NFL teams only need to look back a year to see how little a Week 1 loss might mean

With a nearly seven-month wait since the Super Bowl for meaningful NFL games, it's only natural for Week 1 to fuel some overreactions.

What happened last season was the latest example of why that might not be wise.

The Seattle Seahawks won the title against the New England Patriots in February in the only Super Bowl matchup ever played between two teams that started the season with a loss. Seattle lost to division rival San Francisco but got revenge in a blowout win in the playoffs. The Patriots shockingly lost at home to the Las Vegas Raiders, who won just two more games the entire season and wound up with the No. 1 overall draft pick.

That should be good news for the Los Angeles Rams, who came into the season as heavy Super Bowl favorites only to lose their opener 27-7 to San Francisco in Australia last week in their lowest-scoring game with MVP Matthew Stafford at quarterback.

In all, five teams made the playoffs last season after losing in Week 1, with Chicago, Houston and Carolina joining Seattle and New England in the postseason. Nearly half of last year's Week 1 winners — seven of 16 — missed the playoffs, with Arizona, Cincinnati and Washington all winning six games or fewer for the entire season.

Since the playoffs expanded to seven teams per conference in 2020, an average of 4.3 teams per season have lost in Week 1 but made the playoffs; and 6.2 teams per season have won in Week 1 and missed the postseason.

But the Rams won't be satisfied with just a playoff bid. After adding Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie to a team that fell just short last season, they entered this one with plus-500 odds to win it all.

Just 12 of the 60 Super Bowl champions lost their season opener but the Seahawks were the third to do it in the past six seasons, joining Tampa Bay in 2020 and Kansas City in 2023.

But doing it after such a lopsided Week 1 loss would be unusual. Only one eventual champion, New England, lost the opener by at least 20 points. The Patriots lost 31-0 in Week 1 to Buffalo in 2003 before winning 34 of 37 games the rest of 2003 and '04 to win back-to-back titles.

The New York City area has been at the bottom of the NFL over the past decade, with the New York Jets having the league's worst record since 2016 and the Giants ranking second-worst.

That's what made the start of this season so surprising. The Jets beat Tennessee 23-10 on Sunday afternoon and the Giants upset Dallas 28-20 on Sunday night. That marked the first time both those teams won in Week 1 since 2009. Both had lost the opener in five of the last seven years.

With both teams taking a 1-0 record into Week 2, this is just the second season since the start of 2016 that both the Jets and Giants had winning records at the same time. It also happened for a 10-week stretch in 2022, ending after the Jets lost in Week 15 to fall to 7-7 on the way to a 7-10 finish.

There have only been five times that both teams made the playoffs in the same season. It happened in 2006, 2002, 1986, 1985 and 1981.

Coach John Harbaugh won his debut with the Giants as part of a winning weekend overall for the record-tying 10 new head coaches.

Six of the 10 opened with victories, including two in head-to-head matchups, with Mike McCarthy's Pittsburgh Steelers beating Kevin Stefanski's Atlanta Falcons, and Klint Kubiak's Las Vegas Raiders beating Jeff Hafley's Miami Dolphins.

The other winners were Arizona's Mike LaFleur against the Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore's Jesse Minter against Indianapolis, and Buffalo's Joe Brady beating Houston.

The other two losing coaches were Tennessee's Robert Saleh against the Jets and Cleveland's Todd Monken against Jacksonville.

One season after Carolina won the division and became the fifth team to make the playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike season, the NFC South got off to a rough start in 2026.

The Panthers lost 59-37 to Chicago and their three division rivals also lost. Tampa Bay fell 33-27 to Cincinnati, New Orleans lost 31-30 to Detroit in overtime and Atlanta fell 20-13 to Pittsburgh.

This marked just the eighth time since the merger that every team in one division lost in Week 1. That last happened with the NFC North in 2021.

The offenses weren't the issue. Three of the teams topped 30 points and had 107 combined points, the most in any week for a division without a single win, topping the 100 for the NFC North teams in Week 2 of the 2023 season.

