{"id":124173,"date":"2025-09-06T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/124173\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T12:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T12:00:13","slug":"nfl-week-1-roundtable-micah-parsons-packers-debut-aaron-rodgers-steelers-vs-justin-fields-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/124173\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 1 roundtable: Micah Parsons\u2019 Packers debut, Aaron Rodgers\u2019 Steelers vs. Justin Fields\u2019 Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve waded through Spitgate in Philadelphia<\/a> and the AFC West\u2019s pit stop in Brazil to finally reach the first Sunday of the 2025 NFL season.<\/p>\n

And while Thursday\u2019s and Friday\u2019s prime-time games packed plenty of punch, Sunday is no slouch \u2014 it never is.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see Micah Parsons\u2019 debut and quickly get some semblance of whether it will upset the balance in the NFC North as the Green Bay Packers host the Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n

The Aaron Rodgers-Justin Fields switcheroo might be the most intriguing storyline in Sunday\u2019s early window of games. Rodgers\u2019 Pittsburgh Steelers face Fields\u2019 New York Jets, with the two quarterbacks entering 2025 with much to prove.<\/p>\n

And, of course, Sunday night\u2019s Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills clash is a matchup of teams that can\u2019t seem to escape each other in the quest for AFC supremacy. How will it unfold this time?<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s NFL writers Mike Sando, Jeff Howe and Zak Keefer are on hand to discuss the rest of Week 1\u2019s happenings and what intrigues them the most.<\/p>\n

The Steelers and Jets, who essentially swapped quarterbacks this offseason, meet in the early window Sunday. What is your level of confidence in Rodgers\u2019 Steelers tenure? What is your level of confidence in Fields\u2019 Jets tenure?<\/p>\n

Howe: It\u2019s easy to talk myself into Rodgers bouncing back. He\u2019s two years post-injury, has linked up with a respected offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith and has some intriguing skill pieces around him and a defense that should relieve some pressure. But it\u2019s been four years since Rodgers has had a good season, so a ton has to go right for a 41-year-old QB to turn it around. The odds aren\u2019t favorable. Fields had a strong start with the Steelers before his benching due to a sputtering offense, and I\u2019m not sure the setup with the Jets can be considered an improvement. Though it\u2019d be a great story to see Fields get on the right track, it\u2019s been a long time since a Jets quarterback has sustained any level of success.<\/p>\n

Keefer: I\u2019m not convinced either situation will work out. In Pittsburgh, one of the league\u2019s youngest \u2014 and still unproven \u2014 offensive lines will be protecting its oldest quarterback. As Jeff mentioned, it\u2019s been four long years since he was really good, with an Achilles rupture in between. It\u2019s far more probable the Steelers are a mediocre, third-place team in the AFC North. I don\u2019t see the Jets having a good year \u2014 the Alijah Vera-Tucker injury<\/a> is brutal \u2014 but I do believe Aaron Glenn is planting the seeds necessary for a long-term and much-needed overhaul.<\/p>\n

Sando: I\u2019m confident Rodgers will upgrade the position for Pittsburgh, which isn\u2019t hard to do. But there will be growing pains in a new offense with new pieces, and I wonder if Rodgers can hold up physically. Maybe they can win a few layoff games. I\u2019m not expecting much more than that.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Lions-Packers is more intriguing with Parsons in the fold<\/a>. How much does his addition in Green Bay change things in the NFC North hierarchy for this season?<\/p>\n

Howe: I liked the Packers to win the division before the Parsons trade. And if enough things went right, I thought they could have been NFC contenders. Now they\u2019re on the short list. The Packers\u2019 question marks don\u2019t feel as extreme as the coordinator changes in Detroit and the QB change for the Minnesota Vikings, so it\u2019s their division for the taking. If Jordan Love is as good as I think he can be, the Packers have the pieces to compete for a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Keefer: For me, it\u2019s enough to push the Packers past the Lions in the division race. Detroit, remember, was gashed on defense late last season and still gutted out December and January wins over Green Bay and Minnesota to earn the NFC North title. With some key pieces back, like Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit remains a Super Bowl contender. But give credit where it\u2019s due: The Parsons move is the kind that gets a team over the hump. The Packers could win it all this year if Love stays healthy and the receivers level up.<\/p>\n

Sando: Parsons\u2019 addition means Green Bay can claim to have the best roster in the division, or at least be even with Detroit. But so much more goes into building a team than simply acquiring the best talent. I need to see how Parsons assimilates and fits before saying the division is Green Bay\u2019s to lose.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons speaks during an introductory news conference at Lambeau Field. (Tork Mason \/ Imagn Images)Houston Texans-Los Angeles Rams seems like a sneaky-good matchup in Week 1. Are we underplaying or overplaying Rams QB Matthew Stafford\u2019s back issues<\/a> at this point? Are we underplaying or overplaying Texans RB Joe Mixon\u2019s ankle injury<\/a> and its impact on Houston\u2019s offense as he sits out at least the first four games?<\/p>\n

Howe: I don\u2019t like the sounds of a lingering back problem for anyone, let alone a 37-year-old quarterback who has taken a litany of grueling hits throughout his career. When Stafford was at his best last season, he was a second-tier QB. Combine that with the Rams\u2019 youth movement and this looks like a team with untapped potential, but it won\u2019t matter if Stafford has trouble getting through the season. I\u2019m wary of a team reaching its ceiling when it has that many question marks. As for Mixon, my concern is with C.J. Stroud, who was a punching bag behind a bad offensive line last season. The line is in a better place now, but I\u2019d still feel better about the Texans if they can reduce the amount of pressure on Stroud\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

