“Mahomes & Darnold 3-0 is coming” – Ryan Clark breaks Chiefs at Falcons; Texans vs Vkings

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Two weeks of the 2024 NFL season are in the books, and the third features some intriguing matchups.

It’ll start with Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets back on primetime when they host the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football.

The early window on Sunday will have seven games, led by the Philadelphia Eagles at the high-flying New Orleans Saints in what will be a good test for Derek Carr. C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans will take on the Minnesota Vikings, with Sam Darnold in the middle of a strong start.

Five games will form the late window, with the Baltimore Ravens hoping to bounce back at the Dallas Cowboys, who will have the same goal. The San Francisco 49ers will engage in a divisional battle against the Los Angeles Rams, as both teams are also coming off disappointing losses on the road.

Sunday Night Football will see Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the road looking to improve to 3-0 as they visit Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons.

Monday Night Football will conclude the week with a doubleheader, led by Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars on the hunt for their first win of the year at the 2-0 Buffalo Bills.

Here’s a look at the full Week 3 schedule:

EAGAN — By now you have probably seen it pointed out that Sam Darnold’s blazing hot start to the 2024 season is not the only time in his career where he’s had a good stretch.

Well, it’s true. In his first three games as a Carolina Panther, he went 3-0 with a 99.0 QB rating. He won just one more game the rest of that 2021 season and produced six touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 62.3 rating. He also had a November run with the Jets in 2019 where he had a 117.2 rating and averaged 34 points per game.

Naturally there would be skepticism about whether Darnold’s 2-0 start for the Vikings is something that he can keep rolling or if the wheels will similarly come flying off.

However, the sample size of Darnold playing at a high level goes back farther than just two games. In nine starts since 2022, the former top pick of the Jets has 12 touchdowns to five interceptions at 8.4 yards per pass attempt and a 97.5 QB rating. Things started to turn around following Matt Rhule’s exit from Carolina and picked up where he left off at the end of ‘22 thus far.

After the benching of Bryce Young, the talk around the NFL is quarterback development. For so long quarterbacks either turned into Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes or ended up as college football TV analysts a few years after being drafted and there was no in between. But suddenly Geno Smith is playing well for the third straight year and Baker Mayfield is repeating last season’s breakout results.

It feels like we haven’t seen this type of thing happening since guys like Jake Plummer, Jeff Garcia, Rich Gannon, Kerry Collins and Trent Green ended up as top QBs out of nowhere in the early 2000s.

But the path to those players emerging from the shadows to take teams deep in the playoffs and get Pro Bowl nods during that era was not any different than it is now. Rich Gannon developed and then found the right offense under Jon Gruden. Jake Plummer developed and found the right offense under Mike Shanahan. Jeff Garcia dropped onto a team that had Terrell Owens. Trent Green played behind possibly the sickest offensive line of the decade.

It’s not that everybody who plays quarterback can simply get themselves a good coach, a few big dudes up front and a wide receiver and profit but there seem to be a bevy of quarterbacks who could get pushed either way depending on the environment. Darnold’s hot streaks before may have had hints in there that he was capable of leading a winning team but the surroundings weren’t stable enough for that to happen.