The first week of the 2025 NFL season brought dramatic finishes, comeback wins, big upsets, and even bigger plays. Below we'll look at some of the top plays from Week 1 as if we are in the film room. Enter All-22, an exclusive NFL Pro feature that allows its subscribers to watch film like the pros do. Sign up for NFL+ Premium to gain access.
What is All-22?
As the name suggests, All-22 is a wide-angle film view that allows you to see all 22 players on the field at one time. This is the film view that coaches, scouts and players use to study or review film. Because it reveals how every player is positioned during a play, it's the most comprehensive perspective for evaluating players, schemes and game strategy. It reaches beyond what is visible on a standard broadcast.
NFL+ Premium: Top All-22 plays of Week 1
Travis Etienne's ability to break free here was a combination of solid blocking and pure athleticism. You'll see his left tackle Walker Little coming across to take out the middle linebacker and tight end Brenton Strange lay down a monster block on Carolina's outside linebacker. Then it was just a matter of Etienne winning the one-on-one battle versus the safety, which he did with ease. Dyami Brown offered downfield support to get him another 15-20 yards, before a linebacker tripped him up.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight:
Etienne totaled 66 rushing yards over expected on this run -- which means he was expected to gain five -- and logged 61.3 yards after breaking safety Nick Scott's attempted tackle. He also hit an impressive max speed of 20.19 mph to help turn a potentially decent gain into a 71-yarder. The All-22 highlights some excellent blocks, but most of this monster run was on Etienne.
From a fantasy perspective, the biggest outcome of this play, and Etienne's 156-yard Sunday in total, was that it greenlit Jacksonville to trade Tank Bigsby to the Eagles. Bigsby led the team in carries (168) and rushing touchdowns (7) last year, so removing him from the picture opens the door for Etienne to rediscover his 2023 upside: that of RB3 overall. Only Derrick Henry logged more explosive runs (10-plus yards) among RBs in Week 1, so Etienne might suddenly have one of the highest ceilings in fantasy.
This is a quintessential Derrick Henryplay. He took full advantage of solid blocking from his offensive line, specifically his center Tyler Linderbaum, who took Terrel Bernard out of the picture. Once he found some real estate, there was no stopping him. He simply outran Bills safety Taylor Rapp to the end zone and had some downfield blocking help from wide receiver Tylan Wallace to finish the job.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight:
Death. Taxes. Henry returning as the most dominant rusher in the National Football League every single year, to the chagrin of Father Time. This was Henry's second rushing score of 30-plus yards on Sunday night and his fourth of five explosive runs -- tied with his quarterback Lamar Jackson for most in the NFL in Week 1. Henry hit 21.07 mph, the highest by any ball carrier on a rush on opening weekend. The absolutely craterous hole highlighted on film allowed Henry to get up to 15.65 mph at the line of scrimmage, and the play was so well executed that Henry had 27 expected rushing yards and was never contacted on his way to the end zone.
The King went at the back end of most fantasy draft first rounds this fall, out of fear that he'd finally lose a step at 31-years-old. If anything, he's gained a step. Through one week, he's averaging 3.6 yards before contact (elite blocking) and 5.8 yards after contact (classic Henry), while logging an explosive run on 27.8% of his carries (third among qualified running backs). All signs point to Henry battling Bijan Robinson and Christian McCaffrey (if healthy) to be the top RB in fantasy this season.
Everyone did their job in this play, which set Bijan Robinson up to be successful. The Tampa Bay defense blitzed, leaving Robinson open on a flat route. He won the open field battle versus the Bucs linebacker, then tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Casey Washington laid down blocks against the corner and the safety to give him room to make a second defender miss and find the endzone.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight:
Robinson finished as the RB2 overall in Week 1, and this play was 12.0 of the 24.4 reasons why. Despite -2.8 air yards and a potential tackler just a few yards past the line of scrimmage, Robinson covered 76.74 yards of total distance and forced two missed tackles to house this catch-and-run touchdown. Credit is also due to his teammates. The Falcons O-line kept Michael Penix Jr. clean for the 3.42 seconds it took to throw the ball. And Penix quickly worked through multiple reads before finding Robinson on the outlet -- which you can see on the All-22 footage.
Robinson struggled as a rusher in Week 1 -- 12 carries for just 24 yards -- but his six-catch, 100-yard, one-TD receiving performance was extremely encouraging for his fantasy potential in 2025. It should mean he's completely game-script-proof, and when the rushing production comes up, will put him squarely in the conversation for No. 1 overall player of the season.
Justin Fields' first touchdown pass as a Jet was textbook. It's a relatively simple concept in which Garrett Wilson runs a deep in-breaking route and Fields drops a dime on the doorstep of the end zone. Now, a lot needed to happen for that to be successful. The offensive line had to hold off a blitz (check), Wilson needed to outrun an All-Pro cornerback in Darius Slay (check) and Fields needed to be accurate in his pass (check).
NFL Pro Fantasy insight:
Week 1 was quite the revelation for the often doubted Fields. The new Jets quarterback completed 8.3% of his passes over expectation, fifth-best in the league in Week 1, and totaled +11.6 expected points added (EPA) as a passer -- seventh-best. Both numbers were boosted significantly by this play, as the completion probability was down at 34.7% and the touchdown resulted in +3.02 EPA. A key factor in the low completion probability: the 45.2 yards of air distance traveled by the beauty of a moon ball after it left Fields' hand. Wilson also deserves his flowers for sprinting his way from the left side of the formation all the way to the right pylon while topping 20 mph and gaining 2.9 yards of separation from Slay at the moment the pass was thrown.
If Fields is going to sling the rock like this all year, and Wilson is going to continue being his primary target in New York, both Jets might be in line for top-12 fantasy seasons. Fields is currently the QB2 behind only Josh Allen and could cement his place in the top tier of quarterbacks with a few more throws like this one.
