NFL Week 1: What was real, and what was just a mirage?

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Sunday afternoon of Week 1 is the best sort of chaos. After months of projecting, speculating and believing, the opening afternoon of the NFL season is a seven-hour reality show. That quarterback you spent six months talking yourself into has to deal with blitzes at NFL speed. The Day 3 pick who wowed everyone in camp has to go up against the first-round stars. The coach who talked a big game about his team's philosophy has to actually stick with it when the game's on the line.

And some of what you see in Week 1 actually turns out to be meaningful. Just not everything.

Go back to Week 1 last season, for instance. The league's top scorer was the Saints, who dropped 47 on the…