For a massive undertaking like Fantasy Points Data, we need a large team of dedicated and educated charting professionals to ensure that we are able to get statistics posted on the website both accurately and quickly.
While the data-charting process is, by nature, objective, our team will obviously form opinions about what they saw, given that we have to watch every play multiple times.
Every week, we’ll select the most notable observations and back them up with the objective data we’ve become known for.
Here are our top observations for 2025 NFL Week 1.
Week 1 Data Charter Observations
1. “Josh Allen put on his Superman cape in the waning minutes of the game and pulled this one out of the fire. It looked like a struggle at times during the early parts of the game, but when the Bills needed it, Allen was the Bills offense. Keon Coleman looked like a true number one that the Bills missed last season. He does well to find openings in zone and is a difficult cover on contested catches.”
Sunday Night Football lived up to the hype with the Bills pulling off a dramatic 41-40 comeback win over the Ravens in the final minutes. Bills’ QB Josh Allen led four scoring drives in the 4th quarter on his way to a Week 1-high 394 passing yards and 2 touchdowns to go along with 30 rushing yards and 2 more scores. Facing a 15-point deficit, Allen racked up 251 passing yards and 3 total touchdowns in the 4th quarter alone to steal a victory from the jaws of defeat.
When the Bills needed a play, second-year WR Keon Coleman stepped up with a career-high 8 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. An encouraging sign for Coleman was that his route percentage jumped up to 82.7% and his target share jumped to 23.9% after sitting at 68.8% and 14.4% in 2024. Allen and Coleman will look to build on a Week 1 in a road matchup with the Jets, who are coming off a loss in which they allowed 4 passing touchdowns to Aaron Rodgers.
2. “Without Kellen Moore, the Eagles’ offense was missing so much detail that gives offenses an advantage. Very limited motion, play action, RPOs, and spread formations. As a result, Jalen Hurts threw underneath nearly every play and hardly threatened the Cowboys vertically. AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith seemed to be running strictly shallow and intermediate routes.”
The reigning Super Bowl Champion Eagles held on to defeat the NFC East rival Cowboys by a score of 24-20 to kick off the 2025 season. Eagles’ new OC Kevin Patullo changed up their tendencies from last season with far fewer cheat codes that help offenses. As a result, QB Jalen Hurts attempted just 2 passes 10+ yards down the field while completing both for 59 yards. Overall, Hurts finished 19/23 for 152 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions while showing off his legs with 62 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.
The concerning part for Hurts was he posted a 4.5 aDOT (30th in Week 1) and a 3.0% RPO (down from 7.1% in 2024), resulting in just 4 catches for 24 to WRs DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown. The pair was restricted to just a combined 16 vertically breaking routes on 63 total routes, and both registered negative ASS scores of -.031 for Smith and -.065 for Brown. We will see if the Eagles offense opens up as they enter a high-profile stretch of games with the Chiefs, Rams, Buccaneers, and Broncos on tap over the next few weeks.
3. “We have officially entered timeshare territory for Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey is still an elite weapon in the pass game. He may not have the same burst he had a couple years ago, but it’s very clear the ability to run dynamic routes is in his blood.”
49ers’ RB Christian McCaffrey led the way offensively for San Francisco in a hard-fought 17-13 win over the Seahawks in Week 1. McCaffrey ceded some carries to newly acquired teammate Brian Robinson, but CMC made up for it with a team-high 9 catches on his way to 142 total yards. His burst was missing in the run game as CMC registered 3.14 YPC, 0 explosive runs, and 2 missed tackles forced on 22 attempts for 69 yards. Getting McCaffrey in space in the passing game saw much more efficient results as he posted 5 1READ targets, 3 MTFs, 10 total targets, and 9 catches for 73 yards.
The injury bug continues to plague the 49ers as QB Brock Purdy, TE George Kittle, and WR Jauan Jennings all suffered an injury in Week 1. That likely leaves the 49ers no choice but to keep riding McCaffrey in a Week 2 visit to New Orleans to take on the Saints.
4. “The Jacksonville offense, with new play caller Liam Coen, had a decent start to the year. Travis Etienne appears to be the featured back in this offense, and with Tank Bigsby being traded to the Eagles, it is now wheels up for Etienne, who looked pretty solid in the first game. Trevor Lawrence had a decent completion rate for the day. Although not great, it's a step forward as he will look to build on this as he gets more comfortable in the offense. With Travis Hunter, Brenton Strange and Brian Thomas Jr, this should be an exciting offense to watch going forward.”
The Jaguars cruised to a 26-10 win over the Panthers in Week 1 on the back of RB Travis Etienne. Rumors of a preseason trade culminated in RB Tank Bigsby heading to the Eagles largely due to Etienne ripping off 143 rushing yards in his first game over the century mark since 2023. After seeing his efficiency dip in the last two seasons, Etienne looked excellent with 2 explosive runs for 88 yards while registering rates of 5.31 YACO/ATT and 3.63 YBCO/ATT.
QB Trevor Lawrence had an encouraging game as he posted rates of 61.3% ACC, 5.5% CPOE, 77.4% CATCH, which were all higher than his 2024 output. For the game, Lawrence threw 19 completions for 178 yards on 31 attempts. Jaguars’ pass catchers WR Brian Thomas (10.3%), WR Dyami Brown (7.7%), and TE Brenton Strange (5.3%) all posted positive win rates, while rookie WR/CB Travis Hunter nearly scored a long touchdown had it not been for a highlight interception from Panthers’ CB Jaycee Horn. Week 2 brings a road matchup with the Bengals in a game with shootout potential.
