NFL Winners and Losers: Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels are both hits, and that’s historic

It’s rare for quarterbacks to go with the first two picks of the NFL Draft. And both of those quarterbacks will become superstars? That has never happened before in modern times, believe it or not.

It looks like this year’s lesson will change that history.

It’s too early to announce the win over Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. After one season, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, the first two picks of the 2012 draft, looked like superstars and that disappeared after RG3’s ACL injury. But it appears Williams and Daniels will be among the NFL’s best quarterbacks for a while. And it’s gearing up for a momentous NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year race.

Williams had a better than average start as the starting quarterback, but things looked bad compared to Daniels’ red-hot start for the Washington Commanders. On Sunday in London, it looked like Williams would be able to match Daniels for the rest of the match.

Williams threw four touchdowns and was fantastic in the Chicago Bears’ 35-16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are a terrible team with perhaps the worst defense in the NFL, and that certainly didn’t hurt Williams. But he looked like a No. 1 overall pick. He showed great vision, he used his improv skills and made play after play and had some impressive throws. His touchdowns against Keenan Allen in particular were masterpieces. On both, he put the ball exactly where it needed to be for Allen to score. It’s not normal for a quarterback to look this good in his sixth game.

Williams is slowly progressing and looking better and better every week. The Bears are 4-2 with their quarterback figuring out the NFL at a pretty rapid pace. Daniels looked like he had mastered the NFL from his first day, which is even rarer.

Daniels didn’t have a great day on Sunday in a 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but that doesn’t really put a damper on the start of his rookie season. The Ravens are one of the NFL’s best teams, but Daniels still went 24 of 35 for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-23 loss. The loss dropped the Commanders to 4-2, and few expected them to have that record after six games. Daniels was incredible and he kept Washington in the game on Sunday. It wasn’t his fault Washington lost, the Commanders just aren’t as good as the Ravens.

The history of quarterbacks going 1-2 in the NFL Draft is not a good one. The best pairing may have been Jim Plunkett and Archie Manning in 1971, but Plunkett had no success with a Patriots franchise that drafted him and Manning is best known for doing his best during a terrible Saints era. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz each had moments, but Wentz quickly faded after one great season. Most of the 1-2 pairings include a clear failure: Rick Mirer, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Zach Wilson, Bryce Young (although the latter two still have a chance to redeem themselves). And it’s not just Williams and Daniels, Drake Maye looked pretty good in his first NFL start on Sunday and Bo Nix has had his moments this season as well. This group of rookie quarterbacks looks strong.

It’s a little hard to believe, but there has never been a draft class where quarterbacks have gone with the first two picks and both succeeded. Chicago and Washington are happy that this class appears to be making history. The Commanders and Bears play in two weeks, and that game will feature two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks. Al.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 6 of the NFL season:

WINNERS

NFC North: It’s hard to get four playoff teams from the same division. The math is hard to work out, especially when teams are suffering losses in tough divisional games.

But it certainly seems like the NFC North has four of the best teams in the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings are 5-0. The Detroit Lions are clearly a championship contender. The Bears are 4-2. And the Green Bay Packers are looking pretty good as their quarterback finds a groove.

Jordan Love looked very good in dismantling the Arizona Cardinals 34-13 on Sunday. He threw three touchdowns in the first half and looked all the way back from a knee injury in Week 1. Love finished with 258 yards and four touchdowns. The Packers are doing just fine. The only problem is that they play in the best division in football.

Houston Texans: The New England Patriots are not a very good team, and rookie quarterback Drake Maye didn’t change that in his debut. But one of the telltale signs of a good team is having no doubts against inferior opponents, and the Texans passed that test on Sunday.

CJ Stroud looked like an MVP candidate again and the Texans didn’t miss Nico Collins, the NFL’s leading receiver who went to IR with a hamstring injury, in an easy win over the Patriots. Maye wasn’t that bad, but the Texans’ win was never in question. Joe Mixon returned to the lineup and it was a reminder of how diverse and unstoppable the Texans offense could be if he stays healthy. Mixon totaled 132 yards and two touchdowns.

Beating the Patriots doesn’t make Houston a championship contender. But at 5-1, the Texans look as strong as any team in the NFL.

The Ravens Offense: Derrick Henry changed everything for the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s not often that an MVP quarterback changes his identity and that’s a good thing, but it happened in Baltimore. Henry had 132 yards rushing and two touchdowns, Lamar Jackson had 323 yards passing, Zay Flowers had 132 yards receiving and tight end Mark Andrews emerged again with 66 yards and a touchdown in a 30-23 win over the Washington Commanders.

Jackson never had a great run to work with, but now he does. Baltimore can move the ball any way they want with multiple stars on offense. It will be very difficult to slow down the Ravens this season.

LOSERS

Sloppy brown: The Cleveland Browns aren’t a good team in almost any way this season, and it doesn’t help that they’re making bad mistakes at inopportune times.

Last week, the Browns wanted to go for it on fourth down near the end zone, but they had 12 men in the huddle, causing Deshaun Watson to walk to the sideline in frustration. This week, the Browns’ best chance to win an even match against the Philadelphia Eagles came with about four minutes left in fourth down. But left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. had a false start, sending the Browns back to the 13-yard line. The Browns thought that was too far to go for it, so they settled for a field goal, which didn’t do Cleveland much good at the time. It was probably the wrong decision to kick the field goal, but it’s not like coach Kevin Stefanski had a great option. They then trailed 20-16 and never got the ball back after Jalen Hurts completed a huge pass to AJ Brown downfield and the Eagles went on to win 20-16.

That’s the Browns’ season. They’re not good, Watson can’t make plays when he needs to and the Browns aren’t helping themselves with bad mistakes. It seems like a lost season for Cleveland.

Tennessee officials: Officials held no grudge against the Tennessee Titans. They don’t care which team wins, the NFL isn’t rigged. But two bad non-calls in the fourth quarter destroyed any chance of the Titans coming back to beat the Indianapolis Colts.

Twice on third down the Titans threw to DeAndre Hopkins, and twice there was enough contact to mark it. Neither was called. The first was a glaring miss by the officials and sent Titans coach Brian Callahan into a tirade against the officials.

The Titans probably shouldn’t have punted on fourth-and-7 with less than three minutes left after the second non-call, but did so, hoping to get the ball back. They did, but with just enough time to play one desperation game that never got off the ground. The Colts won 20-17. The Titans won’t be happy when they see the replays.