At the start of a new season, hope springs eternal for all 32 teams. With a clean slate, the possibilities are endless, and positivity about what the new campaign may bring is bursting at the seams. For some, however, that warm and fuzzy feeling will quickly turn to doom and gloom in an avalanche of overreactions brought on by a loss in the opener.
The reality is, half the league will come out of Week 1 with a 0-1 record (barring ties). Of course, the odds give us a good sense of which teams they are likely to be on the losing end. But that's the thing about the NFL; just when you think you have the league figured out, it throws a curveball in the form of an upset.
That's what we'll be covering here. Below, we'll comb through the Week 1 slate and identify five favorites that could be on upset alert. Note: All games are on Sunday, Sept. 13, unless noted otherwise.
I am utterly fascinated to see how these two teams fare playing in Australia after taking two wildly different approaches to the flight/time change. As a quick reminder, both of these clubs are in the Pacific Time Zone, so when they travel to Australia, they're looking at a 17-hour time difference and a flight time of roughly 16 hours. The 49ers elected to arrive in Australia a week early to acclimate, while the Rams are flying out the day before and will arrive about 24 hours before kickoff.
Los Angeles has taken similar approaches to prior international games, and it's worked out quite well. In fact, the Rams are 3-0 in their international games under Sean McVay and have outscored their opponent 92-17. That said, those three games took place in London, and the travel to Melbourne feels like a different animal entirely.
I sort of like San Francisco's approach for this Week 1 game a bit better, even though it may impact them more when they return to the United States. As for the game itself, the Rams are considered a juggernaut as they enter the season as the favorite to win the Super Bowl. But don't sleep on the Niners either.
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