After a victorious debut as the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who knows a thing or two about team building, told his squad: “You won’t make as much progress in the entire season as you will from Week 1 to Week 2, I’m telling you this.”

Of course, this applies more to the teams with a good coaching staff and the tools to make the necessary fixes after learning exactly where they need to improve. For teams that don’t have the resources to fix multiple issues, learning about themselves won’t matter. Sixteen teams lost in Week 1, but they don’t all have to panic. Here are five units that underperformed but have the means to greatly improve.

The Ravens went into one of the league’s loudest stadiums against the champion Kansas City Chiefs — who were led by their defense last season — and were a toenail away from scoring 26 points and possibly winning on a 2-point attempt. Issues Baltimore will have to figure out were certainly exposed, but no one should panic about this offense.

This is Lamar Jackson’s second year in coordinator Todd Monken’s system, Zay Flowers is in his second NFL season, and Isaiah Likely has developed into a consistent weapon. Not to mention, they have Derrick Henry. Henry’s Ravens debut wasn’t great — 13 carries for 46 yards (3.5 yards per carry) — but he didn’t have much of an opportunity to get to the open field. Henry has always been a back who needs space to build up speed. He can be stopped for short gain after short gain and suddenly hit a 50-yard run. He didn’t have the chance in Week 1 because the Ravens fell behind.

The concern is the right side of the offensive line. Guard Daniel Faalele switched from tackle, and coach John Harbaugh has raved about his athleticism, but it will be a process. I trust the Ravens’ ability to evaluate and fix issues. They’ll have to improve quickly, however, because the Las Vegas Raiders have an elite defensive line. When Jackson had time, Flowers was getting open against an elite secondary, but the Ravens threw a ton of screens because they didn’t trust the line to hold up.

Tight end Mark Andrews has been a stalwart, but his two-catch performance against the Chiefs has some concerned he might not be fully recovered from a season-ending ankle injury and car accident in August. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made taking away Andrews a focal point. According to Pro Football Focus, Andrews was double covered at a higher rate than in any of his games from 2021 to 2023. He saw a combination of true bracket coverage and multiple defenders crowding him in the zone.

Jackson led the team in carries and took several hits against the Chiefs; he had to rest Tuesday because of soreness. That can’t continue, but it was the first week, against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs; they were emptying their chamber. Barring a major injury, the Ravens will be a top-10 offense this season.

Jets fans are panicking. A team seen as a playoff contender was pummeled by the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers on the road. I get it. The final numbers aren’t great. The starting offense scored just 13 points, Breece Hall had 16 rushes for 54 yards, and Aaron Rodgers passed for only 167 yards.

The Jets are an outside zone team and tried to attack the 49ers outside. San Francisco was vulnerable on the outside last season but has worked on shoring up that weakness in the offseason and looked great chasing down perimeter runs. Also, the Jets’ offensive line hasn’t played together, so testing their communication and chemistry against an attacking front like the 49ers’ is difficult. The Jets have the talent to improve and open running lanes for Hall if they can stay healthy.

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Rodgers doesn’t look fully recovered from the Achilles injury that took him out for the season. His mobility is compromised. He didn’t scramble and tried to break the pocket only once, but his arm looked great. He was throwing with zip and made a few signature throws, including a one-step fade to Allen Lazard down the sideline that was perfect. On that same drive, he got the defense to jump, got a free play and threw a dime for a touchdown to Lazard.

First quarter, 7:34 remaining, third-and-7

On third-and-7, the Jets lined up in empty. Rodgers saw two deep safeties and signaled to the weak side with Garrett Wilson lined up in the slot to presumably change the route combo into a “drive” concept, which is good against Cover 2.

The underneath defender bit on the shallow route, leaving Wilson open behind him. Rodgers started his throwing motion before Wilson got inside.

The throw was perfect and allowed Wilson to run after the catch.

Rodgers was stellar on money downs. He was 4-of-7 on third and fourth downs with two drops that had enough yardage to convert. His fourth-down throw to Wilson was behind him but catchable.

Rodgers should gain some mobility as the season progresses, but even confined to the pocket, he’s better than any Jets quarterback in a long time. The offense needs to run the ball better to support Rodgers, but he’s still a high-level quarterback in the pocket. This might not be one of the league’s top offenses, but the Jets have won games on the backs of their defense. They just need the offense to be middle of the pack, and Rodgers has shown enough to make me believe he could make them a little better than that.

One of the major questions for the Rams heading into the season was how their defense would look without future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald. They were gashed on the ground in Week 1 by the Detroit Lions, who rushed for 163 yards with the league’s highest rushing success rate (73.3 percent) on designed runs. But it took Detroit overtime to score 26 points on the young Rams defense.

