American football: the main stories of 17.09.2026

The man who brought a US college football fixture to Wembley did it carrying a private cause: Brian Dubiski's daughter Madison was 23 when she died in a crowd crush at a concert, and he has worked on crowd safety ever since. He frames the London match as part of that work rather than a separate business venture. The game gives the college sport its first landmark date in Britain, on a weekend when the NFL's own international calendar is already stretched across three continents. It is the one item on the day's wire carried by more than a single outlet.

Cleveland spent the day answering for a 10:34 opening defeat to Jacksonville. One outlet reports quarterback Deshaun Watson as saying reporters expect 400 yards and five touchdowns from him every week; the same match also cost the Browns Myles Garrett, who is due knee surgery and four games out after calling it the worst he has played. San Francisco's injury list grew as well: according to a single report, head coach Kyle Shanahan said tight end Jake Tonjes has torn a medial collateral ligament and will miss the rest of the season, with Dejon Stribling out roughly 10 weeks.

• One outlet reports that analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for Miami, still rates a 0-17 season a real possibility after the 13:27 loss to Las Vegas.
• Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker was named the AFC's offensive player of week 1 against Denver, with D'Andre Swift honoured in the NFC; Walker is carrying the load while Isiah Pacheco recovers from back surgery.
• By one report, Arizona's Jacoby Brissett leads the league in passing yards since he replaced the injured Kyler Murray in week 6 last season.
• Houston linebacker Aziz Al-Shaair was fined again for writing a name on his eye black; Kyrie Irving said he would pay it, according to a single source.
• Week 2 runs from 18 to 22 September, opening with Buffalo against Detroit.