Ranking QB debuts of NFL Week 1: Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones - ESPN

Welcome to Week 1! It's been a long time since our weekly Tuesday column, and how I have missed it. There's also nothing like the first few weeks of the NFL season. We don't know anything right now, so each take is new, exciting and potentially egregiously dumb. If Week 1 was destiny, then the Jets and the Steelers would be two of our most high-powered offenses (don't believe that), and Bills-Ravens would be the best game all season (that one's probably true).

On Tuesdays, I try to spin the previous week of NFL football forward, looking at what the biggest storylines mean and what comes next. We'll break down a major trend or two and highlight some key individual players. There will be film. There will be stats (a whole section of them). And there will be fun.

This week, we're going to rank the top Week 1 performances from quarterbacks who joined new teams, take a closer look at the Giants' QB situation and size up a few interesting pass-game tendencies we saw Sunday. Let's dive in.

Jump to a section:
The Big Thing: Ranking top Week 1 QB debuts
Second Take: The Giants can't go to Dart just yet
Mailbag: Answering questions from… you
Next Ben Stats: Wild Week 1 stats

Every week, this column will kick off with one wide look at a key game, player or trend from the previous slate of NFL action. What does it mean for the rest of the season? This week, we ranked five of the most intriguing quarterback debuts with their new teams.

The Geno Smith-Chip Kelly pairing is going to be appointment television this season. On Sunday against the Patriots, the Raiders were first in the NFL in explosive pass rate at 26.3%, second in air yards per attempt at 10.3 and second in play-action rate at 34.2% — all while being blitzed 47.4% of the