We’re going into Week 3. This early in the season, everyone is supposed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Unfortunately, it’s been a hellish two weeks for some teams, and it’s looking like it’s going to end up being a whole lot worse for some others. All of that stems from their quarterback situation.
We’ve seen some guys play like garbage, we’ve seen some guys get a little dinged up, and we’ve seen the Cincinnati Bengals get their entire season derailed. It’s tough out there. If you feel like you should be panicking about what’s going on, chances are that you should.
The Saints are more comfortable than the Bengals
It’s a panic meter. That means there’s a range. On one side, there’s a team that’s weirdly fine with their bad situation. On the other side, there are two teams that are going to have to hit the reset button. In the middle, there’s a whole gang of teams dealing with all of the other garbage.
This is going better than I thought: New Orleans Saints
In 2024, Spencer Rattler started six games for the Saints, and he was otherworldly terrible. He had a 57 percent completion rate, threw for 1,317 yards, four touchdowns, five interceptions, and he did it all while looking panicky and uncomfortable for every single second of it.
They drafted Tyler Shough in the second round of the draft and were weirdly high on him. He ended up losing the quarterback battle to Rattler, and the general vibe was, ‘Well, here we go again.’
Turns out… not that bad. Yeah, the Saints have an expected 0-2 record, but it hasn’t been because of terrible quarterbacking. Rattler’s been dealing decently well: He’s connected with seven different receivers, and he hasn’t turned the ball over. That’s totally fine.
Everything’s okay-ish: New York Giants
The demands for Brian Daboll to bench Russell Wilson and start rookie Jaxson Dart are gone this week. In Week 2, Wilson had his best (or second-best) game in the past six or seven years. He threw for 450 yards, three touchdowns… It did end with an overtime interception, but it was still pretty impressive for the old man.
That’s huge for the Giants. They’re eventually going to start Dart at some point, and the longer they can put that off, the better.
The running theory is that the rookie shouldn’t take over until their only good offensive lineman, Andrew Thomas, comes back from his Lisfranc (foot) injury. If Dart goes in before that, he’s going to be thrown into a washing machine and subsequently thrown off a cliff.
You’d probably rather not have your first-round (albeit late first-round) rookie have his first snaps without an NFL-caliber blindside tackle. Let Russell Wilson take those bullets until he can’t.
The problem is that the Giants are playing the hate-filled Chiefs on Sunday Night Football this week. This is shaping up to be an absolute whomping. If it becomes that whomping and Russell Wilson looks like he has for 98 percent of his other games the past four years, the ‘Start Dart’ mob is going to be right back on their business.
Let’s see how this goes: San Francisco 49ers
If there are two things that Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers have known, it’s injuries and backup quarterbacks (and also injuries to backup quarterbacks, I guess).
So when the news broke before Week 2 that Brock Purdy was going to miss time with a toe and non-throwing shoulder injury, it was a surprise, but it wasn’t that surprising.
That meant the reins were getting handed over to Mac Jones, which was kind of a full-circle moment.
Kyle Shanahan was a big Mac Jones guy going into the 2021 draft, and almost every smart draft person had Jones going to San Francisco with the 12th pick. Then, the 49ers traded three first-round picks to the Dolphins to move up and draft Trey Lance, and Jones fell to the Patriots. That ended up being pretty bad for everyone involved.
Fast forward five years, and now Shanahan has what he wants.
They have an offense that is incredibly quarterback-friendly when it’s running right. The problem is that they’ve been plagued with other injuries, and the carriage doesn’t necessarily have the horses to pull it.
Despite that, Jones led his new team to a 26-21 win over the Saints in Week 2. It wasn’t a pretty win by any stretch of the imagination, but a win is a win.
The bigger panic for the 49ers is the general health of the rest of the team, so compared to that, the quarterback situation isn’t that bad. As long as they have a quarterback who can hold onto a football, it’s all gravy.
Reports are saying that Purdy will be back in the next week or two. I imagine they want him to be back for the Week 3 game against the 2-0 Cardinals, but if he’s not ready for that, it’d be in Week 4 against the Jaguars.
My backup is fine: New York Jets
Concussions are wonky. On one hand, you’re bummed that a guy's brain turned into mashed potatoes because of the lasting impacts and whatnot, but on the other hand, you’re happy that it wasn’t…I don’t know… a turf toe thing that will end a season.
Anyways, Justin Fields did get his brain scrambled early in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ Week 2 game against the Bills. That means for at least this week (probably), Tyrod Taylor is going to be the Jets’ quarterback.
Fun fact: this is Tyrod Taylor’s 15th season in the NFL. The dude’s been around for a long time, and if you need someone to hold down the fort while your starting quarterback gets all of his ducks in a row, you can do much, much worse than the 36-year-old mega-veteran.
Carson Wentz: Minnesota Vikings
Just one week ago, the NFL announced that J.J. McCarthy rightfully earned the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after he had a good 15 minutes against the Bears in Week 1. Now he has a high ankle sprain that’s going to sideline him for two to four weeks. That means that it’s Carson Wentz time (again).
We’ve all been down this path before: It was amazing before it went really, really, horribly bad (Eagles, 2016 to 2020). And then we went down it again, and it was still terrible (Colts, 2021). And then we went down it again after that, and it was worse (Commanders, 2022). After that, we saw it again, and it was fine in a Week 18 game (Rams, 2023). Then we saw it in another Week 18 game, and it was just as bad as it’s ever been (Chiefs, 2024).
The Vikings’ head coach, Kevin O’Connell, is a quarterback fixer. He did well with Sam Darnold in 2024 and now Daniel Jones is also having a great start to a season. Those were two tough projects.
Wentz though? That’s like burning the Mona Lisa, then telling KOC to try to put all of the ashes back in the right place.
