It’s hard to explain just how different the film is for most NFL QBs from Week 1 to Week 2. Look at Drake Maye and Caleb Williams, who were “bust!” and “hopeless!” in Week 1 but righted the ship and played well in Week 2. Look at Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields, who were both sensational in their opening duel. They both pretty much stunk this week.
So let’s make sense of it all.
This is the QB Stock Market … which 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?
Previous:Preseason, Week 1, 2
Justin Herbert is playing like the phenom he was upon entering the league in 2020. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Commanders were never really in this game. And that’s a problem for Daniels to solve.
The Packers will bury a QB before he can say “Omaha.” Just look at the night-and-day performances from Jared Goff from Week 1 (against the Packers) and Week 2 (against the Bears). So, it’s not surprising Daniels didn’t look great.
It’s also a testament to his maturity that he didn’t look outright bad, because some good things happened. Daniels took what the defense gave him and did not put the ball in harm’s way. He had zero turnover-worthy plays, per PFF. In many instances, he put the ball up in the first half to see if his guys could make a play — they didn’t.
Daniels wasn’t bad this week. The Packers defense was simply better. And until Terry McLaurin looks like himself — a game wrecker over the top — the Commanders are going to have to dink and dunk with Deebo Samuel and Zach Ertz. That’s not going to beat the heavyweight Packers. McLaurin’s slow start is probably a product of the training camp holdout. Give him time. He should help this offense find the next gear.
If we dropped an alien on the planet and they asked for our best quarterback, some people might still offer Mahomes. And I’d bet that alien would ask: “This guy? You sure?”
Because for the third straight season, the Chiefs QB is struggling to start the year. This year, it’s worse than ever — which is saying something because it’s been bad. The poor performances, however, are only accented further by Mahomes and the Chiefs’ 0-2 record.
It was bad from the start.
Mahomes first three throws against the Eagles were incompletions. On two of the plays, his guy was open. But the blame game ended up being fairly complicated. And I think it’s emblematic of what’s going wrong for the Chiefs.
The first incompletion was clearly Mahomes’ fault: Tight end Noah Gray was wide open.
The second incompletion was clearly not his fault: The Eagles had the play completely bottled up. There was nowhere for Mahomes to go.
The third incompletion was complicated, with fault to go around: Mahomes missed an open receiver, but in large part because an Eagles blitzer went completely unblocked up the middle.
During a postgame presser, Mahomes faced multiple questions about offensive issues. Does the offense feel disjointed? How does he feel about the slow, 0-2 start? He was asked to look at the bigger picture. But he wouldn’t. Instead, he fixated on his own mistakes and shortcomings, including referencing the Gray incompletion over and over again.
Mahomes hoped this offense would move more toward the identity he enjoyed. It is instead further adrift than ever. With their reinforcements coming (Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice), the Chiefs will probably land back in the playoffs. But the offensive line would have to look reborn in order for KC to return to the Super Bowl (which you really can’t count out since Mahomes and Andy Reid are wizards).
If you spoke to Hurts about how he felt about his performance — and Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones did — Hurts would tell you, simply: “We won the f—ing game. Shut your ass up.”
No, I’m serious. That’s a real quote Hurts told Jones.
They were standing over the Eagles’ victory formation. To his credit, Hurts threw for 101 yards. (Sorry Chris, had to fact-check you there.) Meanwhile, I can’t spot a lie in what Hurts said. The Eagles yet again beat the Chiefs. Hurts is one of two QBs to beat Patrick Mahomes three straight times, which is notable because Hurts previously lost in the Super Bowl to Mahomes and (unlike Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, who can’t seem to get over Mahomes’ big brother complex), Hurts and the Eagles suddenly seem to have the upper hand.
So, why is Hurts falling down the rankings? Well, as much as I love situational football, that’s really the only thing Hurts did. He won the game with unusual chess moves that weren’t exactly outstanding demonstrations of QB.
Jones will look at Hurts’ spray chart and see a pitiful demonstration of passing.
Hurts will look at his spray chart and see a masterful demonstration of control.