5. “Baker Mayfield was just off a bit in Week 1, missing throws behind receivers a lot. Could be a lack of in-game reps, he did sit out all preseason, but the Buccaneers’ receiving group looks good. Mike Evans can still get open at will.”
The Buccaneers took an early-season lead in the NFC South with a last-minute 23-20 win over the Falcons in Week 1. Buccaneers’ QB Baker Mayfield made plays when he needed to en route to 167 yards and 3 touchdowns, including the game-winner to WR Emeka Egbuka with under a minute to go. Baker struggled with his accuracy, registering a -6.9 % CPOE and a 46.9% ACC rate. All is well that ends well, though, as Baker completed 4 out of 5 passes for 48 yards and the aforementioned winning touchdown with just over 2 minutes left in the game.
Better passing output lies ahead for the Buccaneers as WR Mike Evans continues to be an ASS god with a 0.400 ASS (5th best) in Week 1, while Egbuka scored twice on 67 yards and had a 0.065 ASS himself. WR Sterling Shepard also got in the mix 20.8 % Win Rate. Add in the return of WR Chris Godwin at some point, and the Buccaneers’ passing game will be one of the top units in the NFL.
6. “The Rams look like a very complete team. If Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua stay healthy, they may break the league. The Rams’ defense looks very good too. The receiving group is really fun behind Puka. Jordan Whittington is strong in the run game and separated well on downfield routes and crossers, and Davante Adams is still reliable to win underneath and on the sideline.”
With points coming at a premium, the Rams’ defense stepped up and held the Texans to just 9 points in a 14-9 win in Week 1. Despite not lighting up the scoreboard, Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford went over 60,000 passing yards for his career with a 245-yard, 1-touchdown performance. WR Puka Nacua picked up right where he left off with a 37.9% target share and 11 1READ targets on his way to 10 catches for 130 yards. Nacua continues to be a target monster and should be near the top of the league in volume metrics this season.
Offseason addition WR Davante Adams showed no signs of rust heading into his twelfth season as he posted a 0.423 ASS (3rd best) and a 34.6% win rate in Week 1. Stafford connected with Adams for 4 catches for 51 yards on 8 targets for the game. The Rams travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans in Week 2 before getting a showdown with the Eagles in Week 3.
7. “The Lions offense featured far fewer cheat codes as they ran a very vanilla offense. Much less motion and creativity in concepts. They threw the ball a ton, but mainly because they could not block at all. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were getting hit or pressured in the backfield even in box-advantaged situations. Gibbs was great at forcing missed tackles when he got the ball, but it usually didn't lead to much with nowhere to go.”
The Lions ran into a brick wall as they fell to the Packers by a score of 27-13. While the Packers are likely to pose a difficult task for many teams, the Lions entered 2025 with some question marks following the offseason departure of OC Ben Johnson. QB Jared Goff led the NFL in passing yards on play action in 2024, and while he completed 10 of 11 passes on play action in Week 1, he was unable to find big plays. Goff posted a 7.64 YPA (down from 9.99 YPA in 2024) and a lowly 2.8 aDOT on play action.
A big issue that factored into the lack of success in play action was the Lions' offensive line creating just 0.86 YBCO/ATT (21st) in the running game, after ranking 3rd in 2024 at 2.40 YBCO/ATT. Despite the lack of daylight, RB Jahmyr Gibbs still proved to be a tough tackle by forcing 5 missed tackles on 9 attempts (19 yards) as the Lions were forced to throw for much of the game. The Lions will have a chance to right the ship in Week 2, as they host a Bears’ defense that allowed the 8th highest YBCO/ATT (2.40).
Bonus Observations
Bears QB Caleb Williams — Week 1 was a mixed bag for Caleb Williams. He seemed more relaxed and played within the flow of the offense. He did revert back to his rookie year tendencies at times in the second half, but overall looked OK. The bad was Williams posted 2.86 TTT (4th-highest) and a 51.4% 1READ rate (30th), meaning he was not throwing to his first read very often. The good was Williams scrambled 6 times for 58 yards and a touchdown, which showed he was taking off rather than trying to find a hero throw.
Broncos QB Bo Nix — Nix struggled to get comfortable and find a rhythm. He had happy feet all day, throwing without setting his feet and therefore missing his targets. The biggest issue came on deep throws. Twice Nix just didn’t see the deep defender, and the Titans were able to jump the routes for interceptions. Nix ended up with 176 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 turnovers. Most of the issue was he ranked 26th in ACC % (50.0%) and 32nd in OFF% (25.0%).
Bengals RB Chase Brown — Brown is set for massive volume if he can remain healthy. The opening drive was the Brown show, finished off by terrific contact balance and vision on a cutback lane to get the touchdown. It comes as no surprise that Brown took all 21 carries for the Bengals. Efficiency wasn’t there this week, but Brown did force a robust 7 missed tackles despite a -0.48 YBCO/ATT.
Jets QB Justin Fields — Fields was impressive. He showed a lot more poise in the pocket than I remember as a Bear, and kept his eyes downfield as he scrambled out of trouble. He moved through his progressions well, and wasn’t as quick to run after his first read. Fields showed improved accuracy with 4.5% OFF target rate and 63.6% ACC rate.
