Random Thoughts from Sunday's NFL Games
DALLAS – From my room without a view here in Texas – OK, it’s a parking lot - to cover Eagles-Cowboys on Monday night, here are 10 random thoughts from a Sunday slate of games:
- The highly acclaimed rookie quarterback class hasn’t lived up to its billing. Not even close.
All five first-rounders played Sunday, but they combined for seven interceptions and two touchdown passes, with New England’s Mac Jones throwing three of those picks in a loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Trevor Lawrence, the top pick of the draft by the Jaguars, had two more and now has seven in three winless games.
The New York Jets’ Zach Wilson threw a pair of picks and owns six of those to zero victories.
And poor Justin Fields. Playing behind that Chicago Bears offensive line, Fields completed just six of 20 throws for a very high schoolish total of 68 yards. Factor in nine sacks and Chicago had one – yes, one – net yard passing.
At least they’re playing. Trey Lance hardly gets off the bench in San Francisco, but he came in for a touchdown run as time expired in the first half of Sunday night’s game. He also has a touchdown pass earlier this season.
- DeSean Jackson, who turns 35 in December, is not done…yet.
He sure looked it the last two years with the Eagles with his inability to say healthy, but the veteran wide receiver, who has added podcast host to his resume, may very well get that Super Bowl championship ring, yet.
The Rams look unbeatable, moving to 3-0 by beating up the reigning Super Bowl champion Bucs. He had three catches for 120 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown.
It was Jackson’s 32nd career TD of 50-plus yards, leaving him just four behind NFL-record holder Jerry Rice, who had 36.
- Kudos to another veteran Eagles alum, Malcolm Jenkins, who had a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Patriots’ Jones. It was Jenkins’ seventh pick-six and eighth defensive touchdown when a fumble return score is added in. Jenkins turns 34 in December.
- Carson Wentz played and that’s better news for the Eagles than Colts with a first-round draft pick at stake if Wentz can reach 75 percent of the snaps and Indy doesn’t make the playoffs, which it looks like they won’t after falling to 0-3.
Wentz can play 70 percent of the snaps, but the Colts have to make the playoffs, and that looks like it won't happen after they fell to 0-3. He has lost seven straight games dating back to his final days with the Eagles and he has failed to lead either offense to more than 17 points in eight straight games.
The good news: he has played 98 percent of the Colts’ snaps so far.
Here’s the deal, though. If Indy is going to be this bad, they won’t let Wentz hit that snaps benchmark and surrender their first-round pick to Philly, because that pick will be in the top 10 and maybe even the top five if the Colts don’t turn it around soon.
- Chiefs coach Andy Reid is due in next weekend to play the Eagles, but he was taken to the hospital via ambulance following Kansas City’s second straight loss. Let’s hope the Hall of Fame coach is OK.
- The NFC East doesn’t look any better this year than last year, and shame on me, because I thought it would be better.
I actually thought the Giants had a chance to win the division, and, heck, they still might, but at 0-3 following Sunday’s 17-14 last-second loss to the same Atlanta Falcons team that the Eagles hammered - head coach Joe Judge’s second season in charge isn’t inspiring much confidence.
Then there is the Washington Football Team, which was supposed to have some otherworldly defense, but got blistered by the Buffalo Bills, 43-21, 10 days after giving up 29 to the Giants. The WFT is 1-2.
- Josh Allen’s five-touchdown day for the Bills, four of which came in the air, made me think of the seven touchdowns Nick Foles threw against the Oakland Raiders nearly eight years ago on Nov. 3, 2013. I was fortunate enough to cover that game and you forget just how difficult that is to do. Seven TDs in one game was only done once before and not again since Foles did it.
- Justin Tucker is the best kicker in NFL history. That 66-yarder? Just wow.
- The NFC West is the best division, but the Arizona Cardinals look legit moving to 3-0. Kyler Murray has been fun to watch the first three weeks, and on Sunday, he followed up a 400-yard passing outing a week earlier with 316 against the Jaguars.
He has run for a TD in each of the Cardinals’ first three games for the second year in a row. The only two QBs with a rush touchdown in each of their team’s first three games of a season since 1970 are Terry Bradshaw (1972) and Charlie Frye (2006).
- Jacksonville’s Jamal Agnew isn’t a household name, but he might be on his way after an electric 109-yard return for a touchdown off a field goal that came up short. He had a 102-yard kickoff return for a TD in Week 2 and is now the only player in NFL history to record touchdowns of 100-plus yards in consecutive games.
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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
