Each week in the NFL, fans tune in to see some of the world’s greatest athletes get down to business. This past week we saw a resurgence of a veteran quarterback, showing the league that he still has something left in the tank, and a young quarterback established his presence in the league while leading their teams to improbable victories. In addition to some expected performances and some that we should be taking a closer look at.
The Carolina Panthers led by head coach Dave Canales started the season 0-2 and benched their second-year quarterback Bryce Young after he failed to generate more than 13 points in their first two weeks of the season. Canales called on 14-year veteran quarterback Andy Dalton to get them in the win column for the first time this season.
Playing in his first start since the Panthers loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Dalton came with something to prove, as he amassed a 1-2 record in his last three starts before Sunday’s match-up against the Las Vegas Raiders. In his first start in over 366 days, the TCU graduate threw for 319 yards, three touchdowns, with a 70.3% completion percentage, and more importantly, they got their first win of the season.
The Washington Commanders drafted LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels with the second pick in the NFL Draft this past April. This franchise has seemingly been in disarray for some years, and this new regime has chosen Daniels to lead their surge into relevancy in the NFC East Division.
In each of Daniels’ starts, he has amassed at least a 70.8% completion percentage, along with a passer rating of at least 93.1. These are special numbers for a rookie, in fact, due to his breakout performance on Monday Night Football, which saw Daniels throw for 21-23 for a 91.3% completion percentage and a quarterback passer rating of 141.7. With his record-setting performance on Monday night Daniels, he now leads the league in completion percentage at 80.3% through three weeks and has a staggering passer rating of 111.8. It will be interesting to see how the Daniels continues to progress as the 2-1 Commanders take on the 1-2 Arizona Cardinals in week 4.
The partnership of Kevin O’Connell and Sam Darnold has led the Minnesota Vikings to a division-leading 3-0 record. Darnold has enjoyed his highest completion percentage (60.1%) and QBR (45.9) of his career. Through three weeks Darnold has a 67.9% completion percentage and a QBR of 73.5.
The Vikings and Darnold had a scare this week, as Darnold was diagnosed with a bruised knee, that he sustained in their win over the Houston Texans. This wouldn’t have been good for the Vikings, as Darnold is coming off a streak of three consecutive wins for only the third time in his seven-year career. The Vikings have a tough divisional matchup this week as they travel to Green Bay to the Packers, who will likely be playing without their starting quarterback.
A few weeks ago, most NFL pundits pondered when newly acquired quarterback Justin Fields would see the field for the Steelers. After three weeks, the Steelers have ridden Fields to a 3-0 start. This is the first time they’ve gotten off to this hot of a start since the 2020 season when they rambled off 12 straight wins to start the season.
Fields was in a theoretical competition for the starting quarterback position for the Pittsburgh Steelers with nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback, 2020 Man of the Year award winner, and Super Bowl Champion Russell Wilson. Since running the show for the Steelers, if their undefeated 3-0 record isn’t convincing enough for you, these numbers should. Fields’ completion percentage is up 13% points to 73.3%, and his passer rating is also up 13% points to 95.3%.
The combination of head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has coached Fields up, to get the best out of him thus far this season. His early success this season will make it unlikely that Wilson will see the field, anytime soon. Fields has shown some growth maturity as a quarterback, by being more patient and limiting the harmful plays. Let’s see if he can keep this up when they travel to Indianapolis the weekend to take on the Colts.
After losing Tua Tagovailoa to a concussion against the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins traveled to Seattle to play the undefeated Seahawks with Skylar Thompson under center. Before his start against the Seahawks, Thompson had only had two regular season starts in the NFL. While McDaniel has revived the career of Tagovialoa many expect McDaniels to have that same impact on Thompson.
Thompson completed 12 of 19 passes for only 107 yards, through three quarters against the Seahawks, with no drive exceeding five plays, before leaving the game with a rib injury. The Dolphins were forced to play third-string quarterback Tim Boyle, who finished the game completing 7 of 13 passes for 79 yards.
With health continuing to be a concern for the Tagovailoa, it’s concerning to Dolphins fans, why general manager Chris Grier wasn’t better prepared to handle life without Tagovailoa. While they added fifth-year quarterback Tyler Huntley to the roster, Dolphins fans can only hope McDaniels has the same impact on Huntley in the coming weeks, that he’s had on Tagovailoa.
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