Monday Morning Digest: Week 2 Reality Check on NFL QBs

Week 2 was so full of surprises and upsets that Digest is bursting at the seams with insights and analysis about all sorts of topics, including:

• The third evolution of Blake Bortles

• The consciousness-expanding glory of Patrick Mahomes

• Josh Allen's hapless debut for the hopeless Bills

• Implications and ramifications of the Vikings-Packers tie

• Rough starts for rookie coaches

• Straight-talk Ryan Fitzpatrick and other quarterbacks in the news

...and much more, including an interview with Jets great Nick Mangold and (of course) some skunks and snack foods.

After two weeks, Patrick Mahomes looks like a Hall of Famer, Ryan Fitzpatrick a franchise savior, Deshaun Watson a bust in the making and Sam Darnold a combination of all three.

It can be hard to separate what's real from the September mirages and runaway storylines. Luckily, Digest starts things off this week by sorting everything out for you. 

The quarterback: Sam Darnold, Jets

The storyline: From savior to next Mark Sanchez in six days.

The reality: Wasn't it fun pretending that the Jets' 48-17 win over the Lions on Monday night was all about Darnold? Sure, he threw a pick-six with his first pass, the Jets scored a touchdown each on an interception, punt return and run up the gut against a disinterested opponent, and Darnold's highlight-reel touchdown to Quincy Enunwa would have been intercepted by a better safety. Who cares when you have a messiah to anoint?

It's a lot harder to play quarterback when trailing by 20 than leading by 20, as Darnold discovered in Sunday's 20-12 loss to the Dolphins. The result may have been different if Chris Herndon didn't fumble while trying to muscle into the end zone just before halftime. Then again, last Monday night's result may have been different if the Lions didn't surrender at the first sign of adversity. Darnold and the Jets have a long season ahead of them; extreme flip-flopping in tabloid headlines and fan reactions won't make it any shorter.

The quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buccaneers

The storyline: Jameis Who?

The reality: Fitzpatrick has thrown for 819 yards, eight TDs and just one interception in wins against the Saints and Eagles, a pair of preseason Super Bowl favorites. History tells us that Fitzpatrick enjoys brief surges like these when surrounded by outstanding weapons, and the Bucs have one of the best receiver/tight end corps in the NFL. Meanwhile, Jameis Winston has been just erratic enough on and off the field during his Buccaneers career to make him the kind of quarterback teams look for excuses to move on from.

Fitzpatrick should remain the Bucs' starter when Winston returns from suspension, but he also should get the quick hook the moment he turns into farm-to-table pumpkin ravioli. Assuming that the Bucs have not blossomed into sudden Super Bowl contenders, they cannot make the old Bills/Jets mistake and rashly hand their future to everyone's favorite Ivy League beardo. But heaven knows they shouldn't hand Winston a darned thing either.

The quarterback: Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers

The storyline: Will the real Jimmy G. please stand up?

The reality: Garoppolo followed last week's flinchy three-interception fiasco with a strong 18-of-26, 208 yard, two-touchdown effort in a 30-27 win over the Lions.

Last week, Garoppolo was facing a great defense, and injuries left him with poor protection and an overmatched receiving corps. The protection still wasn't great this week, but tight end Garrett Celek made a couple of plays for his quarterback, and the 49ers were facing a run defense that may have worn itself out during training camp, so Matt Breida and Alfred Morris rushed for 186 yards to take the pressure off.

That's how this works, people! Quarterback results are largely functions of other factors. It's a team sport! (Taps microphone.) Can you hear me? Is this thing on? STOP OVERREACTING EVERY WEEK.

On second thought, I get paid to respond to your overreactions, so go nuts.

The quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs

The storyline: Is he a superhero, alien, archangel or the result of some Brett Favre cloning experiment?

The reality: Mahomes and the Chiefs were well-covered Sunday and get their own segment later in Digest. The short, level-headed and analytical answer? Yes, yes, he is all of the things listed above.