Here are a few other statistical standouts from Week 1:

— The Philadelphia Eagles won their sixth straight opener as Nick Sirianni became the only coach in NFL history to appear in at least six openers and win them all. That’s the longest active winning streak in Week 1. The last team to have a longer streak was Kansas City with eight straight from 2015-22.

— Carson Wentz replaced an injured Kyler Murray to throw three TD passes and no interceptions in a 39-22 win for Minnesota over Green Bay. The only other QB to come off the bench in an opener and throw at least three TDs and no INTs since starts were first tracked in 1950 was Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, who did it in the first game in Vikings history in 1961 against Chicago.

— Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt had two sacks and a pick-6 in a win over Atlanta. Watt now has 117 sacks and 10 interceptions in his career, joining Hall of Famer Julius Peppers as the only players with at least 100 sacks and 10 INTs.

— Bijan Robinson was nearly the entire offense for the Falcons with 83 yards rushing, 90 yards receiving and the team's only TD in the loss to the Steelers. Robinson had 65.8% of the offense for the Falcons and 10 of the team's 19 targets in the passing game. The last running back who had at least half of his team's targets was LaDainian Tomlinson with 15 of 28 for the Chargers in Week 17 of the 2003 season against the Raiders.

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Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt (90) intercepts a pass made by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush (13) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) looks to pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis)

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, center, reacts during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba speaks celebrates after winning an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) leaves the field after a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in an NFL football game in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Nicole Saphier, President Donald Trump's third nominee to serve as surgeon general, appeared before lawmakers at her confirmation hearing Wednesday in the latest attempt to fill the post known as the nation's doctor.

Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, is Trump's newest pick after entrepreneur and wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means saw her path forward stall in the Senate over her background and vaccine views. Trump withdrew his first nominee, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, after questions arose about her academic credentials. The position has been vacant throughout Trump's second term.

Saphier will face questions from the Senate health committee for a position that carries limited policymaking power but a loud megaphone as the nation's top communicator with Americans on public health issues.

While senators may scrutinize her credentials and background, Saphier will also be in the difficult position of navigating Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s more contentious policies, including his efforts to scale back vaccine guidance at a time when the U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles in decades. Lawmakers of both parties have criticized Kennedy's stances and are likely to grill Saphier over whether she'll more fiercely advocate vaccination if confirmed.

At the start of the Senate health committee hearing, chair Sen. Bill Cassidy noted the “serious health issues” facing the country, highlighting the measles deaths.

“That is going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” he said, telling Saphier and other nominees appearing alongside her at the hearing that he hoped they would restore the public’s confidence in public health.

Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his Republican primary earlier this year, then criticized what he called the administration's “irresponsible” health policy leadership.

Saphier is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the New York-based institution’s website. She has a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, the profile said.

Like Means, who is a close Kennedy ally, Saphier has questioned whether every child needs to get the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a longtime recommendation that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken. Saphier has, however, disagreed with Trump and Kennedy on some issues, telling The Associated Press last fall that Trump's cautions to pregnant women who take Tylenol were oversimplistic and “patronizing.”

Her latest ethics filing, dated Sept. 7, shows holdings with various healthcare and insurance firms, as well as processed food companies, like Coca-Cola, Yum Brands, the Hershey Co. and cigarette maker Philip Morris.

Before entering politics and throughout his tenure at the health department, Kennedy has criticized big pharmaceutical companies and insurance firms for alleged corruption and decried ultraprocessed foods as contributing to a nationwide chronic disease crisis.

Additionally, Saphier owns DropRx, a firm that produces controversial, unregulated tinctures — concentrated liquid extracts promoting focus and calm — that contain ingredients, including kava kava root, described by the FDA as potentially causing severe liver injury.

Her filing says she will resign from her position with DropRx and Empower MD LLC, which owns DropRx, if she is confirmed.

She states in the document that she would partially or fully divest from holdings that would present a conflict to serving as surgeon general.

Also facing lawmakers' questions Wednesday is Chris Klomp, chief counselor of the Health and Human Services Department, who has been nominated to serve as Kennedy's second-in-command. Also at the hearing will be Timothy Westlake, chief of staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, who is seeking confirmation to be assistant secretary for mental health and substance use.

The U.S. Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)