What To Look For - Kickoff Weekend

SUPER STARTERS: History indicates that the best way for a team to start its drive toward a Super Bowl championship is to win in Week 1.

The 51 Super Bowl winners have a 41-9-1 record in the Kickoff Weekend games of their title seasons. The Super Bowl LI champion NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, who host Kansas City in the season opener on Thursday night (8:30 PM ET, NBC), have won their past eight home openers played on Kickoff Weekend and 12 of their past 13 overall in Week 1.

Since 1978 when the NFL went to the 16-game schedule, and excluding the abbreviated season of 1982, teams that are

victorious in their season openers are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than losers of an opening game:

• Of the 570 teams which won openers…297 went to the playoffs (179 won division titles).
• Of the 571 teams which lost openers…137 went to the playoffs (79 won division titles).
  
  Note: There are a different number of winning and losing teams in season opening games due to the fact the NFL had 31 teams in each season from 1999 to 2001, which creates an odd number for the total number of results.
  
  In 2016, nine of the 12 playoff teams – Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Kansas City, New England, the New York Giants, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Seattle – were victorious on Kickoff Weekend.
  
  
  -- NFL --
  
  STRONG OUT OF THE GATE: Over the past 10 years, six teams – New England (.758), Denver (.706), Dallas (.676), Green Bay (.676), Baltimore (.647) and Arizona (.618) – have a winning percentage of at least .600 through the season’s first month. Those six clubs have combined for 37 playoff berths and nine Super Bowl appearances – including five Super Bowl championships – during the span.
  
  On Thursday night, the Patriots, who have an NFL-best 25-8 record in the month of September since 2007, host the Kansas City Chiefs (8:30 PM ET, NBC). The Broncos (24-10, .706), who own the second-highest opening-month winning percentage in the NFL over the past 10 seasons, host the Los Angeles Chargers in an AFC West showdown in the second game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader (10:20 PM ET, ESPN).
  
  The teams with the best opening month records over the past 10 seasons (2007-16):
  ​

TEAM	W	L	PCT.	PLAYOFF BERTHS	SUPER BOWL BERTHS	SUPER BOWL WINS
New England	25	8	.758	9	4	2
Denver	24	10	.706	5	2	1
Dallas	23	11	.676	4	0	0
Green Bay	23	11	.676	9	1	1
Baltimore	22	12	.647	6	1	1
Arizona	21	13	.618	4	1	0

-- NFL --

OUT OF THE BLOCKS: The DALLAS COWBOYS host the NEW YORK GIANTS on Sunday Night Football (8:30 PM ET, NBC), as the two NFC East rivals meet on Kickoff Weekend for the fourth time in the past five seasons. The contest will feature two of the NFL’s most successful teams in season openers. The Cowboys’ .661 winning percentage (37-19-1) is tied with Denver for the highest of any team in NFL history, while the Giants have the third-most wins on Kickoff Weekend (50).

The teams with the best winning percentage on Kickoff Weekend:

TEAM	KICKOFF WEEKEND RECORDS	WIN PCT.
Dallas Cowboys	37-19-1	.661
Denver Broncos	37-19-1	.661
Houston Texans	9-6-0	.600
Chicago Bears	54-38-5	.587
Green Bay Packers	54-39-3	.581
New York Giants	50-37-5	.575
Note: Ties prior to 1972 did not count in winning percentage.

The teams with the most wins on Kickoff Weekend:

TEAM	KICKOFF WEEKEND WINS
Chicago Bears	54
Green Bay Packers	54
New York Giants	50
Detroit Lions	47
Pittsburgh Steelers	42

-- NFL --

STARTING STREAKS: Some clubs have excelled in openers. Below is a sampling of notable active NFL Kickoff milestones and streaks:

• The CHICAGO BEARS, who host Atlanta to open their 2017 campaign, have the most wins (65) all-time in home openers.

• The DALLAS COWBOYS, who welcome the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football, have 32 wins in home openers since 1970, the most in the NFC.  

• The DENVER BRONCOS, who host the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football, have posted a 43-13-1 (.768) record in home openers, the top mark in the NFL. Denver has won 23 of its past 26 home openers.

• The GREEN BAY PACKERS, who welcome Seattle on Kickoff Weekend, have won their past four home openers. The Packers are tied with the Bears for the most wins (54) on Kickoff Weekend.