The panic meter would be off the charts, but J.J. McCarthy is only going to be out of commission for a little bit. Also, Wentz’s first game is going to be against a bad Bengals defense. That’s just about the best-case scenario if you’re hoping for your backup quarterback to get acclimated to playing NFL-caliber football.
There's also probably something to be said for McCarthy taking a step back and taking a deep breath, because that Sunday night game in Week 2 was awful.
Starter is bad, and his backup is absolute zero: Miami Dolphins
It’s just a matter of time until Tua Tagovailoa gets his yearly ultra-concussion. Last season, that happened in Week 2 against the Bills on Thursday night… Oh dear god, no… The Dolphins are playing the Bills on Thursday night this week.
Alright, scratch that. So Tua’s going to get his yearly ultra-concussion this week. Behind him is Zach Wilson, who is pretty much the exact opposite of Tyrod Taylor with the Jets. Where Taylor’s shown that he can run an offense, Wilson has shown that he can drive an offense off a mountain and somehow survive the crash.
But, hey. Let’s pretend that Tua’s all good now and he’s not going to get hurt this season… It’s still terrible. He’s been making boneheaded decisions, not seeing the defense, throwing interceptions, and getting sacked a whole lot. That’s pretty much the worst combination you can get when you’re thinking about a starting quarterback.
The Dolphins' combination of a bad starting quarterback and the worst possible backup pushes the absolute limit on the panic meter, especially since Tua is under contract through 2028 and they can’t/won’t just move off of him..
I might puke: Washington Commanders
Jayden Daniels is the Washington Commanders. That team is only going to be as good as Jayden Daniels. So when it’s reported that he’s dealing with a knee sprain, it’s some pretty rough news.
Now, the tricky part of all of this is that he’s day-to-day. Common sense tells you that if he plays, it can get worse… and that’s how it’s going to be until he gets better. That’s not the situation you want to be in two weeks into an 18-week season.
The Commanders' panic meter isn’t necessarily ringing as loudly as some other teams’, but this one is going to ring for the longest.
Whenever Jayden Daniels does play, and when he runs it himself (which he does a whole lot), every sphincter in the DMV is going to tighten up with a force unbeknownst to mankind… and that’s just how it’s going to be from now on, so buckle up buttercup.
In the short term, the Commanders play the Raiders, who are traveling across the country on a short week, in Week 3. That actually kind of makes the situation hairier. They absolutely should sit Daniels and play Marcus Mariota this week; The Raiders looked terrible in Week 2, and Mariota is more than capable of getting a single win against a bad team.
BUT, Washington also just got embarrassed by the Packers in Week 2. Having a bounce-back game led by the franchise quarterback would do a whole lot towards getting their groove back.
If you’re not a Commanders fan, go find one. Because as emotionally draining as this season is going to be for them, it’s going to be much more fun to watch.
Kill me slowly: Cincinnati Bengals
On Sunday, Joe Burrow went down with Turf Toe, and it was reported that he’s going to have surgery and miss at least three months. Turf Toe is a tough one, and mostly because no one knows what it is, but only that it’s really, really bad.
Three months from now would be right around Week 15 or Week 16. If the Bengals have a record above .500 at that point, it definitely seems reasonable that Burrow could come back and try to get the team into the playoffs. If it’s below .500? Woof. Not so much.
Now, their high-power offense gets handed over to Jake Browning. This ain't his first rodeo. Back in 2023, Burrow’s season got cut short with that weird wrist injury, and Browning came in for the last seven games.
He’s totally capable of being a point guard, but for that offense to make up for the defense’s shortcomings, the quarterback is going to eventually have to be a playmaker. Browning’s an above-average backup, but he’s definitely not a playmaker.
That’s reality, and based on Burrow’s borderline injury-proneness, the Bengals and their fans should be able to let that reality sink in fairly quickly.The panic sets in with who’s behind Browning.
There’s a good chance that a QB2 will end up having to start a game or two for almost every team, every season… But now Browning is QB1, and that means a QB3 is going to have to be their QB2. That’s bad, and it seems like the Bengals know it.
They already had Brett Rypien on the roster, and on Tuesday, they signed both Sean Clifford and Mike White to their practice squad. If you heard some glass breaking that afternoon, that was the Bengals’ panic meter shattering.
Cincinnati has a fun offense, and watching them play makes Sundays better. Hopefully, their quarterback troubles are all done for the season, but given how terrible that offensive line is, you can’t rule more of them out.
You have to think: Does Burrow regret asking for the Bengals to re-sign Tee Higgins for $28 million per year? That money could’ve bought a good starting guard and maybe a tackle. I think yes.
Everything’s terrible, thank you for asking: Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers
The panic meters for the Bears and Panthers are off the charts because both of these teams used first-overall draft picks to draft their quarterbacks in consecutive years, and both of those quarterbacks are awful.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Panthers’ quarterback, Bryce Young, started to look good, and the hope was that he’d carry that progress over to the 2025 season. He’s not as bad as he was at the beginning of the 2024 season, but he’s definitely taken a step back.
The Bears’ quarterback, Caleb Williams, was supposed to hit the ground running with his new head coach, Ben Johnson. The hope was that Williams' problems with inaccuracy, holding onto the ball for too long, and handling pressure would be cured with a bona fide stud of an offensive head coach. Those problems are still there.
It’s very important for a team to hit on their first-round draft picks. It’s even more important when that first-round pick is the first overall pick in the draft. Williams and Young were both first-overall picks, and buddy… It sure looks like both of these picks are duds.
The panic meter for the Bears and the Panthers is different from other teams. This isn’t about being scared that a backup might stink and wreck a season; this is about being sad that the teams bungled the most valuable picks in the draft and now they’re going to have to go back to square one.