NFL’s Record-Scoring Week 1 Draws Explanation From Mike Tomlin in New NBC Role

Week 1 of the NFL season delivered scoring numbers not seen in more than half a century, and one of the league’s most experienced recent head coaches thinks he knows why.

Before Sunday night’s matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants kicked off, Week 1 games were averaging 50.1 combined points — the highest figure for an opening week since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, according to multiple reports. NBC noted that Sunday’s slate alone stood as the highest-scoring Week 1 Sunday in the post-merger era.

The weekend’s peak came in Charlotte, where the Chicago Bears outlasted the Carolina Panthers 59-37. That game set a single-game scoring record for a Week 1 contest when Chicago led 52-37 with four minutes remaining, and the Bears added one more touchdown before the final whistle.

Tomlin’s theory

Mike Tomlin, who stepped away from the Pittsburgh Steelers after 25 seasons as an NFL head coach, coordinator, and assistant, has joined NBC’s game coverage as an analyst. Speaking with host Maria Taylor at halftime of the Sunday night broadcast, he pointed to modern practice habits as the root cause of the offensive surge.

Tomlin argued that today’s preparation methods allow offenses to start faster than they have historically. With fewer padded practices and a greater emphasis on skill-oriented work like 7-on-7 drills, he said, defensive players spend less time on the fundamentals — shedding blocks and tackling — than they did when he entered the league 25 years ago.

Under his reasoning, the imbalance should narrow. As defenders accumulate game reps and regular-season practice time, their physicality and technique should catch up with offensive counterparts, theoretically pulling scoring back down as the season progresses.

The broadcast angle

The scoring bonanza arrived at a notable moment for NBC’s football coverage. Comcast Corporation (CMCSA), the media conglomerate behind NBC, saw shares trade at $25.20 on Monday, up 0.6% from a previous close of $25.05, valuing the company at roughly $92.5 billion. High-scoring, competitive early-season games typically provide strong content for network broadcasts carrying “Sunday Night Football.” Comcast operates across media, studios, connectivity, and theme parks segments within the communication services sector.

Whether Tomlin’s practice-structure explanation proves durable remains to be seen, but it frames a storyline worth tracking as the season unfolds.

What to watch

• Week 2 and Week 3 scoring averages, to test whether offensive output regresses as defenses gain live-game reps
• NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” viewership figures amid a high-scoring start to the season
• Comcast’s upcoming quarterly earnings, which may address sports programming performance and advertising trends

Source: original release