Top 5 NFL games of 2025: Ravens-Bills thriller headlines ranking through Week 1

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 (SNF) | Highmark Stadium (Orchard Park, N.Y.)
• FINAL SCORE: Bills 41, Ravens 40

This game was supposed to be a heavyweight fight, and it didn't disappoint. The Ravens scored 40 points in only 25 minutes of possession. Bills quarterback Josh Allen showed why he won last year's MVP award by passing for 394 yards and scoring four total touchdowns. Baltimore actually dominated this contest with Lamar Jackson's passing and the running of Derrick Henry (169 yards and two touchdowns), but a late Henry fumble helped Buffalo rally from a 15-point deficit with a little more than four minutes to go. In the end, Allen put his team in position with timely runs and devastating throws. The Ravens, on the other hand, lost another opportunity to win a big game, sparking more questions about when they'll stop beating themselves in these moments. -- Jeffri Chadiha

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 | MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.)
• FINAL SCORE: Steelers 34, Jets 32

The Steelers got a throwback four-touchdown performance from Aaron Rodgers and, importantly, received contributions from many of the new faces who joined the team this season (Jonnu Smith, DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey). The defense wasn’t good, the running game was quiet and the offensive line has to protect better, but Rodgers called it a "coach’s dream journal," and that was the perfect description: a win, coupled with a lot of things to clean up. As for the Jets, there are no moral victories, but absolutely nobody predicted it would take a 60-yard field goal to end a shootout to defeat them, and Justin Fields might have played the best game of his career, throwing downfield and using his legs as a weapon, as the Jets hoped he would. New York's offensive line, including rookie Armand Membou, looked like a strength of the team, and Garrett Wilson is clearly going to enjoy a big season with Fields. This was a thriller that should have left both teams encouraged. -- Judy Battista

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
• FINAL SCORE: Buccaneers 23, Falcons 20

Tampa Bay surprised everyone by spending its first-round pick on a receiver, but Emeka Egbuka provided an immediate return on the Buccaneers’ investment. With Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan sidelined by injuries, the rookie wideout returned to Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- where he’d helped Ohio State win a national championship eight months prior -- and caught four passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns, including the 25-yard scoring strike that gave Tampa the lead with just under a minute remaining in a back-and-forth rivalry bout. Once Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo pushed a 44-yard field-goal attempt wide right in the final seconds, Egbuka had fueled a divisional road win in his NFL debut, allowing the back-to-back-to-back-to-back NFC South champions to open the new campaign in a familiar spot: first place. -- Gennaro Filice

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 | Lumen Field (Seattle)
• FINAL SCORE: 49ers 17, Seahawks 13

This NFC West clash was mostly a defensive battle -- due in part to some real average quarterback play and poor kicking from Jake Moody -- but credit Robert Saleh's unit for limiting Sam Darnold to just 150 passing yards in his Seattle debut. The stars did star-like things, of course, including Christian McCaffrey looking spry as ever while posting a routine 142 scrimmage yards. This one-score contest ultimately came down to a pair of big-time plays late in the fourth quarter, both of which fell in San Francisco's favor. First, George Kittle's early exit with a hamstring injury opened the door for third-string tight end Jake Tonges to become the surprise hero for the 49ers, muscling a 4-yard Brock Purdy pass away from Tariq Woolen's grasp for the go-ahead touchdown. Then it was Nick Bosa's turn. With the Seahawks in scoring position and less than a minute in the game, the stud pass rusher forced a Darnold fumble to seal it for the Niners. -- Brooke Cersosimo

• Week 1 | Thursday, Sept. 4 | Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
• FINAL SCORE: Eagles 24, Cowboys 20

The 2025 Kickoff Game was so jam-packed with narratives, it's tough to know which will be best remembered: The verve with which Dallas began the Brian Schottenheimer era? Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley getting right back into steamroller mode? The weather delay that pushed the final whistle past midnight ET? CeeDee Lamb's ill-timed drops? Just kidding; it's spit, the answer is spit. Jalen Carter's Unfortunate Loogie -- which followed Dak Prescott's, uh, Misunderstood (?) Spittle -- got Carter ejected before his first snap, changing the course of the contest and, at least for one night, the Cowboys' outlook. Suddenly, The Team That Traded Away Micah Parsons became The Team That Could Take the Defending Champs to the Wire. It was exactly the kind of high-drama episode that keeps America's favorite live soap opera going, fueling takes for days and bringing a shock of spice to this classic NFC East rivalry. -- Tom Blair