The grand opening of the 2015 NFL season was capped off with the Dallas Cowboys beating the New York Giants on the last play, while before that the Green Bay Packers stuck to tradition against the Chicago Bears, Marcus Mariota crushed Jameis Winston in the battle of the rookies as the Tennessee Titans beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the St. Louis Rams left the Seattle Seahawks stunned once again, this time running the ball on fourth & 1 and still failing.

Pittsburgh Steelers 21  New England Patriots 28: A dominant start for the Super Bowl champions, with Tom Brady throwing four touchdown passes, and the Steelers making it close in garbage time. Oh, and we might have a new word to associate with Gate, and of course it happens in a Patriots game.

Green Bay Packers 31  Chicago Bears 23: The one-sided dominance in this rivalry of the last few years continues, with the Chicago Bears held without a touchdown for two quarters and Aaron Rodgers being the epitome of efficiency.

Kansas City Chiefs 27  Houston Texans 17: An awful start for Brian Hoyer, turning the ball over twice and getting benched for Ryan Mallett. Alex Smith looked great with three touchdown passes in a statement win for the Chiefs.

Cleveland Browns 10  New York Jets 31: The New York Jets might be a mess, but the Browns are a joke, and while Johnny Manziel did throw his first touchdown pass in the pros, the defense couldn’t hold its own against Ryan Fitzpatrick and a strong day from Chris Ivory.

Indianapolis Colts 14  Buffalo Bills 27: The Bills bullied the Colts from the first moment, taking a 24-0 lead before easing up. Rex Ryan got his debut win and Tyrod Taylor looked very good as a starter, throwing a touchdown pass and doing quite well on the ground as well. Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes in garbage time, but also two interceptions.

Miami Dolphins 17  Washington Redskins 10: The Redskins got to a 10-0 start, but Kirk Cousins threw two interceptions to his one touchdown, Ryan Tannehill started playing as expected and the game was won on a punt return by Jarvis Landry.

Carolina Panthers 20  Jacksonville Jaguars 9: As expected, this game was far from smooth, but the Jaguars were awful, not scoring a touchdown, and a pick six off of Blake Bortles gave the Panthers the win after a so-so day from Cam Newton.

Seattle Seahawks 31  St. Louis Rams 34: The Rams always make things difficult for the Seahawks, this time winning in overtime with a field goal and then stuffing Marshawn Lynch on a fourth and 1, causing all those Super Bowl critics to shut up.

New Orleans Saints 19  Arizona Cardinals 31: Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes and the Cards defense looked fantastic, picking off Drew Brees once and allowing only 54 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Detroit Lions 28  San Diego Chargers 33: Philip Rivers had a rough start and the Lions jumped to a 21-3 lead, but Danny Woodhead ran for two touchdowns and Rivers recovered in the second half, relying on a big day from Keenan Allen to get the job done.

Tennessee Titans 42  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14: The battle of the rookie quarterbacks ended in a knockout in favor of Mariota, throwing four touchdown passes while Bishop Sankey ran well to score another. Jameis Winston completed less than 50% of his passing attempts, got intercepted twice (one for a touchdown) and threw two garbage time touchdowns, getting boos from the impatient home fans.

Cincinnati Bengals 33  Oakland Raiders 13: The Raiders lost Derek Carr in the second quarter but with or without him, the offense looked bad, while Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes and the running game with Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard did the rest.

Baltimore Ravens 13  Denver Broncos 19: Peyton Manning looked bad (one interceptions, 175 passing yards) but Joe Flacco was worse (two interceptions). Both teams didn’t score offensive touchdowns. The Broncos defense simply got more stops.

New York Giants 26  Dallas Cowboys 27: Eli Manning looked bad, but the Giants still held a 23-13 lead with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter. Two touchdown passes to Jason Witten, including the clincher with 7 seconds left in the game, meant it was a very happy Sunday Night Football finish for the NFC East favorites. The Cowboys are now 8-0 all-time in season openers against the Giants.

Philadelphia Eagles 24  Atlanta Falcons 26: The Sam Bradford – DeMarco Murray debut didn’t go down so well while the Falcons started strongly and held on for the win, with Julio Jones showing why he got such a big contract.

Minnesota Vikings 3  San Francisco 49ers 20: For all the doom and gloom predictions about the 49ers, solid defense (or awful offense from the opponent) and a strong running game go a long way. Carlos Hyde was unstoppable, while Adrian Peterson was almost unwatchable.

Standings