The quarterback: Deshaun Watson, Texans

The storyline: That next-big-thing coronation was premature.

The Reality: The Texans offensive line is awful. It allowed four sacks and nine hits on Watson while killing drives with a sampler platter of holds, clips and false starts. That said, Watson also threw an ill-advised pass into end-zone double coverage for an interception and blew an opportunity to tie the game at the end by burning 17 seconds in the pocket before finding DeAndre Hopkins over the middle as time expired.

Watson has now spent two weeks proving that he's not ready to live up to his preseason expectations. Also, Bill O'Brien has now spent four seasons proving that he's not the coach to help a young quarterback live up to anything. Both O'Brien and Watson need to start by finding ways to not spot two-touchdown leads before getting to work.

What happened

Bortles had 377 passing yards and four touchdown tosses to four different receivers in a 31-20 victory over the Patriots. He also rushed for 35 yards, and his only interception glanced off a receiver's hands.

Four touchdowns against the Patriots is impressive. Nick Foles impressive. But it's how Bortles and the Jaguars handled themselves in the fourth quarter that really matters.

The Jaguars took an early 24-3 lead and looked like the far superior team at halftime. Then the Patriots mystique began tightening its grip around their necks. A DJ Chark Jr. fumble turned into a Patriots touchdown, a shanked punt led to a field goal, Kyle Van Noy hauled in a tip-drill interception, and the Patriots were poised to do what they almost always do to upstart contenders.

But Bortles and Dede Westbrook turned a Patriots defensive lapse into a 61-yard catch-and-run to give the Jaguars breathing room. Tom Brady answered with a quick touchdown, but Bortles completed a 22-yard pass, scrambled for a first down on 3rd-and-long (alertly staying in bounds to munch clock) and finally completed a five-yard pass on 3rd-and-3 to ice the game.

Bortles wasn't just good; he was gutsy and efficient when it mattered most.

What it means

Bortles the Buffoon from 2016 could sabotage the Jaguars' plans this year. Bortles the Game Manager from last year could lead the Jaguars to a Super Bowl, Trent Dilfer-style, but is just as likely to limit them to playoff also-ran status.

But this new Bortles the Playmaker with a Plan—the guy who can pick opponents apart with his arms and legs AND make smart fourth-quarter decisions? He could make the Jaguars something special, and a win against the Patriots, with all of its playoff tiebreaker implications, makes anything possible. 

What's next

A visit from the Titans and their Marcus Mariota-Blaine Gabbert-Derrick Henry-Kevin Byard quarterback committee.

What happened

Everything. Everything happened.

This game was a hallucinatory football phantasmagoria. It was like licking Amazonian toads and watching old Super Bowls on fast forward while listening to King Crimson. It was like playing NFL Blitz in the arcade with the game cheating to play catch-up.

Every single play in this game was either a Patrick Mahomes touchdown pass with flames and rainbows shooting out the back of the ball in flight, Ben Roethlisberger telekinetically waving away blitzers to turn a sack into a first-down throw, an apparent Chiefs turnover negated by a penalty, or something really unusual and entertaining.

When the smoke cleared, Mahomes had thrown six touchdown passes and just five incomplete passes. Roethlisberger threw for 457 yards and three touchdowns on 60 passes. The Steelers kept things close with a late-game safety, a forced fumble and a Roethlisberger touchdown scramble on fourth down, but it wasn't enough to halt the merciless Mahomes onslaught.

What it means

The Chiefs defense is inexperienced at many positions—mistake-prone and a step slow—but it doesn't matter. Their offense makes them Super Bowl contenders. And any remaining Mahomes skeptics are about as credible as Flat Earthers these days. He's becoming everything he was hyped to be. Maybe more.

