NFL Week 1 scoring rises after two-year lull, but how points were accumulated is the real story

The NFL has seen fewer points per game in each of the past three successive seasons. Team owners started asking questions. Points are the lifeblood of this league, after all.

After Week 1, there are plenty of smiles around the league as the NFL saw 45.8 points per game across the 16 contests. It’s the highest average for Week 1 since 2021, and it gets the league above the 45-point watermark it hopes to hit each season after failing to reach it the last two years.

But while scoring is up, how teams are scoring is rather unique. In fact, it’s unlike anything the NFL has seen in decades and, in some cases, ever.

Just 35 passing touchdowns were thrown in Week 1, marking the fewest in the opening week of an NFL season since 29 were thrown in Week 1 of 2006. And for the first time since 1989, there were more rushing touchdowns than passing touchdowns in Week 1.

There were 36 rushing touchdowns compared to the 35 passing touchdowns in Week 1. It was just the fifth time since the 1970 merger that was the case.

Also plummeting last week were passing yards per game. Games averaged 376.6 passing yards in Week 1, the fewest in the opening week of the league since 1996. The NFL has become known for becoming pass-happy in recent years, yet passing yards per game fell by 151 total yards from its all-time high set just five years ago in 2019.

Yes, it’s only a one-week sample size, but in an apples-to-apples comparison the numbers are still down. So what gives?

Multiple NFL personnel men pointed to the lack of preseason and practice time in today’s NFL as being one of the primary reasons. “Passing game takes timing and precision,” said one team executive.

A lack of sophisticated offensive philosophies in college, mixed with the quarterback position trending younger and more mobile, along with inconsistency within one offensive system could be another reason.

“Kids are transferring every year now so they aren’t even getting developed in college either,” said a source.

Perhaps unrelated, but last year the league saw 20-year highs in quarterback sneaks, scrambles, sacks and shotgun percentage. The hits on quarterbacks — and sources tell CBS Sports that hits on the quarterback in Week 1 were among the highest the league has seen in years — have contributed to 2022 and 2023 being the top-two seasons with the most starting quarterbacks in a season in NFL history.

But some sources say the explanations aren’t as simple. As it relates to practice time and a lack of preseason participation, one source pointed to 2020 as counterevidence. That season produced the most points per game in a single season in league history, and of course the pandemic prevented all teams from having much of a training camp — or any exhibitions at all.

A clear point of emphasis among officials could have also resulted in a down passing week. A source said the illegal formation calls across the league in Week 1 put all offensive linemen (especially offensive tackles) on notice, forcing them to play closer to the line of scrimmage and thus lessening any advantage the offense may have against a pass rush.

There were 21 illegal formation penalties called in Week 1 by officials, and 14 were accepted. According to CBS Sports research, both of those totals are the most in a single week dating to 2006.

The Week 1 sack rate in the league was 8%, compared to the previous 10-year average of 6.6%.

Lastly, never before have NFL kickers been so good from so deep. Kickers were 68 of 74 on field goal attempts in Week 1, the most attempts and makes in opening weekend history.

More astonishing was the fact that kickers were 21 of 23 on attempts from 50 or more yards. The previous single-week high was 15 in Week 3 of last year. The only two misses were by Justin Tucker, the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history, and Cade York, who tallied two missed attempts Sunday and was cut the next day by the Commanders.

Theories abound as to why passing was down, and reasons exist why scoring didn’t suffer. But in a league known to highlight quarterbacks, it may be hard to imagine Week 1 will turn into a trend this season.