In some ways, this is the best football weekend of the year. Not because of the long wait to finally get the season started, and certainly not because of the hype we endured before the first kickoff between New England and Kansas City.

This is a special weekend because of what's absent: Pressure. And you should enjoy it while you can.

After this week, you'll be 1-0 or 0-1 (if you're 0-0-1, maybe look into decimal scoring). No matter your record, you still have every chance to secure a playoff spot and win the title. You don't even have to win next week, either. Plenty of 0-2 teams go on to win it all. You want to win, obviously, but there won't ever be less pressure than this week.

Even an injury, while damaging, isn't going to dash your hopes. There's nothing you can do to secure or discard your fortunes after week 1. It might be a different story the following week, of course. In week 2 you could be very concerned about a draft choice, and an 0-2 start leaves less room for error in the coming weeks. You'll already be feeling some pressure to turn things around.

But forget all that. It's a future that might never happen. This is the week to enjoy for what it is: A stress-free celebration of football.

If you let it be that way, of course. A lot of owners are in mid-season form when it comes to stress and fanatical behavior. They act like week 1 is a must-win situation, and they won't let themselves enjoy a second of it.

Now, we can debate whether you should ever let fantasy football ruin your viewing experience. But if we're being honest, our game influences how (and why) we watch their game. Losing isn't fun, and our enjoyment will always be tied to our fantasy fortunes in some way. And some owners handle it better than others.

You should always keep things in perspective and not allow your fantasy team to ruin your weekend. But even if you're the type to obsess over what you can't control, it shouldn't be that way in week 1. If there's ever a time to simply sit back and enjoy the games, this is it.

But what if you played the silly Kansas City homer who was dumb enough to trot out Alex Smith (lol) and Kareem Hunt against the Patriots? You laughed at them all week, and you'd still be laughing if you weren't down by about 10,000 points already.

Or maybe you built your team around the Brady/Gronkowski combo, and aren't feeling so awesome about the early returns. Yes, that includes you, too. You might still win, but maybe you won't. It's week 1. Enjoy the games. We saw a rookie have a fantastic debut Thursday night, and we saw New England deal with a humbling outcome. Those are pretty good storylines for one game. How often is the first contest of the season that entertaining? If all you cared about were the fantasy scores, you missed it even if you were watching it. And that's a shame.

Please don't do that this weekend. There will be plenty of time to panic and overreact and worry about your season. But thousands of future fantasy champions will start the year 0-1. It's like that every year. So try to enjoy the actual football, and save the worry for a couple of weeks down the road. The real game is back, and that includes more than the players on your fantasy team. Win or lose, try to enjoy all of it this weekend.

Are you excited about the return of football, or mostly the return of fantasy football? Can you enjoy the first week without worrying too much about how your fantasy team does? Share your thoughts below.