Scoring is up across the NFL. And, at times, it all looks a little too easy. While the organized disorder being run by the Saints, Rams and Chiefs is too much for anyone in the league to handle, even average quarterbacks seem able to ruin opposing defenses. We had Nick Mullens exploding in his first career start last week, while on Sunday, Matt Barkley – yes, Matt Barkley! – rolled into New York and bludgeoned the Jets. He had only joined the team on Monday. As for what good quarterbacks can do, look no further than Patrick Mahomes, who is on course to throw more than 50 touchdowns in his first full-year as a starter.

Everything in the modern game is tipped in the favor of the offense. The rules. The schemes. The talent. We have reached a high-point in offensive evolution. Teams are blending speed, power, efficiency, and explosiveness in one package – typically from the same grouping. Whereas teams used to pick a couple and call it their “identity” now they’re hoarding all four.

It’s undeniably good for the NFL: the league’s TV ratings are on the rise again. Young quarterbacks like Mahomes, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz have deepened the pool of excellent signal-callers, while veterans such as Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton continue to excel.

There’s another interesting trend behind the surges: offensive coordinators are getting younger. They’re well versed in the modern pace-and-space tactics. They’re risk takers, but not reckless, much like the best quarterbacks. There’s a cautious aggression to all the top offensive systems. Defensive coordinators, by contrast, have only gotten older. They haven’t aged out, but are simply recycled between organizations. They’re more stodgy, rigid in the belief that the way they’ve always done it is the way to do it. Far from following the footsteps of the league’s top offensive minds by dipping into the college ranks for the latest innovations, the defensive coaches have arrogantly stuck with the idea that their way – the professional way – is the only way.

Nobody should complain. Does it feel like the old days, where the Ravens and Steelers would fight out a 12-9 slobber knocker for the rights to the AFC North? No. But who cares? This is more fun. We all moaned about the early season rule changes: they’re unfair on the defense, we know this. You can’t touch the quarterback. You can’t hit receivers over the middle of the field. The product is different. But it’s more exhilarating.

There will come a time when a subsection of fans root for a good old-fashioned defensive showdown. A 9-6 game can be great if it’s excellent football. In recent years though we’ve been treated to a lot of bad, sloppy games, as the NFL attempted to straddle the line between keeping some of its old enforcer-like rules and opening up to the spread game.

They’ve gone all-in in 2018. And it’s paying off. Crazy scores, wild plays, impossible feats of athleticism. One offensive shoot-out followed by another. It feels like the beginning of a new era of pro football. How much offense is too much? I’m happy to find out.

MVP of the week

Drew Brees is a contender for MVP this season. Photograph: Frank Victores/AP

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints. Brees led the Saints to a 51-14 victory in Cincinnati. He threw for 265-yards and completed 22 of his 25 passes, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and is now second on the all-time list of career TD leaders. Brees made it look … easy. He has reached that rare state in which he manipulates every step every defender takes. He knows exactly where he wants to go with the ball before it’s snapped. Once it is, he gets the ball out in record time.

Defenders are psychologically intimidated. Brees is able to pick up on the subtlest of signs that give away a coverage, blitz, or tip the defenders hand in some way. Are his hips pinched slightly towards the sideline? Is that linebacker putting more weight on his left foot? It’s a joy to watch Brees operate.

Stat of the week

Washington have yet to experience a lead change through 10 weeks. They have led the entire game in all six of their wins and trailed throughout their three losses.

Is there a more Alex Smith stat than this? Washington have already contracted signs of Not Quite Good Enough Quarterback syndrome, that ghastly spot in which a quarterback helps you win games you should win but isn’t good enough to push you over the top in games that are a struggle. That’s who Smith is; that’s who he’s always been. Washington willingly signed up for three years of this. Enjoy the not-so-wild ride!

Quote of the week

“When I woke up this morning I was feeling pretty dangerous” – Baker Mayfield

To quote modern day philosopher Stephen A Smith, Baker Mayfield is a baaaad man. Part of the reason Browns general manager John Dorsey selected Mayfield first overall was to help change the Browns’ loser culture. Mayfield has no time for your football apathy: he’s here to win, and do so with swagger.

You can already see the changes taking place. It’s no longer a shock when the Browns win. Sometimes it’s even expected. The Browns beat a banged-up Falcons squad at home 28-16. Mayfield was flawless, completing 17 of his 20 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

Video of the week

Filming yourself receiving a flag for your excessive celebration being the cause of said flag is pretty great. Tyreek Hill just wanted to show off his camera skills. After all, he seems to have already solved this whole football riddle, as do his Kansas City Chiefs who are now 9-1 after their 26-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Elsewhere around the league

- It’s hard to put into words just how bad the Jets’ 41-10 loss to the Bills was. They had one-yard of offense in the first quarter. Buffalo entered the game 32nd in offensive DVOA, with Matt Barkley starting at quarterback, a player who only joined the team on Monday and hasn’t seen a regular season snap since 2016. That probably does it for the Todd Bowles era in New York.

Tom Brady sits on the turf after being sacked during New England’s loss to Tennessee. Photograph: Mark Zaleski/AP

- Tennessee’s blowout win over New England was the first time the Patriots have lost by 14 points or more in November or December in a decade. We know the Patriots drill by now: they have a couple of funky performances early in the season, figure out their flaws, adapt, and blitz everyone in front of them. They always finish the season hot. Not this year: the Patriots have been playing down to teams all season. They eked by a bad Bills team. They lost to a Jaguars side that have subsequently gone 1-6. The Patriots have still had impressive wins over the Packers and Chiefs but there’s no doubt this isn’t a vintage Brady-Belichick team.

- The Eagles’ uninspiring season following their Super Bowl victory continues. They lost to the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football and are not 4-5 on the season, the same record as Dallas.

- The Bengals defense allowed 500 yards of offense for the third straight week, the first time we’ve seen that level of ineptitude in NFL history.

- Mike McCarthy finally relented on his stubborn running back rotation against the Dolphins, giving Aaron Jones the number of touches his play has demanded. Jones has averaged over six yards per carry this season. Yet the second-year man was still getting fewer than 10 touches per game. That changed on Sunday. McCarthy handed Jones the ball 15 times. What do you know? The young back went off to the tune of 145-yards and two touchdowns, with 27 receiving yards tacked on for good measure.

Green Bay need to find a running game to complement their largely predictable passing attack (outside of moments of Aaron Rodgers’ brilliance). Feed Jones and he will feast. It seems fairly simple.

- There’s such a fine margin in how we think of a team’s season. So often, the difference between a disappointing or great campaign can be as little as a couple of plays. Seattle are now 1-5 in one-score games. If that flipped to even 3-2, we’d be extolling the virtues of Pete Carroll and the organization’s foresight in moving on from the team’s old guard in the offseason.

- Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth will donate his game check from Sunday to the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Conejo Valley Victims Fund, set up to provide relief to the families of the 12 victims who were killed by a gunman in the mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill.

“You’re looking for any answer,” Whitworth said. “You’re looking for what can we do to solve this or what can we do to help people that are going through this, in the tragedy, in the moment, there is no perfect way.”