Before Kickoff: The Hope Every NFL Fanbase Feels in Week 1
Alexa, play “The Boys of Fall” by Kenny Chesney.
That’s the beauty of the NFL’s opening week: the standings are clean, the grass still looks like it was painted by hand, and the only thing heavier than the air is the possibility. Helmets shine. Playbooks smell like fresh toner. Coaches talk about “communication” and “details,” and for a few precious hours, every locker room believes those details will add up to January football.
Every team starts at 0–0. That number is a promise. It says the past is filed away and the future is still wet concrete. New faces bring new stories: rookies who haven’t learned to doubt, free agents who arrived to flip a culture, veterans who took less money for one more run at a ring. Somewhere, a fourth-round corner is about to become a fan favorite. Somewhere else, a backup guard will play his way into a Christmas jersey sale. That’s this weekend’s magic: potential hasn’t yet collided with reality.
The fantasy football group chats are buzzing, the crock pot is ready, the wing joints are loading up on buffalo sauce and bleu cheese (yes, bleu cheese, not ranch) by the pallet, and the only negative I see is that RedZone will have commercials now. Say it ain’t so, Scott. We talk ourselves into the kid from camp, into the new coordinator, into a schedule that suddenly looks a little softer the more we stare at it. And the slate is already teasing us: Buffalo opens with Baltimore in primetime, the kind of night where Josh Allen and Lamar make hope feel logical, a true Week 1 showpiece in Orchard Park.
Every season, a team comes out of nowhere. Why couldn’t that be your team? It could be. Maybe it’s Denver, a group that turned defense into its calling card while a young quarterback found his swagger, a bona fide dark-horse contender built around Bo Nix and a nasty pass rush. Maybe it’s Pittsburgh riding veteran calm and pass-rush thunder into an early statement, Rodgers back at MetLife against the Jets with Watt hunting. (Because it certainly won’t be my Cowboys, but maybe.)
And the emotions are complicated for the rest of us sitting in NFC East purgatory. We’re about to stomach Philadelphia raising a banner. Tip your cap if you can. Swallow the jealousy if you can’t. Either way, look straight ahead. There’s another climb for everyone. Some stories will lift you. Others will punch you in the ribs. The morning after that, Parsons trade still hurts when typing, and it still hurts when reading.
So enjoy these last hours of pure hope. This is the best the sport ever feels for 31 fanbases. On Sunday, the bullets go live. Buffalo and Baltimore will trade haymakers under the lights, Denver will try to look like a grown-up contender, and Pittsburgh will lean on savvy and star power to quiet a loud building. All of it reminds us why Week 1 feels like a promise.
But tonight? Tonight is for belief. For convincing yourself the left tackle’s footwork really did tighten up. For seeing a breakout where others see a depth chart. For telling yourself that if the ball bounces your way twice in September, the whole season can tilt.
Take a breath. Let the optimism have the wheel. Sit in the glow a little longer, because it won’t last forever.