Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates with wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) after scoring a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Photo: Sam Navarro-Imagn Imag Here’s what you may have missed from Week 1 of NFL Sunday action The build-up to the first Sunday of football on the NFL Network is gleeful chaos for football fans, yet it threw up an incredible surprise less than two hours before kick-off yesterday. Ian Rapoport pops on screen, delivering the news: Tyreek Hill, the Dolphins star wide receiver, has been detained by police outside of Miami’s stadium for a traffic incident.
Videos on social media emerge of Hill in handcuffs, being pinned to the ground by multiple officers. It was a sensational turn of events to see him pinned to tarmac outside of Hard Rock stadium hours before kick-off. 🚨NEW FOOTAGE: A POLICE OFFICER RANDOMLY HIT #NFL STAR TYREEK HILL, WHO APPEARS TO BE COMPLYING WITH THEIR ORDERS.
😳 JUST AN AWFUL LOOK. pic.twitter.
com/KKNRhZwfup Hill was released soon after and was available to feature for the Dolphins, where he had seven catches for 130 yards and scored a pivotal 80-yard touchdown in a dramatic 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, a score where nobody could catch him for his speed down the sideline. To top it off, the celebration saw team-mate Jaylen Waddle hold Hill’s hands behind his back in a clear reference to being in handcuffs earlier that morning. It has since been confirmed that Hill was detained for speeding and reckless driving, and a police officer has been placed on leave, with Miami-Dade police launching an internal investigation.
Hill, who said he respects police officers and wants to be one when he retires from football, said he “had no idea” why police placed him in handcuffs. “I wasn’t disrespectful because my mom didn’t raise me that way,” Hill said. “Didn’t cuss.
Didn’t do none of that. Like I said, I’m still trying to figure it out, man.” The New England Patriots have started a new era.
Yesterday’s journey to Cincinnati was the first under new head coach Jerod Mayo, tasked with a re-build after Bill Belichick’s tenure, which began in 2000, ended with a whimper last season. Out of all the match-ups the past weekend, this had the heaviest favourites according to the bookies. Nobody expected the Bengals, now with superstar quarterback Joe Burrow back on the field, to be held by a New England team still figuring out what parts it has.
Final score: Patriots 16 Bengals 10. There was a Gatorade shower for Mayo after the game as the disciple of Belichick engineered a defensive performance which has injected hope back into the New England fanbase, with Jacoby Brissett mistake-free at quarterback, a role he holds for an uncertain period of time as it is clear that he’s a transitional figure before new Draft pick Drake Maye eventually become starter. Burrow was accurate on passing, just didn’t get a lot of bang for his buck, completing 21 of 29 passes but just earning 164 yards.
They will need better when they travel to Kansas City next week. Tom Brady rarely has the spotlight taken from under him, but this was the case when the Dallas Cowboys travelled to Cleveland. It was Brady’s first appearance in the commentary booth on Fox, a point driven so hard before kick-off that you’d almost forget there was a game on.
Brady is getting an average of $37.5 million a year for his services to broadcasting, but Cowboys QB Dak Prescott stole the headlines with his big-money deal. Three hours before kick-off, after a whole summer of back-and-forth in the media and the Cowboys front office about whether he will be given a contract to stay in Dallas, Prescott was handed a four-year deal worth $240 million, his $60m average yearly pay the highest in NFL history.
So what does $240 million get you? Prescott threw for 179 yards and one touchdown and visiting Dallas overwhelmed Cleveland's punchless offence, a 33-17 victory a dominant start for Dallas. Prescott completed 19 of 32 passes but didn't need to do much more. His old running-back buddy Ezekiel Elliott is back in Dallas too, and he got a touchdown to give the feeling that the Cowboys are the same group they’ve been for years - here’s hoping they get a different result this season.
Playing in New York is tough at the best of times. The media attention, the scrutiny, the high expectations and that typical New Yorker way of telling someone they aren’t up to your standard. When it comes together for the Giants it can be beautiful, but when it’s bad, it’s awful.
Daniel Jones, the quarterback who was given a big-money contract despite question-marks over performance, was in rotten form. So bad they picked him twice. The Minnesota Vikings, playing with back-up quarterback Sam Darnold who had very low expectations, ran riot in a 28-6 victory in East Rutherford on a day where the Giants were meant to be celebrating their 100th birthday.
Darnold was untouched by the Giants defence, completing all of his first 10 passes in a cakewalk first half. Jones, meanwhile, threw two two interceptions, one of them an incredibly sloppy pass that was returned for a touchdown in the American football equivalent of passing it across the face of your own goal while a speedy striker runs at you. Since signing a deal worth $160 million, Jones has thrown more TD passes into the hands of opposition defenders than he has to his own team-mates.
A long season could be ahead in New York. It’s been over 20 years since a quarterback taken as the first overall pick has won his first start. But Caleb Williams, the new hope for the Chicago Bears, managed to end that curse, although a 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans was a real team effort.
Tennessee went 17-0 up at one stage, but excellent defence and special teams gave Chicago the momentum it needed to mount a comeback. Tyrique Stevenson gave the Bears their first lead of the game on a 43-yard pick-six with 7:35 to play. Chicago notched its first TD with 9:07 left in the third quarter.
Daniel Hardy blocked a Ryan Stonehouse punt and Jonathan Owens recovered the ball and raced 21 yards for a touchdown. Williams, meanwhile, went 14-of-29 passing for 93 yards. The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams are building a very modern rivalry, spawned from the trade a few years back where they swapped quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford ending 12 years in Detroit to go west and win a Super Bowl and Jared Goff making the reverse journey.
It came to a boil in the playoffs last season when the Lions recorded their first postseason win 32 years when defeating the Rams 24-23 in the Wild Card round in January, an occasion where some of the Detroit home crowd booed Stafford’s family. Intense stuff. Stafford’s family stayed in California for last night’s primetime clash, which saw the Lions come away with a victory in overtime.
David Montgomery scored on a one-yard run in overtime to give the host Detroit Lions a 26-20 win. Montgomery ran five times for 45 yards during the game-winning drive. He finished with 91 yards on 17 carries.
Detroit's Jared Goff passed for 217 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jameson Williams caught five passes for 121 yards and a touchdown for the Lions (1-0), who also defeated the Rams, 24-23, during the wild-card round of last season's playoffs. Matthew Stafford passed for 317 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Los Angeles (0-1).
Cooper Kupp caught 14 passes for 110 yards and one touchdown. Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua didn't play in the second half due to a knee injury..
