Cal Football in the NFL, Week 1: Rodgers Does it Again for Green Bay

The first week of the NFL season is in the books, and plenty of former Cal football players had hands in the action.

Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers had one of the best performances of his career on Sunday, and that’s saying something. Rodgers missed the last few drives of the first half because of a knee injury, but he was back on the field after the break and he carved up the Chicago Bears.

After the first drive of the second half, the Packers trailed 20-0. That’s when Rodgers went to work. He helped put points on the board on four straight drives, throwing a trio of touchdown passes to go along with a field goal. The last score came with two minutes and 13 seconds left in the ballgame, a 75-yard touchdown to Randall Cobb that put the Packers ahead 24-23.

Rodgers came back from the injury and completed 17 of 22 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns on the final four drives that put the Packers ahead. The 20-point comeback also matched the biggest deficit Rodgers has overcome in his career. Just another day at the office for the Pro Bear.

Elsewhere, wide receiver DeSean Jackson opened his 11th season in style. The Tampa Bay wideout made five catches for 146 yards, catching a pair of touchdowns as the Buccaneers picked up an upset win against the Saints.

Jackson went over 100 yards in a game for the 34th time in his career, and second with Tampa Bay. His 146-yard performance was his most yardage since he accumulated 153 on December 20th, 2015 when he was a member of the Washington team. Sunday also marked only his second career two-touchdown game, and his first since October 13th, 2013 when he was an Eagle.

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Unfortunately, Jackson suffered a concussion late in the fourth quarter after taking a hard hit on a 35-yard catch. His status is up in the air for week two.

Keenan Allen was one of the most prolific receivers in the NFL in 2017, and he got himself off to a great start in the new campaign. The Chargers’ top man caught eight passes for 108 yards and a touchdown in their loss to Kansas City. He’s gone over the century mark 19 times in his pro career.

On Monday night, a pair of former Golden Bears contributed to their respective teams’ first touchdowns of the season. Oakland Riaders’ running back Marshawn Lynch got his team on the board for the season with an extremely impressive 10-yard scoring run on his team’s first drive. He got some help from his lineman and carried a lot of Rams’ defenders into the end zone after seemingly being stopped around the five-yard line.

For the other side, Jared Goff threw the Rams’ first touchdown of the year, though Todd Gurley did most of the work. Goff completed a short shovel pass to a sweeping Gurley, who rumbled his way into the promised land. Goff began his third season playing safe and smart football, which helped him to a big year in 2017. He completed 18 of his 33 passes for 233 yards and two scores, and didn’t turn the ball over.

From Around the League:

Running back C.J. Anderson made his Panthers’ debut, carrying the ball seven times for 35 yards in Carolina’s win over the Cowboys. It was Anderson’s first game not in a Broncos’ uniform in his six-year career…Lions’ receiver Marvin Jones caught four passes for 54 yards in a blowout loss to the Jets to begin his seventh season.

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Bills’ linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, now in his 12th season, picked up six tackles and a pass deflection in a huge loss to the Ravens…Bengals’ linebacker Hardy Nickerson made four stops in his second-season debut…Tampa Bay safety Chris Conte was in on seven tackles…Saints’ pass rusher Cameron Jordan was responsible for six tackles and batted a pass down at the line.

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