Steelers running back James Conner came back to earth with an 8-17-1 rushing performance (plus 48 receiving yards), but the Steelers' slow start is less about missing Le'Veon Bell and more about sloppiness and poor execution on both sides of the ball. The Steelers excel at playground football but are bad at everything else right now, which speaks more to a lack of preparation than a lack of talent.

Whether Bell's continued absence and the Steelers' overall sloppiness are caused by the same coaching/organizational rot is a question for another day.

What's next

Mahomes faces Jimmy Garoppolo's 49ers in the Battle of the Phenoms. The Steelers will blow up Bell's phone this week, he'll give them the "New phone, who dis?" treatment, they'll get mad and dig in their heels, and the whole franchise will pretend it's not a distraction as it prepares for the only NFL team scarier than the Chiefs right now: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

All seven first-year (with new teams, anyway) head coaches lost their debuts last week. How did they do this week? Funny you should ask:

Jon Gruden

How'd the Raiders look last week? Like their best player got traded days before the start of the season and they were already losing faith in their celebrity head coach.

How'd they look this week? The Raiders played well early against the Broncos but settled for a pair of first-half field goals and then had nothing left in the tank in the fourth quarter of a 20-19 loss. Their defense recorded just one sack and allowed 168 rushing yards, while Derek Carr threw just three incompletions in a dink-and-dunk afternoon. So assigning blame will be the hardest part of Gruden's week, but rest assured that he will find a way.

Coaching grade so far: D

Matt Patricia

How'd the Lions look last week? The offense was predictable and the defense completely dispirited by the third quarter. Basically, they out-Raiders'd the Raiders.

How'd they look this week? Horrendous until a fourth-quarter wake-up call. The 49ers took a 30-13 lead into the fourth quarter, when Matthew Stafford led a pair of touchdown drives but was stopped just short of field-goal range in the waning seconds of a 30-27 loss. The Lions run defense and kick coverage remain awful, a pair of signs that the team may not be 100 percent bought into the Patricia program, but at least Stafford didn't alternate sacks with interceptions like he did against the Jets.

Coaching grade so far: D-

Frank Reich

How'd the Colts look last week? Not that terrible for a team that looked on paper like a dozen NFL players and 40 guys who would struggle to make the Patriots practice squad.

How'd they look this week? Motivated and well-coached in a 21-9 win over Washington, with a crisp game plan and significant contributions from rookies (linebacker Darius Leonard, backs Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins), second-to-seventh-chance veterans (Eric Ebron, Jihad Ward, Margus Hunt) and others. It helped that Washington contracted Adrian Peterson Syndrome and force-fed Peterson first-down handoffs while trailing (netting 20 yards on 11 carries as a result) in an effort to appease the future Hall of Famer who just won't quit.

Coaching grade so far: B

Pat Shurmur

How'd the Giant look last week? Like they spent the offseason worrying about minor problems (like an Odell Beckham Jr. contract situation that was under control) while ignoring major problems (moving Ereck Flowers from left to right tackle did little more than shift the passing lane on the New Jersey Turnpike).

How'd they look this week? It was one thing for the old Giants regime to be in denial about Eli Manning's decline and the across-the-board state of the offensive line. It's another thing for Shurmur to get so little out of his skill-position firepower as Eli backtracks against unblocked defenders and chucks passes into coverage. Thirteen-point leads should not feel insurmountable with Beckham on the field, no matter how bad the pass protection is. Right now, they do, and it makes the Giants almost as hard to watch as the Cardinals.

Grade: D

Mike Vrabel

How'd the Titans look last week? Who knows? There were so many weather delays that the game didn't end until Tuesday morning or something. They lost to the Dolphins, so it couldn't have been great shakes.

How'd they look this week? Missing Marcus Mariota (hand) and both first-string offensive tackles, the Titans manufactured a 14-0 lead out of fake punts and Derrick Henry Wildcats and then came back from a 17-14 fourth-quarter deficit for a 20-17 win over the penalty- and mistake-plagued Texans. That Vrabel could do more with Blaine Gabbert and Friends than Bill O'Brien did with Deshaun Watson, J.J. Watt, etc., says a little about Vrabel and a whole lot that we should have already figured out about O'Brien.