Fourth quarter, 9:15 remaining, second-and-8

Here, the Rams played Cover 8 against the Lions’ two-by-two formation with the back offset to the right. Cover 8 means they are playing Cover 2 zone to the strong side (three-receiver side) and Cover 4 to the weak side (two-receiver side).

The underneath defenders converged on the underneath routes Jared Goff looked to first and forced him to get to his next read, which was Amon-Ra St. Brown on a dig. Playing Cover 4 to the weak side creates the possibility that the weakside safety could help on crossers coming from the strong side, which is exactly what happened here.

Goff didn’t see safety John Johnson III come from the weak side to help on St. Brown, and Goff threw the ball right to him.

The defensive line pressured Goff on 55.6 percent of third-down dropbacks. First-round pick Jared Verse had six pressures and a quality sack against left tackle Taylor Decker. A coverage bust led to a big play, but overall, the secondary looked good passing off routes and communicating. Corner Tre’Davious White, coming back from an Achilles tear, looked slow, but the hope is he improves as the season progresses.

The defense doesn’t have to be a top-10 unit when the Rams offense is healthy, but the offense might be one of the most injured units in the league right now. The defense had an encouraging debut, and it’ll need to make a Week 2 leap to keep the team afloat while it gets healthy.

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The run game will be the Steelers’ catalyst no matter who plays quarterback. Pittsburgh is switching to offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s outside zone scheme. It takes time for an offensive line to jell in that scheme. It’s a relatively simple one in terms of play volume but requires a lot of communication to execute properly, and the running backs have to get adept at consistently making the right reads and cuts.

Against the Atlanta Falcons, who finished second in defensive rushing success rate last season, the Steelers had 106 yards but averaged only 2.9 yards and had a 38.9 percent rushing success rate on designed rushes (QB scrambles not included). Watching the tape, they were close to breaking some runs but couldn’t because of a missed assignment, a bad read by the running back or a block wasn’t held long enough.

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Running back Najee Harris also looked a bit indecisive in this new scheme. Jaylen Warren is coming back from injury and his snaps were limited, but he might be a better fit in this offense than Harris. I’d expect the running game to look better with more carries for Warren. Also, it appears the total option package for Justin Fields hasn’t been installed yet. Smith’s QB run game was much more expansive when he was the Falcons’ head coach.

Second quarter, 8:36 remaining, second-and-2

Here, the Steelers are running a variant of outside zone called Zorro. Tight end Pat Freiermuth was responsible for blocking the safety in the alley.

However, Freiermuth blocked the inside linebacker, whom the play-side guard and tackle were responsible for, leaving safety Jessie Bates III unblocked.

Harris looked to have the opportunity to cut vertically and bang inside for 4 or more yards or cut all the way back and try to run through the backside pursuit player. He instead kept pressing outside, right into Bates, for a gain of only 2.

Cleaning up these issues will take some time, but they are correctable. The run game should also be bolstered when All-Pro guard Isaac Seumalo returns from a pectoral injury he suffered in camp. This run game has a chance to be one of the better ones in the league with the threat of Fields keeping the ball.

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Whichever side you were on in the great Anthony Richardson debate, last Sunday didn’t sway you either way. Richardson had a few spectacular throws, including maybe one of the best passes of all time, but also was off-target on 15.8 percent of his passes. However, there were several instances when receivers slipped on the freshly installed turf in Lucas Oil Stadium. Tight end Kylen Granson slipped while running a crosser on Richardson’s lone interception. And Adonai Mitchell appeared to improvise a deep route on one play, which caught Richardson by surprise.

Effortless.

📺 #INDvsGB | 9/15 on FOX pic.twitter.com/elzjLF1KNt

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— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 9, 2024

What is important is Richardson is making the correct read, and his process is relatively clean, considering he’s still extremely green. His Week 2 matchup with the Green Bay Packers will be his 18th start since high school. He’ll have his misses, but it’s mostly due to footwork, which is correctable.

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Mitchell looks like the legitimate deep threat this offense needs, and slot receiver Josh Downs, who was having a great camp before injuring his ankle, will return soon. Even with the misses, the young Colts played well against the Houston Texans, who will have one of the better defenses in the league. They’ll have a juicy matchup with a weak Packers run defense. Green Bay will likely load the box with the corners playing soft and force Richardson to beat them underneath.

(Top photo of Najee Harris: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)

After a 13-day blackout, Walt Disney Co. and DirecTV settled their contentious contract dispute early Saturday, restoring ESPN, ABC stations and other Disney-owned channels for more than 10 million DirecTV subscribers.

DirecTV and U-Verse customers have been frustrated by the loss of Disney programming since talks broke down on Sept. 1.

Both companies were motivated to reach a deal before the kickoff of another weekend of ESPN and ABC college football, ABC’s telecast of the 76th Emmy Awards on Sunday and the second week of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” featuring a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons. ABC’s new primetime season also begins later this month.

