Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson put on a show for us on Sunday night. But they were hardly the only quarterbacks who stood out, for better and for worse. Let’s dive into our weekly rankings.
But first, a note on how, exactly, I choose to rank these signal-callers.
QB Stock Market isn’t your typical QB rankings. I’m focused on monitoring the fluctuations of a QB’s performance throughout the season. No one — not even Patrick Mahomes — is safe at the top. No one — not even Spencer Rattler — is stuck at the bottom. There is room for quick ascent — and rapid decline.
One question holds the most important: What have you done for your team lately?
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There’s no question about who was the best football player on the planet this week.
In Orchard Park on Sunday night, I watched Bills fans head for the exits in the fourth quarter. And I wondered — even with Allen down 15 points — what they were thinking. Apparently, Allen felt the same way. Because after the game, he told his fans: “Have a little faith.” Receiver Keon Coleman told me postgame that there’s no stopping Allen — not for all 60 minutes.
“Whether you get him in the first quarter or you get him for one drive, he’s going to figure you out. And when he does, good luck stopping him,” Coleman said.
Allen got some help from luck and from his defense. And he converted just enough opportunities to will his team to victory.
It would’ve been a stunning upset if every guy on his sideline hadn’t seen it coming.
“Something special is happening here at One Bills Drive,” tackle Dion Dawkins told me. “You can tell. You can feel it, because stuff don’t happen like that — not like that.”
Lamar Jackson was nearly flawless in an instant classic versus the Bills. Josh Allen was just a bit better. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
Throw the stats away for a second, because they won’t quite tell you what happened with Love on Sunday. He was fantastic. The Lions defense didn’t know what hit them.
If this is how Love is going to play all season long, watch out. Because he will quickly enter the MVP discussion.
The game was an impressive display of anticipation, touch and arm strength spread across a diverse set of challenging throws that demonstrated Love’s full arsenal. And what I liked most — and dragged him down all of last year — were the bad throws. The inaccuracy and inconsistency didn’t crop up. I’ll throw out one stat: his 72.7 completion percentage.
On his touchdown to Tucker Kraft, Love got the ball over the linebacker and into the hands of Kraft before the safety could get down. This was textbook touch, folks.
Love’s best throw might’ve been an incompletion to Jayden Reed. Despite getting hit while throwing, Love dropped the ball just out of reach of the defender, despite hip-to-hip coverage. But Reed couldn’t quite hold onto the ball with all the contact.
But, man, what a throw.
There was one throw that Love wanted back, where he zipped the ball directly into the hands of Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone. It was almost a no-look pass, where Love tried to get the ball to his checkdown while getting hit. And Love was lucky to see Anzalone drop the ball. We’ll allow the one mistake, given all the impressive plays he made Sunday.
In the fourth quarter, the Chargers led a drive that lasted seven minutes, 11 plays and 77 yards. It was the biggest reason why — even though L.A. and KC each got two possessions in the fourth quarter — the Chargers held the ball for nearly 10 minutes in the deciding frame.
During that long, fourth-quarter drive, the Chargers faced only two third downs. Herbert kept his team on task and on schedule. He was 8 of 8 for 65 yards and a touchdown.
This wasn’t robot-arm Herbert. PFF charted him with one big-time throw. But that’s on the generous side. And I don’t mean that as an insult. This was a fiercely controlling game manager, who took what the defense gave him (which was … a lot given all the busted coverages). But Herbert knew that patience and efficiency would beat the Chiefs. That’s what he achieved.
He closed out the game with an impressive, 16-yard scramble that I suspect might’ve been designed. Because he seemed to know he was running it from the snap.
This dude had answers. It was like that all day. Herbert was quick-thinking. He was one step ahead of Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo.
Geno Smith was making his Raiders debut, but he looked right at home in Chip Kelly’s offense. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
This offense collapsed in on itself, literally. Just look at Goff’s passing chart. Twenty-six of his 31 completions came within six yards of the line of scrimmage. The Lions barely pushed the ball into the intermediate areas, let alone downfield.
Goff played pretty well in spite of a general malaise that hung over Detroit. They missed their two elite coordinators, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. No one would say it. Everyone could see it. Goff’s first three throws went to running backs for a net of minus-4 yards. Two of the playcalls were clearly designed to go to the running backs.
This new offense just makes me sad — knowing what it once was.
Heck, this team just makes me sad — again, knowing what it once was.
There were plenty of impressive throws, including — I kid you not — one of Goff’s many checkdowns where he had to throw sidearm while getting knocked backward just to get the throw to his guy. He kept his offense on-schedule. He did the right things with his eyes, his feet, his arm. It looked like Packers safety Evan Williams outsmarted Goff for an interception in the red zone, which cost the Lions a shot at least three points (for the field-goal attempt). That, too, happened right near the line of scrimmage.