Coaching grade so far: B

Steve Wilks

How'd the Cardinals look last week? Like a bad team playing its first preseason game.

How'd they look this week? The Cardinals mustered just five first downs and 137 net yards in a 34-0 loss to the Rams. New expansion teams have looked better than Wilks' identity-less Cardinals in the first two games. Fortunately, expectations are low, and the Bills are around to prove that no matter how bad things get, they can always get worse.

Coaching grade so far: F

Matt Nagy

How'd the Bears look last week? Everything was going smoothly until they ran out of ideas and composure when Aaron Rodgers returned after halftime.

How'd they look this week? Gotta wait until Monday night to find out, folks.

Coaching grade so far: Incomplete.

What happened

Allen played poorly in his first start, a 31-20 loss to the Chargers that wasn't as close as the score.

Allen got no support from his receivers, offensive line or (especially) his defense, finishing 18-of-33 for 245 yards, one garbage-time touchdown and two interceptions, with much of the production against a soft defense nursing a safe lead.

According to the highlight captions on NFL.com, Allen showed off his cannon arm on one pass (actually an underthrown bomb) and threw a "laser" for 21 yards on another (it was pretty routine). But on most dropbacks, Allen looked hesitant to pull the trigger; Bills radio announcers said "Let it go" so often that it sounded like they were reading off the DJ requests at your niece's Frozen-themed birthday party.

What it means

The biggest apparent difference between the Allen-led Bills and the Nathan Peterman-led Bills—keep in mind that both versions have only played about 15 minutes of competitive football through two weeks—is that Allen doesn't know what he is doing while Peterman can't really do anything.

The Bills have now been outscored in first halves 54-6 through two games. The Chargers drove 38, 61, 75 and 81 yards for touchdowns on four straight drives, though Allen-led three-and-outs made life easier for their offense. Allen also endured five sacks, his own pocket indecision a big factor in them. Bills running backs didn't help, either, gaining just 52 yards. It's hard to stay balanced on offense when trailing by over 20 points for much of the game.

No quarterback short of Aaron Rodgers can help the Bills the way they're playing right now. That makes it hard to imagine how Allen will be able to develop in this environment and even harder to predict how many losses like this the Sean McDermott regime can endure before ownership starts wondering how and why the Bills went from the playoffs to being the NFL's worst team.

What's next

Allen played well enough to keep the starting job as the Bills travel to Minnesota. Yeah, it's gonna be ugly.

What happened

It wasn't a messy, yucky tie like Steelers-Browns last week. It was a shocking, frustrating, revealing tie that is likely to have major ramifications come playoff tiebreaker time.

The Vikings fought back from 20-7 and 29-21 fourth-quarter deficits against a team led by Aaron Rodgers operating at somewhere between 70 and 90 percent capacity. But rookie kicker Daniel Carlson missed 49- and 35-yard field goals in overtime to spoil the comeback.

What it means

Kirk Cousins wasn't signed just to make the Vikings better, but to make them better than the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers (and, by extension, the other NFC powerhouses). Sunday's tie answered the Cousins question with a "maybe." Cousins threw four touchdown passes, led a pair of comebacks and made few mistakes. But Carlson's three total missed field goals and a blocked punt against Matt Wile (signed off waivers at the end of camp) raise the specter that the Vikings cut too many corners elsewhere to pay for Cousins and their star-studded nucleus.

Rodgers displayed adequate mobility with a large brace on his knee but was limited to mostly dink-and-dunk work, and he hit the deck more eagerly than usual a few times when the Vikings defense converged. Per Packers tradition, the running game was a non-factor, Clay Matthews committed a penalty to extend a critical Vikings drive (though it was one of those "illegal landing on the quarterback too hard" fouls), and the defense mixed a few big plays with too many ill-timed calamities.

