Answering NFL’s biggest questions entering Week 9: Joe Burrow-led Bengals making playoff run still ‘doable?’

I think NFL Week 8 was my favorite week so far. We started off with a Los Angeles Rams upset win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night. If you follow this column, you’ll remember I told you in Week 3 the Rams were poised for a late-season rally. We also saw Jayden Daniels have his prayers answered with a game-winning Hail Mary against Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, and several close games that kept us glued to our screens at the end of the 1 p.m. ET slate.

That NFL Sunday was truly one for the books. It was the fourth week since 2000 to feature five game-winning scores in the final minute of regulation, including Jameis Winston sparking the Cleveland Browns offense, and Kyler Murray ruining Tua Tagovailoa’s return to the field. 

This week, I want to discuss who is the best quarterback in the NFC East, and if Joe Burrow’s analysis on the rest of the Cincinnati Bengals‘ season is correct. 

1. Who is the best QB in the NFC East?

Washington fans have to feel like the drafting of Daniels was divine intervention. Everyone knows the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is off to a hot start in his NFL career, but Sunday confirmed that he’s special. Daniels was questionable to play with a rib injury, and I for one thought he wasn’t going to suit up. But he did, and threw a 52-yard game-winning Hail Mary. It was the longest game-winning touchdown as time expired in the regular season since the 2018 “Miami miracle” when Rob Gronkowski was playing safety for the Patriots. 

Daniels is the second quarterback all time to complete 70% of his passes, average 200 passing yards per game and 50 rushing yards per game in an eight-game span. The other was Lamar Jackson last year, when he won his second MVP award. 

At this point, I think the question has to be asked: Who is the best quarterback in the NFC East? You have Dak Prescott, who was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL last year and finished as the MVP runner-up, and Jalen Hurts, who just set a new quarterback record this past Sunday with his third career game with three rushing touchdowns. Sorry New York Giants fans, but we’re ignoring Daniel Jones for this exercise.

Daniels, Prescott and Hurts are all capable of garnering MVP votes. If you had to pick one, who are you taking? Let’s take a look at some stats:

I don’t know about you, but I’m taking Daniels over Hurts and Prescott moving forward. This is a ROOKIE quarterback who is just going to get better, and he leads Hurts and Prescott in four out of the seven statistical categories posted above. 

Apart from his efficiency as a passer, Daniels’ elusiveness is also a big reason to be excited about his ceiling. He ranks second among all quarterbacks in rushing with 424 yards, but has doubled up Lamar Jackson in rushing touchdowns with four. 

This past week was just the sixth instance of a rookie throwing for 325 yards and rushing for 50 yards in a game — and it didn’t even feel like some elite performance! Daniels is the first rookie to win six of a team’s first eight games since Prescott in 2016. Give me the rookie with the incredibly high ceiling. 

2. Bengals’ comeback ‘doable’ like Burrow says?

The Bengals were destroyed by the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, 37-17. It was one of the more surprising results of the weekend, and drops the Bengals to 3-5. After the game, star quarterback Joe Burrow said that the Bengals need 10 wins to make the playoffs.

“I think 10 wins usually gets you in,” Burrow said, “so we’ve got to win seven out of nine. That’s doable, so we’ll go from there.”

How doable is it? According to Tankathon, the Bengals have the 18th-toughest remaining schedule in the NFL:

Bengals remaining schedule

(Bye comes in Week 12)

The Bengals, according to SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh’s calculations, have a 19.8% chance of making the playoffs. Sitting at 3-5, Oh sees the Bengals going 4.6-4.4 the rest of the season, with a final win prediction of 7.6. Obviously, that would not land Cincinnati in the playoffs. It feels like that Week 16-18 stretch where the Bengals face the Browns, Broncos and Steelers will be critical. 

The Eagles were a litmus test for the Bengals. They are an NFC contender, but haven’t looked like one of the best teams in the league consistently just yet. On Sunday, Cincinnati was outgained 397 yards to 280 despite converting an incredible 10 of 13 third-down attempts. The Bengals committed just one penalty for 3 yards, but lost the turnover battle 0-2. Put simply, Cincinnati is going to have to improve on both sides of the ball if it wants to make a run.