New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills: Buffalo is 2-0 after coming back from a 21-3 halftime deficit last week against the Raiders. The Patriots are coming to town and have won 15 straight meeting against the Bills. They look to make it 16. Patriots 38-24

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Carolina Panthers: The quarterback carousel continues for the Jaguars. They will now start rookie QB Blaine Gabbert after Luke McGown’s awful performance against the Jets. Panthers found their guy in Cam Newton but he is still searching for his first win. Panthers 27-24

Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans: Denver’s defense has been bad over the first two weeks. Gave up 150 yards to McFadden in week one. In week two they allowed two receivers to go over 120 yards. The Titans might finally be able to get the run game going. Titans 24-17

N.Y. Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles: Since last year Vick is 9-2 in the regular season as the Eagles QB when he plays all four quarters. When he stays healthy, they have a good chance of winning. He’s cleared to start after he left last week with a concussion. Eagles 28-14

Houston Texans @ New Orleans Saints: Statistically, the Texans have one of the best pass defenses in the league. They will get their first real test on the road in the Dome when they take on Drew Brees and the Saints. Saints 24-23

Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings: The Lions are off to an amazing start. Detroit has to come back to earth sometime. They haven’t won a divisional road game in years and Adrian Peterson runs well against them in his career. Vikings 23-16

Miami Dolphins @ Cleveland Browns: Dolphins have found their RB in rookie Daniel Thomas. He ran for over 100 yards in his first game last week. Browns had an impressive road victory in Indianapolis for their first win last week. Dolphins have been better on the road. Dolphins 20-14

San Francisco 49ers @ Cincinnati Bengals: The 49ers run defense has been stout during the first two weeks. As good as their run defense has been, their pass defense has been just as bad. Andy Dalton has been a surprise for the Bengals. Dalton and the rookie WR A.J. Green have had a nice connection thus far. Bengals 16-10

N.Y Jets @ Oakland Raiders: The last time these two met at Oakland, the Jets won in a blowout 38-0. One of the storylines ended up being that Mark Sanchez was caught eating a hotdog on the sidelines. Do you mean that this was one of the stories on the side? Reports are the Raiders are using that as motivation. Jets are looking to repeat more of the same of the last meeting. Jets 24-21

Baltimore Ravens @ St. Louis Rams: The Ravens couldn’t stop the pass against the Titans. That seems to be their weakness over the past year. Lucky for them they go into St. Louis and face a struggling QB, and banged up receivers and backs. Ravens 23-10

Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers: This could be a trap game for the Chargers. Despite the loss last week and the Chargers desire to win this game, it is a division game. It is also a game in September and these Chargers have struggled early in past seasons. Chiefs have not competed yet this year. Chargers 28-24

Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Falcons take their balanced offensive attack into Tampa Sunday. Tampa had trouble defending the pass in week one and the run in week two. They could struggle with both in week three. Falcons 21-17

Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks: Cardinals have played well in the first two games, going 1-1. The same can’t be said for Seattle who’s 0-2. This is the NFL, where unpredictable happens. Seahawks 21-20

Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears: The Packers have had the worst pass defense in the NFL giving up 800 yards in the first two games. Bears don’t have a downfield threat to make that trend stand. Packers 31-17

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts: This won’t be pretty. The Steelers showed what happens when they play a bad team. It was a shutout victory for Pittsburgh. The Colts are lifeless without Manning. Steelers 28-7

Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys: Coach Mike Shanahan looks like a genius after letting McNabb go, going with Grossman at QB and trading for Hightower. The Cowboys home openers start on Monday Night Football but comes with a cost. Injuries to Romo (punctured lungs) Dez Ryant (thigh) and Austin (hamstring) will set them back. CB Terrance Newman is back and the defense will keep them in it. Cowboys 24-17

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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Ravens QB Joe Flacco, including the playoffs, has a record of 2-6 against the Steelers and both of those wins came without Ben Roethlisberger out. It will be a “knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out”-kind of game which comes as no surprise. Steelers 17-13

Atlanta Falcons vs. Chicago Bears: Both teams lost to the Packers last year in the playoffs. After an ugly beating by the Packers, Atlanta bounced back with a good offseason. They drafted the outstanding 6’3 wideout out of Alabama Julio Jones and signed Free Agent DE Ray Edwards. Meanwhile, Bears have OL problems after losing C Olin Kreutz. Atlanta 27-21

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns: Rookie Andy Dalton plus Rookie A.J. Green equals a promising future. Right now, this isn’t the future. Now the Bengals start on the road in the “Dawg Pound”. The Browns beat up New England at home last year and almost came up with a win against the Jets. Browns 24-10

Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans: With Peyton Manning declared out for week one and maybe longer, it’s time for the Texans to win the division and finally get into the playoffs. Houston has an injury concern of their own. Last year’s rushing leader, Arian Foster, didn’t practice Friday (hamstring) and his status is up in the air for Sunday. Even if he’s out, Houston still has enough to beat a Manning-less Colts. Houston 28-17

Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Chris Johnson gets his 4 year $53 million deal with $30 million of it guaranteed. Jaguars cut QB David Garrard only days before the season opener. That’s too quick of a turnaround for the team to overcome. Titans 21-17

Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Buffalo might be a better defensive team than people expect coming into the year. And understandably so after being a horrible run defense. They took Marcell Darius with the third overall pick and have a healthy pass rusher in Shawne Merriman. Chiefs may have been exposed after the blowout home loss to the Ravens in the playoffs. Upset alert. Bills 20-16

Philadelphia Eagles vs. St. Louis Rams: The “Dream Team” Philadelphia Eagles finally get to see how good they really are. They will be tested on the road against an upstart Rams team. One free agent the Eagles didn’t sign was WR Mike Sims-Walker who went to the Rams. Rams hope he can help stretch the field in the passing game. Eagles should pass their first test. Eagles 35-21

Detroit Lions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: This game could mean a lot to both these teams by the season’s end. The winner gets an advantage in the head to head battle as both teams most likely will be battling for a wildcard playoff spot. Stafford is healthy –for now. Raheem Morris will have his guys ready. Toss up. Lions 28-27

Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Panthers rookie Cam Newton starts week one after winning the preseason QB battle. New team, new offense, new weapons for Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb.  A home start against the league’s worst team last year should be enough for Kolb to get his first win for Arizona. Cardinals 24-17

Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers: Everybody is healthy for the Chargers and Phillip Rivers and company are looking for a fast start to the season. Did McNabb get enough time to learn the offense with the shortened offseason? Chargers 30-20

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers: Is the marquee matchup in this game really between the coaches? The same coaches who last played against each other when they were coaching for USC and Stanford? Jim Harbaugh won last time so we will take him again. 49ers 19-10

NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins: These two division rivals battle in remembrance of 9/11. Giants seem to always get hit with the injury bug. Osi Umenyiora may be out. With that said, they always compete and that defense is good enough to shut down Rex Grossman. Giants 24-20

Dallas Cowboys vs. NY Jets: Tony Romo is back but CB Terrance Newman is out for the Cowboys. A banged up secondary could open the door for Sanchez, Burress and the Jets. Rex looks to take this battle of the Ryan’s’. Jets 26-17

New England Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins: The Patriots usually have their trouble when they come down to Miami. Dolphins get to show off their free agent signed RB Reggie Bush and rookie Daniel Thomas. Pats defense seems to be improved. Patriots 31-14

Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos: The last two teams to play week one in the Monday night double header. All the talk in the offseason was about Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow and you guessed it, Tim TebowKyle Orton is the starting QB. Along with John Fox, Brandon Llyod and what maybe an improved defense with Elvis Dumervil leading the way, watch out. Surprise team? Broncos 23-20

 
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It’s never been easy to evaluate a quarterback and the impact a quarterback has on whether a team wins or loses.  We have had the Quarterback rating which has been used over the years to put a value on signal callers after each game.

Now ESPN has unveiled a new way to evaluate arguably the most important position on the football field; it is called the Total Quarterback Rating.

ESPN describes this new system as a way of “understanding what each play means to the team, then gives credit to the quarterback for what happened on a play based on what he contributed”

In this new approach to the position, a quarterback will be graded from a scale of 0-100, of course 100 being the highest, 50 being average or middle of the pact and 0 being the lowest; I doubt we will see any one ranked that low, unless Jimmy Clausen starts for Carolina.

The probability of winning becomes important in rewarding points to a player, in this new system every play in which a particular quarterback is involved will affect his overall rating.

A player like Michael Vick will benefit in this new system because last year, the 600 plus yards he gains on the ground did not affect his rating as  signal caller; he will be rewarded for those yards in the  system but at the same time, so will fumbles and yardage lost.

Every aspect of playing the position will be accounted for- interestingly enough, players will be penalized for overthrowing or under throwing receivers, an aspect of this that seemed to be a little hard to compute.  If a quarterback places the ball in a great spot that allows the receiver to gain more yards after the catch that will bode well for his total rating.

There are those who believe this will answer the question of who is the best quarterback in a season yet meaningless numbers won’t be rewarded like they have been in the past. In fact, you will be rewarded as a quarterback for making the right play when it means the most to the outcome of the game.

The clutch factor which we have seen in many quarterbacks and that which many other quarterbacks lack will play a large role in how their season will be judged.

“A clutch play is defined before the play by how close the game appears to be. Down four points with three seconds to go and facing third-and-goal from the 3-yard line — that is a high-pressure and high-clutch index situation because the play can realistically raise the odds of winning to almost 100 percent or bring them down from about 40 percent to almost zero percent.”

As described by the ESPN article, a play of this nature at midfield is relatively less meaningful therefore the clutch index is lowered.  The outcome of that same play at midfield will mean less to the overall outcome of the game.

The whole premise of this new approach is that, football is played by a team and the offense functions as a team.  In order to evaluate one position (the Quarterback), it is important to understand how he contributes to the team winning.  It becomes less about the totality of the yards or touchdowns scored by the team and more about the individual plays, when they were made and how they were made.

There is more to examine about this new approach to evaluating quarterbacks in the NFL.  The Total Quarterback Rating will take some getting used to, but sports fans and NFL fans will have to learn and adapt quickly.

Many former signal callers appreciate the way this has been done because it tries to incorporate everything involved in running a play in the National Football League.  As Cosell was quoted saying in the article, “Football is not complex, but it is very detailed.”  That is clearly evident in the Total Quarterback Rating.

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