The NFL hasn’t seen an early-season injury epidemic at quarterback quite like this in a long time.
With Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Jaxson Dart all getting injured in Week 2, there’s a good chance six teams will have been forced to go with a backup quarterback as the starter because of injuries by the time the games this week are finished.
This will be the first time since at least 2000 that has happened within the first three games of a season. There have been four other seasons in that time when at least six teams used multiple starting quarterbacks within the first three games, according to Sportradar, including a record-tying seven in both 2019 and 2010. There were also six in both 2001 and 2015, but the changes in all four of those seasons also included benchings and rookies getting elevated.
The spate of quarterback injuries started when Super Bowl winner Sam Darnold injured his hip on the first drive of the season for the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 9. Drew Lock replaced him and has helped Seattle get off to a 2-0 start. Darnold was set to practice Wednesday but might not return to start this week.
One day later, Tua Tagovailoa left practice for Atlanta with an oblique injury, forcing the Falcons to turn to Cooper Rush as their starter for the first two games. Michael Penix, coming back from a knee injury last season, is set to start Thursday night against Green Bay.
Minnesota’s Kyler Murray then got a concussion in the first quarter of the opener for the Vikings, opening the door for Carson Wentz to come in and finish that game and start Week 2. Murray will be back as the starter this week.
The issue only got worse this past week with Williams injuring his hamstring late in Chicago’s loss to the Vikings, Daniels going down with a serious left elbow injury for Washington against Dallas, and Dart injuring his knee Monday night when the Giants lost to the Los Angeles Rams.
Daniels has already been ruled out this week, with Marcus Mariota set to start for the Commanders. Dart is expected to have season-ending surgery on his left knee, according to a person with knowledge of the details of the injury.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the team had not announced Dart’s status. That would lead to Jameis Winston starting this week.
Williams won’t practice for the Bears this week but hasn’t been ruled out for Monday night against Philadelphia. Backup QB Tyson Bagent went into the concussion protocol, forcing third-stringer Case Keenum to practice with the first team for Chicago on Wednesday. Keenum hasn’t played in the regular season since 2023 but no decision has been made on who will start this week.
All the injuries have been in the NFC, making this the first time since the merger in 1970 that six teams in the same conference used multiple starting quarterbacks for any reason within the first three games of a season.
Despite the early quarterback carousel, one thing has been missing. No drafted rookie has taken a snap at QB all year, with Atlanta’s undrafted Jack Strand the only rookie to see the field so far.
This is just the fourth time in the common draft era starting in 1967 that no drafted rookie quarterback saw the field during the first two games. It also happened in 2007, 2000 and 1991.
Forbidden territory: It’s been a rough start for one team that hasn’t had its No. 1 quarterback.
The Atlanta Falcons are still searching for their first red-zone trip of the season after failing to get inside the 20-yard line in losses to Pittsburgh and Carolina the first two weeks.
The Falcons’ only touchdown came on a 23-yard pass from Cooper Rush to Bijan Robinson in Week 1 against the Steelers. No other drive has crossed the 20, marking the first time since the St. Louis Rams in 2008 that a team had no red-zone trips over the first two games of a season.
The Rams finally made it to the red zone in the second quarter of Week 3. According to ESPN, two other teams since 1978 also failed to reach the red zone in the first two games: Detroit in 1997 and New England in 1992. The Lions weren’t inept, as they scored six touchdowns in the first two games that season, with two coming on defense and four on big plays of at least 20 yards.
The Falcons have struggled to move the ball at all, especially through the air. Atlanta’s quarterbacks have combined for a 38.2 passer rating, third-worst through two games in the past 20 seasons and worse than the 39.6 if the QBs simply spiked the ball every play.
Offensive power, defensice futility: Two teams that haven’t had trouble scoring — or success stopping others from doing it — are the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.
Buffalo opened its new stadium last Thursday night with a 41-31 win over Detroit, scoring the third-most points since the merger for a team in its first game in a new stadium. Only the 1987 Miami Dolphins with 42 points in a replacement-player game at Joe Robbie Stadium and the 1971 Dallas Cowboys with 44 at Texas Stadium scored more.
The Bills and Lions had both won high-scoring games in Week 1, with Buffalo beating Houston 36-31 and Detroit beating New Orleans 31-30 in overtime. Only four other teams had opened the season with back-to-back games both scoring and allowing at least 30 points, with the Bills also doing it in 1991 and 2002, the Rams in 2000 and New England in 1994.
The 62 points allowed by the Bills are the fourth-most permitted by a team that won its first two games, with the 2000 Rams having the most with 70.
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