Best:
Carson Wentz, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Talk about a statement game. There was already pressure on Carson Wentz, being a rookie playing in a city like Philly. All he's done is win his first three games, throw 102 total passes and has yet to throw an interception. Sunday, in the Eagles win over the Steelers, he went 23-for-31 for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Oh and yeah, he's got the Eagles off to an unbeaten start to the year. Wentz has plenty of poise in the pocket for a guy at his age. Case in point. Early in the game, Wentz escaped pressure to float a perfect pass toward Darren Sproles for a 73-yard touchdown. The play captured Wentz at his finest, showcasing his pocket presence, athleticism, vision and feathery touch. You don't really see too many guys that young pull that off. Now hopefully everybody realizes why the Eagles were so excited to want to get this kid under center from the start of the year.
Worst:
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Quarterback New York Jets
Talk about a Jekyll & Hyde performance. Last week, Fitzpatrck was the offensive player of the week for his performance against the Buffalo Bills. This week, Fitzpatrick was the total opposite. Kansas City really had his number this week, as Fitzpatrick was just awful. He's been prone to turning the ball over in the past, but not this bad. He threw six, SIX, interceptions against the Chiefs in KC on Sunday. Two of those picks got hauled in by young star Marcus Peters and one went for six points the other way by linebacker Derrick Johnson, whose return was quite remarkable. We're three games into the season and Fitzpatrick already has thrown seven picks, half of his total from all of last year. That's pretty bad. Oh and he's only thrown three TD passes so far this year. IF the Jets want to have any hope of making it towards the playoffs, he's got to play better.
Best:
Ezekiel Elliott, Running Back Dallas Cowboys
I think the Cowboys have a pretty good rookie tandom in the backfield right now. Rookie QB Dak Prescott had a good day going 19 of 24 for 248 yards and a touchdown. He's been good so far, but will have to give the job up once Tony Romo comes back. The other guy in the backfield isn't so bad. Ezekiel Elliott, who had his first 100 yard day in the league. Elliott finished with 140 yards on 30 carries, good for the 2nd most yards by a running back in the league this week (only Devonte Freedman of Atlanta had more with 152 yards against the Saints). Oh and most of those yards that Elliott picked up came after contact, which is something he was able to do quite well while playing at Ohio State.
Worst:
Eli Manning, Quarterback New York Giants
This week was a bad one for Quarterbacks in New York. Yes, Eli did go 25 of 38 for 350 yards and a touchdown, but this turned out to be a typical throwaway game for Eli. He threw two fourth-quarter interceptions, one of which was in the end zone on a drive that should have resulted in at least a field goal, if not seven points. In fact, that interception triggered an epic Odell Beckham Jr. sideline meltdown. Ya know the meltdown that led Odell to losing a fight with the field goal kicking net on the Giants sideline. There was more to this game then just Eli having a meltdown at the end of the game, Weston Richburg got ejected from the ball game for getting into a shoving match with Josh Norman during the late stages of the game. This happened after he got a personal foul early on, a new rule the league put into play as a way to help prevent fights in the league. Bad game all around for the Giants, made painful by Eli throwing the game to the Redskins.
Best:
Marvin Jones, Wide Receiver Detroit Lions
Detroit did come up short against Green Bay on Sunday, falling 34-27 to the Pack, but it wasn't because of lack of effort. One guy in particular had himself a day. Marvin Jones became a favorite target of Matthew Stafford on Sunday. Jones finished the day with six catches for 205 yards and a pair of scores, including a huge 73 yard pass play from Stafford early on in the ballgame. Nobody on the Packers defense was able to stop Jones on Sunday, who had himself a career day. The fifth year wide receiver, spending his first four with the Bengals in Cincinnati, now has new life in Detroit. He went over the two hundred yard mark in a game for the first time in his career. He keeps this pace up, Matthew Stafford may have found himself a solid target to work with and could possibly put him over the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the first time in his career.
