I left last week’s Caleb Williams-Drake Maye showdown wishing that the two quarterbacks could face off against each other more often. They\u2019d make incredible rivals \u2014 not because of any animosity between the draft classmates. But because of how good they are, how their games overlap and how their stories overlap. They are both top 10 QBs. They are both in secure organizations where they can succeed for a long period of time. And whether we see them in direct competition, they will always compete over legacy. That\u2019s what seems to come next for them. So let\u2019s dive into their performances. Let\u2019s deeply analyze Malik Willis from his first win with the Dolphins, J.J. McCarthy in his first start (and win) with the Giants, Aaron Rodgers in his mutinous performance and Bryce Young in his biggest stinker of the season. These aren\u2019t your typical QB rankings. I\u2019m focused on contextualizing the fluctuations of starters’ performances throughout the season. I don\u2019t write about every quarterback every week, but I dive deeply into the most compelling performers. No one \u2014 not even Josh Allen \u2014 is safe at the top. No one \u2014 not even Tanner McKee \u2014 is stuck at the bottom. There is room for quick ascent \u2014 and rapid decline. One question holds the most importance: What have you done for your team lately? Previous: Offseason | Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 Hey, the Dolphins won a game! Very cool. This is actually important in many ways for Malik Willis, who is probably not Miami\u2019s QB of the future \u2014 but who could actively interfere with the plan to replace him. The Dolphins look like the obvious favorite to finish with the No. 1 overall pick, where they\u2019d have the choice to take a QB. But this year\u2019s crop of college QBs have been bad enough to diminish the hype around the incoming draft class. As of now, it appears some of the top prospects could (and in some cases should) return to school for another year. So if there aren\u2019t a handful of options and the Dolphins slip out of contention for No. 1 overall, maybe Miami would actually give Willis another year. Maybe the Dolphins would draft Jeremiah Smith and let Willis send the ball to Smith 100 times a game. I\u2019m a fan of giving Willis more time to develop, particularly with an offensive line and a group of playmakers who can actually help him out \u2014 which might be the case next year in Miami. But Willis will need to do a whole lot more to justify it. He looked solid and quick-thinking in the first half, but things got out of sync in the second half, when he was missing open receivers (by throwing off target or not throwing at all). There were flashes. But so far, the flashes are just that. The body of work has yet to declare QB1. There\u2019s an unsettling ease to J.J. McCarthy\u2019s playing style in New York. Where did this come from? He is whipping the ball around \u2014 particularly downfield \u2014 with a level of confidence and competence that we really haven\u2019t seen from him. He has a strong arm, even if he\u2019s not the best thrower at shaping passes away from defenders. And he\u2019s making the most of his talents \u2014 and the Giants’ offense. Again, where did this come from? I\u2019m not here to tell you he\u2019s a different player \u2014 or that he\u2019s born again as the prospect the Vikings once drafted No. 10 overall. No, he\u2019s still kinda the same guy, with plenty of warts. He\u2019s sometimes throwing the ball too hard and his accuracy can be spotty. There were examples of that this past Sunday and the previous one. But he\u2019s having fun with talented and rangy pass-catchers in Malik Nabers, Malachi Fields and Isaiah Likely. And I\u2019m having fun watching him. Here\u2019s another thing that has been nice to see: He\u2019s keeping the ball out of harm\u2019s way. Given how aggressive he\u2019s been, it\u2019s likely that he\u2019ll start to run into trouble. That\u2019s just the nature of McCarthy\u2019s playing style when he strays into a high-volume game plan. For now, he\u2019s taking care of the football. His only turnover came on his first throw in a Giants uniform last week. I\u2019ll give him a pass on that one. Can he keep this up? I don\u2019t know. And that\u2019s why I won\u2019t waste time thinking ahead about a training camp QB competition in 2027 between Jaxson Dart and McCarthy. We are a\u00a0long way away from that. For now, McCarthy is playing well. That\u2019s all that matters for the playoff-hopeful Giants. I couldn\u2019t help but crack up when ESPN\u2019s Molly McGrath reported on air that Aaron Rodgers was going to take over playcalling for the offense against the Saints this week. He was frustrated with the results from coach Mike McCarthy. So Rodgers mutinied, which would\u2019ve been a bigger deal if he didn\u2019t have a long history of insubordination. And what happened with Rodgers\u2019 brilliant mind at the mind? The Steelers immediately opened the game by going three-and-out. I imagine he\u2019s tired of being a checkdown merchant, which he continued to be against the Saints. The funny thing is, Rodgers is seeing the fewest occurrences of split safety looks \u2014 the en vogue “shell” look where teams put two high safeties to contain the big play. He should be able to push the ball downfield. But he\u2019s not. No one is afraid of Rodgers\u2019 arm anymore. That said, I do want to point out just how awesome he was in delivering an absolute beauty of a deep ball to DK Metcalf this week against \u2014 what else \u2014 a single-high-safety look. This won\u2019t change how defenses play him, because this type of play has been too few and too far between for Rodgers. There\u2019s usually one throw per game where you watch Rodgers and think: he\u2019s still got it. But the other 25-30 throws show his age. So the Steelers will keep generating most of their yards after the catch. They\u2019ll design screens and quick passes that\u2019ll help them move the chains. And that\u2019s because the defenses know \u2014 even if Rodgers doesn\u2019t \u2014 that he\u2019s physically declined to the point where his physical tools cannot charge up an offense. It\u2019s time for him to get out of McCarthy\u2019s way. It\u2019s time for Rodgers to surrender with the playcalling. And it\u2019s time for the QB to accept his role as a game manager, which he\u2019s actually good at. