The New England Patriots have lost three times this season to teams whose quarterbacks are all under the age of 25. The most recent, 24-year-old Patrick Mahomes, went into Foxborough on Sunday and led his team to a 23-16 victory to clinch the AFC West. He joined 24-year-old Deshaun Watson and 22-year-old Lamar Jackson as part of an elite trio of young AFC quarterbacks who have bested 42-year-old Tom Brady and company.
The post-Tom Brady future of AFC quarterbacks is in great hands
Pat Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, and Lamar Jackson are reshaping the conference’s quarterbacking as we know it.
In Brady’s two decades in the NFL, the Patriots have never lost to so many young passers. The result is an eye-opening glimpse into what the future of the AFC, long dominated by the Pats, may look like.
Watson, Jackson, and Mahomes are going to be lighting up the league for a long time
Watson put up 234 passing yards and three touchdowns on New England’s defense in Week 13, and is a human highlight reel each week. He plays absolutely fearlessly, too. Remember when he scored a touchdown after literally getting kicked in the face?
The third-year starter is adding creativity to the Texans’ playbook. Against the Pats, the Texans ran a reverse option pass that resulted in DeAndre Hopkins throwing a touchdown pass back to his quarterback. It was a play Watson helped add to the playbook weeks earlier, and one the Patriots’ sturdy defense couldn’t contain.
Jackson, the NFL’s MVP frontrunner, had a 108 passer rating against the Pats during the Ravens’ 37-23 win, which put them on top of the AFC North and gave them an edge in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Jackson became the youngest QB to beat a team coached by Bill Belichick since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004.
Jackson is a cheat code. He breaks defenders’ ankles on the regular:
Mahomes won MVP last season, and finally took down the king of the AFC in Week 14. The Chiefs’ win also marked the first time an NFL quarterback under 25 years old has won in New England since 2000. While Mahomes’ performance wasn’t spectacular — he threw for 283 yards and a touchdown, but also had an interception on his first possession — he showed the full extent of what he could be in his first two losses to New England.
Mahomes’ first matchup against the Pats was a thriller, but New England pulled out a close 43-40 win in Week 6 of the 2018 regular season. In the second meeting, Mahomes forced overtime in the AFC Championship after leading a game-tying drive with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Pats got the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown to defeat the Chiefs, 37-31, and Mahomes didn’t get a chance to throw a counterpunch in the biggest game of his career. His future still looked bright.
Most impressively, these young guns all won against a New England defense that ranks No. 1 in scoring this year.
Brady vs. the 3 QBs who have beaten him
2019 QB | vs. | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Y/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar Jackson | Patriots | 17 | 23 | 73.9 | 163 | 1 | 0 | 107.7 | 7.09 |
| Deshaun Watson | Patriots | 18 | 25 | 72 | 234 | 3 | 0 | 140.7 | 9.36 |
| Patrick Mahomes | Patriots | 26 | 40 | 65 | 283 | 1 | 1 | 83.6 | 7.08 |
| Tom Brady | Ravens, Texans, Chiefs | 74 | 129 | 57.4 | 780 | 4 | 2 | 79 | 6.05 |
On the flip side, it’s obvious that the Patriots don’t look like themselves right now
Even with Brady, this Patriots’ offense is a far cry from the dominant units New England has had in the past. Brady doesn’t have the weapons around him to win games like he used to. The Patriots are severely lacking in the run game (Brady was New England’s second-leading rusher with 20 yards against KC on Sunday). And aside from Julian Edelman and flashes of Mohamed Sanu, Brady’s receiving corps isn’t as much of a threat as it used to be.
Despite all of this, there’s little reason to believe Brady won’t make it to the Super Bowl at least one more time when everything is said and done. New England is still a projected No. 2 seed for the AFC playoffs, and it’s hard to pick against the Pats in the postseason, no matter what issues they’re having. Brady has struggled as recently as last season, but still led his team to a Super Bowl win. The moment when Brady’s team is doubted is usually right when he proves you wrong.
But the other reality is that Brady can’t play forever. And having so many young, exciting quarterbacks in the AFC is a fun glimpse into a future without Brady in it, whenever that may be.
This is maybe the most exciting generation of QBs since Brady entered the league
We’re witnessing a true changing of the guard to a new generation of young, mobile NFL quarterbacks. NFL offenses have adapted to the dynamic quarterbacks that college systems are giving them, and the result is juggernaut offenses that light up defenses each and every week.
Brady’s era, which included the likes of Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, coincided with a run of unprecedented offensive success in the NFL. Now Watson, Mahomes, Jackson, and others are perfecting new systems that could come to define them as a generation of their own.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
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