YOUNG PASSERS IN SPOTLIGHT AS NFL ENTERS WEEK 3​

YOUNG PASSERS IN SPOTLIGHT AS NFL ENTERS WEEK 3​

NFL quarterbacks are getting younger and more efficient, undefeated teams abound – including three clubs that missed the 2018 playoffs, and a pair of AFC powers that meet Sunday – and games are close and competitive. Those are just some of the NFL storylines as the league steams toward Week 3 of a memorable opening script. This is the last NFL week with every team in action until Thanksgiving and Week 13.​

TOP PASSER RATING EVER: Through two weeks, the NFL’s 100th season is its best in terms of passing efficiency. In fact, the five most efficient marks in league annals have occurred this decade.

The highest aggregate passer ratings entering Week 3 in NFL history:

YOUTH UNDER CENTER: For a third consecutive week, a rookie quarterback is expected to make his first NFL start when the New York Giants’ DANIEL JONES, the sixth overall selection in the 2019 draft, takes the field at Tampa Bay (4:05 PM ET, FOX). Elsewhere, a pair of second-year players will make their first NFL starts: The New York Jets’ LUKE FALK at New England (1:00 PM ET, CBS) and Pittsburgh’s MASON RUDOLPH at San Francisco (4:25 PM ET, CBS).

• This week, at least 18 quarterbacks age 26 or younger are expected to start. That hasn’t happened in 32 years, since Week 3 of the 1987 season (also 18).
• And if a 19th quarterback starts at age 26 or younger, that would be a first in the 100 seasons of the NFL.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK: Like the NFL, which turns 99 today, Chiefs quarterback PATRICK MAHOMES also has a September 17 birthday. The NFL’s youngest Most Valuable Player since Pro Football Hall of Famer DAN MARINO in 1984, Mahomes has shattered Marino’s NFL record with 326.4 passing yards per game before his 24th birthday. And, despite starting just one game during his rookie campaign in 2017, he ranks fourth in NFL history with 57 touchdown passes prior to turning 24. Most passing yards per game and touchdown passes prior to a 24th birthday in NFL annals:

3-0 REBOUNDS: Three teams that missed the playoffs last year (the BUFFALO BILLS, GREEN BAY PACKERS and SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS) have an opportunity to begin the season 3-0. The last time at least three teams rebounded from missing the playoffs to begin a campaign 3-0 was 2013 (Chicago, Kansas City, Miami and New Orleans).

STRONG STARTS: San Francisco, with a win on Sunday vs. Pittsburgh, would be off to its best start in 21 years. Several teams can also achieve their best starts in a significant amount of time.

• Meanwhile, the LOS ANGELES RAMS and KANSAS CITY CHIEFS can each start 3-0 for a second consecutive season. The last time the same two NFL teams opened 3-0 in back-to-back years was 2015-16 (Denver and New England).

UNDEFEATED TEAMS NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED: This week, the league has a chance to tie a single-season record with eight teams having the ability to begin a season 3-0. The only year in the history of the NFL that at least eight clubs were 3-0 through three weeks was 1998 (eight). The last time seven teams started 3-0 was 2015.

• No NFL division has seen multiple teams start 3-0 since 2015, in the NFC South (Atlanta and Carolina). This week, it can happen in both the AFC East and the NFC West.
• Speaking of the NFC West, the division actually has three clubs that could be 3-0 a week from now. That hasn’t happened in an NFL division since 2002, the first year of the 32-team NFL and the current eight-division alignment. That year, AFC West teams Denver, Oakland and the San Diego Chargers each started 3-0.
• So far, nine teams are 2-0, the most 2-0 starts in the NFL since 2015 (also nine).

SHOWDOWN OF THE WEEK: In the Super Bowl era, only two players over the first two games of a season have started with at least seven TD passes, no interceptions and a completion percentage of 70 or higher. Those two players, LAMAR JACKSON and PATRICK MAHOMES, meet on Sunday (BALTIMORE at KANSAS CITY, 1:00 PM ET, CBS). A look at the last 10 matchups of 2-0 teams and how those clubs finished their seasons.

MEANWHILE, DURING WEEK 3 IN 2001: Eighteen years ago, after losing veteran starter DREW BLEDSOE to injury, the 0-2 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS faced a difficult road trip at Indianapolis, which was 2-0 to start that season. Enter a sixth-round selection from the year prior, TOM BRADY, and the youngster in his first NFL start led the Patriots to a 44-13 upset on the road. New England would advance to its first Super Bowl championship.

NFL SCHEDULE, SEPT. 19, 22-23

(All times Eastern)