On Thursday Night Football Kyler Murray will get to play the league’s second-best defense at home, the 49ers defense has flourished against young Quarterbacks this season, but it is also good to mention Murray has been the most productive Rookie. In fact, Sunday another rookie is thrown into the gauntlet – this time for the Cincinnati Bengals – Ryan Finley will take over for recently benched Andy Dalton.
(Updates)
Dwayne Haskins will get the start in Buffalo this Sunday. Bills coming off a loss to the Eagles.
Preparing for the unknown: How the Browns are getting ready to face Brandon Allen in his first start
From Kyler Murray to Daniel Jones we’ve had an assortment of Rookies Quarterbacks get snaps this season. Although the rebuilding process is still a part of many of these teams, looking strictly at intangibles and ability so far gives us a who’s who of young guns.
Team Record of Starting QBs this season – 2 Year Max (* = player didn’t start)
QB W/L Yards Completions TD/INT Team Def Rank
Josh Allen 5/2 1,493 134/223 9/7 3rd
Lamar Jackson 5/2 1,650 136/215 11/5 16th
Gardner Minshew II 4/4 1,976 161/260 13/2 13th
Kyle Allen 4/3 1,059 99/159 7/3 17th
Mason Rudolph 3/4 897 83/130 9/3 10th
Baker Mayfield 2/5 1,690 132/229 6/12 21st
Kyler Murray 2/5 1,988 186/292 7/4 29th
Daniel Jones 2/6 1,466 135/216 10/7 28th
Mitchell Trubisky 3/4 1,092 126/195 5/3 7th
Sam Darnold 1/6 817 83/135 5/8 19th
Josh Rosen 0/7 567 59/109 1/5 30th
Dwayne Haskins * 140 12/22 0/4 26th
(Lamar Jackson also has 83 carries for 576 yards)
(Rosen has split time with Ryan Fitzpatrick has not started every game)’
(Darnold was out with an injury has not started every game)
Eagles Bears
The Eagles 31-13 win over the Buffalo Bills had a lot to do with the Eagles running game stepping up and making big plays that would allow them to play with the lead most of the game. The Bill Defense held Wentz to 17/24 passing 172 yards and 1 Touchdown. As unimpressive as it looks it told me what I needed to know about the Eagles – could this team produce outside of Wentz throwing for 300 yards and 3 TDs every game. The Eagles defense was unable to force a take away, but they did hold the Bills to less than 300 total yards of offense. The Bears defense ranks behind the Bills, but I still consider them a better defensive team, simply because of the teams they’ve faced as well as offensive weapons. Trubiskys time in Chicago has been rough, and I expect the turbulence to continue until the young Quarterback can learn to mange games in a way where he is not the cause for the losses.
Ravens Patriots
The Patriots are coming off a win against the Browns, that was given to them – in many cases literally. The 8-0 patriots are tied for the best record in the NFL with 49ers, whereas the Baltimore Ravens are coming off a Bye Week. The Ravens are riding three game win streak with the most recent being against a 6-2 Seattle Seahawks who beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. This New England defense has been special – at times – but much of their success as of recent has been many against young turnover prone offenses, emphasis on turnover prone. Unlike the last two quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson has taken his skill set from college and translated it to the NFL, the addition of Marcus Peters made an immediate impact as he would go on to record an interception and give the guys in the box time to disrupt Wilson. Last week I had to write a disclaimer about my Browns pick to upset the Patriots but do not expect one this week at M&T Bank Stadium as Brady is going to show just how old he looks against a young Rising Start in the NFL. The Ultimate Game Manger vs The Cheat Code aka the Future – on prime time, it doesn’t get any better.
Week 9 Picks
49ers 31-21
Jaguars 28-27
Steelers 24-23
Panthers 31-27
Vikings 35-31
Jets 24-21
Eagles 24-17
Lions 35-33
Seahawks 42-24
Broncos 28-21
Packers 31-23
Raven 34-28
Cowboys 28-21