Welcome to the Riker Report, where I open up my game day files each week and share a quick-hitter observation or development from each of the eight NFL divisions. Week 3 was a great week to be a New Yorker, with the Jets’ and Giants’ offenses powering their respective teams to statement wins. It’s time to check in around the league in this week’s report.
AFC East: The Jets are looking fun again after Rodgers’ strong performance
After a decade of getting beat up by the New England Patriots, the Jets have started to take it out on their divisional foes. On Thursday Night Football, quarterback Aaron Rodgers finally looked primed for prime time, completing 28 of 35 pass attempts for 281 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Almost as exciting is Rodgers’ supporting cast. The running back duo of Breece Hall and rookie Braelon Allen has been active in the ground and air attacks, while the NY defense held the Patriots to just three points at MetLife Stadium. The keys to the Jets’ season have always been to keep Rodgers healthy and stay competitive in the division, and New York appears firmly at the top of the AFC East next to the Buffalo Bills. That next step will be in defeating a top team after knocking off the mediocre Titans and Patriots, but it will have to wait — another Nathaniel Hackett revenge game against Denver awaits in Week 4.
NFC East: Wide receiver Malik Nabers looks like the real deal in Giants’ first win
The Giants aren’t nearly in the same class as the Jets, and the quarterback situation for MetLife’s other NFL tenant isn’t very rosy. Watching Saquon Barkley dominate as a member of the division rival Eagles doesn’t feel great, either. And New York is already 0-1 in the division due to a game against Washington that they lost despite holding their opponent without a touchdown. This team has a bleak outlook, and that’s true even in the glow of their first victory of the season, a 21-15 defeat of the Cleveland Browns. But in the spirit of having Malik Nabers on my workplace fantasy football team and having recently rewatched When Harry Met Sally’s “wave” scene, I’m going to focus on the positives for the G-Men. And no rookie has enjoyed a more exciting start than Malik Nabers. The sixth pick of the 2024 draft has dispelled notions that having Daniel Jones as a quarterback would stunt his NFL growth. Nabers has recorded an average of 90.33 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown per game through three NFL starts, and he ranks second league-wide in total receptions and first in total targets by a five-target margin. While the Giants have plenty to sort out on both sides of the roster before becoming a contender, it’s a good bet that Nabers can be a core piece to help elevate them to that status in the coming seasons.
AFC North: The Cincinnati Bengals tumble to a winless start despite Burrow’s strong performance
I spared the Bengals in Week 1 by focusing on the Patriots’ victorious start under head coach Jerod Mayo, but Cincinnati isn’t avoiding my ire this time around after yet another upset loss at home. In a frenzied 38-33 Monday Night Football game, Cincinnati suffered its worst defensive performance of the season to a rookie quarterback, as Jayden Daniels topped Joe Burrow in a matchup of LSU legends and Heisman Trophy winners. Cincinnati lost the game despite outgaining the Commanders by 80 yards from scrimmage and not turning the ball over. The good news: the Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase connection — the biggest reason for early-season panic after a tumultuous offseason — found its rhythm to the tune of six receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns. The Bengals are one of three teams to start 0-3 in the talented AFC but will face the Panthers, Giants and Browns in upcoming weeks and could feasibly return to .500 by midseason. For a team that has already lost to New England and Washington at home, no game will be a gimme.
NFC North: Caleb Williams struggling to acclimate to NFL, but his cast is not helping
I watched more college football than NFL this weekend, and Colorado’s Folsom Field lived up to the hype. In watching Shedeur Sanders lead a massive comeback against the Baylor Bears with a last-second Hail Mary touchdown pass, I thought back to a year ago to the weekend, when I saw Sanders clash with another top NFL quarterbacking prospect who has made his way to the NFL.
It’s fair to say that Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has not put up performances like Shedeur’s career night against Baylor to start this season. Though there’s time to turn it around, the shaky start is a fascinating development for a player lauded as one of the best quarterbacking talents in years and a key figure on HBO’s Hard Knocks. In the Bears’ 1-2 start, Williams ranks 29 out of 31 qualified quarterbacks in ESPN’s QB rating metric, while tying the NFC lead with four interceptions. Context is important: the Bears have allowed 13 sacks so far, tied for third-most in the league, and wide receivers Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze have not been healthy. Growing pains were also to be expected in Williams’ first year, but the truth is that the Bears don’t have much time to correct course given the competitiveness of the NFC North.
