Stats good, bad for QBs league-wide
1. I tried to get “32 things” done an hour earlier this week ... but Titans G Nate Davis and I have been plagued by false starts. We’ll watch the film and get it cleaned up.
2. With the Jets and Redskins breaking into the win column Sunday, the Bengals (0-6) and the Dolphins (0-5) are in a virtual heat for the top pick of the 2020 draft. Will this get “settled” in Week 16, when the Fins host Cincinnati? Mark your calendars ... or don’t.
3. If the season ended today, the Raiders would make the playoffs. Still, Oakland’s Week 4 win at Indianapolis, which wouldn’t currently qualify for the field, could loom large as a tiebreaker come December.
4. Steelers rookie Devlin “Duck” Hodges became the 43rd quarterback to start a game league-wide this season. Will Tennessee’s Ryan Tannehill become No. 44 in Week 7?
5. How about those 49ers (5-0)? They remain the NFC’s lone undefeated squad after knocking off the Rams. And despite a resurgent offense, the Niners are really riding their top-five defense.
6. But give QB Jimmy Garoppolo and company credit for going into Los Angeles and getting a win with three of the primary cogs of their devastating running game (FB Kyle Juszczyk and starting OTs Mike McGlinchey and Joe Staley) all on the shelf with injuries for the foreseeable future.
7. The Rams were 0-for-13 Sunday on third and fourth down.
8. So San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan ousts McVay in this battle of veritable wunderkinds. To think, both were on the Redskins’ staff not long ago.
9. It seems the Broncos have finally picked up rookie head coach Vic Fangio’s defense. After going sackless during the first three weeks, Denver has 12 in its past three games. After Sunday’s shutout of the Titans, possible signs of life amid a two-game winning streak?
10. The Jets aren’t so bad with an NFL quarterback in the lineup. Sam Darnold returned Sunday, and New York scored three offensive TDs, one more than the team’s first four games combined.
11. Meanwhile, on the heels of Jason Garrett’s first 3-0 start, the Cowboys are suddenly 3-3 for the third year in a row and sixth time in his career. BTW, you knew Jerry Jones had let the coach enter the walk year of his contract, right?
12. After Sunday night’s game in L.A., home teams are 40-50-1 this season.
13. Cleveland enters its bye week at 2-4, worse than at the same point last season, and will go to New England on the other side of it.
14. Much has been made of teams finding the “blueprint” to beat the Chiefs – they’ve lost two in a row – a prevalent notion suggesting defenses not heavily rush QB Patrick Mahomes and lay back in man-toman coverage.
15. Mahomes meter: With 273 yards passing – including an amazing 116 in a single drive – it was a subpar day for the reigning MVP. But Mahomes is on pace for 5,610, which would eclipse Peyton Manning’s season record (5,477).
16. Let’s give Houston deserved credit. Now 4-2, looking increasingly tougher by the week and with a tiebreaker in hand vs. the Chiefs, are the Texans the primary AFC challenger to the Patriots?
17. McCaffrey meter: With just 57 yards from scrimmage Sunday, including a mere 31 on 22 carries, Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey has 923 on the season. That now puts him about 40 yards behind the pace of Chris Johnson’s single-season standard of 2,509.
18. A little more revenge: Panthers DL Gerald McCoy bagged Buccaneers QB Jameis Winston, his teammate for four years, 21⁄2 times.
19. Winston set a career high with five interceptions against Carolina and matched his alltime worst by getting sacked seven times. Not the optimal way to get a new contract.
20. NFL Network carried both Panthers-Buccaneers game this season. I’d suggest trying to corner the market on a better rivalry.
21. With McCaffrey and Mahomes having tough days, Seahawks QB Russell Wilson seems to be the clear-cut MVP favorite after putting up three TDs in Cleveland as Seattle (5-1) won again.
22. With all due respect to QB Teddy Bridgewater, the Saints’ defense has carried this team during its 4-0 stretch without injured Drew Brees.
23. Tom Brady piled up 334 passing yards in the Patriots’ 35-14 win over the Giants on Thursday night. Brady, who overtook Peyton Manning as the second-most prolific passer in NFL history, now has 72,257 career yards, which trails Brees by 2,588.
24. The Patriots’ defense has allowed three TDs in 2019 and scored three TDs.
25. Rookie Giants QB Daniel Jones threw three interceptions at New England. In five starts against the Patriots, including two Super Bowl matchups, Eli Manning totaled three picks against Bill Belichick and company.
26. Still, despite their league-best 6-0 record, is there a sense of vulnerability around the reigning Super Bowl champions?
27. Congrats to Washington, getting its first win of the season six days after firing Jay Gruden.
28. Remember when the Redskins had a Pro Bowl quarterback in his prime, thanks largely to Gruden’s coaching? I’m referring to current Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, who passed for 333 yards and four TDs in Sunday’s rout of the Eagles.
29. Biggest mismatch of Week 6? Ravens’ run game (269 yards) vs. Bengals’ run defense.
30. Baltimore’s Justin Tucker has a long way to go to reach Adam Vinatieri’s rarefied air as the best kicker of all time. But Tucker became the fastest kicker to surpass 1,000 points in only his 118th game.
31. Speaking of Vinatieri, 46, he should call fellow antediluvian K Matt Bryant, 44, whose missed extra point inside the final two minutes cost the Falcons any shot of a comeback in their 34-33 loss at Arizona, a game Atlanta trailed 27-10 in the second half.
32. And here’s wondering if Cousins will get another “random” congratulatory phone call from President Donald Trump, who’s definitely no fan of the Eagles but seems to enjoy watching Cousins make the Vikings great again.