Worst:
Odell Beckham Jr, Wide Receiver New York Giants
OK statistically, Beckham had himself a good day. He did have seven catches for 121 yards, but was kept out of the endzone. Josh Norman at one point carried him out of the endzone, which lead to Weston Richburg getting thrown out of the football game for his late penalty. The real reason I have to put Beckham on this list is for his antics once again on the sideline. Football is an emotional sport, there's no doubt about it. After Eli Manning threw his pick early in the fourth quarter that got Odell onto this list here. There he was, battling tears, being consoled on the sideline by his quarterback. And there he was, losing a fight to a kicking net and looking generally like Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes. He was so upset with the way the game had gone at that point, he kicked his helmet into the kicking net and having the net fall on him and hit him right in the face. That's happened way too much in his young career. Sure he's got a lot of talent and can be a great football player. He just needs to learn to control his emotions better.
Best:
Jimmy Graham, Tight End Seattle Seahawks
About time this guy, and this offense for that matter, showed up. Seattle spent a first round draft pick to get Graham from the Saints, a guy who had a lot of talent and for a long time was considered one of the top tight ends in all of football. Over the first two weeks of this season, the Seattle offense had been quite, scoring just one touchdown. But Graham helped change that on Sunday as the Seahawks beat up on the 49ers, walking away with a 37-18 victory. Graham had six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown (the only Seahawks receiver to have mour yards was Doug Baldwin who had 164 yards). Graham developing into a top target would give Russell Wilson a much-needed post–Marshawn Lynch safety valve, something Seattle has been waiting for from the tight end since they got him. Now the team just hopes that Russel Wilson's injury isn't too sever and he can play next week against the Jets.
Worst:
Blaine Gabbert, Quarterback San Francisco 49ers
I think the marriage between 49ers fans and Blaine Gabbert may be coming to an end in San Francisco. This week, in the 49ers loss to Seattle, nobody really expected Gabbert to have a fantastic week. After all, Seattle still has one of the premiere defenses in all of professional football. But this was just bad. Finishing with just 119 yards on 14-of-25 passing (4.8 yards per attempt), he failed to throw a touchdown and turned the ball over with an interception. Hemissed badly on many easy passes, and Gabbert appears to feel phantom pressure at times. He was essentially more of a deterrent to success than a guy the 49ers could count on for positive plays. Gabbert now has averaged just 177 passing yards per game while throwing three touchdowns and three interceptions. The 49ers need to seriously think about making a switch now if winning games is part of their overall plan for 2016.
Best:
Buffalo Bills
Things didn't really look good in Buffalo after the first two weeks of the season. It had been pretty bad for the Bills when they fired their offensive coordinator after week two. Well apparently, that move worked. Buffalo showed up in a big way, pulling off a 33-18 win over the Arizona Cardinals, one of the best etams in the league. Buffalo was great on both sides of the ball. New offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn had everything clicking. LeSean McCoy finished with 110 yards rushing on 17 attempts, plus his two first-half scores. Buffalo’s passing game was quiet, but quarterback Tyrod Taylor added another 76 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Buffalo’s defense also answered the call throughout the game, forcing four Carson Palmer interceptions and sacking the veteran four times. I think the Bills got the message last week, because they really came to play this week.
Worst:
Carson Palmer, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
This is in large part to do with Palmer, who had a bad day under center. Its not all on Palmer, the offense as a whole had a bad day. Think about this for a moment. Arizona is coming off a week in which they dropped 40 points against Tampa Bay. Buffalo's defense just gave up 37 points in the loss to the Jets that same week. Looked like easy pickings right? Wrong. Palmer had an awful day, finishing up with a four-pick, two-fumble pratfall of a performance. Arizona has talent all over the place on the offensive side of the ball. Lets just hope for the Cards sake, that last year wasn't a flash in the pan, and that this was just a bad day and the Cards can bounce back next week.
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