In Week 3, Miami's Tua Tagovailoa and Los Angeles Charger Justin Herbert demonstrated why they are elite and rookie C.J. Stroud showed why Houston may have a franchise quarterback. The Falcons and Commanders, meanwhile, are searching for answers after their quarterbacks reached new lows.
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins: Case closed: Tagovailoa is the MVP through three weeks. With Miami scoring an incomprehensible 70 points against Denver on Sunday, he is the front-runner for the league's highest individual honor. Tagovailoa finished Week 3 23-of-26 for 309 yards (11.9 yards per attempt) and four TD passes. The only knock against Tagovailoa is his injury history, but the Dolphins have been excellent at protecting their quarterback. Tagovailoa was only pressured on 25.3 percent of his dropbacks in the first two weeks. Against the Broncos, he wasn't sacked and only took one hit.
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers: Facing a must-win game in Week 3 after an 0-2 start, Herbert had a historic game. In a 28-24 win at Minnesota, he was 40-of-47 for 405 yards and three touchdowns. As The Ringer's Benjamin Solak noted, his 85 percent completion percentage is the highest in league history for a quarterback with at least 45 attempts.
Justin Herbert ends the day completing 40 of 47 passes -- that's 85%.
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 24, 2023
That's the best single-game completion percentage for any quarterback with at least 45 pass attempts in league history.
NFL Next Gen Stats (NGS) highlighted Minnesota's strategy to blitz at a stunning rate and how Herbert thrived under pressure.
The Vikings blitzed Justin Herbert on 40 of his 50 dropbacks, the 2nd-highest blitz rate (82.0%) in a game in the NGS era.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 24, 2023
Herbert averaged 2.26 seconds time to throw, his first game under 2.40 seconds in his career, and had a career-high +16.0% CPOE.#LACvsMIN | #BoltUp pic.twitter.com/r9DmneTPHr
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans: Houston has found itself a quarterback. Stroud has been brilliant through three weeks, one of two quarterbacks (Herbert is the other) to throw for at least 900 yards without an interception. His 906 passing yards through three games are the third most by a rookie in NFL history.
Most passing yards with 0 interceptions this season:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) September 25, 2023
939 — Justin Herbert
906 — CJ Stroud
Nobody else has more than 750. pic.twitter.com/s8mg8U18Uk
Texans’ rookie QB C.J. Stroud has 906 passing yards in his first three NFL starts and is the third player in NFL history with at least 900 passing yards in his first three games, joining Cam Newton (1,012 passing yards in 2011) and Justin Herbert (931 in 2020).
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 25, 2023
In Week 3's shocking 37-17 win at Jacksonville, Stroud was 20-of-30 for 280 yards and two touchdowns. He put the game on ice with a 68-yard bomb to fellow rookie Tank Dell in the fourth quarter. The future is bright for the Texans.
Rookie to rookie. @CJ7STROUD hits Tank Dell for a 68-yard TD!
— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
: #HOUvsJAX on FOX
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/NszwLZjorq
Zach Wilson, New York Jets: This has to stop.
Zach Wilson got sacked by a ghost LMFAOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/yXJOz1aZz5
— GC (@ValverdeSZN) September 24, 2023
Another big stop for the @Patriots D! New England takes over on downs with less than 2 to go
— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
: #NEvsNYJ on CBS
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/xzFMfuuhZG
Head coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas must find a quarterback — Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz, someone — to replace Wilson. Through three games, Wilson is 44-of-84 for 467 yards, two touchdown passes and four interceptions. On Sunday, he had another miserable game against Bill Belichick and the Patriots, finishing 18-of-36 for 157 yards. He was overwhelmed by the pass rush in a 15-10 loss, taking a phantom sack at one point and constantly settling for checkdowns and not finding open receivers.
Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons: Atlanta's worst-case scenario occurred in Sunday's 20-6 loss at Detroit. The Lions took away the running game, holding ballyhooed rookie Bijan Robinson to 33 yards on 10 carries. Ridder dropped back to pass 47 times, and Atlanta had its worst offensive output of the season (183 yards). The second-year QB was sacked seven times and only completed 55.2 percent of his passes for an average of 5.3 yards per attempt.
Sam Howell, Washington Commanders: Howell's awful Week 3 performance doesn't erase the positive strides he made the first two weeks, but it's a reminder the Commanders aren't a serious playoff threat with him at quarterback. Howell was 19-of-29 for 170 yards and four interceptions against the Bills, who have put their embarrassing Week 1 loss to Wilson and the Jets behind them by outscoring their past two opponents, 75-13, including a 37-3 rout over Washington.
Howell was under duress most of the game, with NFL NGS noting Buffalo pressured him on 69.2 percent of his dropbacks.
The Bills pressured Sam Howell on 27 of 39 dropbacks (69.2%), the 2nd-highest pressure rate in a game in the NGS era.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 24, 2023
Seven different Bills defenders generated 4+ pressures, led by Ed Oliver (7).#BUFvsWAS | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/E2UmCy78PQ
Perhaps no play better sums up his game than this pick-six by defensive end A.J. Epenesa. Howell was flushed out of the pocket and mistakenly thought he could make a throw on the run. He couldn't, and the play ended up as the cherry on top of a you-know-what sundae.
What a play by @ajepenesa24 for the Pick-6 #BillsMafia
— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2023
: #BUFvsWAS on CBS
: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/UQdQ05hqXN pic.twitter.com/wjNlav5bTl
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