2021 Week 1 NFL Score Report

Well, the Sunday and Monday nighter were more Goodellesque at least:

• A 60-point 4-bagger was the conclusion of the week in Las Vegas, as the first Allegiant Stadium game with fans had a Baltimore FG to take the lead at 0:37, Vegas struck with a 55 yard answer to tie at 0:02.  Vegas won the ball to start OT and threw an end-zone interception about 3 1/2 minutes into the extra frame.  But Baltimore turned the ball back over on a sack fumble and David Carr sent the fans and the rhetoric home happy a few plays later.
• That game actually got this year's opening week to outscore last year's:  48 a game this week.  Last year:  47.375
• To no one's surprise, both the fan openers at SoFi Stadium (SNF) and Allegiant Stadium (MNF) were winners for the home team.  That at least got the home sides back to 7-8 for the week with the one neutral site.  Last year was 8-8.
• The Over, to a bit of surprise, was 7-9.  Last year:  9-7.
• Favorites were only 7-9 straight up, and an ABYSMAL 4-12 against the number.  Last year:  8-7 against the number, 9-6 straight up with one push.
• Edit to add Tuesday with info from CBS SportsLine:  The victory for the books and for the underdogs in Week 1 of 2021 was the largest-scale such victory straight-up in a Week 1 since 1983!  The 7-9 was the worst since Week 10 of 2019, when they went 5-8 in a 13-game schedule.
• Probably the biggest news of the week was the main damper to the scoring:  Penalties being enforced!  214 penalties this week, about 13.4 a game.  That was a bit over 2 more a game than the 181 from last year.
• The team with more penalties this week was actually 10-5!!!
• 3 Cliffhangers this week -- and the interesting part of that was it was two doubles and a triple.
• The games were either within 8 points at the end (9), or non-competitive completely (the other 7).
• Two of the three Cliffhangers and four others were Last Chance Misses, 6 total.
• Last year:  2 Cliffhangers, 7 within one score, 5 non-competitive, all 7 within one score Last Chance Misses.

Couple of other assorted tidbits:

• The final share for the opener (Cowboys-Tom Bradys) was the highest ever for a Thursday night opener:  Of all the TV sets on anything during the game, 32% were on the game.
• Counting streaming, 26.5 million saw Thursday night's game, the most since 2015.
• That's nice...  Tom Brady and the Cowboys are about the only two consistent draws the league has.  We'll see about all that come Sunday's results, which, as of the moment, Sports Media Watch does not have.
• There is current discussion as to the eventual fate of NFL Sunday Ticket, the service allowing fans to watch out-of-market NFL games on their TV sets.  Early word had ESPN putting in a bid, but Sports Media Watch now says Amazon may be in the lead to have Sunday Ticket join the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football going forward starting next season.  Word on the eventual home of Sunday Ticket should, by reports, come in time for Super Bowl LVI.