Rams QB Jared Goff is one of the young star players driving interest in the NFL this seasonGETTY IMAGES
The NFL season is "just a quarter old, but the start has been refreshing" and has been "exactly what the NFL needed" after last year, according to Jerry Brewer of the WASHINGTON POST. In the first month of this season, the game has "outshined all potential conflict." It "helps that player protests have been largely muted." However, eliminating the protests "couldn't be the only solution," as the quality of play "needed a jolt as well." There is now a "new star to be infatuated with" -- Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who is a "delightful combination of agility, arm strength and audacity." But the 4-0 Chiefs are not even the "most intriguing team so far." That honor belongs to the NFC-leading Rams, who "employ a lot of stars, score a lot of points and also have a defense to be feared." Overall, scoring is up, TV ratings "have been good, and the prime-time games have intrigue." Eighteen QBs are "on pace to surpass 4,000 yards." The top four rookie QBs selected in the '18 Draft have "shown flashes of being franchise-carrying players." In a sport "perpetually desperate for quality signal-callers, there's a chance we will conclude that the majority of teams actually feel comfortable" at the QB position. Despite pass rushers and avid fans spending the first three weeks in "shock over penalties for what used to be legal hits" on QBs, even that controversy "seems refreshing because it's about football" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/3).
DAWN OF A NEW ERA: In Chicago, Mark Potash wrote the "great young quarterback race is on" this season. After Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky in last week's win over the Buccaneers matched Mahomes' six-touchdown game in Week 2, Mahomes "raised the bar with an eye-opening performance against the Broncos" on "MNF." Trubisky "finally put his hat in the ring" with his breakout performance, but Mahomes "took it to another level against the Broncos with a scintillating fourth quarter" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/3). In Houston, John McClain wrote the Bears, Chiefs and Texans are "looking quite shrewd" for trading up in the '17 Draft to get Trubisky, Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, respectively. Cowboys-Texans on NBC's "SNF" this week "gives Watson a chance to create a national buzz the way Trubisky and Mahomes did" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 10/3).
