Trying to make a 1-for-1 comparison between Josh Allen and Drake Maye is unwise. Allen is 1-of-1, an absolute freak of nature.
"Well, one is the MVP of the league, and the other is a rookie quarterback," said Jerod Mayo earlier this week when asked about the similarities between the two quarterbacks.
"Yeah, that's a tough one," responded Alex Van Pelt. "Hate to make comparisons as a coach. That's not fair to either player, really."
25 years ago, Allen would be playing defensive end, linebacker, or tight end. But in the here and now, he is the best quarterback in the league -- elite arm, dynamic athleticism, and a 240-pound frame that allows him to not only run through arm tackles but entire bodies (assuming he doesn't choose to hurdle them). But as the Bills' signal-caller has gained experience, he's become a processing machine and - in the process - took his game to a place that seemed unlikely.
Consider that Allen completed just 52% of his passes in his rookie year. That number jumped to 59% in year two, but no one thought his spotty accuracy would ever reach the level it did in year three. That's when Josh Allen Superstar was born. Under the watchful eye of offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, Allen threw for 4,544 yards, 37 touchdowns, and hit on nearly 70% of his passes (69.2). There was no historical precedence for such a leap, at least from a full-time starter. Since then, Allen has been a consistent MVP candidate, and it appears he will win his first this year. Can Maye become that?
"I think I've got a long way to go," he smiled. "What a player he is, playing at an MVP level. I think the biggest thing is just the progression he's made. I think what he dealt with, whether coming out of college or his first years here, I feel like everybody was just kind of not giving him the credit he deserved. Now, you can see kind of the full fruition of what he's doing and the level he's playing at."
Allen has missed just one start in the last six years. Maye, on the other hand, has made just 9 starts in his young career. He doesn't have the same frame as the Bills QB and is at least 20 to 25 pounds lighter. Having covered Allen extensively during his rise to stardom (in my previous life), the physical difference between the two men is stark, especially with regard to their lower half. Allen has always had tree trunks for legs and gradually filled out his upper body. Maye's shoulders are narrower, and he is slender in his base. Will the 22-year-old fill out some? You had better believe he will. (Have you seen some of his brothers? They are big boys.) Maye's not quite a puppy, but he's not fully grown, either.
On the other hand, the Pats rookie came into the league as a far more advanced passer than Allen, despite the footwork flaws and a wind-up that could use some tightening (still). Yet, quarterbacking a bad team, like Allen did his rookie year, Maye's been far more accurate than expected, completing over 68% of his passes. The TD/INT ratio isn't what you'd like (12/9), but when you consider who he's throwing to and the group of guys blocking for him, I'd say it's a borderline miracle.
Plus, he has shown that playmaking gene, most recently drawing that Cardinals' defender down by the goal line and then nonchalantly shoveling a TD pass to the man (DeMario Douglas) being covered by that player for a touchdown. Maye's good for at least one rep like that every weekend and sometimes plenty more.
In short, his growth has been evident for all to see, and that's one of the few positives for a disappointing team now in year 5 of their post-Tom Brady rebuild. But the Pats appear to have the quarterback - and aside from a competent coaching staff - that's a hell of a place to start. I'll leave you with this spot-on comment (rare) from Mayo back in early November (after the loss in Tennessee that Maye pushed into overtime with his superb final play in regulation).
“I call him Drake Maye 1.0."
DESPERATE TIMES IN ATL
Fourteen games into Kirk Cousins' tenure, the Atlanta Falcons are pulling the plug on their high-priced free agent signing. I can't blame 'em.
Inked to a four-year deal that included $100 million guaranteed, Cousins has looked like a shell of his former self, especially of late.
The Falcons have lost four of their last five games, and during that stretch, the 36-year-old quarterback has thrown nine interceptions and just one touchdown (he was 17-7 over the first nine weeks).
"It's pro football, and there's a standard that I have for myself, that the team has for me, that unfortunately, I wasn't playing up to that standard consistently enough," said Cousins. "And so, it is what it is, and you roll with it, and now you still get ready - 'one play away' kind of a thing - and support Mike and just try to help our team be able to find a way to win these last three to get in the playoffs, and that's what it's all about."
A massive problem for Cousins has been his lack of mobility - he insisted he's not hurt - and the apparent distrust of his Achilles tendon, which he tore late last season in Minnesota. Raheem Morris had backed the veteran signal caller, but after Monday night's trainwreck against Las Vegas, he made the change to rookie Michael Penix.
"We didn't play particularly well at the quarterback position," said Morris. "That's the thing that's got to be addressed."
Penix was Atlanta's first-round selection in April. Not only did this surprise folks around the league, but it also surprised Cousins, who had signed that massive contract just a month prior. The team has been pleased with Penix's development behind the scenes and believes his athleticism will open up elements of their offense that Cousins is incapable of (play action, for instance).
There is plenty of risk to this move beyond the obvious financial ramifications. No rookie quarterback who got his first start in week 10 or beyond has led a .500 or below team into the playoffs that year.
"As you can imagine, it was some nerves, it was excitement, but I'm just super blessed to be in this position, super blessed to be on this team for the opportunity," said Penix.
The Falcons are 7-7 and sit a game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South (Atlanta holds the head-to-head tiebreaker).
As for what's next with Cousins, the Falcons options are:
- Release him before March 16, 2025 (no-post June 1 designation). They'd still be on the hook for $27.5 million fully guaranteed cash and carry a whopping $65 million dead cap hit.
- Release him before March 16, but slap a post-June 1 designation on it. That would cost the same cash-wise, but they'd spread the dead cap hit over two years ($40M in 2025/$25M in 2026).