AFC South: Bills’ dominant performance deals another staggering loss to Jacksonville
Jacksonville’s 2023 landslide of losing has continued into 2024. Losses to Miami and Buffalo are not terrible on their own, but an 0-3 start and a Week 2 loss to the Cleveland Browns should inflict real terror in Jaguarland. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence has lost his past eight regular season games, a ridiculous statistic given the five-year, $275 million extension he signed over the offseason. Jacksonville is not known as a franchise with a rich quarterback history — Mark Brunell and David Garrard probably qualify as the two best options — but the Jaguars are headed in the wrong direction and Lawrence seems to be regressing since his comeback victory in the playoffs against the Chargers. The defense is also failing to live up to expectations and has surrendered just over 250 passing yards per game, third-worst in the NFL. A 47-10 loss to Buffalo in Week 3 should be a wakeup call for a supposed playoff contender, and a weak division may be the strongest source of encouragement for a team that has the talent to be a force but no results to show for it.
NFC South: Panthers’ quarterback switch is rewarded with rare road victory
The Panthers won a game, and all it took was one of the most devastating quarterback switches in franchise history. I use the word devastating because former first overall pick Bryce Young’s relegation to the bench is admission of a grievous error by Carolina owner David Tepper, and it’s difficult to reverse course after such a convincing vote of no confidence. The tape itself is devastating to watch: Young ranks dead-last in ESPN’s QBR metric with a 9.1, almost a third of the rating of the next-closest passer, Deshaun Watson. He also exited his two-start stint without a touchdown pass and seemed to lose the confidence that was a key characteristic of his college days at Alabama.
All that to say, the Panthers’ move at quarterback to start Andy Dalton was one of the NFL’s most significant developments of the past week, and the aftermath was just as intriguing. For as much as one bad team beating another can be considered an upset, Carolina “upset” the Raiders in Las Vegas in a 36-22 victory for their first win since before Halloween 2023. Dalton’s 319-yard, three-touchdown performance should infuse life into the Panthers’ fan base amid all the dysfunction, and the satisfaction of a headline that is positive for once. But head coach Dave Canales has to be the biggest winner in the situation, earning his first win in the NFL while distracting himself from quite an unenviable setup in Charlotte.
AFC West: Kansas City improves to 3-0 after Sunday Night Football triumph
Five undefeated teams remain: the Chiefs, Bills, Steelers, Vikings and Seahawks. Of those five teams, there’s only one where I’m ready to call the division theirs to lose, and that is the reigning Super Bowl champions. Kansas City has started the season with three ridiculously close calls against Baltimore, Cincinnati and Atlanta, winning each in one-possession games and sometimes by margins of inches. But those are three impressive victories, and each has demonstrated the Chiefs’ growth beyond reliance on their usual contributors. Wide receiver Rashee Rice is the team’s breakout star of the first three games, ranking second in the NFL with 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while wide receiver Xavier Worthy has flashed the speed that made him a tantalizing first-round talent. The Chiefs have also made the most of their plug-and-play backfield, with undrafted free agent Carson Steele now sliding into RB1 duties amid injuries to regulars Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Patrick Mahomes’ start out of the gates hasn’t been groundbreaking, but his performance seems emblematic of the team’s as a whole: despite a 3-0 start, the best seems still to come from Kansas City.
NFC West: Have injuries started the clock on San Francisco’s contention in 2024?
It’s time to check on my preseason Super Bowl pick, which suffered its second-consecutive loss in a heartbreaking defeat to a division rival. The 49ers squandered a 292-yard, three-touchdown performance from quarterback Brock Purdy, the breakout performance of the year from Jauan Jennings (175 yards, three touchdowns) and a 24-14 fourth quarter lead in losing to the undermanned Rams, who were without their top two receivers. After a statement win on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets, the 49ers’ season has devolved into disaster. Between running back Christian McCaffrey’s Achilles injury, tight end George Kittle’s hamstring injury, wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s calf injury and Purdy’s new back injury, San Francisco is falling apart just as their Super Bowl revenge tour was getting started. Upcoming home contests against New England and Arizona could be just what the 49ers need to get healthy and correct course, but the Niners’ injuries are becoming a defining storyline of the NFL season and could derail a very promising season with Super Bowl aspirations.
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