As Week four of the NFL season begins, I think it’s a great idea to look back on Week three to see how much it has taught us. Sure, the protests took a much bigger step than we have seen it take so far, but the politics surrounding the NFL seem to be masking the games that were played. So with that being said, it is time to talk some football.

As much as we would like to think it has, this NFL season has not changed from the previous two years. We want it to very badly, and we want to believe it has for the sakes of fantasy football and self-entertainment. However, it will not happen this year. Yes, new players have emerged as stars such as Kareem Hunt and Chris Thompson, but they are not enough to make a significant shift in how the standings will end up. The only two people in this league who have proven to be consistently well beyond the competition have stayed that way and will for the rest of the season; those players are Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. No teams have changed their styles of play from last year, so we can expect a very similar playoff picture moving forwards.

Cleveland is still 0-3. As much as we expected improvement, there is some but not enough to make them win any more than they did last year, when they ended 1-15. The Colts also proved that they can’t win either without their quarterback, Andrew Luck. Without him, they are a very uninteresting team to watch and may only win 3 or 4 games due to their shoddy defense to go along with an offense who only has one receiver that they can expect to contribute every game. The Lions and Chargers showed us that even though they are talented, neither can find a way to win when it counts and continue to create new ways to lose. The Detroit Lions lost by one yard last week and the Chargers, who always find themselves in close games, have already lost twice due to missed field goals. Yes, Detroit is a great team and Matt Stafford deserves every penny he’s making, but they need to learn how to close out a game. The Ravens are still being held back by their quarterback play. They have one of the best defenses in the league and a competent offense that is being driven into the ground by Joe Flacco. He has been nothing short of terrible ever since he won the Super Bowl in 2013, and somehow continues to get worse. In Week three, he passed for 28 yards against a Jaguars defense who is not as good as they were made out to be in that game. They need to find another quarterback soon, or they can expect to be out of the playoffs for years to come. Finally, every Patriots fan’s favorite team to hate: the New York Giants. They are not good, period. Odell Beckham Jr. plays well every week and that about all I can say about them. They’re 0-3, and without him, I think they would only be a 2 or 3 win team.

All that criticism aside, time for some praise to two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game: Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Say what you want about Rodgers, but championships aside, he is one of the most talented players to ever set foot on a football field. We talked about LeBron being at Michael Jordan’s lever before he ever won a title, and I think we should be treating Rodgers the same way. Nobody will ever pass Brady as the G.O.A.T, but Rodgers is a close second in terms of talent. In Week three, both of these quarterbacks led their teams to victory in games that neither team should have won but persevered to prove their status as top dogs.

Aaron Rodgers threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, he was sacked six times, and he was missing his two best offensive linemen. His team was down 21-7 at halftime, has no running game, had two missing defensive tackles, and had a rookie covering A.J. Green, one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. The final score of that game ended up being 27-24 in favor of Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers. Tom Brady did not start off too hot either. He lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown and was sacked five times. The Patriots, through the whole game, were outgained by Houston, had less possession time, and converted less first downs. On paper you would think the Texans had this game in the bag, but New England had Tom Brady, who powered back and led the Pats to a 36-33 victory on the last drive of the game. Both quarterbacks had teams who were outplayed for 75% of their games and both quarterbacks proved that they can take control of a game at the snap of a finger. There is no more discussion about who the best players in the NFL are right now because Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers showed us that we can doubt them all we want, and they will still win week in and week out.