Sports

Seven years after the NFL made an unexpected rule change that has resulted in rare flags but many fines, the league started the 2025 season with, from the perspective of those who hand out the financial punishments, no infractions.

No player was fined for lowering the helmet and making forcible contact with an opponent.

It's unclear whether it was a fluke or whether it shows that defensive players have figured out how to comply with a rule that was widely viewed when it was passed as virtually impossible to satisfy.

Then there's the possibility that the league has revised its standard for fining players. In 2023, the NFL started announcing the weekly fines for on-field infractions. The league does not, however, disclose the outcomes of the appeals. And we've heard that plenty of the fines for lowering the helmet have been quietly overturned through the joint NFL-NFLPA review process.

Whatever the reason, it was surprising to see no fines for impermissible use of the helmet. We'll see if any fines are imposed for the Week 2 games.

Week 2 is headlined by a rematch of Super Bowl LIX, with both the Eagles and Chiefs making their Sunday debuts after starting the season playing on weekdays.

And Fox expects a big number.

No, it won't be the 127.7 million who watched their last meeting, from February. As September goes, however, it could be the biggest crowd that has ever gathered for an NFL game.

Richard Deitsch of TheAthletic.com reports that Fox projects an audience in the range of 30 million for the late-afternoon game.

As Deitsch notes, 30 million would be the biggest Week 2 game since the NFL started tracking ratings in 1988. That year, it was a Bengals-Chiefs game that attracted 27.87 million to CBS.

Deitsch also points out that the most-watched September game on record happened in 1993, when 31.1 million tuned in for Dallas-Washington on ABC's Monday Night Football.

Boosting the final figure will be the expanded Nielsen process, which generally has pumped up numbers via a new calculation of out-of-home viewing.

And if that doesn't get to 30 million (or to 31.1), Fox can always pull a YouTube and re-do the numbers.

The 49ers have a couple of offensive starters listed as questionable for Sunday's game in New Orleans and Sunday morning brings a positive update about one of them.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that wide receiver Jauan Jennings is expected to play. Jennings recovered from a calf injury in time to play in Week 1's win over the Seahawks, but he hurt his shoulder in the game and missed two days of practice before getting in a limited workout on Friday.

Left tackle Trent Williams was the other player to land a questionable designation. He followed the same practice schedule as Jennings, but Schefter reports that he will work out before the game to see if he's well enough to play.

Spencer Burford would be the next man up for the 49ers if Williams is inactive.