Will special teams heroics and lucky breaks on field goals be enough to beat quality opponents while Rodgers is limited (which could be many weeks)? Again, the answer is a definite "maybe." What's certain is that both the Packers and Vikings now risk going 10-5-1 and losing a playoff tiebreaker to some team like the Eagles, Falcons or Saints. (The Buccaneers, of course, will be undefeated.)

What's next

The Packers pack Rodgers' knee in dry ice for a trip to Washington, D.C. The Vikings face the Buffalo Byes. They should take a break from laughing at Bills film this week to call former Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey and offer him every available cap dime they have. Kirk Cousins can even offer weekly dinners. Wait, scratch that: They need Bailey to want to play for them.

Defensive Player of the Week: Colts rookie Darius Leonard recorded 15 solo tackles, three assists, sacked Alex Smith to force Washington to settle for a field goal and stripped the ball from Jordan Reed after a fourth-quarter catch to squelch another Washington drive deep into Colts territory.

Offensive Line of the Week: The Jaguars line held the Patriots without a sack, and the team ran for 104 yards despite the absence of Leonard Fournette. So let's recognize (left-to-right) Josh Wells (who replaced Cam Robinson in the first quarter after he suffered a knee injury), Andrew Norwell, Brandon Linder, A.J. Cann and Jermey Parnell.

Special Teamers of the Week: Packers teammates Geronimo Allison and Josh Jackson share this award for their blocked-punt touchdown against the Vikings. In fact, let's also recognize teammate Mason Crosby for his five field goals while we are at it. Allison, Jackson and Crosby combined for 23 of the Packers' 29 points on a day when Aaron Rodgers couldn't be asked to produce a, er, non-loss all by himself.

With kicker Greg Zuerlein (groin) unavailable, Rams punter Johnny Hekker handled kickoffs and delivered a short field goal and an extra point against the Cardinals. But Hekker is in the Awards Digest Hall of Fame, so he needs to do something really special to merit weekly recognition.

Mystery Touch of the Week: With Blaine Gabbert starting in place of Marcus Mariota, the Titans had to get creative. So not only did they run some Derrick Henry Wildcat, but they also stole a page from the 2012 Jets playbook: They secretly signed Tim Tebow, snuck him onto the field as the punt protector and ordered the lefty to toss a fake-punt floater to wide-open rookie Dane Cruikshank.

Wait, that wasn't Tebow. It was Pro Bowl safety Kevin Byard showing off his southpaw off-speed pitch to the Cruikshank Redemption. There's little Byard cannot do—and nothing that any team will ever borrow from the 2012 Jets playbook.

Fantasy Leech of the Week: This wasn't a great week for leeching. But if you started Tevin Coleman in the hopes that he would get most of Devonta Freeman's touches, you can't be happy with Matt Ryan running in a pair of touchdowns himself. But that's what you get for counting on the Falcons to do something logical in the red zone. 

Meaningless Fantasy Touchdown of the Week: Two Cowboys safeties ignored Evan Engram as he ran right between them and caught an 18-yard touchdown from Eli Manning. They must have been as bored of watching the Giants offense as the rest of us. Engram then added two more short catches after an onside kick to really twist the knife in PPR leagues.

Your Moment of Sark: OK, Falcons coordinator Steve Sarkisian called a pretty good game overall. But on 3rd-and-1 at the Panthers' 22-yard line early in the game, Sark tried to get tricky with a Mohamed Sanu Wildcat play. Luke Kuechly guessed (accurately) that Sark doesn't have the creativity to call anything but a keeper from the formation and stuffed Sanu for a loss.

