Week 1 of the 2026 season tied a scoring record and handed out instant coaching verdicts, but the injury tent stole the show — from A.J. Brown to Myles Garrett to Sam Darnold — while the extension checks kept clearing.
The opening slate doubled as a triage ward
New England's season was five plays old when it began to fray, and by Friday A.J. Brown was on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain, out at least four games. That set the tone for a stretch in which the injury report reshaped the league more than any final score did. The Rams' blockbuster offseason bet on Myles Garrett came undone in Australia: the reigning Defensive Player of the Year logged zero tackles, blamed lingering knee swelling, and was bound for IR and arthroscopic surgery within days. Seattle lost Super Bowl hero Sam Darnold on the game's opening series to what the club later called a 'unique' soft-tissue injury near the hip. Minnesota's Kyler Murray was concussed on a first-quarter scramble in his Vikings debut. Baltimore watched Zay Flowers rack up 150 first-half yards before a hamstring pulled him, while rookie Ja'Kobi Lane fractured his wrist in the same game. Layer on Ladd McConkey's ribs in Los Angeles, Minkah Fitzpatrick's groin in his Jets debut, and San Francisco losing Alfred Collins for the year before kickoff, and the week read less like a kickoff party than a triage ward.
The scoreboard operators earned their keep
If the medical tents were busy, so was every scoreboard. The 16 games tied the all-time post-merger Week 1 scoring record of 791 combined points, and nothing embodied it like Chicago's 59-37 rout of Carolina, the highest-scoring Week 1 game in NFL history — Caleb Williams accounting for four touchdowns and D'Andre Swift running for three. Buffalo and Houston traded haymakers before a vintage Josh Allen performance, capped by a 34-yard strike with 1:36 left, finally ended the Bills' two-decade hex in Houston, 36-31. Detroit edged New Orleans 31-30 in overtime after stuffing a two-point try. Minnesota spotted Green Bay a 22-10 lead and then buried the Packers under 29 unanswered points. And Baltimore leaned on Derrick Henry, who scored three times and climbed to third on the all-time rushing-touchdown list, to pull away at Indianapolis. Offense, in short, was not the problem anywhere.
New sidelines, split verdicts
The offseason's wave of coaching change got its first report card, and the marks split hard. John Harbaugh's Giants controlled the ball for nearly 37 minutes and knocked off the rival Cowboys in his debut, with Jaxson Dart throwing three touchdowns and Malik Nabers back from an ACL tear. Kirk Cousins looked comfortable in his Raiders debut under first-year coach Klint Kubiak, and in Pittsburgh, Mike McCarthy's reunion with Aaron Rodgers — the quarterback's declared final season — opened with a win, sealed by a T.J. Watt pick-six. The other side of the ledger stung. Robert Saleh's Tennessee debut was spoiled by his old team, the Jets, who outgained the Titans by 172 yards. Todd Monken's Cleveland tenure and Deshaun Watson's long-awaited return began with a 34-10 humbling at Jacksonville. And the loudest statement came Monday night, when Patrick Mahomes returned from ACL surgery and the Chiefs blasted Denver 31-10 behind Kenneth Walker III's 173 rushing yards — a reminder that the AFC's center of gravity may not have shifted as far as last season suggested.
The business of football never paused
Even as bodies piled up, the checkbooks stayed open. Tampa Bay made Baker Mayfield the highest-paid player in franchise history with a reported three-year, $165 million extension — a deal that aged awkwardly six days later when he coughed up three fumbles in a 33-27 loss at Cincinnati. Chicago locked up D'Andre Swift, Green Bay extended tight end Tucker Kraft on a $75 million deal, and San Francisco quietly handed Kyle Shanahan a multiyear extension before watching his team win in Australia. Detroit reworked two star contracts to free up cap room. The counter-melody was the players still waiting: Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. sat out the opener amid a contract impasse and a trade request, while Houston shelved C.J. Stroud's extension talks until the offseason. In a week defined by who was hurt, the money kept moving right alongside the ambulances.