• The HOUSTON TEXANS, who host Jacksonville on Kickoff Weekend, have won six of their past seven home openers.

• The SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS, who host Carolina on Kickoff Weekend, have the NFL’s longest active winning streak (six) on Kickoff Weekend.

-- NFL --

START ME UP: Some players have excelled in openers. Below is a sampling of notable individual performances on NFL Kickoff Weekend:

• New England quarterback TOM BRADY has 3,808 passing yards in 14 career Week 1 games and needs 192 yards to join PEYTON MANNING (4,736) and DREW BREES (4,306) as the third QB with at least 4,000 career passing yards in season-opening games. Brees (33 touchdown passes) and Brady (31) can surpass Manning (34) for the most career touchdown passes in season openers.

• New Orleans running back ADRIAN PETERSON has 885 rushing yards in 10 career season-opening games and needs 115 yards to become the fifth player with at least 1,000 rushing yards in season-opening games. The four players to accomplish the feat are EMMITT SMITH (1,247), WALTER PAYTON (1,067), EDGERRIN JAMES (1,062) and JIM BROWN (1,043). Smith, Payton and Brown are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

• Arizona wide receiver LARRY FITZGERALD has 918 receiving yards and eight touchdown receptions in 13 career season-opening games and needs 82 yards to become the fifth player with at least 1,000 career receiving yards and eight touchdown catches in season-opening games, joining JERRY RICE (1,385 yards, nine TDs), ANDRE REED (1,225, 10), RANDY MOSS (1,194, 10) and DON MAYNARD (1,025, nine). Rice, Reed and Maynard are all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

-- NFL --

MR. 300: Green Bay quarterback AARON RODGERS has 297 touchdown passes with 72 interceptions in 12 career seasons. With three touchdown passes against Seattle on Sunday, Rodgers would become the 11th quarterback in NFL history with 300 career touchdowns passes and the first quarterback in league history to reach 300 career passing touchdowns with fewer than 100 interceptions.

The quarterbacks who reached 300 career touchdown passes with the fewest interceptions:

QUARTERBACK	TEAM(S)	INTERCEPTIONS AT TIME OF 300TH TOUCHDOWN PASS
Tom Brady	New England Patriots	115
Philip Rivers	San Diego Chargers	142
Peyton Manning	Indianapolis Colts	152
Drew Brees	San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints	153
Ben Roethlisberger	Pittsburgh Steelers	160
Aaron Rodgers	Green Bay Packers	72*
*Has 297 career touchdowns passes entering Week 1
-- NFL --

START ’EM EARLY: Cleveland rookie quarterback DE SHONE KIZER, a second-round pick (No. 52 overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft, is expected to make his first career start against Pittsburgh on Sunday. With a start by Kizer on Sunday, at least one rookie quarterback will have started in Week 1 in 10 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in the NFL since at least 1950.

The rookie quarterbacks to start in Week 1 since 2008:

SEASON	QUARTERBACK		TEAM	STARTING RECORD AS ROOKIE
2008	Joe Flacco		Baltimore Ravens	11-5
2008	Matt Ryan		Atlanta Falcons	11-5
2009	Mark Sanchez		New York Jets	8-7
2009	Matthew Stafford*		Detroit Lions	2-8
2010	Sam Bradford*		St. Louis Rams	7-9
2011	Andy Dalton		Cincinnati Bengals	9-7
2011	Cam Newton*		Carolina Panthers	6-10
2012	Robert Griffin III		Washington Redskins	9-6
2012	Andrew Luck*		Indianapolis Colts	11-5
2012	Ryan Tannehill		Miami Dolphins	7-9
2012	Brandon Weeden		Cleveland Browns	5-10
2012	Russell Wilson		Seattle Seahawks	11-5
2013	EJ Manuel		Buffalo Bills	4-6
2013	Geno Smith		New York Jets	8-8
2014	Derek Carr		Oakland Raiders	3-13
2015	Marcus Mariota		Tennessee Titans	3-13
2015	Jameis Winston*		Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6-10
2016	Dak Prescott		Dallas Cowboys	13-3
2016	Carson Wentz		Philadelphia Eagles	7-9
2017	DeShone Kizer^		Cleveland Browns	0-0
^Expected to start in Week 1
*No. 1 Overall Pick