Nothing matters more in the NFL than quarterback play.

A good quarterback can lift a middling roster to the playoffs. Similarly,  bad quarterback play can drag a quality squad down. 

On Sunday, we saw one of the league’s most expensive signal-callers make an obvious error when the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears got together in Tottenham. Conversely, while surrounded by a weak supporting cast, Drake Maye had the New England Patriots looking a bit more explosive. 

And in Dallas, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions were cooking, beating the Cowboys 47–9 in the season’s most impressive win to date.

But we start with Trevor Lawrence, who simply must be better for Jacksonville.

Trevor Lawrence’s struggles continued in Europe

The Jaguars have played disheartening, uninspired football this season. At 1–5, there are myriad reasons for their poor performance, ranging from a bottom-ranked defense and coach Doug Pederson to their $275 million quarterback.

On Sunday, Lawrence needed to own the play that sealed Jacksonville’s fate. On third-and-13 from his own 32-yard line, Lawrence had an easy picture to diagnose. The Bears were playing a basic Cover 2 look with five zone defenders underneath.

Trailing 28–10 with 13:43 remaining, the Jaguars desperately needed a play. That said, they also had two plays to work with. 

Instead, Lawrence got to the top of his drop and panicked. He had release valves to either side in running back D’Ernest Johnson (No. 2) and tight end Evan Engram (No. 17). However, Lawrence stepped into a perfect pocket and fired for receiver Christian Kirk (No. 13), who was covered by both linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (No. 49) and corner Josh Blackwell (No. 39).

The result is an easy, predictable interception, setting up yet another score by the Bears in a 35–16 romp.

Lions caught the Cowboys sleeping for a big-play touchdown

If ever there was a play that encapsulated everything right with the Lions and everything wrong with the Cowboys, this was it.

Trailing 27–6 at home out of halftime, one would expect Dallas to fight back. One would expect too much. On the opening drive of the second half, Detroit found itself with third-and-8 from the Cowboys’ 37-yard line.

Before getting into the scheme and play, look at the picture below. This is when the Lions snapped the ball after hurrying to the line. 

Dallas was completely unprepared for the snap. Nobody in the front four had a hand in the dirt. In the secondary, corners Jourdan Lewis (No. 2) and Amani Oruwariye (No. 27) were walking to their man-coverage assignments. Deep safety Malik Hooker (No. 28) was putting his mouthpiece in while not having eyes on the line of scrimmage. 

Meanwhile, Detroit was in 11-personnel and playing out of a condensed formation with speedy wideout Jameson Williams (No. 9) in the “2” position of the bunch. At the start of the play, Williams exploded through a jam from corner Trevon Diggs (No. 7).

Diggs should have had deep help from Hooker, but perhaps due to getting a late start, Hooker never moved despite Williams running by him. 

By the time Hooker realized the route combination, it was over.

Again, it’s a perfect example of one team playing hard every second, and another going through the motions.

Drake Maye’s first TD was a beauty

After sitting as Jacoby Brissett’s backup for the first five weeks, Maye got his first NFL start Sunday against the Houston Texans.

Trailing 14–0 right before the half, Maye created his first highlight. With the Patriots facing second-and-3 at Houston’s 40-yard line with only 11 seconds remaining in the first half, New England came out in 11-personnel. The Texans showed a Cover 1 look with man coverage underneath.

On the snap, Houston brought a six-man pressure. Safety Calen Bullock (No. 21) drifted left over rookie wideout Ja’Lynn Polk (No. 1), leaving fellow receiver Kayshon Boutte (No. 9) in single coverage atop the picture with star corner Derek Stingley Jr. (No. 24).

Despite the matchup, Maye was undaunted. The youngster could have fired the in-breaker to team-leading receiver Demario Douglas to gain position for a field goal, but Maye instead launched the deep ball.

When Maye threw, Boutte and Stingley were even. However, Maye did a fantastic job of giving Boutte space to make a play while not underthrowing, leading Boutte with perfect placement out in front.