I generally lean toward Hurts’ position. But I’m going to reward the QBs who went out and won the game for their team, rather than the ones who spent most of the game avoiding a loss.
I’ll tell you one thing about Jones: He trusts his receivers completely — and often too much. It’s clear coach Shane Steichen has empowered Jones to uncork the ball into tight windows to encourage this stellar cast of pass-catchers to make a play. But that makes me think it’s only a matter of time before some of these plays start to get away from Jones — and into the hands of defenders.
In other words, it’s a small miracle the Colts QB doesn’t yet have an interception.
But I have to hand it Jones. He has been a man of efficiency at 9.3 yards per attempt and with a 71.4 completion percentage. His time to throw is 2.8 seconds. He’s not taking sacks (just two so far this season). He may be tempting fate with his decision-making, but he still hasn’t turned over the football.
You can rebrand Danny Dimes into Indiana Jones. I’m not sure there’s a dramatic difference with this guy. It’s more about the other guys.
As someone who has long been a proponent for Anthony Richardson — and his mistreatment in Indianapolis — I must admit that Jones’ success isn’t good for Richardson. In fact, Jones is making Shane Steichen look almost like a victim in the trials and tribulations of Richardson’s off-kilter developmental process.
During training camp, there was often a disparity between the performance Maye put together during his 7-on-7 drills and his 11-on -1 drills. He was much better without the offensive or defensive line. An excellent flag football QB.
But he took a major leap forward against the Dolphins in playing against the pass rush and under pressure. Against pressure, he finished with the highest EPA of his career (7) with the highest success rate (63.6%) and the best EPA dropback (6.4) in any game of his career, per Next Gen Stats. He was 4 of 5 for 106 passing yards and 25 rushing yards when facing pressure.
Now, it’s looking like every quarterback will have his best game of the season against the Dolphins. Their defense just might be the league’s worst. But I’ve never seen Maye play such a complete game. He did a whole lot for his offense, finishing 19 of 23 for 230 yards with two touchdowns while rushing for 31 yards and a score. He won a tight game and didn’t make any mistakes that shot his team in the foot.
Next, I want to see Maye do this again … and again … and again.
That one interception ruined everything. It ruined what would’ve been a sterling performance that, frankly, might’ve featured one of the best throws of Nix’s pro career. Check this one out.
But, man, Nix had to go ahead and ruin everything with one throw in the fourth quarter. It was a bad throw. It was a bad situational decision. They were in field goal range and he could’ve checked it down — and maybe even converted the third-and-3. But, woof, it went right into the hands of Colts safety Cam Bynum.
The good news is that this was — outside of that one throw — a bounce-back game for Nix, who struggled in Week 1. The Broncos QB put together a patient and impressive performance. It’ll be fun to see what he can do next week against Herbert, who might just be the type of quarterback that Nix can someday be.
If you want to believe Aaron Rodgers found the fountain of youth, don’t watch his Week 2 film.
He played totally out of control against the Seattle Seahawks. Not only was the song “Wild Thing” stuck in my head, but for the first few throws, I had to double-check the tape to see if it was sped up to 1.5x. He looked crazed.
Rodgers was lucky that Jaylen Warren did his Christian McCaffrey impression for a day. Warren had a team-high 86 receiving yards and 48 rushing yards.
Rodgers had a really nice week against the Jets, and it seems like that was largely because New York’s defense is a sieve. Because against the Seahawks, Rodgers was running for his life, spiking the football into the turf, throwing off target and generally doing whatever he could to avoid negative plays. And still, they found him — he had a pair of interceptions. The first helped Seattle create a gap. The second turnover all but sealed victory for the Seahawks.
Rodgers did, however, complete what was probably the best throw of the week.
Spencer Rattler is coming off perhaps the best performance of his career — albeit in a loss to the 49ers. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Cam Ward has flashed through the first two weeks of his NFL career, but the road ahead with the Titans looks to be rocky. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
Trevor Lawrence has yet to shake the inconsistency from his game. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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