Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, there was a lot to cover!
This week, Doug and Luke discuss:
- If there’s anybody in the NFL who can come close to Lamar Jackson as the NFL MVP;
- Which NFL moments we’d most like somebody to make them forget;
- Which 2-1 team that didn’t make the playoff last season that presents the biggest threat this season; and
- Which underrated players deserve more attention.
You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:
There's Lamar Jackson, and there is everybody else.
Through the first three games of the 2022 season, Lamar Jackson leads the league with 10 touchdown passes, he leads the league in passer rating at 119.0, and he’s tied with Christian McCaffrey for fourth in rushing yards with 243. He’s also the first player in the Super Bowl era to record at least three touchdown passes and 100-or-more rushing yards in consecutive games. Lamar won the NFL Most Valuable Player award unanimously at the end of the 2019 season. If he keeps up at this pace, or anything near it, will be boxing everybody else out of the discussion for a second time?
Doug: At this rate, I don’t think anybody else is catching him. Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts might catch a few votes, but this is Lamar Jackson’s NFL right now. Were he to never run the ball, he’d still be an MVP candidate as a pure quarterback, and were he only to run the ball, he’d get a few mentions as an Offensive Player of the Year candidate.
Moreover, per Pro Football Focus’ charting, Jackson has thrown from the pocket this season on 88% of his passing attempts, completing 66% of those attempts for nine touchdowns and two interceptions. If this prorates over the entire season, Jackson won’t just be the NFL MVP – he’ll also be the all-time Contract Year Champion.
Luke: I was promised by the haters that Lamar was just a running back, though? I could have sworn he just wasn’t capable of being a successful starter in the NFL. Even after he won the MVP at 23 years old, we’ve still been hearing the same tired false narratives about him, but all he does is keep doing things nobody in the NFL has ever done. If he keeps up this pace, Lamar should absolutely run away with his second MVP award.
Which NFL moment would you most like to forget?
Two former NFL quarterbacks and current NFL analysts were let off the hook by Sunday’s events. First, there was former New York Jets quarterback and current FOX NFL analyst Mark Sanchez may not have to hear about the Butt Fumble anymore after Thomas Morstead of the Dolphins executed the Butt Punt.
Then, on Sunday night, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ran out of his own end zone for a safety against the Broncos, giving former Detroit Lions quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky a merciful reprieve for doing the same thing in 2008.
If there was one football moment in your lifetime you wish somebody else would eclipse, what would it be?
Doug: As I am a Seattle resident, and also a fan of passing concepts that aren’t the dumbest in NFL history, I keep waiting for another team besides the Seahawks to run something as ridiculous as Russell Wilson’s skinny slant to Ricardo Lockette, intercepted by Malcolm Butler, that ended Seattle’s chances against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX.
Whenever a quarterback does throw an interceptions into the opposing end zone, or does something equally preposterous in a playoff game, everybody in my city has to deal with replays of that play – most likely with grunge music in the background, and then a cut to somebody in Pike Place Market making lattes or throwing fish. It is time for a new narrative.
Luke: I feel terrible even wishing this on any other franchise, but if another team could lose like, 27 games in a row, that would be awesome. Growing up in Tampa as a Bucs fan, that team was synonymous with losing for most of my childhood, and that was about a decade AFTER they began their history by losing their first 26 straight games. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that record broken, but Bucs fans sure wouldn’t mind.
2-1 teams on the rise
Eight teams – the Ravens, Bears, Browns, Broncos, Jaguars, Dolphins, Vikings, and Giants – have won at least two of their first three games after missing the postseason in 2021. Which of these teams do you regard as the most credible threat to do some major damage to the rest of the NFL through the 2022 season?
Doug: As bullish as I am about the Dolphins, I think the Jaguars are the team on this list the NFL should be most afraid of. They’re not 3-0 like the Dolphins are. But I think they might be tougher to beat over time. We’ve already talked about the massive upgrade from Urban Meyer to Doug Pederson – it’s time to get past that. After their 38-10 demolition of the Chargers on Sunday, this team ranks second behind the Bills in overall DVOA, they rank fifth in Offensive DVOA, they rank fourth in Defensive DVOA. and it seems as if they’ve hit on absolutely every single one of their free-agent acquisitions and draft picks.
They’re 2-1 because they lost a close one to the Washington Commanders in the season opener when they were figuring a few things out.
Spoiler: They have figured those few things out.
Luke: I love what the Jags are doing, but I’m absolutely taking the Dolphins. They’re playing extremely good football right now on both sides of the ball, they’ve got playmakers all over the place that can impact the game in every phase, and they’re just going to be a tough out for any opponent that doesn’t bring their A game. If they stay healthy, they proved on Sunday that they can challenge the Bills for that division, and that seemed preposterous just a couple of weeks ago.
Which underrated players deserve more attention?
Through the first three weeks of the season, who’s your Secret Superstar – the one player whose deeds on the field have totally exceeded his recognition for them?
Doug: He’s not much of a secret anymore, but I want to bring Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown more into the spotlight. The 2021 fourth-round pick out of USC took a minute in his rookie year to make his presence known, but in the second half of the 2021 season – weeks 10-18 – he ranked sixth in targets with 78, third in receptions with 63, fourth in receiving yards with 662, and tied for fourth in receiving touchdowns with five. St. Brown has done everything possible to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Through three games in 2022, he ranks fourth in receptions with 23, ninth in receiving yards with 253, and tied for second in the league with three receiving touchdowns.
This is all with Jared Goff at quarterback and in a run-heavy offense – which St. Brown has also helped with two sweep runs for 68 yards and a touchdown. He’s tough when he needs to be, he’s a willing blocker, and he can win wherever you put him in the formation. This is a No. 1 receiver that I’d put up against just about any other receiver in the league.
Luke: I will show some love for the Jags here. Lots of things are going right in Jacksonville now that Urban Meyer is gone, but while Trevor Lawrence is sure to get plenty of attention now that they’re winning, James Robinson and Christian Kirk deserve a ton of credit. We assumed Travis Etienne would be the team’s best weapon out of the backfield this season, but somebody forget to tell Robinson, because he’s been the workhorse, and he’s keeping tons of pressure off Lawrence with his effectiveness on the ground.
Kirk’s massive contract in free agency took a ton of criticism, but so far, he’s been worth every penny as a big-play threat down the field, and someone Lawrence clearly counts on in key moments.
