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Home , Alex Smith, Anquan Boldin, Bud Carson, Jason Witten, Sam Bradford, Vance Joseph

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9/12/17 http://twitter.com/NFL345

THE WEEK THAT WAS – KICKOFF WEEKEND

KICKING THINGS OFF: A look at some notes from across on Kickoff Weekend 2017:

 The defeated the 19-3 on Sunday Night Football and the beat the , 24-21 on . The Cowboys and Broncos both improved to 38-19-1 (.667*) on Kickoff Weekend, tied for the top mark in the NFL. *Note: Ties for both teams occurred prior to 1972 and do not count in winning percentage.

The Broncos have won six consecutive games on Kickoff Weekend, the longest active streak in the NFL.

 The defeated the 17-9 on Kickoff Weekend at . The Packers have won their past five home openers and have an NFL-best 55 wins on Kickoff Weekend.

 Denver’s VANCE JOSEPH (24-21 vs. Los Angeles Chargers), Buffalo’s SEAN MC DERMOTT (21-12 vs. ), and the ’ SEAN MC VAY (46-9 vs. Indianapolis) all won in their Kickoff Weekend debuts.

The Rams’ 46 points under McVay marked the third-highest total in a ’s debut since 1933, trailing only the debuts of BOB SNYDER with the 1947 Los Angeles Rams (48-7 win at Pittsburgh) and BUD CARSON with the 1989 (51-0 win at Pittsburgh).

 New England passed for 267 yards in the Patriots’ Week 1 loss to the Chiefs. Brady (4,075) joined (4,736) and (4,597) as the third quarterback with at least 4,000 career passing yards in season-opening games.

 New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES passed for 291 yards with one for a 104.7 rating in the Saints’ 29-19 loss at Minnesota on Monday Night Football. Brees, who has 34 career touchdown passes on Kickoff Weekend, tied PEYTON MANNING (34) for the most career touchdown passes in season-opening games.

 Cleveland rookie quarterback DE SHONE KIZER made his first-career start against the on Kickoff Weekend. At least one rookie quarterback has started in Week 1 in 10 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in the NFL since at least 1950.

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PROLIFIC PASSERS: Minnesota quarterback completed 27 of 32 passes (84.4 percent) for 346 yards with three and no for a 143.0 in the Vikings’ 29-19 victory over New Orleans on Monday Night Football. Kansas City quarterback passed for 368 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions on 28 of 35 passing (80.0 percent) in the Chiefs’ 42-27 win against New England in Foxborough on Thursday night.

Bradford and Smith are the only in NFL history to complete 80 percent of their passes with at least 325 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a season-opening game.

QUARTERBACK TEAM COMP. ATT. COMP. PCT. PASS YARDS TDS INTS RATING Sam Bradford Minnesota 27 32 84.4 346 3 0 143.0 Alex Smith Kansas City 28 35 80.0 368 4 0 148.6

Smith, who led the Chiefs to a victory over the LI Champion Patriots, is the first quarterback in league history with at least 350 passing yards, four touchdowns, a completion percentage of 80 or higher and no interceptions against the defending Super Bowl champion.

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ROOKIES ROCKET OUT OF GATES: Three rookie running backs – Kansas City’s (148 rushing yards), Minnesota’s DALVIN COOK (127) and Jacksonville’s LEONARD FOURNETTE (100) – each rushed for at least 100 yards in their NFL debuts on Kickoff Weekend.

Hunt, Cook and Fournette are the first trio of rookie running backs with at least 100 rushing yards in Week 1 since (193 rushing yards), WILLIAM ANDREWS (167) and JERRY ECKWOOD (121) in 1979.

2017 1979 PLAYER TEAM RUSH YARDS PLAYER TEAM RUSH YARDS Kareem Hunt Kansas City 148 Ottis Anderson St. Louis Cardinals 193 Dalvin Cook Minnesota 127 William Andrews Atlanta 167 Leonard Fournette Jacksonville 100 Jerry Eckwood Tampa Bay 121

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FAST-RISING FALCON: Atlanta had four catches for 66 yards in the Falcons’ 23-17 win at Chicago on Kickoff Weekend.

Jones, who has 501 career receptions, reached 500 catches in his 80th career game, tying for the fewest games to reach the milestone in NFL history.

The players to reach 500 career receptions in the fewest games in NFL history:

PLAYER TEAM GAMES Julio Jones Atlanta 80 Anquan Boldin Arizona 80 Antonio Brown Pittsburgh 84 Arizona 87 Houston 88

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COWBOY CORNERSTONE: Dallas had seven catches for 59 yards and a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 19-3 win against the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. Witten, who has 11,947 career receiving yards in 15 seasons with the Cowboys, passed Pro Football Hall of Famer (11,904) for the most career receiving yards in franchise history.

The players with the most receiving yards in Dallas Cowboys history:

PLAYER SEASONS RECEIVING YARDS Jason Witten 2003-2017 11,947* Michael Irvin^ 1988-1999 11,904 Tony Hill 1977-1986 7,988 Drew Pearson 1973-1983 7,822 Bob Hayes^ 1965-1974 7,295 *Active ^Pro Football Hall of Famer

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BIG-PLAY BROWN: Pittsburgh wide receiver ANTONIO BROWN had 11 catches for 182 receiving yards in the Steelers’ 21-18 victory at Cleveland on Kickoff Weekend. His 182 receiving yards are the third-most on Kickoff Weekend in the past 10 seasons.

Brown has six career games with at least eight catches and 180 receiving yards, tied for the third-most in NFL history.

The players with the most career games with at least eight receptions and 180 receiving yards:

PLAYER TEAM(S) GAMES Isaac Bruce St. Louis Rams 7 Charley Hennigan Houston Oilers 7 Antonio Brown Pittsburgh Steelers 6* ^ San Diego Chargers 6 Andre Johnson 6 *Active ^Pro Football Hall of Famer

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IRON-MANNING: New York Giants quarterback passed for 220 yards in the Giants’ Week 1 loss to the Cowboys.

Manning, who made his first career start for the Giants on November 21, 2004 against Atlanta, is the third quarterback in NFL history to start at least 200 consecutive games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer (297) and PEYTON MANNING (208).

The most consecutive games started by a quarterback in NFL history:

PLAYER TEAM(S) SEASONS CONSECUTIVE GAMES STARTED Brett Favre^ Green Bay, New York Jets, Minnesota 1992-2010 297 Peyton Manning Indianapolis 1998-2010 208 Eli Manning New York Giants 2004-present 200* Los Angeles Chargers 2006-present 177* Baltimore 2008-2015 122 *Active streak ^Pro Football Hall of Famer

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