- Trade him before June 1, 2025 (Cousins has to green light that). They'd carry a dead cap number of $37.5 million in 2025 but manage to save $27.5 million in cash and $2.5 million on the cap. This is, obviously, the most team-friendly option.
If Cousins remained on the roster as of March 16, another $10 million in 2026 would become fully guaranteed (it seems unlikely). Hopefully, Kirk rented and didn't buy, although, with career earnings of around $300 million, he can probably carry a second mortgage.
A JETS STAR WANTS OUT?
Garrett Wilson is not enjoying the Aaron Rodgers/Jets experience. He has spoken out - or acted out - several times this season, including on Sunday, when he barked at a coach because the 41-year-old quarterback didn't throw to him in a 1-on-1 situation. Considering that's been a consistent problem in their relationship, that it's still happening this late in the season is concerning for that coaching staff (even if they're all goners at season's end).
Now comes this. According to Rich Cimini, who covers the Jets for ESPN, people in Wilson's circle believe he will ask for a trade from the Jets this off-season. Cimini made his comments this week during an appearance on the podcast 'Flight Deck.'
The former first-round pick will be eligible for a massive contract extension this spring. While $30 million or more on a wide receiver is rich, especially for a team closer to the bottom than the top of the standings, Wilson has been a leader during his three seasons with New York (despite the complaints). He comes from a winning program at Ohio State and has experienced more losses this year (10 so far) than in his three years in college (4 combined). That has not sat well.
"When you're up in the fourth quarter, all of a sudden, it starts to feel like you have a losing problem," Wilson said after a recent overtime loss in Miami in which the Jets blew a late lead."[It's like] you have a gene or some s---."
He's not wrong. The Jets have gone 14 straight seasons without a playoff appearance, the longest active streak in the major North American professional sports. However, surrendering a piece like Wilson, who was part of NY's exceptional 2022 draft class (Sauce Gardner, Breece Hall, Jermaine Johnson), seems counterintuitive toward building a winning foundation. This will be one of many questions the new GM, whoever that will be, has to answer in the coming months if the Jets are to finally put an end to this ignominious run.
DON'T CROSS CALLAHAN
Not much has gone right for the Tennessee Titans this year. They're 3-11, including an overtime win over the Patriots, and there has been a lot of grumbling that the wrong person in power got fired. GM Ran Carthon survived. Mike Vrabel did not.
Carthon's choice to replace Vrabel, Brian Callahan, was thought to be the perfect coach to groom 2023 second-round pick Will Levis into becoming a franchise quarterback. Like everything else, that has not gone according to plan, and Levis is being benched for Mason Rudolph.
However, despite all their issues, many of which are fair game, there is a word that Callahan will not tolerate. Jerod Mayo knows it well, having used to describe his own team (and stop me if you've heard this before, later walked back): Soft. On Wednesday, the Titans' first-year head coach was asked if his team was both mentally and physically soft. His response was quite something.
"I mean, you really want to get me going today?" Callahan said. "Yeah, I think to be honest with you, I think that's complete and total bullshit if you want my honest opinion. These guys are tough f--kers, man; they go after it every day. They play hard as hell, and at no point have we ever put on tape at any point this season that this is a soft football team. I can't even wrap my mind around how that would even be a conversation. I mean, just because we don't win games doesn't mean we're soft.
"These guys play their ass off, they play hard, they play physical. You can ask any team that plays against us that when they come off the field, they know they played us. Yeah, that makes me relatively angry that that would be some presumption. That means you just don't watch the shit. You don't know what you're talking about; you don't know what you're looking at. So, I'm not going to stand for anybody calling this football team soft. I think that's bullshit. ...So you can kind of shove that one right up your ass, to be honest."
I side with Callahan here. The Titans are second defensively in yards allowed (297.4), 3rd against the pass, and 12th versus the run. Running back Tony Pollard is closing in on a thousand-yard season despite the team having a revolving door at right tackle and a rookie at left tackle. But poor quarterback play - Levis has turned the ball over 17 times in 11 starts - has doomed this team.
Tennessee is in Indianapolis to play the Colts this weekend. We'll see how the players respond to their coach's fiery display.
NERD NUMBERS
- The Patriots have lost four straight games and have been held under 25 points in each game. They are averaging 17.0 PPG in 2024, 31st in the NFL (ahead of only NYG, 14.9 PPG).
- Andy Reid became the fourth head coach to win 13+ games in 4 or more seasons in NFL history. He joins Bill Belichick (7), Sean Payton (4), and George Seifert (4) in that class.
- The Texans have won back-to-back AFC South titles after hiring HC DeMeco Ryans and drafting C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. in the 2023 first round. They were 11-38-1 in the three seasons prior (last in the NFL during that time frame). Houston is the second team in NFL history to win back-to-back division titles after finishing with four or fewer wins in each of the three seasons prior (1974-75 St. Louis Cardinals).
- Stability, thy name is the Steelers and Ravens. Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh’s 36 career matchups are the 2nd most in NFL history between 2 head coaches (Curly Lambeau and George Halas faced off 49 times, including playoffs).
- The Lions have 16 defensive players on IR (most in NFL).
- Anthony Richardson has the lowest completion percentage (47%) by qualified QBs since Denver's Tim Tebow (46.5) in 2011. The Colts are 5-5 with Richardson as starter (1-3 with Joe Flacco).
- Saquon Barkley can also become the 4th player in NFL history to have 2,000 scrimmage yards in a season with multiple franchises (also did it in 2018 as a rookie with NYG). He would join Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson (Rams, Colts), Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk (Rams, Colts), and Christian McCaffrey (Panthers, 49ers).
- Baker Mayfield has thrown for 32 TDs in 2024, 3rd in the NFL behind Joe Burrow (36) and Lamar Jackson (34). Mayfield has had 3 games with 4+ passing TDs in 2024 (the most in a season in his career).