close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • news

    Steelers Can’t Deny QB Truth With Justin Fields

    Vaseline Posted on

    play

    This story has been updated with new information.

    The 32 Things We Learned From Week 3 of the 2024 NFL Season:

    QB1: I’ve been harping on this for a month, but are there any Russell Wilson truthers left after Justin Fields led the way – if not held “pole position” – as the Pittsburgh Steelers improved to 3-0 for the fourth time under HC Mike Tomlin? The Steelers made the playoffs behind Tomlin’s other 3-0 starts, including a berth in Super Bowl 45 to close out the 2010 season.

    2. Fields’ jersey number, by the way, but also the number of touchdowns (1 passing, 1 rushing) he generated in Sunday’s win over the undefeated Los Angeles Chargers — notable considering Pittsburgh entered the game tied for the league’s lowest-ever TD total on the season. It hasn’t been spectacular — yet — as Fields continues to adjust to OC Arthur Smith’s offense. But he’s making enough plays — his leg weapons are being used more judiciously now than they were in Chicago — and limiting his mistakes, a formula that works almost perfectly with the Steelers’ swarming defense and deadly K Chris Boswell.

    3. Wilson’s jersey number, by the way, but it also means Pittsburgh will be his third NFL stop. Once his lingering calf issue heals, would it make sense for the Steelers to trade Wilson, who’s playing for the veteran’s minimum salary ($1.2 million) while the Broncos are paying him $39 million to stay away from Denver? Sure, Fields could get hurt, and Wilson would be a nice fallback. But veteran QB Kyle Allen is also on this list, and it’s pretty clear that Fields is the only one of these upcoming 2025 free agents who could see a long-term future in the Steel City. Why not make a move for Russ, especially at a time when a team like the Miami Dolphins or Las Vegas Raiders could really use him?

    4. Back to the Steelers’ defense, which became the first in 15 years to allow 10 points or fewer in each of its first three games to start the season.

    5. Guess who’s right back in the NFC South race after recently promoted QB Andy Dalton (319 yards, 3 TDs passing) had one of the best games of his 14-year career to beat the Raiders in Sin City? After looking As the worst team in the league after two weeks with former No. 1 Bryce Young at the helm — he orchestrated a single-TD drive — the Carolina Panthers suddenly find themselves a game out of first place after two of the NFL’s early surprises, the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stumbled. There’s just no telling what’s going to happen in this league.

    6. The most teams since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970 to make the playoffs after starting 0-3. Looking at you, Tennessee Titans … and the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars better take note for the first “Monday Night Football” doubleheader of the season.

    6a. On Sunday, six teams won 0-2.

    6b. Four teams – the Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs – are 3-0 and could be joined by the Buffalo Bills on Monday.

    7. The number of interceptions the Green Bay Packers defense has thrown equals a 2,023 total after Titans QB Will Levis was intercepted twice in Sunday’s 30-14 win.

    8. The number of times Levis was tackled on Sunday, meaning he has fallen 15 times in three starts – and is on track to concede a record 85 times over the course of the season.

    8a. Also up in turnovers was Levis, who began the day with a league-worst five giveaways, after giving the ball away three times against the Pack. Green Bay enjoyed a 35-yard pick-six from CB Jaire Alexander via the mayonnaise-loving passer.

    9. Let’s also salute Green Bay QB2 Malik Willis, who kept it classy all week before exacting revenge on the Titans, who drafted him two years ago but seemed to give up on him long before trading Willis to the Packers last month. On Sunday, he passed for his second NFL TD and a career-best 202 yards in Nashville and ran for 73 yards and another score while picking up his second win in place of injured starter Jordan Love. Seems like Willis was a guy who could have helped in Music City?

    10. But rest assured, Mr. Levis, even if you get sacked 85 times… Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson is actually on his way to 91 after suffering eight sacks of his own behind a patchwork line in an ugly home loss to the winless New York Giants on Sunday.

    11. On Sunday, Denver was the other team (along with Carolina and Pittsburgh) with one trip to the end zone. But rookie QB Bo Nix ran for a score while playing his first turnover-free NFL game and leading the Broncos to a surprising upset of the previously undefeated Bucs in Tampa.

    12. But perhaps the biggest spectacle of the day came in another meeting between teams that were tied at 2-0, when the Vikings utterly shamed the Houston Texans 34-7. QB Sam Darnold tied his personal best with four TD passes.

