By hopeful design, the NFL’s mid-September schedule isn’t supposed to be a time for white-knuckling.
Questioning? Sure.
Criticism? Absolutely.
But bona fide concern only one game into an NFL season is often overblown, particularly with each previous year having showcased a franchise that sputtered early, only to recover down the stretch (see: the 2019 Tennessee Titans, who lurched to 2-4 by late October, then surged to the AFC title game).
However the one thing that can never be ignored early — the one thing that truly can measure if a team might be running into some lasting trouble — is when an injury report begins to bloat in September.