The nearly two-week battle has been costly. Thousands of subscribers canceled their service during the blackout, DirecTV acknowledged earlier this week. The satellite TV giant wanted to stop the bleeding.

After marathon negotiations, the companies said they reached an “agreement in principle,” which contains hikes in the fees DirecTV pays for Disney programming. Earlier this week, DirecTV alerted subscribers that it planned to raise prices on some bundles next month due to higher programming costs.

DirecTV came away with wins in the new contract, too. It gained the ability to offer Disney channels in genre packages, including sports, general entertainment and a “kids & family” package. DirecTV also can offer Disney’s streaming services, including Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ to customers who subscribe to certain packages as well as on an a la carte basis.

“Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, DirecTV and Disney are giving customers the ability to tailor their video experience through more
flexible options,” the companies said in a joint statement. “DirecTV and Disney have a long-standing history of connecting consumers to the best entertainment, and this agreement furthers that commitment by recognizing both the tremendous value of Disney’s content and the evolving preferences of DirecTV customers.”

The dispute underscored the strain facing traditional pay-TV distributors amid the shift to streaming.

A shrinking pool of big-bundle subscribers increasingly has been asked to shoulder higher programming expenses.

The cost of carrying broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) and sports networks, including ESPN, has skyrocketed as programmers look to pass on fee increases they’ve agreed to pay sports leagues. ESPN is the most expensive basic cable channel, costing pay-TV distributors nearly $10 a month per subscriber home.

Sports costs became a major rub in the recent dispute. Another sticking point was Disney’s requirement that its channels be available in most of the DirecTV and U-Verse homes.

Disney has long demanded that its channels reach about 90% of DirecTV’s subscriber base. ESPN’s minimum threshold is around 82%.

Pay-TV companies such as DirecTV must pay penalties if they fail to meet that “minimum penetration.”

Heading into negotiations, DirecTV girded for battle with a goal of relaxing those thresholds. DirecTV wanted looser requirements so it could offer its customers smaller, genre-themed bundles at lower prices.

DirecTV executives argued that it was unsustainable to force customers to buy a “bloated bundle” filled with expensive channels they don’t watch. Most consumers watch fewer than 30 channels, they said.

Disney countered that programming is expensive and that it has been investing heavily in high-quality content.

Neither side was eager to prolong a battle that antagonized customers. Already, more than 4 million U.S. customer homes dropped pay TV in the first six months of the year, according to research firm MoffettNathanson.

Disney and DirecTV still generate billions of dollars in revenue from traditional pay-TV packages and they want to keep the spigot running. Disney receives about $2 billion a year from DirecTV, MoffettNathanson said.

Unlike cable distributors that also offer high-speed internet and phone service, DirecTV is focused solely on selling video channel packages, including U-Verse, since the company’s 2021 spinoff from AT&T. The El Segundo firm, which has lost more than half of its subscribers from a decade ago, could ill afford to chase away more customers and began offering $30 credits to encourage them to stay during the blackout.

Early on, Disney said it was willing to work with DirecTV to craft genre-themed bundles, such as children’s and family entertainment, local broadcast stations and sports.

“Disney talking openly about smaller bundles is a major inflection point strategically and likely points to where the industry is ultimately headed,” Lightshed Partners media analyst Rich Greenfield wrote in a report.

But the two companies spent days haggling over the penetration rates. Negotiators spent long hours trading proposals since the blackout began, despite trading barbs publicly.

Blackouts have become increasingly common as industry economics erode. Last year, Disney channels went dark for nearly 12 days on Charter Communications’ Spectrum service during a similar tussle over fees and flexibility to offer Disney’s streaming services to its customers at no additional charge.

Charter, DirecTV and other distribution executives have chafed at Disney’s efforts to bypass distributors to offer its programming directly to consumers. Disney plans to roll out ESPN as a streaming service next year.

The Burbank giant also teamed up with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp. this year to offer a $43-a-month package of sports channels called Venu. But last month, a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, scuttling the fall launch of Venu, on antitrust grounds.

Distributors view such services as direct threats to their businesses.

DirecTV Chief Content Officer Rob Thun also said that Disney’s general counsel asked DirecTV to waive any legal claims against Disney that allege antitrust behavior as part of any distribution deal. That, too, became a sticking point during negotiations.

Last weekend, DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission alleging Disney has not been negotiating in good faith and its tactics were anticompetitive.

The Mountain West has established itself as college basketball’s preeminent mid-major conference in the last few years. San Diego State made the national title game in 2023. The league put six teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. While conference realignment wreaked havoc around it, the Mountain West’s stability put it on a tier by itself, surpassing the American and the Atlantic 10 as the best mid-major league in college basketball. It was also the best late-night hoops to consume, even topping the Pac-12 in watchability.

