Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson completed 31 of 35 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns in Seattle’s 38-25 win over the Falcons on Sunday in Atlanta. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
ATLANTA — Russell Wilson was cooking right from the start, throwing four touchdown passes to lead the Seattle Seahawks to a 38-25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the season opener Sunday.
With the Falcons not allowing fans for at least their first two homes games because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Seahawks took advantage of what was essentially a neutral site to pull away in the second half.
Seattle heeded the pleas of its fans to “Let Russ Cook” – essentially a call to open up the offense in the first half rather than relying on Wilson to keep leading dramatic comebacks.
He completed 31 of 35 passes for 322 yards, throwing a pair of TD passes in the first quarter as Seattle built a 14-12 halftime lead and adding two more in the third quarter to put the Falcons away.
The biggest one of all came after the Falcons made what looked to be a crucial stop, leaving the Seahawks with fourth-and-5 at the Atlanta 38. The offense stayed on the field, but instead of going for the first down with a short throw, Wilson lofted one to DK Metcalf, who was streaking toward the end zone.
Metcalf beat cornerback Isaiah Oliver and hauled in the perfectly thrown ball without breaking stride to push Seattle to a 21-12 lead.
RAMS 20, COWBOYS 17: Malcolm Brown rushed for a career-high 79 yards and two touchdowns, Jared Goff passed for 275 yards and Los Angeles opened SoFi Stadium with a 20-17 victory over Dallas.
Robert Woods had six catches for 105 yards to help the Rams improve to 4-0 in season openers under coach Sean McVay and spoiled the debut of Mike McCarthy, Dallas’ first new head coach in a decade.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown and caught another scoring pass, but the Cowboys began a season of high expectations by losing three starters to injury in the first half and then failing to mount a late comeback in a scoreless fourth quarter for both teams.
Dak Prescott passed for 266 yards and a touchdown, but Dallas managed three points on its six drives in the second half. Michael Gallup made a long catch that would have put Dallas in field goal range with 21 seconds left, but was called for offensive pass interference for contact with Jalen Ramsey.
BILLS 27, JETS 17: Josh Allen led three consecutive first-half touchdown drives, and Buffalo overcame its own sloppiness and injuries to two starting linebackers in a season-opening win in Orchard Park, New York.
John Brown had six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, and Stefon Diggs finished with eight catches for a team-leading 86 yards in his Bills debut after being acquired in a trade with Minnesota in March.
Allen finished 33 of 46 for 312 yards in becoming Buffalo’s first player to top 300 yards since Tyrod Taylor had 329 in a 34-31 overtime loss to Miami on Dec. 24, 2016.
RAVENS 38, BROWNS 6: Looking every bit like the reigning NFL MVP, Lamar Jackson threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns to help Baltimore beat the Browns, ruining Kevin Stefanski’s debut as Cleveland’s head coach in a game played without fans in attendance, in Baltimore.
Facing a Cleveland secondary depleted by injuries, Jackson completed 20 of 25 passes and racked up a team-high 45 yards on the ground. A year ago, the multi-faceted star set an NFL single-season record for yards rushing by a quarterback and threw 36 TD passes.
JAGUARS 27, COLTS 20: Gardner Minshew threw three touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to Keelan Cole in the fourth quarter, and Jacksonville stunned Indianapolis and Philip Rivers in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Jaguars entered Week 1 as the NFL’s biggest home underdogs, with talk of tanking being the most prevalent preseason topic surrounding the revamped team. The tempered expectations may have contributed to the team only being able to distribute about 14,000 tickets for the league’s lone game played with fans in the stands Sunday.
Minshew gave the sparse crowd plenty to celebrate. The second-year pro completed 19 of 20 passes for 173 yards and no turnovers. He connected with DJ Chark, rookie Laviska Shenault and Cole for scores — and looked sharp all day.
PACKERS 43, VIKINGS 34: Aaron Rodgers took full advantage of the young cornerbacks and the empty stadium in Minnesota, beginning his 13th season as Green Bay’s starting quarterback by passing for 364 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Packers past the Vikings.
Davante Adams was predictably the biggest beneficiary, with a career-high, franchise-record-tying 14 catches for 156 yards and two scores. Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Allen Lazard each reached the end zone, too, as Green Bay had its way with a Minnesota defense renovated this year out of salary-cap necessity as hefty new contracts were given to quarterback Kirk Cousins and running back Dalvin Cook.
Aaron Jones rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown for the Packers, who posted their highest score against the Vikings since a 44-31 victory at the Metrodome on Oct. 27, 2013.
WASHINGTON 27, EAGLES 17: Peyton Barber ran for two touchdowns and Dwayne Haskins rallied Washington from a 17-point deficit to beat Philadelphia in Coach Ron Rivera’s debut.
After falling behind 17-0 following a pair of touchdown passes by Carson Wentz, Washington relied on a punishing defense and opportunistic offense in its first game since owner Dan Snyder finally agreed to change the team’s name and former employees alleged sexual harassment.
RAIDERS 34, PANTHERS 30: Josh Jacobs ran for 93 yards and three touchdowns, Derek Carr threw for 239 yards and a score and Las Vegas hung on to beat Carolina to spoil Matt Rhule’s coaching debut, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Jacobs’ 6-yard run around the right end with 4:14 left put the Raiders ahead for good after they’d surrendered a 12-point fourth quarter lead.
BEARS 27, LIONS 23: Mitchell Trubisky perfectly lofted a 27-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 1:54 remaining and Chicago Bears won in Detroit.
Detroit drove to the Chicago 16 with a chance to win, and rookie running back D’Andre Swift dropped a pass in the end zone. Matthew Stafford threw another incomplete pass as time expired to complete the collapse.
Trubisky threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to help Chicago come back from a 17-point deficit. It looked familiar to Lions fans: Detroit opened last season by blowing an 18-point lead at Arizona and settling for a tie. That began a trend that saw the team fail to stay ahead during a season that ended with just wins.
CARDINALS 24, 49ERS 20: DeAndre Hopkins had a career-high 14 catches for 151 yards in his Arizona debut and set up Kenyan Drake’s 1-yard TD run with 5:03 to play that led the Cardinals over San Francisco in Santa Clara, California.
Kyler Murray threw for 230 yards and a touchdown and ran for 90 yards and another score to help the Cardinals (1-0) overcome a pair of fourth-quarter deficits to beat the defending NFC champion 49ers (0-1) in a smoky opener at an empty stadium.
CHARGERS 16, BENGALS 13: Heisman winner Joe Burrow ran 23 yards untouched for a touchdown — the best moment of his NFL debut — but Los Angeles roughed him up and rallied for a victory over Cincinnati.
Playing in empty Paul Brown Stadium, Burrow got his first snaps in the NFL and learned the hard way what it’s like to face a tough front line.
The Bengals (0-1) also had an in-character finish. A.J. Green was called for offensive interference in the end zone in the closing seconds, and Randy Bullock missed a 31-yard field goal try with 2 seconds left.
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