Week 1 NFL Players of the Week

 This will be the first of a weekly players of the week. We will look back on each week and make our personal pick for offensive, defensive, and rookies of the week. We will also have a team of the week slot. Week 1 had it's fair share of incredible performances, making some of these choices pretty hard.

OFFENSIVE Player of the Week: Kyler Murray, Quarterback, Arizona Cardinals

Statline: 289 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT passing | 20 yards, 1 TD rushing

The first offensive player of the week this NFL season goes to Kyler Murray. The former rookie of the year has been getting better every season, and it looks like he is poised to take another jump after this week 1 performance. Murray was surgical with the football to say the least. He was slinging the ball from the opening whistle. Murray made some magical plays with his feet as he rushed for 20 yards and a TD as well. With his feet, he is able to buy so much time and scramble around until someone is open. We saw a number of broken plays that Murray got the ball to a WR deep down the field. He and DeAndre Hopkins picked right back up where they had left off as he was clearly his top target and Hopkins made all the catches. Christian Kirk also linked up with Murray to the tune of 2 TDs including one perfectly thrown moon shot that landed right in Kirk's bread basket. With almost 300 yards passing, and 5 total TDs, Murray was the commander of this Cardinals "ship" that absolute sunk the favored Titans. Murray takes an early leap into the MVP conversation with his stellar week 1 performance. 

DEFENSIVE Player of the Week: Chandler Jones, Edge Rusher, Arizona Cardinals

Statline: 5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 6 total tackles

You won't see this often. Double Cardinals in the players of the week spots. You also won't often see a performance like Chandler Jones in week 1. We could go the entire season without someone having this dominant of a game. It's crazy to see that happen in week 1. Jones just had 5 sacks. That is beyond impressive. 2 sacks in a game is considered very elite. Jones just went for 5. Double digit sacks in a season almost surely makes you a top 10 rusher in the league and Jones just got half of that in week 1. While it (likely) won't continue, Jones is on pace for over 100 sacks right now. He has legit potential to break the 22.5 sack single season record set by Michael Strahan. It's a lot of projections after just one week, but I'm trying to verbalize how insane this statline is. We also haven't touched on him forcing two crucial fumbles in this game. Forcing one fumble is hard enough, but two in one game? So rare. He did all of this while also eclipsing 5 sacks. We seriously are unlikely to get a single player perform so dominantly in a game again this season, and it's only week 1.

ROOKIE of the Week: Rashawn Slater, Offensive Tackle, Los Angeles Chargers

Statline: 0's across the board, shut down Chase Young

It's rare that an O-lineman can win an award like this, but the debut performance of Rashawn Slater was so elite that it warranted this title. Drafted in the top half of the first round to be premier protection for Justin Herbert, Slater has just shown the team that he will be their rock at the position for the next decade or more. In his first game of his career, he was tasked with blocking against one of the game's best edge rushers in Chase Young. No problem for the rookie. He literally took Young out of the game. Slater allowed 0 sacks, 0 QB hits, 0 hurries, 0 pressures the entire game. Most won't know that these are the main O-line stats, and he literally just didn't allow a single red mark all game. I feel like I'm just speaking in circles, but this is another statline you may not see the entire season. The fact that it was a rookie tackle making his NFL debut and doing it against one of the best rushers in the league makes it insanely more impressive. Slater is going to literally singlehandedly take this Charger offense to new heights. You almost NEVER see that out of an O-lineman, especially in his rookie year. What a game for Rashawn Slater who takes home week 1 rookie of the week. 

TEAM of the Week: New Orleans Saints (1-0) beat Green Bay Packers 38-3

The final award of week 1 goes to the New Orleans Saints as a team. It was tempting to give it to the Cardinals as they had offensive and defensive player of the week and dominated the Titans, but I just think the Saints win and team performance was more impressive. Against the NFC's no. 1 seed from last season, the Saints who had such a new starting lineup from last season just went in and dismembered these Packers. I haven't seen a team defense do that to Aaron Rodgers maybe ever. He was literally awful. He threw for 133 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 INTs with a 53% completion percentage and a 36.8 QBR. That is maybe the worst game of the reigning MVP's career. The Saints defense allowed just a single field goal to the NFL's best offense from a year ago. If you thought the Saints D was amazing, you don't have to go far to find more of the same. Their offense was hitting on all cylinders. New starting QB Jameis Winston might just have found the place to revitalize his career. He threw for an easy 5 TDs with no picks against a stout GB defense that boasts elite CB Jaire Alexander. Alvin Kamara was back to his old ways as well as he tore them up. There was literally no flaw in this team performance and it has me wondering if these Saints really are that good, or if it was a lucky fluke. Time will tell, but for now, these Saints are the team of week 1! 

OPOTW Honorable Mentions:
-Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (330 yards, 3 TDs passing)
-Seahawks QB Russell Wilson (250 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs passing, 152.3 QBR)
-Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill (11 rec. 197 yards, 1 TD receiving)
-49ers WR Deebo Samuel (9 rec. 189 yards, 1 TD receiving)
-Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (264 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs passing, 60 yards rushing)

DPOTW Honorable Mentions:
-Raiders DE Maxx Crosby (2 sacks, 2 TFLs, 6 tot. tackles)
-Vikings DT Michael Pierce (2 sacks, 7 tot. tackles)

ROTW Honorable Mentions:
-Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase (5 rec. 101 yards, 1 TD receiving)
-Eagles WR Devonta Smith (6 rec. 71 yards, 1 TD receiving)
-Ravens DE Odafe Oweh (1 sack, 2 tackles)

TOTW Honorable Mentions:
-Arizona Cardinals (Beat Titans 38-13)
-Pittsburgh Steelers (Beat Bills 23-16)
-Cincinnati Bengals (Beat Vikings 27-24 in OT)
-Las Vegas Raiders (Beat Ravens 33-27 in OT)