Offense was the name of the game in the NFL in Week 1 to the tune of a league record.
After a historic first NFL Sunday in terms of points scored around the league, the Chiefs and Broncos went into Monday night with a chance to push the league over the top for a new NFL record.
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They didn’t quite reach new heights. But with Kenneth Walker’s touchdown and ensuing extra point to extend Kansas City’s lead to 31-10 early in the fourth quarter, the total point tally for Week 1 reached 791 across 16 NFL games. That calculates to a combined average of 49.4 points per game.
That total and that average tally are tied for Week 1 in 2012 for the most points scored in the NFL’s opening week since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970.
League came close to setting a new scoring record
Through the end of Sunday afternoon’s game with “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” to go, the league was on pace to set a new record with an average of 50.1 points per game.
But the Giants and Cowboys combined for 48 in New York’s Sunday night win, and the Chiefs and Broncos combined for a relatively paltry 41 on Monday. Blame the Broncos, whose offense was a disaster against an aggressive Kansas City defense.
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Even with Denver’s struggles, the Broncos and Chiefs needed just one point between them to break set a new Week 1 NFL scoring record after Walker’s touchdown early in the fourth quarter. A safety or field goal would have gotten the job done over the course of the game’s final 14:39.
But Kansas City effectively milked the clock on offense and shackled Denver on defense to ensure that no more points were scored in the fourth quarter.
Regardless, it adds up to an explosive Week 1 of NFL action with multiple high-scoring affairs.
Bears lead the way under Ben Johnson
None were more notable than the barn-burner between the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers early Sunday in which Chicago secured a 59-37 win in Charlotte.
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That matchup set the single-game scoring record for a Week 1 game when Chicago held a 52-37 lead with 4:00 remaining, and that was before the Bears piled on with another touchdown.
Why so many points?
So is this a sign of things to come this season? Have the NFL’s rule changes over the years largely in the name of player safety made high-octane scoring affairs inevitable?
Former Steelers head coach and current NBC analyst Mike Tomlin offered a theory on “Sunday Night Football” suggesting that offenses have the early edge thanks to preseason and training camp regulations and practice habits.
“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,” Tomlin said Sunday night “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.”
Whether or not there’s anything to that theory, one thing is clear. Defenses — including Denver’s vaunted unit that repeatedly missed tackles Monday night — will have their work cut out for them as they prepare this week for Week 2.
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