Underwhelming under centre

More shaky quarterback performances than superlative ones in Week 1

- ROB MAADDI

Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix played like rookies. Several established quarterbacks weren’t much better.

There were more shaky performances than superlative ones on the opening Sunday of the NFL season.

Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr and Josh Allen excelled while leading their teams to victories. (And Allen got more good news Monday, cleared for practice after ending Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals with his left hand heavily bandaged.)

C.J. Stroud, Tua Tagovailoa and Sam Darnold also posted decent stat lines in wins.

But Kirk Cousins was rusty in his return from a torn Achilles tendon. Deshaun Watson played like someone who was starting his 13th game in four years. Joe Burrow seemed out of sync.

Will Levis made a crucial mistake that gave away the game. Trevor Lawrence had a poor second half. Justin Fields didn’t seem comfortable. Kyler Murray started strong and faded in the second half. Daniel Jones and Bryce Young were disasters.

Overall, 17 quarterbacks threw for less than 200 yards before Monday night’s Jets-49ers game, the most since 18 didn’t reach that number in Week 1 in 2008. Considering that most starters barely play in the preseason, sloppiness should be expected during opening weekend.