Your Moment of Amari: Amari Cooper caught 10 passes for 116 yards, but his final reception was a head-scratcher. Cooper caught a pass over the middle with six seconds left and the Raiders trailing by one point, turned up the sidelines for a few yards and...scurried out of bounds as time expired. No desperate pitch. No quick dive out of bounds to preserve a second or two. No attempt to elude a tackler and make magic. You could see him shrug his shoulders as he figured, welp, that will look pretty tasty on the stat sheet.

Your Moment of Futility: After a trio of illegal-block, tripping and crackback penalties, plus a run for a loss of one, the Eagles faced a 3rd-and-41 situation early in their loss to the Buccaneers. Not even Nick Foles has a solution for 3rd-and-41. He threw a short pass to Corey Clement, and the Eagles punted. That pass was the only Eagles play since the Super Bowl that hasn't been labeled by the television broadcasters as an RPO.

Your weekly foray into the NFL's biggest issues and least-informed answers.

Jets superfan Edwin "Fireman Ed" Anzalone returns to lead the "J-E-T-S" cheer for the first time since retiring from fandom in 2012.

Point: Fireman Ed retired because of harassment and abuse in the stands. Fortunately, public discourse is much more civil now than it was six years ago, so that shouldn't be a problem at all.

Counterpoint: If Fireman Ed is as much a good luck charm to Sam Darnold as he was to Mark Sanchez...well, maybe Darnold should buy him a plasma TV so he'll stay home from now on.

Jon Gruden claims that a skunk has gotten into the Raiders locker room and is stinking up the joint.

Point: My 15-year-old son heard "skunk in locker room" and went straight to a marijuana joke, but my 12-year-old son did not get it. This tells us something about: A) how out of touch Gruden is for failing to make the same connection; B) the frame-of-reference differences between preteens and teenagers; C) the ubiquity of pot culture in America and the hacky-ness of "pot=skunk" jokes; or D) how I am raising my kids.

Counterpoint: Skunks have short lifespans, eliminating the possibility that Gruden accidentally signed a 30-year-old skunk as a free agent and forgot about him.

Starting cornerback Vontae Davis retires from the NFL during halftime of the Bills' loss to the Chargers.

Point: The first half of a Bills game takes its toll on all of us.

Counterpoint There's no truth to the rumor that Nathan Peterman pulled a Spritle and escaped in Davis' trunk.

Upgrades for fans at FedExField include "Cheetos stands featuring items inspired by the popular snack food," (h/t Dan Steinberg, Washington Post).

Point: Soon to be followed by "Mad Max: Fury Road restroom runs inspired by the popular movie."

Counterpoint: With munchies like those for sale, Jon Gruden's gonna think there's a skunk loose on the FedEx concourse.

Only two NFL players are still protesting by kneeling during the national anthem.

Point: "If it's just two guys no one has ever heard of, why are they still doing it?" asks a nation acutely aware of what they are doing.

Counterpoint: Protesting players are doing everything they can to keep an easily distracted media culture and national audience focused on the issue, not the protests. And that issue is...opposing Trump! No, wait: free speech! Um...selling sneakers and apparel? Nah. Systematic and institutionalized racial injustice and inequity? Maybe. What was that sneaker one again?

Line lessons

The Browns are now 2-0 against the spread this season. They have a stout front seven and a keep-it-close mentality on offense that should result in more close losses and ties this season—and might even produce a win someday. That said, the Browns are opening as three-point favorites against the Jets. Stay away from that madness, but be on the lookout for chances to grab the Browns and some points against future overrated favorites.

The 49ers failed to cover -6 against the Lions and are now 2-10 against the spread as home favorites dating back to 2014. Digest doesn't like combining data across four coaching regimes, but we do like teams that are frequently overvalued based on reputation. Don't give the 49ers the "They've arrived" treatment, particularly at home, until they actually arrive.