    13. In his first game against his former team, Texans DE Danielle Hunter was limited to two tackles. Hunter had 87½ sacks in eight years with Minnesota before signing a two-year, $49 million contract with Houston in the offseason.

    14. In his first game against his former team, Vikings OLB Jonathan Greenard had three sacks. Greenard had 23 sacks – including a career-best 12½ last season – in four years with Houston before signing a four-year, $76 million contract with Minnesota in the offseason.

    15. The Vikes had five sacks on Sunday, becoming the first team in the last 23 seasons to have at least that many sacks in each of their first three games.

    16. What kind of career would RB Saquon Barkley really have had if he hadn’t spent six years with the Giants? His 351 rushing yards through his three-game stint with the Philadelphia Eagles are 34 better than his best three-game start for Big Blue. His four touchdowns, two of which came in Sunday’s loss to the previously undefeated Saints, double the total from his best three-game start in New York.

    All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for the USA TODAY 4th and Monday newsletter.

    17. After scoring 91 points in their first two games, the Saints scored 12 on Sunday.

    18. After not allowing a rush of more than 8 yards in their first two games, the Saints were burned by Philadelphia for three of the minimum 20 yards — including a 65-yard TD gallop by Barkley, which nicely atoned for his crucial drop six days earlier in a Week 2 loss to Atlanta.

    19. The Dolphins made the longest domestic flight in the NFL possible – more than 2,700 miles – only to be trounced by the Seahawks in Seattle. At least the Fins won’t have to swim back to Miami.

    20. Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald is the first coach to start his career with three straight wins since Miami’s Mike McDaniel in 2022. Macdonald is the fifth coach under the age of 40 since 2000 to start with a 3-0 mark.

    21. Even better for Seattle? The Seahawks now hold a two-game lead over the rest of a turbulent NFC West field that saw the San Francisco 49ers collapse Sunday afternoon against the decimated Los Angeles Rams.

    22. Number of starts Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has against NFC teams. After outlasting the Dallas Cowboys 28-25 for Baltimore’s first win of the season, he is now 21-1 in those matchups. If only the Ravens could reach the Super Bowl …

    23. The 2024 NFL draft was the first in league history to feature a half-dozen quarterbacks selected among the top 12 picks. Yet it took until Sunday for one of them — No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams — to throw a touchdown pass in the regular season, albeit in another loss to his Chicago Bears (1-2).

    24. Still, Williams also made history with his 1-yard scoring pass to WR Rome Odunze, marking the first time a quarterback and wide receiver, both selected in the top 10 by the same team, have combined to score in their rookie years. (It’s still unclear where that ball landed.)

    25. But let’s put the rookie quarterback on the back burner for a moment where he belongs – and, hell, Darnold might just be Wally Pipp-ing injured Minnesota QB JJ McCarthy (to the extent that a player who hasn’t taken a regular-season snap can be Pipp-ed). But some people thought the best players in the 2024 draft were receivers, and that might come into play when it comes time to cast votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Unsurprisingly, Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. and Giants WR Malik Nabers are the early outliers and apparent front-runners for the award. But Jags WR Brian Thomas Jr. and Raiders TE Brock Bowers have also lived up to expectations so far – far more than you could say for the guys slinging the ball.

    26. Harrison and Nabers already have three TD receptions apiece. On Sunday, Nabers became the youngest wideout (21 years, 56 days) in league history to haul in two scoring catches in a game.

    27. It appears only a matter of time before Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey scores the longest field goal in NFL history on Sunday, after driving the ball from 65 yards out — the second-longest in league history — and also hitting a chip shot from 51 yards.

    28. A bigger concern for “America’s Team” should be that Aubrey is currently their best offensive weapon.

    29. What’s even more concerning for the Cowboys? After winning 16 straight games at AT&T Stadium, they’ve now lost their last three games.

    30. Uniform Note of the Week: Apparently a team once called the “Orange Crush” should embrace its history. The Broncos finally donned their new orange uniforms on Sunday – unfortunately, away to Tampa – and picked up their first win of the year.

    31. Very premature MVP voting goes to … Darnold. It’s not necessarily a surprise that his career is being revived in Minnesota under HC Kevin O’Connell. But a 3-0 record and eight TD passes while shaking off a knee injury on Sunday? If that’s what you were predicting, well, we don’t believe you.

    32. It’s always good to see more women making NFL history, like what happened on Sunday in Las Vegas.

    ***

    Follow Nate Davis of USA TODAY Sports on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like