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle need to be twin engines for the Steelers’ offense. Every quarterback is bad when his blocking is bad. The question is,\u00a0how\u00a0bad? The knock on Jared Goff has long been that he can\u2019t handle pressure, which is totally true (even though he\u2019s actually getting better this year!). Patrick Mahomes was brutal against the Seahawks, in large part because of Seattle\u2019s pressure. Well, Young was genuinely awful against the Buccaneers, who generated pressure on 51.5% of his dropbacks in Week 7, per Next Gen Stats. Tampa Bay edge Yaya Diaby, in particular, completely owned Carolina offensive tackle Rasheed Walker. This is the type of game that troubles me about Young\u2019s long-term prospects. Instead of simply being a mini-Goff, Young needs to learn to be a Brock Purdy impersonator. It\u2019s not enough for Young to be a statuesque passer, because of games like this, where the defense creates a handful of advantages. Young needs to find ways to create plays, whether it\u2019s navigating the pocket to avoid pressure \u2014 or rolling out of the pocket to generate explosives out of structure. Too many times this past Sunday, the Buccaneers got quick pressure and Young ducked for cover (and an eight-yard sack). It\u2019s a good sign that Young is so confident and poised as a pocket passer. But that only gets you so far in today\u2019s NFL. He has to learn to do more. So it turned out that A.J. Brown did not suddenly upgrade this offense. And until Brown starts to show up as the proper WR1 (if that even happens), Drake Maye will have to play like an MVP candidate for the Patriots’ offense to stay afloat. Thankfully for New England, Maye has settled back into what he does best: blend big plays with efficiency \u2014 and one or two dashes of what-the-hell-was-that? During the beginning of the season, Maye was making way too many awful decisions \u2014 so many that the Patriots couldn\u2019t overcome them. But by reigning himself in, he has flipped from being the reason they\u2019re losing to the reason they’re winning. That statement, of course, is complicated this week, because they\u00a0didn\u2019t beat the Bears. And Maye threw an interception that certainly tanked their chances. The red-zone turnover delivered a -12.6% hit to the Patriots\u2019 win probability, per Next Gen Stats, which is\u00a0sizable for a first-half play. Ultimately, Maye\u2019s mistake was too big to overcome when he was playing against Caleb Williams, who was just incredible. It\u2019s a discouraging loss for New England \u2014 but not necessarily a discouraging performance from Maye, who finished the game 24 of 31 for 321 passing yards, three total touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and an interception. He was impressive when throwing to his tight ends, Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon (aside from the pick). Maye was even impressive when throwing to Brown, even with the Pro Bowler not hauling in one particular deep ball that was the type of play the Pats acquired him to make. Maye is back to his 2026 level. The question is whether he can ascend further as the season goes on. That\u2019s where Brown could really help \u2014 whenever he gets around to playing like an elite receiver again. This is exactly what I was worried about when I predicted the Chiefs to miss the playoffs at the start of the season. They\u2019re obviously not going to miss the playoffs. But they\u00a0are going to need more firepower if they want to be real Super Bowl contenders. I\u2019m just saying, Brian Thomas Jr. is available. The Chiefs need to call the Jaguars about BTJ. He had one hell of a second half, and that was all he really needed to whoop the Ravens. The Bengals might be third in the AFC North, but with such an easy schedule, I still think they have a real shot at finishing first in the AFC. This team lives and dies at the hands of Joe Burrow, and he looked sharp to close out this game. So it turns out that if you take away six of Brock Purdy\u2019s wide receivers (Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Christian Kirk, De\u2019Zhaun Stribling, Demarcus Robinson, Ricky Pearsall), the 49ers QB does actually struggle. It was a rough outing, particularly with\u00a0this boneheaded interception to Falcons safety Jessie Bates. What\u2019s next for Caleb Williams? I\u2019ve already turned the page from his sterling performance in the Chicago Bears\u2019 win over the New England Patriots last Thursday. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I was outrageously impressed (and wrote about that Monday). But the Bears are already focused on Week 8 \u2014 and what\u2019s on the horizon, immediately and distantly. Williams will have the Seahawks, who completely stifled the NFL\u2019s best tackler-breaker, Kenneth Walker III \u2014 and, in turn, rendered Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense useless. This is what makes quarterbacking so difficult. And this is what makes developing with linear progress so difficult. Because while Williams has seemingly done nothing but improve since Ben Johnson arrived, the gains will soon be harder to come by. That\u2019s just the nature of being\u00a0this good. It\u2019s a game of diminishing returns. How much more can you improve? This week, you can bet Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald will have a custom-fitted game plan to make life miserable for Williams. And against such a formidable defensive mind, Williams will have to keep doing what he\u2019s been doing \u2014 searching for answers with his arm and his brain. But the degree of difficulty will be high. Just look at how hard it was this past Sunday for the best QB of this generation. Williams is playing better than Mahomes right now. And I think Williams can keep it up. He has ascended for good. No one is regression-proof, but\u00a0he looks pretty close. Williams will have to keep working to calibrate how to use his tremendous tools \u2014 perhaps starting by taking a peek at the sack he took against the Patriots, which nearly cost the Bears the game. That was, by far, the worst mistake he made in Week 7. Inject this upcoming Ravens-Bills game into my veins. I cannot wait for another showdown between Josh Allen and (hopefully, if he\u2019s healthy) Lamar Jackson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I left last week’s Caleb Williams-Drake Maye showdown wishing that the two quarterbacks could face off against each other more often. They\u2019d make incredible rivals \u2014 not because of any animosity between the draft classmates. But because of how good they are, how their games overlap and how their stories overlap. They are both top<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}