NFL Awards: Week One Edition

Offensive Player of the Week- Patrick Mahomes, QB Kansas City Chiefs

Before the season began, there were questions about how the Chiefs offense would look after the departure of dynamic speedster Tyreek Hill to Miami. Those questions were answered, emphatically, by Mahomes against the Arizona Cardinals. The Kansas City quarterback completed 30/39 passes for 360 yards and five touchdowns en route to a 44-21 beatdown, which is a closer score than the game actually was. That line translates roughly to: “We are still the Chiefs.” Mahomes was on fire this week.

Defensive Player of the Week- Alex Highsmith, LB Pittsburgh Steelers

Alex Highsmith turned in a monster performance to help the Steelers pull off the opening week upset of the defending AFC champions, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. Highsmith was part of a Steelers defense that got after Joe Burrow. Pittsburgh’s defense had a total of seven sacks, but Alex Highsmith had three of them alone. Along with his three sacks, he had nine total tackles, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. The Steelers are going to need more performances out of him like this moving forward, especially with it is looking like TJ Watt is going to miss some extended time.

Special Teams Player of the Week- Cade York, K Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns rookie kicker Cade York was something that many more established kickers weren’t in week one: perfect. York connected on all four of his field goal attempts, including the game-winning 58 yarder and both of his PAT attempts. In a week that saw many misses and doinks, York shined.

Offensive Rookie of the Week- Jahan Dotson, WR Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders were in a pretty tight battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars this week. They came out on top thanks to Jahan Dotson. Now, Dotson didn’t have a ton of yards, finishing with 40. However, he found the endzone twice, including the game-winning score. Being the only rookie to score this week, and doing it twice, Dotson is the clear rookie of the week.

Defensive Rookie of the Week- Travon Walker, LB Jacksonville Jaguars

First overall pick Travon Walker had an impressive inaugural performance this week, racking up four tackles, a sack, a pass defensed, and a highlight reel interception. Even though it was a loss, the Jaguars’ number one pick looked the part, and will be a valuable building block for the rebuild in Jacksonville that looks like it could be headed in the right direction.

Peng-Losing Moment of the Week– Kicking

My goodness, the kicking this week was terrible. This week there were a multitude of missed kicks. Whether they were extra points, or potential game-winners, there were some doinks and some egregious misses. There wasn’t one singular “bruh” moment this week, I’m just chalking it up to all kicking. NFL kickers, do better.