NFL panic meter: How worried should these 0-1 teams be entering Week 2?

Week 1 of the NFL season is notorious for overreactions.

It’s just one game, after all. Just ask the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs, who bounced back from a Week 1 defeat and went on to win their second straight Super Bowl last February.

However, there’s only one Kansas City, and some teams have real cause for concern after Week 1.

Whether it was head-scratching losses, key injuries or flat-out blowouts, several franchises had far from ideal starts to the 2024 season. Can they rebound, or were those defeats a sign of things to come?

Let’s check the panic meter for some notable 0-1 teams ahead of Week 2.

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson problems aren’t going anywhere.

The quarterback was rattled in a season-opening shellacking at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. A day later, a new civil lawsuit was filed accusing Watson sexual assault and battery.

Could the Browns have run into the wrong team to open the season? Sure, but Watson simply hasn’t produced enough since Cleveland made perhaps the single greatest investment in a quarterback in league history between trade assets and guaranteed money. There are 17 weeks for the Browns to turn things around — but the end of Watson’s time in Cleveland is nowhere in sight.

Panic meter: 9/10

Carolina Panthers

If “QB whisperer” Dave Canales was whispering anything on Sunday, it was probably “Uh oh.”

The Carolina Panthers and their new head coach got walloped 47-10 in New Orleans in Week 1, and Bryce Young looked like his rookie self in the 2024 opener. It didn’t take long, either, as he tossed an interception on his first pass attempt of the game.

Young was put in a position to fail from the moment the Panthers took him with the No. 1 pick in 2023. But after investing D.J. Moore … and the pick that turned into Caleb Williams … and the pick that turned into … two picks in 2023 … and a 2025 second-rounder to get Young, the Panthers may already need to start from square one once again. And that likely includes quarterback.

Panic meter: 10/10

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals have a history of starting out slow under head coach Zac Taylor and dropped to 1-5 in Week 1 games since he took over in 2019. The latest season-opening loss was a head-scratcher, as they fell 16-10 to the New England Patriots.

Was Joe Burrow’s hesitation to push the ball downfield due to a lingering wrist injury, or a shorthanded receiving corps without Tee Higgins? Either way, they will need better from the former No. 1 pick moving forward.

The Bengals have a history of bouncing back from their slow starts. Still, a home loss against one of the worst teams in the league could linger all season as Cincinnati tries to break through a tough division and conference.

Panic meter: 5/10

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are already playing catch-up in a stacked NFC North, and they will have to do so without their starting quarterback for now.

Jordan Love suffered a knee injury in the final seconds of the Packers’ season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He won’t play in Week 2, with the team likely turning to the recently acquired Malik Willis under center, but Packers fans can breathe a sigh of relief that it was not a season-ending injury or even one that landed him on injured reserve.

The Packers’ upcoming schedule includes a home game against the Indianapolis Colts, a visit to Tennessee to face the Titans and a home tilt against the Minnesota Vikings. If the Packers make it to 2-2 and get Love back in the fold soon, they are still well positioned to make the playoffs. If they fall to more than one of those beatable opponents, the panic meter is officially on.

Panic meter: 4/10

Saquon Barkley shined in his debut for the Eagles as Philly took down Green Bay in the NFL’s first game in Brazil.

Atlanta Falcons

The Kirk Cousins era in Atlanta got off on the wrong foot.

The Falcons’ offense fell flat in the season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, mustering just 10 points as Cousins gave the ball away two times. Convincing wins from the Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers also showed that the NFC South may not be the cakewalk Atlanta was hoping for, though those two wins came against the two worst teams from the 2023 season.

The Falcons have the Eagles and Chiefs on deck, so an 0-3 start is certainly in play. While the calls for rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. may grow louder early in the season, Cousins and Co. have the easiest schedule in the NFL. Weather the storm in September, and the Falcons could take off in the second half of the season.

Panic meter: 3/10

New York Giants

The panic meter for quarterback Daniel Jones, head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen is off the charts. But for New York Giants fans, the clean break they’ve been waiting for should be arriving in January.

Big Blue went through as bad a three days as a team could imagine to start the season. Before the Giants even took the field, Saquon Barkley had scored three touchdowns in Brazil for the rival Eagles. It went from rock bottom to six feet under on Sunday, when Sam Darnold and the Vikings came to MetLife Stadium and handed the Giants a 28-6 defeat.

The Giants overpaid Jones — at Barkley’s expense — to give him one last shot after he helped guide the team to an unlikely playoff berth in 2022. It’s going to be a long fall and winter in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as Jones runs his course, but it could finally be the disastrous end that will allow for the start of a proper rebuild.

Panic meter for the Giants: 10/10

Panic meter for Giants fans: 5/10