Week Four of the NFL season crashed upon us with great vengeance over the weekend and now, a solid month into the season, the football landscape is taking shape. Here’s a few things we learned.
YOU’RE WELCOME, NFL QUARTERBACK SCOUTS
For the last three years right here at Get More Sports I’ve been pouring over the film to deliver you the definitive quarterback rankings coming into each NFL Draft. Rankings that the scouts and NFL teams have obviously ignored.
Here’s what I’m evaluating when I look at a college quarterback; can he play in the NFL as a rookie? To determine that, I look at these specific traits in this specific order – 1. Clutch play, 2. Progression reads, 3. Pocket presence, 4. Accuracy, 5. Athleticism (sometimes)
Here’s what I don’t care about; arm strength and overall stats. I go over all this in greater detail in my Pre-Draft Quarterback Rankings preamble from the off-season. You can read it by clicking here.
What I evaluate for is a guy that can come in, as a rookie, and play in the NFL. All high draft picks have to, eventually. What I don’t account for is a guy’s potential, because we never know if he’ll reach it. For every Peyton Manning realizing his full talent there’s a Ryan Leaf who flames out and goes to prison for drug trafficking. That’s all that can happen. Those two things.
In 2015, my top pick was Marcus Mariota. I just flat out thought he was better than Jameis Winston and thought Winston came with too many red flags. I’m glad I was wrong about that and both guys look like solid franchise quarterbacks. The NFL needs Winston to be good and he is. I still give Mariota the edge and I think most people would agree.
Marcus Mariota turns on the jets! #TitanUp
Touchdown Titans! #TENvsHOU pic.twitter.com/Q5TqOkB08P
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) October 1, 2017
For 2016, my top pick was easy from what I could see in all my evaluations. It was Dak Prescott. Nobody else had Prescott in their Top Five and I put him in mine twice, going back to 2015 when I thought he’d come out early. Once everyone else’s evaluation’s started and they all had Prescott ranked significantly lower than I did (and Jared Goff significantly higher), I actually went back through and re-evaluated my picks. And I did change them. I moved Carson Wentz up to No. 2 and left Prescott at No. 1. It was that obvious to me.
https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/914556091438166016
The great thing about those draft rankings is that it looks like Jared Goff is a franchise quarterback too. All it took was a coaching change to a real NFL offense and a full year of hard ass learning and he’s playing like one of the top quarterbacks in the league. That’s great. Trust me. I’m a Los Angeles Rams fan. I love that this is happening.
There’s also no question, now, that Prescott and Wentz were more ready for the pro game as rookies. It’s stupid to argue otherwise.
Finally, this off-season I had a slam dunk, no question top quarterback pick; Deshaun Watson. It wasn’t a knock on Mitchell Trubisky, my No. 2 guy, but it was equally as obvious to me that Watson was the guaranteed star in this class. He ended up being the third quarterback taken. Unreal. For the record, I had Patrick Mahomes III ranked No. 4.
.@DeshaunWatson his having himself a GAME.
He runs it in for his third total TD of the half! #TENvsHOU #Texans https://t.co/9ag2vIQcuX
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2017
Who’s my guy this year? I don’t have one yet. I’m letting some games pile up before I start to really evaluate the quarterbacks here. The fact that a guy hasn’t lept off the screen just yet is probably telling. There may not be a Day One starting caliber quarterback in this class. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Both Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers weren’t good enough to start Day One. Starting early nearly ruined Smith’s career. Rodgers got to sit and learn and is now one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. Smith is one of the best QBs in the league this year and leads the only undefeated team in the NFL. Not being a Day One guy isn’t a career killer. Being treated like one when you aren’t can be.
SPEAKING OF MITCHELL TRUBISKY…
The Chicago Bears have made the call and Mitchell Trubisky will start their Week Five game against the Minnesota Vikings and, barring injury, the rest of the season as well.
Ladies and gentleman. The beast has been let out. Mitchell Trubisky is free. Bring it.
🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/oXgxNYhleC
— DRUNK FIELDS 💯 (@DrunkJFields) October 2, 2017
Trubisky replaces free agent acquisition Mike Glennon, who played like a cat’s asshole for the first four weeks. Trubisky should have won the job in training camp and the preseason after out-performing Glennon at every turn. For some reason John Fox didn’t make the call and, when he’s fired at the end of the year, he can probably point to that and just nod silently to himself.
“At the end of the day, it’s about performance,” Fox said, “And ultimately that’s what we make decisions on.”
Trubisky was the first quarterback taken in April’s NFL Draft, ahead of Patrick Mahomes III and Deshaun Watson. In fact, the Bears made a controversial trade to move up one spot to take him, evidently afraid some team would jump them for the honor. Everybody made fun of Chicago at the time, but if Trubisky is a franchise quarterback, no one will be laughing but the Bears.
WE’RE DOWN TO FOUR WINLESS TEAMS
The Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns remain saddled with a decorative goose egg in their win columns. The Chargers, Giants and 49ers all gave valiant efforts over the weekend to get their first “W.” The Browns, not so much.
Cleveland was beaten 31-7 by the previously winless Cincinnati Bengals and managed just one touchdown in the game, already down 31-0. At one point head coach Hue Jackson benched starter DeShone Kizer for Kevin Hogan, but the rookie still has his job according to Jackson. OK.
The Browns’ defense, led by shitty defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, surrendered four passing touchdowns from Andy Dalton. Dalton was near perfect on the day, completing 25 of 30 passes for 286 yards.
The Giants surrendered a last second scoring drive to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to stay 0-4 and the Chargers, once again, could not sustain their second half magic, falling 26-24 to the Philadelphia Eagles.
For the third time in four games, the 49ers lost by a field goal or less, this time a 18-15 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
This week the Giants and Chargers face off in MetLife Stadium so somebody will get a dub. The Browns host the Jets and the 49ers travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts. So anything could happen.
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