What I loved about Fields’ film with the Steelers was his ability to mitigate risk. It was the same thing when he played against the Steelers (for the Jets) in Week 1. Fields didn’t throw an interception and he didn’t fumble the football. He only had one turnover-worthy play, per PFF.
It’s clear new offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand has helped Fields feel comfortable in this offense as a thrower, scrambler and runner. Engstrand is featuring running back Breece Hall and receiver Garrett Wilson in a way that highlights their strengths. We really haven’t seen that in quite some time in New York (with a lot of misuse of the team’s best offensive weapons). And by maximizing the young talent, the Jets’ offense is supporting Fields.
Fields’ career has been a game of Confidence Goldilocks. Too much! Not enough!
Will this serving be just right?
The Vikings were trailing in the third quarter and McCarthy ran into the huddle with one question: “Is there anywhere you’d rather be?” His teammates began to smile, including running back Aaron Jones and receiver Justin Jefferson. “That juiced us up,” Jefferson said.
That’s a whole lotta moxie from a 22-year-old who is — basically — a rookie. It’s a lotta moxie for a kid who looked stumped for about 40 minutes. His decision-making, his arm strength and his footspeed were all a split-second off for most the night.
He couldn’t get off his first read quick enough and pressure found him in the pocket. He couldn’t move his feet fast enough and pressure found him in the pocket. He didn’t recognize simple indicators downfield, and worst of all, the defense found the ball. That was probably the lowest moment for McCarthy: a pick-six in the third quarter.
“You never want to learn wisdom that way,” McCarthy said afterward.
The wisdom? The ball never should’ve come out of the QB’s hands.
“[Cornerback Nashon Wright] by no means backed out of his backpedal, you may’t throw it if that nook does not again up,” Peyton Manning mentioned in-game on ESPN’s “ManningCast.”
However coach Kevin O’Connell labored to decelerate the sport for McCarthy. The Vikings stayed dedicated to the run, even when trailing, and that helped McCarthy work off play-action. McCarthy began to search out simple throws close to the road of scrimmage, with gamers like Jones and T.J. Hockenson shifting laterally to generate yards after the catch.
That settled him in for a pair of big-time throws that confirmed us what sort of QB McCarthy would possibly develop into. There was a tough-as-nails throw to Jefferson close to the left sideline (the place McCarthy threw his pick-six). Simply earlier than he took an enormous hit, McCarthy uncorked one for an enormous achieve. And later within the sport, McCarthy would hearth downfield to Jones for a 27-yard landing. That was the best play-call towards the protection the Bears ran.
McCarthy’s read-option dashing landing completed the sport off. McCarthy known as it the “excellent playcall.” There was quite a lot of that from O’Connell, who clearly went by painstaking care in stopping catastrophe for McCarthy.
The Vikings coach helped make certain the arrow is pointing up on his younger QB after Week 1.
This season was imagined to be completely different, however C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense strongly resembled final 12 months’s disappointing outfit in a Week 1 loss to the Rams. (Photograph by Ronald Martinez/Getty Photos)
Williams obtained Flores-ed.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores was one step forward of Williams and Bears coach Ben Johnson. And so Minnesota ruined the early optimism out of Chicago. Williams completed with a completion proportion over anticipated of -13.2%, per Subsequent Gen Stats. The one QB to publish a decrease determine was Zach Wilson, who had simply 9 dropbacks for the Dolphins in rubbish time.
Flores completely scared Williams out of throwing downfield, with the Bears QB resorting to checkdowns and scrambles to energy up Chicago’s offense. And that may’ve labored if Williams hadn’t missed so many simple throws alongside the way in which. By the second half, Williams started to spray the ball, lacking his pass-catchers excessive and/or broad.
It’s one factor to battle towards defensive coordinator. It’s one other factor to battle towards your self.
Make no mistake, Williams’ highlights have been as particular as anybody across the NFL. He hit a seam path to Cole Kmet that was attractive — a pinpoint throw that would’ve come out of Joe Burrow’s fingers. Williams additionally hit Rome Odunze on a scramble drill that was really outstanding — akin to what has develop into Josh Allen’s signature throw: rolling proper, off-platform, excellent ball placement, spectacular velocity, tight window.
Williams hasn’t misplaced his instruments. He’s one heck of a expertise. However he and Johnson nonetheless haven’t found out but the right way to hone these instruments right into a constant product that wins soccer video games. I can’t recover from what number of instances Flores wasn’t the reason for Williams’ errors.
There may not have been a extra stunning final result on the opening weekend than the Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa being outclassed by the Colts. (Photograph by Andy Lyons/Getty Photos)
Earlier than becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years protecting the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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