YOUNG QBS KEEP LIGHTING UP LEAGUE
Allen, Jones among new group of pivots not waiting long to make impact on NFL
David Bowie was right. All the young dudes really do carry the news. At least in Week 3 of the NFL season.
It was Bowie who wrote the early ’70s glam anthem All the Young Dudes for a rock band he liked, Mott the Hoople. Few if any lyrics from the great Bowie song apply to what we have witnessed from so many young NFL quarterbacks over the past several days, other than this.
It’s a real mean team.
Many of us snickered when we saw so many inexpensive rookie and second-year quarterbacks dotting active NFL rosters to start the 2019 season, beyond the ballyhooed first-rounders. Like, what if some of those youngsters ever got pressed into playing meaningful minutes, especially early on?
Ha! No one’s snickering now. Fully one-third of the league’s Week 3 quarterback starters through Sunday night — 10 of 30 — are first- or second-year pros, all aged 22-24. Three of them started for the first time as professionals and two others for just the second time.
The three rookie starters — Daniel Jones of the New York Giants, Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals and Gardner Minshew of the Jacksonville Jaguars — combined in Week 3 to complete 67 per cent of their passes for six touchdown passes against only two interceptions, and furthermore averaged seven yards per rush.
The seven second-year starters — Baker Mayfield of the Browns, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, Josh Rosen of the Miami Dolphins, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Mason Rudolph of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Luke Falk of the New York Jets and Kyle Allen of the Carolina Panthers — faced much tougher defences, but still combined for eight TD passes against four interceptions. Of this bunch, the two Allens shone brightest, and won.
Aside from Josh Allen, these are the two most eye-popping performances of the other nine dudes:
(1) KYLE ALLEN, Carolina Panthers: Age 23. Undrafted 2018 free agent. Career start No. 1, in relief of injured Cam Newton. Won 38-20 at Arizona. Completed 19 of 26 passes (73.1 per cent) for 261 yards, four TDs, zero interceptions.
Allen absolutely carved up the Cardinals. More than Detroit’s Matthew Stafford did in a Week 1 tie, and more than Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson did in a Week 2 win.
It’s absolutely amazing that any QB just 18 months after going undrafted could, in his second start on the road, perform like Allen did in Phoenix. Perhaps playing in his hometown sanded down his nerves.
Allen was so good that Panthers head coach Ron Rivera actually had to say after the game that Newton will keep his starting job when he’s healthy enough to return. But Newton’s foot sprain is now “week to week,” according to the Athletic. Allen will start Sunday at Houston.
“As good as we think he is, and as much as we anticipated him playing well, I mean, to throw four touchdowns — I don’t know if anybody expects to come out and throw four touchdowns in a game. That’s hard to do in this league,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said, per the Athletic.
“That’s a lot of production for any quarterback. So hats off. Credit to him. He had a great week.”
(2) DANIEL JONES, New York Giants: Age 22. 2019 first-round draft pick (sixth overall). Career start No. 1, after being promoted last week over Eli Manning. Won 32-31 at Tampa Bay. Completed 23 of 36 passes (63.9 per cent) for 336 yards, two TDs, zero interceptions. Also ran four times for 28 yards and two TDs.
Jones’ starting debut was all the more impressive considering the Giants lost their lone dazzling offensive playmaker, running back Saquon Barkley, in the first half (on Monday Barkley reportedly was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain that will sideline him for 4-8 weeks).
Jones never flinched in rallying the Giants from an 18-point halftime deficit.
He gave New York its first lead with 1:16 left when he ran it in from seven yards out on fourth down.
Jones wasn’t perfect. He fumbled twice. But his head coach Pat Shurmur sure sounded pleased after the game, saying there are drills to correct “that loose stuff ” such as the fumbles, but there aren’t drills to produce some of the great, instinctive stuff Jones displayed against the Buccaneers.
“We believed in him from the day we drafted him, and first time out he didn’t disappoint,” Shurmur said.
Career start No. 2 for Jones comes Sunday at home against the Washington Redskins.
The entire brigade of youngdude NFL QBs actually exceeds 10.
It’s 13, if you include 2016-17 draftees Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams, Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans and the reigning NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes, all three of whom are age 24.
Expand the group by two more years and you can include the NFL’s three 25-year-old starters (Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston, Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota and Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky) and three 26-year-old starters (Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles, Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys and Jacoby Brissett of the Indianapolis Colts).
That’s 19 of 32 starters aged 26 or under. More than half the league.