Movers and shakers

The Cardinals-Rams line shifted from Rams -10 to between -13 and -14 last week as wagerers digested just how good the Rams were Monday night and how hapless the Cardinals are every moment of their lives. The Rams won 34-0, which means the Cardinals are going to be involved in some kooky double-digit lines for a while. Don't chase them looking for cheap covers until they either crawl off the carpet or replace Sam Bradford with Josh Rosen, whichever comes last.

The Packers went from roughly -2.5 favorites in opening lines to +2.5 underdogs circa kickoff, with the Rodgers injury causing lots of early motion. The Vikings would have won and covered with a kicker, but don't shy away from the Packers. They opened at -2.5 at Washington next week. You'd never get a line like that against a team that just lost to the Colts if Rodgers wasn't wearing a brace.

Monday Night Action: Seahawks (+4.5) at Bears

The Bears are 1-6 against the spread as home favorites since 2015. That trend may mean almost zilch for the all-new, all-different 2018 Bears, but it's hard to get excited for a team that collapsed at the end of the game last week against the Packers and is now facing an opponent notorious for fourth-quarter miracles. This line moved from Seahawks +3 because of multiple injuries. If that injury report scares you away from the Seahawks, consider the over at 43: The house still hasn't adjusted to the post-Legion of Boom reality, and the Bears defense now has a knack for both scoring and allowing touchdowns.

Distant early warning

The Vikings are opening -16.5 at home against the Bills. That backdoor cover opportunity for the Bills may look tasty, but like the Cardinals, you should not count on the Bills for anything until they stop losing games at halftime.

Note: Future odds from OddsShark, and splits and trends from TeamRankings.com.

The Jets and quarterback Sam Darnold took a step back Sunday. Darnold threw two picks (along with a touchdown and 334 yards) in a 20-12 loss to the Dolphins, a week after his impressive two-touchdown debut in a 48-17 win over the Lions.

For some insight into Darnold's rookie season, Digest spoke with Jets center Nick Mangold. (Note: The interview took place before Darnold's Jets routed the Lions in Week 1.)

Digest: What were your first impressions of Sam Darnold?

Mangold: I like what I've seen. He's played with some good poise. He seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. I haven't gotten in-depth on it; I don't know him any more than anybody watching him on TV. But I'm excited to see him play.

Digest: What?! You haven't been rewinding tape and taking notes on his footwork?

Mangold: I haven't gotten that deep into it. Three kids keep me busy.

Digest: What's the most common mistake that rookie quarterbacks make?

Mangold: Trying to do too much. They want to be perfect; they want to do everything the right way. Sometimes they just have to do their job and do what's asked of them.

Digest: Does playing in New York make it harder for a young quarterback like Darnold?

Mangold: Yeah. Obviously, expectations skyrocket the moment one good thing happens. Suddenly he's the "savior of the franchise," and it's like: Slow down. It's Week 1 of the preseason! I'm not trying to pour water on anyone's excitement, but you have to take it one step at a time. In this market, that's tough to do.

Digest: There's a lot of talk that offensive line play around the NFL has deteriorated in recent years. Do you agree, and if so, what's the culprit?

Mangold: Yeah. It's tough because of the rules for practicing. College offenses are run differently, so they need that time to work and learn. You have to know your X's and O's, too, so classroom time is as important as on-field time. And then the chemistry: There's so much with free agency and guys moving around, so you have a hard time building a line that sticks together. So it has diminished a little bit, but there are still plenty of bright spots out there.

Digest: What about the Patriots offensive line, which plays well despite constant transition?

Mangold: Tom [Brady] gets the ball off so quick. He's the best in the business. He's able to put the line where he needs them. He knows where the deficiencies are, where the strengths are. So they can put anybody out there. They roll through guys. It's crazy.

Digest: So all these years of dominance really do come down to Brady?

Mangold: Well, it's Tom and Bill Belichick. The two of them made the perfect storm: his system and Tom being able to work his system. Plus, Bill's ability to say, "If you are not doing it my way, I'm going to get rid of you." The two of them are a match made in heaven.