ICYMI in NFL's Week 1: Bryant, Suggs among injured stars
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There was All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant, shirtless and barefoot, limping along in a stadium tunnel to greet his Dallas Cowboys teammates after they pulled out a last-gasp comeback victory over the New York Giants.
Hours earlier, Pro Bowl middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, who the Carolina Panthers just made the league's highest-paid player at his position, was wobbling and woozy, felled by a concussion.
From beginning to end, from Kuechly in a 1 p.m. EST game to Terrell Suggs in a 4 p.m. EST game to Bryant at night, the first full day of regular-season NFL football was marked by significant injuries to significant stars.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}No position was safe Sunday, which is nothing new in this brutally violent sport, but the ramifications could be huge for several teams.
Bryant could be gone for six weeks with a broken right foot.
Suggs is done for the season with a torn left Achilles tendon.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And their teammates' reactions were nearly identical.
''You can't replace Dez Bryant,'' Dallas QB Tony Romo said.
''You can never replace a Terrell Suggs,'' Ravens linebacker Elvis Dumervil said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And on and on the list went.
Two teams lost guys at the most vital position in the sport, quarterback: the Cleveland Browns (Josh McCown, concussion) and Oakland Raiders (Derek Carr, right hand). Two other teams lost their top receivers: the Indianapolis Colts (T.Y. Hilton, knee) and Washington Redskins (DeSean Jackson, left hamstring). A coincidence, probably, but all four of those teams lost.
Now the question becomes how many more games teams such as Dallas, Baltimore and Carolina that have designs on division titles - and more, perhaps - will lose without top playmakers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In case you missed it, here are the other top topics after the NFL's first regular-season Sunday:
OOPS: Coach Tom Coughlin, quarterback Eli Manning and the Giants made a big-time mistake, letting Romo and the Cowboys have a chance to win, even without Bryant. New York was leading, had third-and-goal from the 1 with less than two minutes left, and Dallas was out of timeouts. Instead of, say, running the football or, worst-case scenario, taking a sack, Manning threw the ball away. The clock stopped, a field goal only made it a six-point margin, and the Cowboys were left with enough time to score a TD and win 27-26. ''The decision to the throw the ball there, on third down, was not a good decision,'' Coughlin said. Well put, Coach.
OOPS, PART II: Well, at least Beast Mode got the ball this time. Once again, though, it didn't work out for Seattle. Playing without holdout safety Kam Chancellor - whose leverage probably spiked - the two-time defending NFC champion Seahawks let a lead vanish in the last minute of regulation at St. Louis; opened overtime with either a badly designed onside kick or a poorly executed kickoff, depending on what you believe, that led to a go-ahead field goal for the Rams; and then saw Marshawn Lynch stopped on fourth-and-1 to end the game. At the Super Bowl in February, of course, Seattle threw at the goal line instead of letting Lynch try to score.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ROOKIE UPS AND DOWNS: No. 2 overall draft pick Marcus Mariota threw four first-half touchdown passes, something no other NFL player has done in his first game. No. 1 overall choice Jameis Winston had a unique debut, too, having his first pass in the league intercepted and returned for a TD. Let's not read too much into either performance in what became a 42-14 victory for Mariota's Titans over Winston's Buccaneers. After all, the last QB to begin with a pick-6, like Winston? Brett Favre back in 1991, and he turned out all right. Plus, in 2012, another guy who, a la Mariota, went second in the draft after winning the Heisman Trophy made a special debut as an NFL QB, throwing for 320 yards and two touchdowns in a victory. His name? Robert Griffin III, who wasn't even in uniform Sunday for Washington's 17-10 loss to Miami, benched in favor of Kirk Cousins, then relegated to third-string because of a slow recovery from a concussion.
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