Welcome to the golden age.
After all these years of waiting and hoping, it's finally upon us: A time when every team in the league has a quarterback it believes in.
Some may flounder, some -- like Jimmy G -- may be cursed by the fates, but you have to travel back eons to find an NFL this flush with fresh-faced young talent and established superstars under center.
Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen will all make starts this Sunday, lacing the slate with a four-pack of rookies angling to alter the NFL as we know it.
On the other end of the spectrum, Drew Brees is still playing pristine football at age 39, while 35-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick -- a man truly at ease with himself -- is coming off back-to-back-to-back 400-yard assassinations of enemy defenses, something no other passer has ever done.
Nobody's too young and nobody's too old if you play quarterback in the NFL. We're frolicking in a marvelous free-for-all -- a celebration of the signal-caller unlike any seen before.
Amid the heady glow, let's take a look at who matters most tumbling into Week 4:
Adam Gase, head coach of a Dolphins team nobody wants to believe in: We've all heard the knocks on these 3-0, first-place Fins ... They haven't beaten anyone. They're boring. Their quarterback is a milquetoast thrower of the ball who (some) Miami fans lose their minds over when he goes the entire game without a soul-crushing pick. I've heard from a handful of Dolphins fans complaining that the national media has no concept of what this Miami team really is. It's tough to be a fan attached to a club that's spent years in the wilderness. It's easy to get defensive and edgy when your team is -- yes -- quickly dismissed. Fans shouldn't care what the national media thinks, but they should understand that all teams attached to long-standing track records of hyper-average play must dial up a handful of perception-altering wins to turn the tide. Take care of the Patriots on Sunday and people will take notice. Get jobbed handily and people will see this Miami club like all the rest. Gase was smart to go out of his way and dismiss the record attached to his team -- and New England's 1-2 mark -- because none of that matters right now. This is about the rest of the AFC East trying to topple a king. Can it be done?
Jerry Hughes and Tre'Davious White: Buffalo's defense is littered with dudes. Guys who march from week to week without much fanfare and completely unattached to national ad campaigns or adulatory spotlights. No matter. This soup of Western New York-based bros made it happen last week against the Vikings, turning a fawned-over Kirk Cousins-led offense into a dazed, thousand-yard-stare operation with no sign of a pulse. Hughes led the way with one sack, two quarterback hits and -- not kidding here -- 10 hurries. Wild stuff. White was splendid in coverage, helping to keep Minnesota's star-studded crop of receivers at bay while forcing Cousins into a pivotal second-half pick. Seen as a roving corpse this time last week, the Bills have a chance -- if they can nip the Packers -- to confirm one item many have suspected all along: Football experts know literally nothing at all.
Baker Mayfield, Cleveland's uber-chill new hero:Browns fans treated their "Thursday Night Football" win over the Jets like a Super Bowl. The victory doubled as a moment of almost national celebration, but also a reminder of how low the expectations are in Cleveland. With the monkey off their back, can these Browns show their maturity with a strong performance on the road in hostile Oakland? It feels possible with Mayfield, a rookie by rank, but one who appears utterly comfortable in his own skin both on and off the field. It's fair to ask why he ever sat behind Tyrod Taylor, but that's in the rear-view mirror. Mayfield's story opened with a chapter of glory, but the NFL is quick to forget last week. Time to author the next adventure.
Ezekiel Elliott: I'm beating a long-felled, rotted-skinned equine by now, but here's the problem with automatically putting the Cowboys on four prime-time tilts a season: Dallas seems ambivalent to keeping up its end of the bargain. I don't want to stare at one of the game's dullest attacks while the moon is out, but that's exactly what we'll net if the Cowboys don't get their act together on offense. Waiting around for the receiving corps to birth a superstar is the act of a fool, so I'm crossing my fingers for something more obvious to unfold. Elliott has run for a league-leading 274 yards this season (tied with Matt Breida), which looks more impressive when you consider the offensive line issues and utter absence of a reliable air game. He's on tap to face a Lions team feeling itself after dominating the Patriots last Sunday night. This remains a never-say-never league, but if Dallas tumbles to 1-3, I'm counting it out in the NFC. This is a flawed team desperately missing its sidelined center Travis Frederick -- an unplanned, devastating setback -- but every team has injuries to deal with. Elliott was drafted and groomed to save the day. The time is now.
Denver-based quarterback-scatterer Von Miller: Can anyone slow down the Chiefs? With Patrick Mahomes playing like a sentient being sent from football-loving dwarf star Xanthalon-IX, the answer might not please the rest of the AFC. Still, Denver has no choice but to give it the old college try on "Monday Night Football." And who better to author a dose of chaos than Miller, who rolled into last Sunday with a DPOY-esque four sacks before he was shut out by the Ravens. Denver sits at 2-1, but the next five weeks include two tilts with Kansas City and a showdown with the Rams. The assumption that this Broncos defense is still a championship unit is simply false. Miller, though, remains the kind of player who single-handedly can tip a game upside down. That kind of power will be required come Monday night.
The Todd Bowles experience: The Jets fell into a dire trap in Week 3, set up for all to see as patsies destined to take the fall against a Browns team wrestling with fate on national television. As Baker Mayfield trotted onto the field in relief of Tyrod Taylor, you could feel what was in the mail: a long-awaited victory for Cleveland and plenty of pressing questions for Bowles. The Jets coach understandably took the brunt of heat from fans, wondering how New York could possibly squander a 14-point lead against a quarterback who never even saw first-team reps. Jets star safety Jamal Adams acknowledged this week the defense never even prepared for the idea of Mayfield, which operates as another piece of ugly PR for Bowles to juggle.
Here's the problem: The fourth-year coach is coming off back-to-back five-win seasons and arguably his most rugged defeat yet. The Jets have found their future under center in Sam Darnold, but do they have the right coach to guide his career? That's what ownership has to be asking, leaving Bowles in a fix as the team heads to Jacksonville to face one of the league's grittiest defenses. Bowles must shake up the troops, forge a master plan etched in gold and pull off a titanic upset on the road against a Super Bowl contender. That's how you change the narrative. Anything less would only turn up the heat on the seat Bowles sits upon.
Your move, Gang Green.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @marcsesslernfl. Listen to Marc on the "Around The NFL Podcast" three times a week.
