Each week, we’ll offer up the very best of the NFL for a given week, kind of like the fantasy football team you wished you had.
We’ll pick one quarterback, two running backs, two receivers and a tight end – OK, this is sounding a lot like a super-hindsight fantasy football team – as a way to look back on the weekend that was.
This week, we have a couple of established veterans, a second-year stud and a rookie headlining the list. Let’s break it down.
QB Josh Allen, Bills
You could make a case for Justin Herbert after his impressive performance in Brazil on Friday, and then it looked like Aaron Rodgers would be the pick are his four touchdowns, zero interceptions and win over his old Jets.
But then Allen went crazy in primetime. He threw for 394 yards and two scores and ran for 32 and two more scores, rallying the Bills back for an insane comeback win over the Ravens. That’s a potential AFC Championship Game preview, and it’ll be hardpressed to match this thriller.
Josh Allen’s Bills were down 15 points in the fourth quarter, but they still started the season 1-0. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
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RB Travis Etienne Jr., Jaguars
The talk in preseason was that Tank Bigsby might end up being the RB1 in Jacksonville, but that definitely wasn’t the case on Sunday. In Liam Coen’s head coaching debut, Etienne led the backfield with 16 carries for 143 yards in a 26-10 win over the Panthers.
This was not a huge week for running backs so 100-yard games were hard to find, as were multi-touchdown games or anything especially prolific. Jacksonville ran for 200 yards as a team, something it had done only once in the last five years, which is no doubt an encouraging debut for Coen’s offense.
RB Derrick Henry, Ravens
Just when it seemed there wouldn’t be a dominant rushing performance, Henry’s 169 rushing yards were the most of any Week 1 game since Marlon Mack went for 174 in 2019. He also found the end zone twice.
Obviously, a key fourth-quarter fumble dampened Henry’s night, which otherwise was easily the best Week 1 of his NFL career. Henry’s previous high in Week 1 was 116 yards back in 2020. He only ran for that much twice last year, and one was 199 – also against Buffalo.
On Sunday night, Derrick Henry showed that he hasn’t missed a step entering 2025. (Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
WR Emeka Egbuka, Bucs
What a debut for the first-round pick out of Ohio State, hauling in two of Baker Mayfield’s three touchdown passes, the latter of which gave the Bucs the lead with 59 seconds left. He finished with four catches for 67 yards and the two scores.
Egbuka has impressed all summer in Tampa, and Sunday didn’t disappoint. He stepped up to take advantage of the extra attention Mike Evans commanded from the Falcons defense. Egbuka is capable of big-time games like this, especially until the Bucs get Chris Godwin back from injury.
WR Puka Nacua, Rams
There weren’t a ton of monster games for receivers either, so we’ll go with Nacua, who had a league-high 130 yards on his 10 catches, efficiently on just 11 targets. Nacua also got a cut above his eyebrow in the first half that required stitches, but he came back and kept producing.
The Rams pulled out a 14-9 victory over the Texans, and Nacua had more than half their receiving yards – the rest of the team had 115 yards on 18 targets. The 130 yards is more than he had in all but one game last season. A healthy and productive Nacua will be good news for the Rams this season.
TE Brock Bowers, Raiders
None of the tight ends who caught touchdown passes had more than 30 receiving yards, so we’ll yield to last year’s rookie phenom, who had five catches for 103 yards in the Raiders’ impressive win over the Patriots.
Brock Bowers had catches of 30 and 38 yards after getting a 23-yard catch on Geno Smith’s very first pass with the Raiders. Can he possibly top his high-volume debut last year? It shouldn’t be ruled out just yet.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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