Keefer: There\u2019s no such thing as a minor back injury. Ask any NFL player \u2014 ask anyone, period \u2014 who has dealt with the issue. This concern is probably the biggest hurdle between the Rams and Super Bowl contention. They\u2019re that good, with a defense that improved considerably over the course of last season and a new weapon in Davante Adams. (No team gave Philadelphia a tougher time in last year\u2019s postseason.) Mixon\u2019s absence will be big for Houston, but the bigger concern is the reworked offensive line. That was a big bet from general manager Nick Caserio, and until I see them prove it on Sundays, it will remain a question mark in my mind. That\u2019s one of the leading reasons Stroud didn\u2019t improve upon his stellar rookie season.<\/p>\n

Sando: The back is a legitimate storyline until Stafford shows he\u2019s fine in the first few weeks. This Houston pass rush is formidable and will get its hits on Stafford, so we might find out early just how well his back is going to hold up. I\u2019m less focused on Mixon than the Texans offensive line. It\u2019s the big key for Stroud feeling comfortable again.<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills \u2014 and the league\u2019s last two MVPs, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen \u2014 open the season on \u201cSunday Night Football.\u201d Did either team do enough this offseason to help its quarterback get over the hump and make the Super Bowl this year?<\/p>\n

Howe: I like the way the Bills remade their defense in a short time. There\u2019s certainly risk in putting too much on Allen\u2019s plate to drive the whole offense, but he at least has a growing defense to help him. The Bills are still Super Bowl contenders, but someone other than Allen has to make a play when it matters in the postseason. They\u2019re not dissimilar to the Ravens. We know they\u2019ll be there in January, and Jackson has been better in the playoffs than earlier in his career, which makes me believe they\u2019re also a couple of plays away from contending for a Super Bowl. Zach Orr should continue improving as a defensive coordinator, too, so I\u2019m intrigued by that group\u2019s potential this season.<\/p>\n

Keefer: Sometimes when you\u2019re as close as the Bills and Ravens have been over the years, it\u2019s not about one piece. These teams aren\u2019t a player away. They\u2019re a play away. Behind Philadelphia, Baltimore has the deepest roster in the league, and another 13- or 14-win season is in store. Sean McDermott deserved Coach of the Year votes for the work he did remaking his defense in 2024, and they were a play or two away from winning in Arrowhead in the AFC Championship Game. For these teams, the regular season is moot. Nothing matters until January, when both will have another chance to get past the Kansas City Chiefs and make it to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Sando: I think these teams are just staying in the window to take another swing, rather than doing enough to definitively get over the top. It\u2019s been a maturation process over the last couple of years, and I like where these teams stand in that regard. A case can be made, however, for Baltimore pushing a little more.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see a pair of highly anticipated debuts in Minnesota Vikings-Chicago Bears on Monday night. What intrigues you the most about Bears coach Ben Johnson\u2019s takeover in Chicago? What does success realistically look like for Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy as the season begins?<\/p>\n

Howe: The league quickly cooled on Caleb Williams. If Johnson unlocks the QB\u2019s potential, it\u2019ll look like an all-time great hire because of Williams\u2019 high-end traits. But we still need to see it before assuming the fit will work. McCarthy is going to run a relatively vanilla offense out of the gates, which is fine because the Vikings will play great defense and have the offensive pieces to carry the load. If McCarthy can minimize mistakes and help the Vikings score in the 20s every week, they\u2019ll be a playoff team.<\/p>\n

Keefer: The most intriguing player in football in 2025 is Williams. Johnson\u2019s arrival adds a layer of intrigue in this way: His success as a coach in this league has come with a disciplined, technical, savvy quarterback \u2014 Detroit\u2019s Jared Goff \u2014 who operated a deep, talented unit exceedingly well. Having one of the NFL\u2019s best offensive lines helped. Williams, in a lot of ways, is the opposite of Goff; he won a Heisman as a sandlot-type quarterback whose athleticism was his superpower. That never-say-die attitude buried Williams last season, as he held on to the ball too long and suffered a league-high 68 sacks. If Johnson succeeds in Chicago, it\u2019ll be because he molds Williams into the type of quarterback he\u2019s never been. It\u2019ll be endlessly fascinating to watch.<\/p>\n

Sando: Johnson\u2019s treatment of players, and specifically of Williams, is really interesting to watch. He has talked tough and been blunt, which I like in one respect; it\u2019s easier for coaches to back off later than try to get tough after being soft early.<\/p>\n

Success for McCarthy means starting nearly all the games and reaching the playoffs. That\u2019s an unrealistic bar for most rookies (he missed last season with a torn meniscus), but the team\u2019s decision to hand a 14-win team to him (while leading the NFL in cash spending this year) makes the expectations clear.<\/p>\n

(Top photos of Aaron Rodgers and Micah Parsons: Barry Reeger and Tork Mason \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve waded through Spitgate in Philadelphia and the AFC West\u2019s pit stop in Brazil to finally reach the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1742,1748,49,48,1735,3163,1730,1737,1749,1726,1723,514,949,82],"class_list":["post-124173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chicago-bears","tag-detroit-lions","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}