NEWSLETTER
Tua Tagovailoa and Lamar Jackson gave us all the game of the week on Sunday, and for Bears fans, it was a glimpse into what Justin Fields could look like if he had the same caliber of playmakers surrounding him in Chicago.
Tua Bests Lamar Jackson in Shootout
The game of the day was easily the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens. After the Ravens and Dolphins won their Week 1 matchup relatively easily, this was a perfect matchup for the two sides to gain an early idea of where they stand.
It was all Baltimore in the first half, with the Ravens outscoring the Dolphins 28-7 on the strength of a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the game’s opening play (courtesy of Devin Duvernay) and three Lamar Jackson touchdown passes in the second quarter.
Jackson also hooked up with Rashod Bateman for a 75-yard touchdown pass and finished the first half with 210 passing yards and three touchdowns while completing 11-of-13 passes for a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Miami woke up in the second half and decided to turn this one into a barn burner, and Tua Tagovailoa had something for all of the naysayers.
Tua and the Dolphins outscored Baltimore 35-10 in the second half and 28-3 in the fourth quarter. Tagovailoa completed 13-of-17 for 199 yards, four touchdowns, and a 154.2 passer rating in the fourth quarter alone!
While it was largely the Tua show in the second half, Lamar Jackson still made some history and proved that his gamble on himself in his extension negotiations with the Ravens was the right call. Jackson became the first player with 300-plus passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 100 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown in the same game. Jackson also became the first player with a rushing and passing touchdown of 75 yards or more in the same game, according to CBS Sports.
A silver lining for Bears fans from this game?
Cardinals Comeback in Vegas
Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals were slow to start, trailing the Raiders 23-7 with 8:13 to play in Sunday’s contest at Alegient Stadium in Las Vegas, but they woke up just in the nick of time.
Darrel Williams pounded a touchdown home from the one-yard line to make it 23-13 Raiders, and then Kyler Murray did his thing with a bonkers scramble on the two-point conversion attempt to make it a one-score game.
On a 4th & Goal with five seconds to play, Murray used his legs again to find the end zone as the clock struck zero in regulation. Then came the encore performance on the two-point conversion, this one to send the game to overtime.
The Cardinals walked it off in overtime when Isaiah Simmons scooped and scored on a Hunter Renfrow fumble, giving the Cardinals the win, and avoiding an 0-2 start for Arizona.
For The Love of God, Get Joe Burrow Some Help!
Joe Burrow is no stranger to opposing pass rushes in his first three seasons in the NFL. Burrow was sacked 32 times in his rookie season in 2020 before he tore his ACL. The 32 sacks in 10 games that season put Burrow on pace to be sacked 51.2 times over 16 games. By no coincidence, Burrow was sacked 51 times the following season in 2021. Burrow still led the Bengals to the Super Bowl as the NFL’s most sacked quarterback.
This season? Burrow will be lucky to play all 17 games at the rate opposing defenses get to him. Burrow was sacked six times on Sunday and has been sacked 13 times in the first two games of the season. Burrow is on pace to be sacked 110.5 times this season. Nope, that’s not a typo, and I did the math twice.
In case you’re wondering, David Carr was sacked 76 times in 2002, and that’s the NFL record in that category. Burrow is on pace to be sacked 34.5 more times than any NFL quarterback has ever been.
The defending AFC Champs are now 0-2 with losses to Mitch Trubisky and Cooper Rush … YIKES.
