Defenses Dominated NFL Week 1 As Offenses Struggled to Score

During Week 1 of the 2017 NFL regular season, offenses were not able to move the ball and scoreboards reflected that with low scoring games. Ten of the 15 games played during Week 1 (Miami-Tampa Bay cancelled) saw the UNDER cash.

The Dallas-New York Giants game saw two top quarterbacks and offensive line play mediocre, while the big matchup on Sunday between the Seahawks and Packers was filled with penalties, poor offensive series and no “big” plays.

Of course, it was just the first week of 17 and things could change, but it did not appear that way on Thursday night of Week 2 when the Broncos and Texans combined to score just 22 points.

Returning to Week 1, NFL teams averaged just 20.2 points last week, which is well over 2 points worse than any other Week 1 scoring average since 2011.

Last season, half the games during Week 1 saw both teams score 20 points or more, in 2015 that total was 7 games. In 2017, just three games had both teams scoring 20 or more points, which is the lowest in over 10 seasons.

Even the low scoring games could not produce down-to-the wires finishes. The Monday night game between the Broncos-Chargers went down to the final seconds, but only three games on Sunday were decided by eight or fewer points.

In comparison, 11 games during Week 1 of last season had scoring margins that were 8 or fewer points, and in 2015 that total was 9 games.

Offenses during Week 1 could not move the ball efficiently as overall they averaged just over 5 yards per play, which is roughly what the Cleveland Browns as a team averaged for all of the 2016 regular season.

Rushing touchdowns were lower during Week 1, but it was the touchdown passes that were shockingly lower. Week 1 saw a combined 38 touchdown passes, while every Week 1 dating back to 2010 has seen a combined 48 or more touchdown passes.

In Sunday’s games during Week 1, no running back had multiple touchdown rushes and just Detroit’s Matthew Stafford threw for more than a pair of touchdowns.

The Thursday Night game of Week 2 featured two defensive teams and points were expected to be at a premium, and the results panned out with Houston beating Cincinnati 13-9.