Don't panic about Daniel Jones and the other expensive QBs who had a bad Week 1 just yet

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Good morning, Winners. I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend. Of course, chances are if you’re a Giants fan you probably didn’t.

Not only did you watch your team get thrashed by a division rival without putting up a single point on the board, but Daniel Jones may have literally played the worst game of his career.

Truth be told, that quarterback play probably hits you a bit harder than the loss in total. And it should! The Giants just committed to paying Jones $40 million annually. He didn’t look like a $40 million quarterback on Sunday.

Don’t fret, though. You’re not the only fanbase in this boat. In fact, lots of expensive quarterbacks didn’t play very well on Sunday. Not as bad as Jones, maybe, but still! Pretty bad. OK at best. That includes:

• Jalen Hurts (170 yards passing, 1 TD, 1 fumble)
• Lamar Jackson (169 yards passing, 1 INT)
• Geno Smith (112 yards, 1 TD)
• Joe Burrow (82 yards and a seat on the bench)

Those are all Pro Bowlers at their best. They all just got paid over the summer with big commitments from their respective teams — that especially applies to Burrow, who signed the richest deal in NFL history. Then he comes out and puts up a stinker. Bengals fans are definitely nauseous this morning.

But I’m here to tell you now to worry. Everything will be fine. It’s not time to panic about your expensive quarterback. Not just yet.

In the words of Aaron Rodgers, R-E-L-A-X. It’s just week one, folks. It matters, but it has no bearing on what happens the rest of the way. We’ve seen this story over and over again.

Let’s just rewind one season ago to Joe Burrow last year. He threw four interceptions to start the season in 2022. He then proceeded to finish the year in MVP conversations. Sometimes, it just happens that way. That’s just how the game goes. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. A bad game is just a bad game.

If things continue this way then, sure, that’s a troubling sign. But there’s no point in worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet. I know that’s hard because this is the NFL and the week-to-week news cycle magnifies this stuff.

But I promise, it’ll be OK. If it’s not, then whatever. At least your team might get a shot at Caleb Williams or something.

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Nick Saban might be cooked

Don’t think I forgot about you, Alabama. How could I? That loss to Texas was just so … not you.

For a decade and a half Bama has felt like a Thanos-level threat to the rest of college football. A loss was inevitable. That’s simply not the case anymore.

Texas never felt in danger in its 34-24 win over Alabama. Even after Bama took a 16-13 lead in the third quarter Texas just responded with 21 fourth-quarter points. The  pass rush on Quinn Ewers was non-existent. Steve Sarkisian dialed up what he wanted.

It might be time, man. Alabama might be cooked. This stat from The Athletic’s Kennington Smith III is definitely one that sounds some alarms:

“Saturday’s loss marked Alabama’s fifth loss to a Power 5 team in its past 20 games against those opponents. The previous five losses took 50 games, including two to Clemson in national championship games. By almost any other program’s standard, a 75 percent winning percentage across 20 games is considered excellent. Alabama won a national championship in 2020 and played for another in 2021 but statistically is showing vulnerability, which opens the door for teams to capture marquee wins and insert themselves into the championship debate.”

While Nick Saban’s machine is finally slowing down, other college football powerhouses are creeping up. Georgia still looks incredible after two straight national championships. Texas is back in the top 5. USC looks great and the Pac-12 (lol) has eight ranked teams.

Alabama and Nick Saban are still good. Very, very good. One loss to a very good team won’t end their season here. But they’re not invulnerable anymore. After watching over the last decade and change, that’s so wild to see.

A full spectrum of greatness in tennis

Football was obviously king this weekend, but tennis had a moment this weekend. We had two different players celebrating drastically different — but equally great — moments in their careers on both the men’s and women’s sides. A full spectrum.

On one end, Novak Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open, tying him with Margaret Court for the most titles ever.

To celebrate that, he unveiled this awesome tribute to Kobe Bryant.

Novak hits 24 and pays tribute to the late Kobe Bryant pic.twitter.com/rDXVUvYe1Z

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 10, 2023

Meanwhile, on the other end, Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title with a US Open win over Aryna Sabalenka. She burst out in tears immediately following the match and, wow, is someone cutting onions in here? It’s hard not to be over the moon for her in this moment.

My favorite part was when she dunked on her haters.

“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me … To those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it.” – Coco Gauff pic.twitter.com/XApgRrQBPQ

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 9, 2023

“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me…You know, I tried my best to carry this with grace and I’ve been doing my best, so. Honestly, to those who thought you were putting water in my fire, you were really adding gas to it. And I’m burning so bright right now.” 

You tell ’em, Coco.

Quick hits: The best things about Week 1 … Daniel Jones needs a hug … and more

— Christian D’Andrea has the 5 best things from Week 1 of the NFL action here. Hey there, 49ers fans. You’ll love this one.

— Poor, poor Daniel Jones. Somebody give this man a hug. Charles Curtis found this extremely sad photo of him suffering in the rain after his awful game.

— Looking for the ManningCast for Monday Night Football? Here’s the entire schedule for the season.

— Geno Smith’s reaction to Aaron Donald running full speed at him feels extremely appropriate. Andrew Joseph has more.

That’s all, folks. Thanks for reading! Let’s chat again tomorrow.