Sep 25 2019
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Welcome to the Daniel Jones era! Danny Dimes, Damn Daniel, The Danchise, Mr. Jones — whatever you want to call him, Jones was historically spectacular in his NFL debut on Sunday. He led the Giants to an 18-point, comeback victory over the Buccaneers while accounting for 336 passing yards and 4 total touchdowns.

Even after just a single start, I have to admit I was wrong about Jones going into the draft. I never thought he’d have a game like this in him. I think his ceiling is an average NFL starter, but that’s better than what New York fans have had for the majority of this decade.

I wish I could dedicate an entire weekly wrap up to a single player — Jones would be deserving of such an article — but let’s get around to the rest of the league.

Answers to my Five Questions

Can the Eagles depth help withstand their injuries?

The Eagles were severely banged up with injuries, but here’s what I said about them heading into last week:

“Philadelphia will host Detroit this week. It should be a gimmie, but the Eagles lost games like this last year. Super Bowl teams win games like this.”

I don’t want to be that guy who goes back on their word… but I’m gonna be that guy. Eagles receivers dropped several crucial passes that ultimately cost them the game. Take a look at this thread which highlights each miscue by Philadelphia’s skill position group.

The Eagles were down three starting pass catchers in Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson and Dallas Goedert. Those mistakes will be eliminated as those players get healthy. It’s also Week 3, which is essentially an extended preseason for the elite teams in the league. I still think Philly is a legitimate Super Bowl contender, but I would not pick them to make the Super Bowl anymore. Also, the Cowboys have blown by the Eagles as NFC East favorites.

Can Lamar Jackson keep up with Patrick Mahomes?

I only wrote this question so I could have an excuse to talk about the Ravens-Chiefs game, but we all knew the game would go exactly how it played out. Jackson never stood a chance against Mahomes. I’m not sure anyone in the league can go toe-to-toe with Mahomes right now (more on that later this week).

Will Pittsburgh crater or step up to the challenge?

I want to give Mason Rudolph a bit of a break. Making your first career start on the road is never easy. On the other hand, the 49ers turned the ball over four times in the first half (and once more in the fourth quarter) and Pittsburgh managed a measly six points off those turnovers. That’s inexcusable, especially considering Pittsburgh started two of those drives from San Francisco’s 24 and 33-yard line.

The Steelers have played a difficult schedule thus far, but it doesn’t really get much easier the rest of the way. I think Pittsburgh’s officially out of playoff contention in 2019.

How do the Browns respond to the bright lights on Sunday night?

Not well. The hiring of Freddie Kitchens is starting to resemble the Buccaneers hire of Dirk Koetter a few years ago. Baker Mayfield, however, is already seeing pass rush ghosts. There were multiple plays Sunday where Mayfield almost immediately rolled out to his right when the pocked had yet to collapse. In some cases, this caused Mayfield to actually scramble into an incoming defender. Others, Mayfield could’ve easily stepped up in the pocket or rushed forward for a positive play. Take a look at this play by Mayfield and compare it to what Daniel Jones did in a similar situation.

Again, it’s very early in the season and the Browns have to weave in many new players and a new coaching staff. On the plus side, the defense was down several starters in the secondary and looked impressive. However, the red flags are undeniable and there should be real concern in Cleveland. The Ravens are going to run away with the AFC North, leaving the Browns to fend for a wild card spot with the Bills, Chargers and the AFC South runner ups.

Why is nobody talking about Deshaun Watson versus Phillip Rivers?

I tried to tell you guys. I tried to tell you this would be a thrilling game and I knew Watson would need to make some fourth quarter magic happen to win. He came through, of course. As far as young quarterbacks of the future go, Watson is the only one who I’d put in the same paragraph as Mahomes.

Backup Quarterback Tiers

I knew there were a lot of backups or understudies making their season/career debuts on Sunday, but I didn’t realize quite how many until I listened to The Ringer NFL Show with Robert Mays and Kevin Clark. (Side note: I’m not sure you can call yourself an NFL fan if you don’t listen to their podcast. It’s exceptional.)

There’s too many second quarterbacks to go into detail, so I’m going to group each second quarterback similar to my QB tiers article from the preseason.

The starter should be at least a little worried.

Daniel Jones, Gardner Minshew, Kyle Allen

Jones obviously has already taken the starting job for good, but Cam Newton and Nick Foles ought to message their agents. Luckily, Foles has quite of a bit of future guaranteed money.

The starter needs to get healthy ASAP.

Mason Rudolph, Teddy Bridgewater, Luke Falk

I’ve already discussed Pittsburgh’s troubles. The Jets are irrelevant. And luckily, Drew Brees is only out five more games.

Forever in his own tier

Josh Rosen

I’ve conceded Rosen’s career will be able to be summed up in two words: what if. He gets drafted to arguably the worst franchise for a young quarterback in years (Arizona), then somehow gets traded to an even worse franchise (Miami).

An urgent message to Ryan Pace: please save Chosen Rosen before it’s too late.

Fact or Fiction

There’s not much to discuss here. Week 3 isn’t a particularly pivotal or meaningful week.

The San Francisco 49ers are playoff contenders.

Fiction. I still don’t buy it. The 49ers were fortunate enough to play Pittsburgh last week because they would’ve lost to probably 27 other teams. San Francisco isn’t the NFC West from Los Angeles. In the wild card race, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and Carolina are coming. Even if two of those teams fall out, there’s still three or four more teams that are better than San Francisco in the NFC

With three wins already, the 49ers will be in the playoff discussion for the considerable future. But I’m still going to be the last one on the 49ers bandwagon and that’s fine with me.

Kyle Allen keeps the Panthers playoff hopes alive.

Fact. I don’t want to overreact, but Allen did a lot of things Sunday that Newton is simply not capable of at this point in time. In Allen’s two career starts, he’s averaged 245 yards and three touchdowns per game, 9.23 yards per attempt, while completing 66% of his passes. The Panthers should shelve Newton for at least a month to allow him to fully recuperate. In the meantime, Allen is a competent replacement with upside — that’s all you can really ask of a backup quarterback.

I want to be clear: Allen is not going to force Carolina to trade or cut Newton. He is the better option in the short-term, though.

The Detroit Lions are the worst undefeated team left.

Fact. This one is simple: Matt Patricia is a bad coach. While wins over the Chargers and Eagles are impressive, they were both rather fluky. Their next three games (Chiefs, Packers and Vikings) will surely bring the Lions back down to Earth.

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