NFL's Week 1 All-Stars
By Rhys Knott
If you had to pick a team made up of different type of ballers to play the “Monstars” you’d need theses guys. Here are Week 1’s NFL All-Stars
NFL's Week 1 All-Stars at Quarterback
There are a couple of options at quarterback for Week 1’s NFL All-Stars. It could be Tua because Mike McDaniel’s offense was humming in Week 1, but that’s nothing new. When Tua was healthy last season, they were great to watch and tricky to defend.
This week’s All-Star QB performance has to be Jordan Love. Some people seemed to think he would struggle to follow in Aaron Rodgers’ footsteps but any sensible person who had seen Love play knew he wouldn’t be the Packers’ problem this year. Just like Rodgers wasn’t the biggest issue last season.
Love didn’t have the best completion rate in Week 1, but he did have the best passer rating. Only 55.6% of his passes were caught, but that was still enough to net him three touchdowns and a league leading touchdown percentage. 11% of Love’s passes ended up in the endzone. And his 123.2 passer rating was 11.4 points higher than second placed Desmond Ridder.
NFL's Week 1 All-Star Running Back
Well, Breece Hall might be a human highlight machine who defied the fact he’d blown his knee up less than 12 months ago but he’s not the running back Week 1’s NFL All-Stars. Christian McCaffrey. Averaging 6.8 yards per touch is pretty solid productivity from the 49ers running back who’s had his fair share of injury problems too. But he had 25 touches against the Steelers (he probably drove the bus back to the airport too). 152 yards on the ground at 6.9 yards per attempt is pretty good work for two games let alone one. He also ran in a touchdown and caught 3 passes for 17 yards too.
NFL's Week 1 All-Stars at Receiver
Puka Nacua was targeted 15 times in his NFL debut, the most by a rookie in Week 1 over the last eight seasons (44.1% target rate).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 11, 2023
Nacua had most of his production come in the short area (0-9 air yards), where he caught 6 of 9 targets for 64 yards.#LARvsSEA | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/2TopeRHJ2U
Only one winner for WR1 this week, Tyreek Hill’s whopping 215 yards is mid blowing. And proof that he really is aiming for 2,000 receiving yards in 2023. Two of his receptions were scoring passes too.
There’s a bit of a battle to play opposite Hill though, Justin Jefferson had 150 yards in a losing cause against the Buccaneers. Brandon Aiyuk had 8 catches from 8 targets and two of those were touchdowns as he torched Patrick Peterson. But you have to go for the rookie who made Rams fans forget about Cooper Kupp’s ailing body. Puka Nacua caught 10 of his 15 targets (the same number as Hill). And he averaged 11.9 yards per reception, he was too much for the Seahawks to deal with.
And there’s another rookie lining up in the slot too. Zay Flowers shone in an offense that looked a bit clunky as Todd Monken and Lamar Jackson worked through the kinks. Flowers filled the gap left by Mark Andrews’ injury. He caught 9 of 10 targets, ending the game with 78 yards and notching up 5 first downs to keep the new offense on the field.
NFL's Week 1 All-Stars Tight End
With Kelce or Andrews playing it’s tough to pick a standout tight end. It’s probably Hayden Hurst. He was Bryce Young’s safety valve and a very good one he was too, even in a losing Panthers cause. Hurst caught 5 of the 7 targets Young threw his way against the Falcons. He scored the Panthers’ only touchdown and he was part of a Carolina offensive line who only let Young get hit 4 times.
No. 3 gets his third pick! @jwhite_333
— NFL (@NFL) September 12, 2023
📺: #BUFvsNYJ on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/6SstXq1rq7 pic.twitter.com/WTwn2X6xSG
all-star defense + special team
In a perfect world Jordan Whitehead would play for the Dallas Cowboys. Whitehead’s three interceptions against Josh Allen was as many as he made in his first three seasons in the league. He was outstanding in an outstanding defense, but the Jets are going to have sit this out, for the moment anyway. The Cowboys’ defense was on another level to the rest of the league, forget hot girl summer, it’s Dan Quinn fall ladies and gents. The Cowboys scored more fantasy points in Week 1 than anyone except Tyreek Hill!
This is where the Jets get involved. A walk-off punt return in overtime? What is this, baseball? The Jets’ defense and special teams scored more fantasy points than Patrick Mahomes this week, that doesn’t happen often.
And that wraps up Week 1’s NFL All-Stars, check back next week for Week 2.
RHYS KNOTT
NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST
Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes