American football: the main stories of 15.09.2026

The quarterback who brought Texas back against Ohio State on Sunday spent the day taking a joke back. Arch Manning had called an AI-made clip of a coach slapping ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe "hilarious"; he now says there is nothing funny about it and that he needs to do better. The incident in the video never happened — it was generated. Rowe posted that she accepts the apology and considers the matter closed.

Two audience numbers came off the opening week, each so far resting on a single report. One outlet puts the first NFL regular-season game played in Australia — San Francisco's win over the Rams in Melbourne, the trip the Rams flew in late for — at an average of 18.5 million Netflix viewers in the United States, with a peak of 21.3 million and 21.7 million worldwide. Another reports the Seattle–New England opener at more than 25 million, a figure the piece sets against the audience for Donald Trump's $5,000 cheque speech. Neither number has been confirmed elsewhere.

• Detroit running back Isiah Pacheco will miss about 12 weeks after back surgery and is expected back in early December, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport; one report, not yet confirmed.
• Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce moved past Jason Witten into second on the all-time receiving yards list for the position during the 31:10 win over Denver in Week 1, one outlet reports.
• NFL teams combined for 791 points in the opening round, matching the Super Bowl-era Week 1 record set in 2012 — the same week Chicago beat Carolina 59:37; single source.
• Charles "Peanut" Tillman, who invented the Peanut Punch, talks about his childhood, Chicago and his years as a police officer and in the FBI: "nothing can compare to the NFL".