And now, it’s just like all the others, thrown into chaos by football and greed.

The only good news from a basketball perspective is that at least the new Six Pac makes sense (for now) when it comes to geography, with San Diego State, Colorado State, Boise State and Fresno State joining Oregon State and Washington State as the two Pac-12 holdovers make moves to resurrect their brand.

To steal a term from hoops, this league is mid-major-ish in football, but its four new arrivals from the Mountain West could justify this move on the basketball court and offer the new Pac-12 an opportunity to brand itself as more than a College Football Playoff striver.

San Diego State, Colorado State and Boise State were all top-tier Mountain West basketball programs, and their ability to consistently make the NCAA Tournament could improve if the Pac-12 chooses to make additional moves with hoops in mind. Luring Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference in particular would cement the league as a top-six basketball conference. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has flirted with Gonzaga over the past two years and hasn’t yet been able to convince enough of his members that it’s beneficial to add a basketball-only member. But the Pac-12 needs numbers and brand recognition.

The Pac-12 must get to at least eight football-playing schools by 2026 to be recognized as an NCAA and Football Bowl Subdivision conference and to be eligible for its champion to earn one of the five automatic bids into the 12-team College Football Playoff. To build an eight-game conference schedule that matches its FBS counterparts, it would need to get to at least nine members. In basketball, 10 teams is the ideal number for round-robin scheduling, especially if you can avoid a bad bottom tier — that’s why the Big 12 performed so well in computer-based metrics for so many years. Ridding themselves of the teams from the Mountain West’s basement could help the future resumes of the Aztecs, Rams and Broncos. Two games against Gonzaga every year also certainly wouldn’t hurt.

The Pac-12 should be as picky as possible in which G5 schools it goes after. (Our Chris Vannini broke down the potential options.) Let’s say the league’s best-case scenario is adding two G5 schools with recent football success — for example, prying Memphis and Tulane from the American. From there, it would make sense to chase one other basketball-only member and further lean into its basketball branding. It could be easier to attract those schools than it will be to find a host of football schools who will jump. Among those possible options:

• Saint Mary’s: The Gaels, Gonzaga’s primary WCC rival, have made 10 of the last 19 NCAA Tournaments.
• Grand Canyon: The Antelopes are set to join the WCC in 2025, have strong financial backing in hoops, play in one of the best environments in the country and have made three of the last four NCAA Tournaments under Bryce Drew. And if Gonzaga leaves, the WCC is not as enticing of a landing spot for Grand Canyon. Adding the Antelopes would also return a foothold in the Phoenix market to the Pac-12 after the loss of Arizona and Arizona State.
• Wichita State: The departure of Memphis would be another hit to an AAC basketball brand already on the decline after losing Houston and Cincinnati. Wichita State would likely jump at the chance to be in the same league as Gonzaga; the Shockers fancied themselves as the Gonzaga of the Midwest not long ago.

A Pac-12 with Gonzaga plus some combination of those other adds would earn multiple NCAA Tournament bids every year. The current Mountain West has been the seventh-best league in college basketball the last two years, putting four teams in the field in 2023 before last year’s surge to six.

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As for what remains of the Mountain West, the conference needs to retain eight members to keep its FBS status intact, and it’s possible some of the remaining schools will still bolt. (UNLV seems like an ideal target for the Pac-12, although separating itself from university system partner Nevada could be tricky.) Adding New Mexico State would make sense for the Mountain West because the Aggies are already rivals of New Mexico and in the region. Of course, logic and convenience have rarely mattered in the realignment circus, and even the most practical solutions to rebuild college basketball’s product around historical rivalries and geography feel like fantasy for hoops fans.

The sport does still have at least a little pull when it comes to television negotiations. The Big 12 and Big East have done well for themselves by building stronger basketball leagues — Yormark has publicly touted the potential of selling his league’s football and basketball rights as separate television deals when the Big 12’s current rights agreement runs out at the end of the decade. The Big East signed a new deal this summer with Fox, NBC and TNT that will run from 2025-26 through 2030-31.

And while the ACC and Big 12 reside on a financial tier below the Big Ten and SEC in football, they still enjoy somewhat equal standing in hoops. The Big East is right there, too. This new Pac-12 won’t be able to run with the four big leagues in football, but add a top-10 basketball program in Gonzaga and you might earn that coveted high-major tag or at least get closer than the old Mountain West did.

Gonzaga has done just fine for itself dominating the WCC, but it likes money, too. The temptation to add a few extra million every year in NCAA Tournament units has made Gonzaga’s eventual exit from the WCC feel inevitable. After raiding one of the country’s most interesting basketball conferences and setting off another round of realignment dominoes, the Pac-12 has a chance to boost its own reputation on the hardwood along the way. Meanwhile in the Mountain West, it is now a question of survival.

(Photo: James Snook / USA Today)