[Quesadilla Joe]

Some context. Rookie QBs who start week 1 usually struggle. Mahomes didn’t even manage to throw or run for a single touchdown in his debut, and he sat the first 15 games.

From Bill Barnwell:

Spoiler!

Even Hall of Fame quarterbacks often struggle in their NFL debuts. John Elway went 1-of-8 for 14 yards with an interception. Peyton Manning threw three picks on 37 passes. Troy Aikman was 17-of-35 for 180 yards in a shutout loss. Joe Montana was 5-of-12 for 36 yards in his first start before giving way to Steve DeBerg. Ben Roethlisberger was 12-of-20 with two picks in a loss to the Ravens and then proceeded to win his next 15 regular-season starts. Even for players who had something resembling instant success, debuts are usually difficult propositions.

It probably should be no surprise, then, that the three first-round picks at quarterback who made their first NFL starts Sunday all struggled. Chicago's Caleb Williams needed significant help from his defense to pull out a comeback victory over the Titans. Washington's Jayden Daniels did more with his legs than his arm in a 37-20 loss to the Buccaneers, while Denver's Bo Nix generated 132 net passing yards on 44 dropbacks in a 26-20 defeat in Seattle.

There were problems that stretched across the divide. For one, they all struggled to create out of structure as passers. This should be a strength for Williams and Daniels given their college success, but the magic they sprinkled on extended snaps a year ago didn't appear. When the three quarterbacks held onto the ball for more than four seconds, they were a combined 2-of-8 for 29 yards with an interception and five sacks. Williams took the worst sack of the day as he tried to wriggle backward to avoid pressure and lost 19 yards. The Bears began that sequence with a first-and-10 on the Titans 25-yard line and ended it with a fourth-and-30 punt from the 45.

While the preseason can give rookie quarterbacks a taste of NFL pressure, most defenses are showing familiar vanilla looks with simple blitzes. The sim pressures and coverage disguises that proliferate at the pro level only make their debut in Week 1, and they usually got home; 48.7% of their blitzes resulted in pressures, and the three rookies didn't make those defenses pay for sending extra defenders. They went a combined 17-of-30 for 105 yards against blitzes.

Our rookies were mostly hanging on for dear life. They went a combined 10-of-29 for 56 yards with an interception and six sacks when pressured in their debuts. Nix, renowned for his quick processing as he won the Broncos job in training camp, looked flummoxed and overwhelmed by Mike Macdonald's pressure packages. He was 7-of-15 for 20 yards under pressure. Losing left tackle Garett Bolles to an midgame injury didn't help.

Naturally, to try to keep their quarterbacks' respective heads from spinning, we saw the offensive playcallers in Chicago, Denver and Washington do what they could to get the ball out quickly. It led to games, especially in Seattle, in which the opposing defense simply wasn't afraid of getting beat downfield. Daniels, Nix and Williams were a combined 4-of-22 (18.1%) for 68 yards and two interceptions on throws traveling 10 or more yards downfield. The rest of the league completed more than 47% of those throws and averaged 11.3 yards per attempt on them in Week 1.

Daniels made an impact as a scrambler and with the occasional designed run, as he converted 18 carries into 88 yards and two touchdowns, a number that unfortunately also matched the number of times his helmet was knocked off during the game. Nix seemed to run out of sheer frustration, as he scrambled for a 23-yard gain to start Denver's final drive against the Seahawks and then produced a 4-yard touchdown to end it. Williams picked up a third-and-10 with an 11-yard scramble but was otherwise quieter than his competitors on the ground.

I wouldn't take the three games as anything to be worried about. The game will slow down for all three. Williams will strike a better balance of when to extend plays. Nix will continue to get faster as he identifies where he wants to go with the football. Daniels' impact as a runner will limit what teams can do against him in coverage and create opportunities in the passing game, even if I wasn't particularly impressed by what I saw from Kliff Kingsbury's offense in his return to the league.

This time a year ago, nobody was talking about C.J. Stroud after he went 28-of-44 for 242 yards and five sacks in a blowout loss to the Ravens. Three weeks later, he torched the Steelers for 306 yards and two touchdowns and never looked back. Let's check back in with these guys in a few weeks.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/sto...s-sunday-games