What happened in the NFL on Sunday, Week 1: 4 things to know

Did the Seahawks lose on another weird play call?

The Seahawks set out on Sunday to exorcise their Super Bowl demons, but another bizarre play-call once again helped lead directly to their defeat. Or did it?

Seattle opened the overtime period with an apparent onside kick attempt by kicker Steven Hauschka, which was recovered by the Rams at the Seattle 49-yard line, putting them in excellent position to either go ahead or win outright. It brought back memories of Pete Carroll and the Seahawks’ decision to throw that fateful slant pass from the 1-yard line at the end of the Super Bowl. St. Louis went ahead with a field goal a few plays later. However, as Carroll explained after the game, that wasn’t actually a called onside kick.

“No, no,” he said. “That’s not what was supposed to happen. We were kicking the ball in a certain area of the field. We didn’t hit it right, and so we just miss-hit it. ... We were kicking the ball way down the field.”

In Hauschka’s words, “I miss-hit that kick. We were supposed to kick it downfield further than that, but yeah, I miss-hit it.”

So why even take that risk instead of blasting it through the back of the end zone? Evidently it came down to a look that Seattle had identified in their tape study that could have come up big for them in overtime. “There was something we saw on (kickoff returns,)” said Hauschka, “that we wanted to try to take advantage of, but obviously didn’t do that.”

As Hauschka’s brother tweeted after the game, “from the horse’s mouth: it was supposed to be a chip and recovery to Rams’ 35-yard line. (He) mis-hit the chip.”

However, this differed slightly from what Carroll said after the game, which was that the goal was to hit it to the 15-yard line and make an up-back catch it, thus taking the ball out of the dangerous Tavon Austin’s hands (Austin had a punt return TD earlier in the game as well).

That may be, but if you watch the kick, it sure doesn’t look like Hauschka is trying to get the ball to the 15-yard line, so I tend to believe his brother’s account. Seattle saw a hole in the Rams’ return coverages that they thought they could exploit.

Had it worked, the “football equivalent of the bloop single or hitting against the switch,” as Hauschka’s brother put it, and their return team had sprinted downfield to recover the ball from a discombobulated St. Louis return group, Seattle would’ve been in excellent shape to run away with it. Obviously, the execution wasn’t there, and that was a risk the Seahawks were taking. Was it a risk worth taking at that point in the game? Turns out, it was not.

In another ironic twist, Seattle did get the ball back after a Rams field goal, and had a chance to either tie the game with a field goal or win it with a touchdown. But, driving into St. Louis territory, they were stuffed on a fourth-and-1 from the St. Louis 42-yard line. This time around, Carroll called a run play, and this time around, Marshawn Lynch ran it. Unfortunately for Seattle, he got stuffed.

We can pretty clearly declare that the No. 2 pick outplayed the guy that was chosen in front of him.

Marcus Mariota finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3 while completing 13 of 16 passes for 209 yards and four touchdowns, arguably the best debut game for any rookie ever. Meanwhile, Winston became the first player since Brett Farve did it in 1991 to have his first NFL throw intercepted for a touchdown. D’oh.

The Titans did some things to make Mariota comfortable in his pro debut -- implementing some Oregon-style packaged plays out of shotgun looks (he finished 10-for-10 for 176 yards and two touchdowns in the shotgun, by the way) while also asking him to make some pro-style dropbacks and reads. It would appear that Whisenhunt knows what he’s doing with the rookie thus far, and isn’t trying to put too much on his rookie.

All in all, a rough start for Winston and the Bucs, who look like a team that could again struggle to make an impact in 2015.

SB Nation presents: Marcus Mariota vs. Jameis Winston looks familiar

We all know the Bills have a great defense, and we’ve seen what Rex Ryan’s been able to do over the years with talent on that side of the ball. So, it wasn’t a major surprise (though it was impressive, particularly that they were playing without Marcel Dareus) that Buffalo held the Colts and their prolific offense to just 148 yards of offense and zero points in the first half.

What was most surprising was the efficiency with which they ran their offense. Led by new starter Tyrod Taylor and free agent acquisition Percy Harvin -- who had a 51-yard catch and run touchdown -- the Bills jumped out to a 24-0 lead into the third quarter before coasting for the 27-14 win.

Taylor was efficient and productive, finishing 15 of 19 for 195 yards passing with a touchdown, and added seven rushes for 41 yards. Harvin finished with five catches for 79 yards and a rush for nine, and the Bills spread the love around on the ground to Karlos Williams, LeSean McCoy and Anthony Dixon as they racked up 147 rushing yards on 36 carries.

This is just one week ... BUT, if the Bills have any semblance of a dynamic offense this year, it’s a sea-change for them, and it could represent a pretty seismic shift in the power balance of the AFC.

Peyton Manning went 10 possessions without finding the end zone in this one, and his performance (24 of 40 for 175 yards and one pick) set off alarm bells that his arm is never going to return to the form we saw in the first half of last year.

Manning’s stats (and velocity) fell off precipitously in the second half of last season and there were many questions as to whether that was a permanent thing or simply related to his leg injuries. Well, this game does not quell fears in Denver and could signal the continuation of a very concerning trend.

The Broncos did enough to win a defensive slugfest against a good Ravens team, which is the bottom line, but you have to ask yourself if the Peyton of old -- the guy that passed for 5400 yards and 55 TDs just two years ago -- is a changed player.