Week 1 Takeaways

+ Lamar Jackson and the Ravens enjoyed an ideal Week 1 scenario against a sorry Dolphins team. Yes the defense was horrible, but Jackson flashed in crucial areas and should tremendously benefit from the confidence-building performance. He was accurate, effective attacking the middle of the field and comfortable launching over the top, leading to an essentially unstoppable passing combination. The most exciting part of all? Only 3 rush attempts. Jackson had double-digit attempts in each of his 7 starts last season.

+ Dak Prescott has never looked so comfortable leading the Dallas passing attack. Not only have the good times since the acquisition of Amari Cooper appear to have carried over into this season, the emergence of Michael Gallup and the return of Jason Witten have them looking even stronger. Dak at his best has always been a precision operator inside of ten yards and 23 of his 32 throws against the Giants were ten yards or shorter from the line of scrimmage. The real question with him is his willingness and effectiveness attacking further down the field. In Week 1, Dak was 8/9 with 3 TDs when completing it ten or more yards down the field.

+ Week 1 can be a liar, but Carson Wentz appears to be back on his MVP-caliber form of two seasons ago. Wentz had an extremely accurate afternoon in leading Philadelphia back from and early hole against Washington and hooked up with returned Eagle DeSean Jackson for two TD bombs. Even more impressive was his ability to responsibly navigate his naturally individual playmaking style while still protecting himself. Wentz extended plays all day but only took one sack and gained only 5 yards on the ground. It’s an extremely promising area of development and one in which Deshaun Watson still struggled in Week 1.

+ It’s been a few years since we had a truly random QB underdog story but Gardner Minshew has a real chance to stick as the Jaguars QB this season. Minshew was shockingly accurate in relief of Nick Foles but most impressive was his ability to operate in the timing of the offense. His Week 1 processing speed was frankly higher than several more experienced QBs and he flashed enough arm as well to go 5/5 with 2 TDs throwing 10 or more yards downfield. Obviously, the Chiefs were surprised to see him and the real challenge will begin now that teams will be specifically preparing for the rookie QB week-to-week.