By Brandon Simmons
Anthony Richardson Doesn’t Need to Learn the Hard Way
Just 2 games into his career and Anthony Richardson has found himself being knocked out of the game for the 2nd straight week. The Indianapolis Colts rookie QB found himself in concussion protocol Sunday after takinng a vicous hit while scoring a rushing touchdown. This happened in the 2nd quarter 9f Sunday’s win against the Houston Texans. This comes in the wake of his Week 1 injury he suffered afgainst the Jacksonville Jaguars. The irony is that after that Jaguars game, Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrencre praised the first round pick, but also advised him to protect himself better.
It’s the same advice that many players, analysts, armchair quarterbacks offer to all mobule QB ‘s coming into the league and Richardson is learning it the hard way. Two games into his career and he has already had to leave both games because of injury. Perhaps Richardson think his 6’4 250 frame can withstand most hits but obviously that has not.been the case and might not be so going forward. His mobility is a lethal aspect of his game, and he should use that when he needs to, but he has to be smart in going about that so he doesn’t severely injure himself. The Colts already lost a franchise QB due to acxumulates injuries and don’t want to witness it happen again.
Is it worth it for the Jets to get another QB?
The New York Jets started their season with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, but after 4 plays they’re finish8ng it with Zach Wilson…for now. Rodgers suffered a season ending achilles injury in the Monday Night season opener, and so far, everybody has been asked to be the signal caller for NYJ according to the lists below:
The funny part about this list is there is a notion that the Jets’ roster is in “win now” mode, which is true, but some of these guys’ last outing was nowhere near that. Wentz bounced around the league after his failed stint in Philadelphia, ultimately landing on the bench in Washington. Rivers and Ryan served their time in Indianapolis before calling it a career. That’s the “highlights” of the free agent list, but the trade list serves a little more promising an is more current. Out of that pool, Gardener Minshew, Jacoby Brissett and Taylor Heinecke give you the best option to utilize this offense. All 3 of these guys have legit experience as starters, so if they step into this situation, it would not be foreign to them. Heinecke even started a playoff game for the Washington Commanders.
The best thing for the Jets to do is trade for one of these backup quarterbacks. They have been backups most of their career but have also played with high level talent during the regular season, so they won’t shy away from the task of coming in and making the most of this roster. Also, once the season is over, maybe they would want to stay on and be the backup for Aaron Rodgers, a decision that would make it easier for the Jets to move on from Zach Wilson. Let’s face it, if the Jets really believed in Wilson then this wouldn’t be a conversation, because he would have given something for them to believe in. New York knew they were done with Wilson going back to last year and now they have a real opportunity to move on from him while salvaging what they can from their Aarond Rodgers years.
Trading Kirk Cousins?
One name that seemed to have popped up in the Jets’ QB pursuits is Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins. It’s probably no coincidence that has happened in the wake of Cousins and the Vikes falling to 0-2 after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles last Thursday. Also, no coincidence that the QB who secured the first fully guaranteed in NFL history, is looking to possibly add another one under his belt when he becomes a free agent after this season. While Cousins is certainly has proven to be a legit franchise QB, would Minnesota be willing to pay a 35-year-old quarterback, that has not gotten them past the 2nd round, but has managed to get them to dish out the cheddar twice.
Kirk Cousins to the Jets is just a bad idea altogether, but trading him might not be a good fit. If New York traded for him, just to replace Rodgers for the year, he might take this team to their projected goal of conference championship or Super Bowl, and now you have a whole new QB dilemma on your hands. It’s hard to argue that the Vikings would keep Cousins this season and trade him in the offseason for a high first round pick, but with these QB prospects, whoever has those top picks might not budge on them. If they can’t come to a deal then Minnesota might try to franchise tag him and trade him. Even if he figures to not be a part of the Vikings’ plans, they will not let him walk away without getting something for him.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt for.becoming all time defenders in their franchise’s history. Sunday, Parsons entered the Dallas Cowboys’ top 10 sack list of all time, with 75 career sacks. He accomplished this feat after only 2 and a half seasons. Monday, Watt became the all time leader in sacks in Steelers history. It’s surprising that these 2 gentlemen reached such a monumental feat in a short of amount od time, especially for franchises that have had historically great defenses. However, these are game changing players so records like these will come easy to them.
Shut out to more injuries, this time affexting the star running backs. Sunday, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley suffered an ankle injury, in the team’s comeback win against the Arizona Cardinals, which will skeep him sidelined for 3 weeks. Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb suffered a season-ending knee injury Monday night in the Browns ‘ loss to the Steelers. It has been tough 9n the running backssinxe the offseaso, but this news is even rougher, to see 2 of the premier players at that position go down early in their seasons. Hopefully they make full recoveries and bounce back even better.
Week 3 has arrived with a schedule that features some surprise teams either trying to keep.newfound success up right their underachieving ways. The Washington Commanders will host the Buffalo Bills this week as Washington tries to stay unbeaten against a Billls team who got their first win in Week 2. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try to remain unbeaten against the unbeatedn Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. The game of the week might come from 2 winless teams actually. The Minnesota Vikings are hosting the Los Angeles Chargers, two teams that made the playoffs last year but have struggled to getnin the win column this year. A lot of murmurs have hovered around this team amidst their losing streaks, especially around Chargers head coach Brandon Staley after his team has suffered one score losses. However, both teams come high powered offenses, andnin a fight to save their season, could be putring on a fireworks show. But until then…I’ll holla.