One of the biggest surprises of NFL Week 1 was that a handful of quarterbacks who people thought were bad were actually not bad. I mean, I'm not going to say these guys were "good" because one week isn't long enough to make some grand proclamation like that, but they at least looked like they deserved to be starters in this league.
Maybe that will mean something going forward. Maybe it won't. But considering preseason expectations for these guys were super low, they deserve credit for their Week 1 performances.
Let's look at four quarterbacks who might — and, like, let me emphasize the word "might" here — not be as bad as we thought they were.
Aaron Rodgers - Pittsburgh Steelers
So…Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdowns and led the Steelers to a Week 1 win over the New York Jets. Pittsburgh probably has to feel pretty bad about how its defense played against another quarterback in this article, but it can at least feel confident, for the moment, that signing Rodgers wasn’t the massive mistake that everyone expected it to be.
Sure, Rodgers took some early sacks, but once he settled down, he looked exactly like the guy who won four MVP awards. He spread the ball around well and looked fairly poised in the pocket.
Maybe Rodgers just needed to be another year removed from his Achilles tear? It seemed far-fetched this offseason to actually expect this would work, but...maybe it will?
At the very least, Rodgers looks good enough to ensure Mike Tomlin once again finishes over .500.
Justin Fields - New York Jets
Rodgers vs. Fields. On paper, it looked like one of the worst quarterback battles of Week 1. On one side, a washed up former MVP. On the other, a guy who has consistently struggled to complete passes. I mean, expectations were low, but we actually got arguably the best game of Week 1 out of it.
Fields was unable to get the win over his former team, but he did his best, going 16-for-22 for 218 yards and a touchdown and adding 12 carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns.
If Fields is going to be a good NFL quarterback, he has to do two things. FIrst, he has to embrace his flaws as a passer and just work on making the easy throws. He did that in Week 1.
Second, he has to be on a team that allows him to take advantage of his athleticism. I'd say that scoring a pair of rushing touchdowns in his Jets debut is a sign he landed in the right spot.
Daniel Jones - Indianapolis Colts
Daniel Jones beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job in Indy. We thought that was an indictment of Richardson, but maybe it was simply that Jones is good.
Well, not “good,” but at least, like, decent.
The Colts picked up a shocking 33-8 win over the Dolphins on Sunday. Indianapolis beating Miami isn't that wild of a result, but the manner in which it happened definitely was, as Jones was significantly better than Dolphins starter Tua Tagovailoa.
Jones was 22-for-29 for 272 yards and a touchdown and also added seven carries for 26 yards and two more scores. It was wild to see Jones just take full control on Sunday.
Remember a few years ago when the Giants got tricked into thinking Jones was a franchise quarterback? Well, Sunday was a glimpse at the version of Jones that once convinced a GM to give him big money. Will it be sustainable?
Joe Flacco - Cleveland Browns
The Browns chose veteran Joe Flacco over either of their rookie quarterbacks. It’s the right move if they want to be competitive in games, even if it’s probably not in the long term interest of the team to be competitive.
The Browns lost to the Bengals on Sunday, but only losing by one point to Cincy is as good as a win for this franchise. They were competitive, but they also moved closer to their ultimate goal of being really bad and earning a top pick.
Flacco outplayed Joe Burrow on Sunday, going 31-for-45 for 290 yards and a touchdown. He was picked off twice, but even with that issue, Flacco looked better than expected. Of all four players in this article, Flacco was both a) the worst in Week 1 and b) the least likely to sustain his Week 1 play, but considering what we expected out of the Browns, Flacco deserves a modicum of credit.