So, maybe Carson Wentz and Jared Goff weren't crazy draft picks after all

Many scoffed when the Rams and Eagles traded up for two relatively obscure quarterbacks in 2016. But they are repaying their teams this season

They stood, almost anonymously, in a park by the lake on an frigid Chicago day in the spring of 2016. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were barely more than 24 hours from becoming the top two picks of the NFL draft and there was no sense that either man was going to be anything special.

They were probably the most obscure quarterbacks to stand one and two in the modern history of the draft. Few of those attending the pre-draft clinic and photo shoot had heard of Wentz just a couple months before. Quarterbacks from North Dakota State do not usually generate much national attention. And even Goff, recently departed from the University of California, was not a big name player. While the soon-to-be Los Angeles Rams loved his potential, he had been far from a dazzling college star.

Even the two quarterbacks themselves had barely heard of the other before that winter.

“I know his program there was very successful,” Goff said that day.

“I don’t get caught up in watching the other guys too much,” Wentz said, explaining why he had never seen Goff play at California.

Their rise to the very top of the draft seemed inexplicable and more than a few around football wondered if the Rams and Philadelphia Eagles (who had traded to up for the top two spots) knew what they were doing. Six times before in the NFL’s modern era quarterbacks had been picked one and two and almost always one became a disappointment (Archie Manning in 1971, Rick Mirer in 1993, Ryan Leaf in 1998, Tim Couch in 1999, Robert Griffin III in 2012). On that draft day, it wasn’t hard to wonder if both Goff and Wentz would be busts.

Now, less than two years in, that seems ridiculous. Wentz has led the Eagles to an 8-1 record that is the best in the NFL. Already, he has thrown for 2,262 yards and 23 touchdowns this season. On Sunday he had 199 yards and four touchdowns in the Eagles’ 51-23 trampling of Denver, the team that won the Super Bowl just three months before he was drafted.

This past summer, former Washington general manager Scott McCloughan told ESPN that if he was starting a team right then he would want Wentz to be the quarterback.

Goff, however, might be close to being in that conversation as well.

While Goff did not look much like a franchise quarterback on the Rams’ dreadful team last year, he has thrived in the offense of new coach Sean McVay, who had been McCloughan’s offensive coordinator in Washington. Goff has led Los Angeles to three straight victories and seems to look better with each week. Sunday, he threw for 311 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-17 rout of the New York Giants. It was the best game of his career.

Some of his statistics are inflated by the skills of Todd Gurley, Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins – and Wentz at this stage is far more impressive – but he has been outstanding at getting the ball to receivers, which is what great quarterbacks are supposed to do.

“Jared was the one running the show today,” McVay told reporters on Sunday. “He showed great command and great poise in a road atmosphere against a tough opponent.”

Yes, it is early in their careers but Wentz has walked onto a good team with a head coach, in Doug Pederson, who has a touch for working with young quarterbacks while Goff might have found a perfect situation in Los Angeles. Sometimes the ability to be a sensation has nothing to do with skill but in landing on the right team with the right coach. Though watching Wentz and Goff develop as quickly as they have they might thrived on almost any team. They might just be that good.

And the Eagles and Rams might have known exactly what they were doing all along.

Fantasy player of the week

Drew Brees. The New Orleans Saints quarterback keeps rolling along. He is 38, and given the hits he has taken over the years he would seem to be ready to retire. Instead, he is having a potential MVP season, leading the surprising Saints to a 6-2 record and first place in the NFC South. On Sunday, Brees was as he has been all season: incredibly efficient. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in New Orleans’ 30-10 victory over Tampa Bay that all but ended the 2-6 Buccaneers dreams of making the playoffs.

Stat of the week

-12. This is Denver’s turnover differential halfway through the season. The Broncos, Super Bowl champions just two years ago, are tied with Cleveland for the worst figure in the NFL and it’s a big reason why they have lost four in a row and are 3-5. They are a long way from the second week of the year when quarterback Trevor Siemian destroyed the Cowboys with four touchdown passes in a 42-17 victory. Siemian threw only three more touchdowns the next five weeks against eight interceptions and found himself replaced by the franchise’s onetime future, Brock Osweiler, who was intercepted twice and sacked three times in Denver’s loss to the Eagles on Sunday.

Video of the week

Football fights are rarely interesting. It’s hard for giant men clad in helmets and pounds of armor to inflict much damage upon each other. Mostly their scuffles are silly affairs with lots of pushing, shoving and a few flags tossed on the turf. Cincinnati’s AJ Green and Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey were exceptions with this battle on Sunday that got them both ejected from the Jaguars’ 23-7 victory.

The fight was especially odd because Green is one of the quietest star players in the NFL, not one to usually boast or taunt opponents. But Ramsey is a good cover cornerback and even the best, most mild-mannered receivers and corners can annoy each other, running down the field each play. Green and Ramsey seemed to yell at each other right from the start. Cincinnati’s disappointing 3-5 season is no doubt a factor in Green’s frustration.

An apologetic Green later said: “That’s not who I am, it got the best of me today.”

Quote of the week

“Those kicks were all me” – Blair Walsh, famous for missing a game-winning field goal against the Seahawks in the playoffs two years ago, had made a wonderful recovery with – of all teams – Seattle, this season. Until Sunday. In a defensive fight against Washington, Walsh missed all three of his field goal attempts (from 44, 39 and 49 yards), more than the difference in a 17-14 defeat that knocked the Seahawks out of first in the NFC West. Before this weekend Walsh had kicked well, missing just one field goal and one extra point. Football can be a cruel game, never more so than for kickers who face a solitary fight trying to boot a ball through a pair of distant goalposts that can seem incredibly small.

Elsewhere around the league

--Given another court reprieve from his NFL suspension, Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott ran for 93 yards and a touchdown while Dak Prescott threw for two more in Dallas’s 28-17 win over Kansas City. The Cowboys (5-3) are coming into form while the Chiefs (6-3) have been losing a worrying amount of games since getting off to a storming start, and their once dynamic run game has tapered off. Luckily for them, no other team in the AFC West has a winning record.

--The future without Deshaun Watson looks grim for the Texans. His replacement, Tom Savage, threw a touchdown and no picks but completed just 43% of his passes in the loss to the Indianapolis Colts, who aren’t exactly the ‘72 Dolphins. How the Houston fans – and many neutrals at home – missed the swashbuckling Watson. Jacoby Brissett was good for the Colts in their 20-14 victory but imagine how good this one could have been if Watson had been playing a fully fit Andrew Luck. Sadly, both men will not be playing again any time soon.

--Cam Newton passed for 137 yards and ran for 86 more and a touchdown as Carolina won a matchup of the last two NFC champions with a 20-17 victory over Atlanta that kept them a half-game behind the Saints in the NFC South. Newton has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns this season and yet the Panthers still have a 6-3 record and are keeping pace – for now – with the 6-2 Saints.

--Joe Flacco’s dreadful season continued in Baltimore’s 23-20 loss to Tennessee. Flacco was intercepted twice, sacked twice and the Ravens offense is a mess. On the upside, their punter Sam Koch, completed his one pass attempt for 16 yards.