defense held each team to 13 or 14 points a piece, that won’t change the glitch in the $230 million problem they have. Can Deshaun get out of this? Technically yes, but I would be absolutely shocked if he did, and the outlook of this team looks very bleak.
Atlanta Falcons: A Costly Gamble Gone Wrong
The Atlanta Falcons are next, and it’s more than just the simple fact that they only put up 10 points after paying a quarterback a lot of money. The Falcons are on here for several reasons and the potential implications after their week-one loss to the Steelers. The Falcons threw the ball 26 times in week one, and of those 26 passing attempts, Kirk Cousins had zero attempts come from play-action. Whatever you think of Kirk when he’s healthy, whether he’s great, whether he’s good but not great, whatever the case may be, Kirk is a solid quarterback, and he does well off of play-action, like many quarterbacks do. But Kirk’s completion percentage off of play-action is in the upper echelon of the NFL, and that’s a really big part of his game.
Kirk Cousins dropping back to pass
I included the Falcons in this list because they didn’t run any play-action, which is a benefit to Cousins’ game. One reason I think they didn’t run play-action is that I don’t think they trust where he is physically. You could see that during the Falcons-Steelers game. Kirk was not throwing with the same velocity he had last year in Minnesota and not just in 2023 but in any of the past four or five seasons. The velocity was not there from Kirk.
We obviously all knew that Kirk tore his Achilles last year, and this team still proceeded to give him a four-year, $180 million contract. One thing that I will kind of ease Falcons fans’ concerns on is that this was never going to be a four-year contract. Let’s just go ahead and at least get that elephant out of the room. Kirk Cousins’ cap hits in 2026 and 2027 are scheduled to be $57.5 million, and the guarantees are what matters.
Kirk was guaranteed between $90 and $100 million, so he was never going to play that contract out. At that point, Michael Penix Jr. would take over, presumably, at the start of 2026, but I got to be honest, I don’t think we’re going to get there. The Kirk Cousins we saw in week one was a lot different than the Kirk Cousins we saw last year. When you factor in that he’s already not a mobile quarterback and that they simply do not trust him to run play-action because they do not trust him to be able to roll out, to boot, and then come back all in one motion and make the play-action play or to at least have the mobility to run a play-action play before the pass is even thrown…guys, I think this is a very, very serious situation here in Atlanta because what are they going to do?
I think they play Philly in week two. They play Kansas City in week three, and then they have back-to-back division games with the Saints and Bucs in weeks four and five. Unfortunately, for the Falcons and their fanbase, both the Saints and Bucs looked phenomenal in week one, especially Tampa. Baker Mayfield threw for four touchdowns. He played great and played close to an MVP level in that game. He looked phenomenal, and here we are in Atlanta with Kirk Cousins, a guy that we just spent $180 million for, who looked absolutely nothing like the player we were going to get. He looked absolutely uncomfortable all game, and the question is: What are they going to do now?
Just being honest, I don’t think they’re going to start 0-5, but I think they’re going to start 0-3. We’re in a position now where we have a 36-year-old quarterback coming off of a torn Achilles, and he doesn’t look anywhere close to the player that he was. When you factor in that GM Terry Fontenot is in a now-or-never year because he stayed while Arthur Smith was fired and he made the decision to go out and get Kirk Cousins, and the fact that they have him to such a high contract because Kirk will not get cut until after the 2025 season unless the Falcons want to go the Broncos route, which they did with Russell Wilson, and eat all that money in one season.
That’s probably not the route they want to go because the Falcons internally think they will be able to win the division and win at least one playoff game, if not multiple playoff games. If you have a $50 or $60 million dead cap hit from Kirk Cousins, which is what it would be next year, that’s going to hinder the franchise the way it will hinder the Broncos this year. I would love to be proven wrong, but Kirk was a statue back there in the pocket. Kyle Pitts and Drake London combined for five catches for 41 yards in a season and in a game where everyone thought they could break out now that they’re finally gone from the Mariotas and Ridders and Hines of the world, but it was awful in week one, and I have a lot of concerns with the Falcons moving forward because I think they’re going to start 0-3.
