NFL Best And Worst: From The Vikings’ Pressure Cooker To The Rams’ Head-Scratcher

The vaunted Rams … What happened?! Drake Maye … What are you doing?! Brian Flores … brings the heat! That Cowboys defense … yikes! After Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, I know you have strong reactions from the football you watched — both positive and negative. And it’ll be that way all year long. That’s why I’ll be giving you my best and worst superlatives every Monday. I’ll drill down into the best and the worst in a number of categories. For Week 1, let’s talk plays, coaching and defense: In the Commanders’ Week 1 loss to the Eagles, special-teamer Tyler Owens produced one of the best gunner reps you’ll ever see. He fought his way through a double team at the snap from Philly’s Jonathan Jones and Darius Cooper. He stiff-armed Jones about five yards downfield. Then he stiff-armed Jones and Cooper simultaneously. He threw Cooper to the ground. He threw Jones down about 10 yards later. And if all that wasn’t enough, he took down Eagles punt returner Britain Covey with a textbook tackle, driving him to the ground. On an individual basis, regardless of the phase of the game, it’s one of the most impressive plays in recent NFL history. The clip will be on a loop for football teams at all levels all week and referenced for years to come as an example of the kind of effort and finish coaches want to see on the field. Each of Maye’s three picks were bad in the Patriots’ 13-10 season-opening loss to the Seahawks, but his final one, which sealed New England’s loss, was particularly puzzling. The Patriots faced a third-and-5 from the Seahawks 16 with 26 seconds left, trailing by three points. That’s where Maye forced a throw to a tightly-covered Mack Hollins in the end zone. Seeing that Hollins wasn’t open, Maye should’ve thrown the ball away, giving New England a chance to tie the game with a field goal. That’s quarterbacking 101. You cannot have a turnover (or take a huge yardage loss on a sack) in that situation. For a quarterback of Maye’s caliber to make a rookie-level mistake like that is baffling. His track record against great defenses isn’t good, so that will be something to watch as his third NFL season unfolds. Flores concocted a brilliant defensive game plan to help the Vikings to a 39-22 season-opening victory over the Packers. The veteran playcaller was relentless in harassing Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who was blitzed on 78.3% of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats. That’s the fourth-highest rate by a defense in any game in at least eight years. Minnesota generated four sacks and an interception on second-half blitzes. Vikings linebacker Black Cashman had seven quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds), which was the most by a player at his position in a single game since at least 2018, per NGS. Third-year edge rusher Dallas Turner registered a career-high 10 pressures. Flores, the former Dolphins head coach, has been in the mix for head coaching openings for years only to be passed over — to the benefit of the Vikings. His complex defense has consistently ranked among the league’s top units since he became Minnesota’s defensive playcaller in 2023. I’m banking on that continuing in 2026. Next week, Flores takes on Ben Johnson and the Bears, the NFL’s highest-scoring offense in Week 1. The Rams’ decision to take a 16-hour flight and arrive in Melbourne, Australia, the day before their opener against the 49ers didn’t seem to make much sense. Sure enough, the Rams looked flat in their 27-7 season-opening loss in what’s being called “The Jet Lag Game.” Even if you chalk that up as an organizational decision based on advice from experts in sleep study, McVay fell short in other ways. His decision to call a goal-line quarterback sneak with 38-year-old Matthew Stafford, who has a history of back issues, was puzzling (Stafford was stuffed). But what stood out the most to me was McVay’s poor handling of star edge rusher Myles Garrett’s knee issue. After the Rams’ loss, a game in which Garrett went without a tackle for the first time since Week 11 of the 2024 season, McVay said the reigning Defensive Player of the Year’s knee was 100 percent to his knowledge. A couple of days later, it was announced that Garrett, who was held out for much of training camp due to his knee, would have arthroscopic surgery and be placed on injured reserve. That means he’ll miss at least four games. The Bengals’ new-look defense lived up to the hype. Cincinnati generated a league-high four turnovers, including on three straight possessions in the first half, to help the team to a 33-27 victory over Tampa Bay. Those four takeaways led to 24 points, including a defensive touchdown by linebacker Demetrius Knight, who registered the team’s first fumble recovery for a TD since 2022. All four of the turnovers forced by the Bengals were fumbles, which came from four different Cincinnati defenders — linebacker Barrett Carter, safety Bryan Cook, defensive ends Myles Murphy and Boye Mafe. That speaks to the depth of the defense, which gave up just 89 rushing yards. After finishing 31st in total defense last season, don’t be surprised to see Cincinnati be top-10 good defensively this year. Yes, the Panthers gave up 59 points. But I think that says more about Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and the dynamic Bears offense. So my focus here is on the Cowboys, who spent all offseason telling us that this year’s defense wasn’t the same as last year’s only to … look like last year’s. They appeared to be completely overwhelmed and unprepared against the Giants in Week 1. Dallas gave up 165 rushing yards and three drives of at least 12 plays to end the game. New York went 9-of-10 on third down, excluding the game-ending kneel down. Quarterback Jaxson Dart completed 79.3% of his passes. There were coverage lapses everywhere. The Cowboys had a four-man pressure rate of just 10.0%, their lowest in a game in five years, according to Next Gen Stats. I think Christian Parker, the Cowboys’ 34-year-old defensive coordinator, is a good young coach. Defensively, Dallas is better on paper. But Monday’s performance was putrid.