Five Thoughts After Week 3
After the NFL’s third week, here are some thoughts I have after watching the action.
Baker Mayfield is going to be special. The comeback that he engineered Thursday night against the Jets could prove to be a pivotal point in not only the Brown’s season, but in the franchise’s history. The Browns have been dreadful for the better part of two decades, but now it appears they have found their quarterback. Mayfield has something about him that exudes confidence in those around him. Why Tyrod Taylor was playing over Baker in the first place is still head-scratching, but that is now beside the point. Baker Mayfield is a star in the making.
The Jaguars offense regresses…again. After hanging 31 points on the Patriots a week ago, Blake Bortles and company couldn’t find the end zone in a divisional loss to the Titans. Jacksonville’s offensive performance on Sunday was simply inexcusable. If they want to be taken seriously as a Super Bowl contender they must improve upon their consistency. Their highs sure are high, but their lows are incalculably low.
Dak Prescott and Mitchell Trubisky were both abysmal on Sunday. Prescott seemingly fooled the entire country into thinking he was a franchise cornerstone his rookie season, but since then I could make the argument that he has been among the worst quarterbacks in all of football. That is not hyperbole. As for Trubisky, he hasn’t been much better. The Bears signal caller is only in his second season, but I have a feeling that we will look back a handful of years from now and be dumbfounded as to why Chicago’s brass elected to trade up and draft Trubisky when Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson were readily available.
New England may be in trouble. Bill Belichick lost to his protégé, Matt Patricia; Tom Brady looked rather pedestrian; the Patriots defense looked permeable against a Lions offense that looked putrid through two weeks. I anticipated the Patriots having another spectacular season simply because of Brady and Belichick. Brady is 41, that’s well-documented, but I thought he would be superman for another season. If he is unable to carry the Patriots at this stage, they do not have the talent to win their own division, let alone the conference or Super Bowl.
I am fascinated to see what the Buccaneers will do now that Jameis is back from his suspension. Ryan Fitzpatrick, filling in for the troubled quarterback, became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 400 yards in three consecutive games. If it were up to me, I would go back to Jameis. Obviously, the former first overall pick has a checkered past and Fitzpatrick currently has the hot hand, but over a larger sample size –the Harvard grad’s 14-year NFL career- we have seen precisely what Ryan Fitzpatrick is and that is a backup quarterback. He may be lighting up defenses in the early portion of this season, but if Tampa Bay wants to reach their ceiling, and playing meaningful football in January, they should start Jameis.
