Quarterback is the most important position in sports. It comes with all the glory and the biggest paychecks, but also the most criticism and pre sure. The QB carousel is all the talk of the offseason, but it only picks up steam during the season when injuries, performance and all sorts of drama dominate the headlines.This is especially true right now as we are ushering in a new era of quarterbacks and the position is more volatile than ever.Check out 10 observations on the QB position right now and you'll see what I mean.Week 8 was a backup QB bonanza and injuries took center stage, headlined by going down for the season with an Achilles tear. Thirteen backup QBs threw pa ses in Week 8 and 11 teams exited the week with injury concerns at QB1. It figures to be a prominent storyline again in Week 9. The highlights: is expected to return after mi sing the last three games with a neck injury. Ty Long Jersey is still out (thumb) clearing the way for 's third start. (thumb) is looking iffy for Sunday's game.Current Starting QB InjuriesStarterBackup (Achilles) (shoulder) (ankle) (shoulder)Kirk Cousins (Achilles)Justin Fields (thumb)Tyson BagentMatthew Stafford (thumb) (ACL)By far the most perplexing situation was Deshaun Watson's in Cleveland. Watson mi sed all but one quarter of the past four games with a lingering shoulder injury but will return Sunday against the Cardinals. If the Browns knew Deshaun Watson would mi s this much time (and its been suggested they thought it was a 4-6 week injury) they should have placed him on IR Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) It hasn't really mattered who is playing QB for the Browns this year, they rank dead last in the league in completion rate (56%), TD-Int ratio (5-11) and pa ser rating (61.1) this season. And somehow, they still have a 4-3 record. They have the lowest pa ser rating (61.1) by a team with a winning record through Week 8 in 20 years (2003 ).All these injuries and an overall changing of the guard at QB mean plenty of youth and inexperience at the position, especially in Week 9., Clayton Tune will start for the Cardinals if Kyler Murray isn't ready to return from a torn ACL. That would mean seven rookie QBs starting in Week 9, which would be tied for the second-most in a single week since 1970, and the most this early in a season.Don't forget Jaren Hall is also getting his first career start in place of Kirk Cousins this weekend. That would make nine different rookie starting QBs this season, which would already tie an NFL-record. Unreal.Safe to say, a season of change at this position has reached peak crazine s in Week 9. This is what happens when stalwarts like , Drew Brees, , , , and are no longer in the league, and Aaron Rodgers is hurt.We are looking at the youngest average group of starting QBs through Week 8 since the 1970 merger (27). It's no wonder the league is averaging its fewest yards per completion at this point in the year since at least 1940.There's a reason the best backup Austin Ekeler Jersey QBs in the -- like -- make $8 million per year. About one-third of the league has already needed them, and the rest will eventually. .There's been 42 different starting QBs this year and we are probably on our way to around 60 again. There was an NFL-record 68 last year.Once , Jaren Hall and either Clayton Tune or Kyler Murray make their first starts of the year in Week 9, we'll have 11 different teams with multiple starting QBs already who've combined to make 22 different starting QB changes, led by the (five) and Browns (four).Due to injuries and poor play the Raiders have already gone from to , back to Jimmy G, to , to Jimmy G (again) and again the rookie, O'Connell. The No. 1 job for the next Raiders head coach and GM: figure out a long-term answer at QB.Starting QB Sequence This SeasonRaidersJimmy Garoppolo > Aidan O'Connell > Jimmy Garoppolo > Brian Hoyer > Jimmy Garoppolo > Aidan O'ConnellBrownsDeshaun Watson > > P.J. Walker > Deshaun Watson > P.J. Walker > Deshaun WatsonColtsAnthony Richardson > Gardner Minshew > Anthony Richardson > Gardner Minshew > > Bryce YoungDaniel Jones > > Daniel Jones > Taylor HeinickeBearsJustin Fields > Tyson BagentJetsAaron Rodgers > Zach WilsonTitansRyan Tannehill > Will LevisVikingsKirk Cousins > Jaren HallCardinalsJosh Dobbs > Clayton Tune (or Kyler Murray)RamsMatthew StaffordEaglesThe surprise QB change of the week is the , despite Ridder clearing concu sion protocol after being removed from Sunday's Joey Bosa Jersey game.Ridder leads the NFL in turnovers, but it's surprising to see him not get a longer leash after how this offseason played out. It only took minutes after Lamar Jackson was given the non-exclusive franchise tag this offseason for reports to roll in that the Falcons would not be pursuing Jackson. Falcons owner .Needle s to say, people kept the receipts on social media. Never understood why the Falcons didnt at least offer Lamar Jackson a contract. And it didnt have to be fully guaranteed. Made no sense that they pursued Deshaun Watson, but wouldnt offer Lamar a contract. Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) This could be just temporary and maybe Ridder is back under center next week, but for now it's another head scratcher for a Falcons team that already hasn't gotten the most out of its best playmakers and this year.One of the worst places for an to be is in QB purgatory. The Holy Grail in football is a franchise QB. But, even if you have bad QB play, at least the decision is obvious to move on (cough, Raiders).Well, for the rest of the league, they are in the middle, constantly a se sing their QB play and debating whether to start over or pay a pretty penny; there's not much in-between. Giants fans know how tough this can be with Daniel Jones. The poster child for this right now is Jordan Love. He entered the year as the biggest mystery in the NFL after the former first-round pick backed up Aaron Natrone Means Jersey Rodgers for three years. Things haven't gotten much clearer,, which includes accuracy problems leading to the worst completion rate in the NFL. Green Bay has also gotten off to bad starts, getting outscored 73-9 in the first half of its last five games. And in case you mi sed it, It's not time to panic in Green Bay with 10 games left, and there's no reason to sound the alarms in San Francisco either, even coming off a third straight lo s with more turnovers from Brock Purdy. (3 TD, 7 INT in career when tied or trailing in the second half), but he shouldn't take all the blame for a 49ers losing streak that includes:Injuries to , and Purdy's concu sion prior to throwing two fourth-quarter INT in a lo s to the Vikings's mi sed 41-yard field goal that would have beaten the BrownsA poor defensive play call for an all-out blitz on 's 60-yard TD to end the first half of the Vikings/49ers gameBack-to-back defensive letdowns against the Vikings and BengalsPurdy is off the hook for now due to all that and the fact that he is still putting some really good throws on tape. Let's see what he does out of the 49ers bye with a healthier supporting cast and road trips to three division leaders on tap (Jaguars, Seahawks, Eagles). He has an opportunity to flip the script and prove he can put the team on his back in the playoffs."If not for Taylor Swift, the "Tush Push" would be the unrivaled biggest storyline of the 2023 season," .Bryan and I tag-teamed the evolution of the QB sneak from the T-formation to the "Tush Push" as we explored Philadelphia's phenomenal succe s with the play this year and how long it will last.The NFL is known as a copycat league and the play has po sibly reached the pinnacle of its succe s. There's a reason some say the NFL stands for "Not For Long."Between the po sibility of an offseason rule change, injuries or defenses eventually adapting to the play, it'll be interesting to see if the push play can continue to build steam after this season.There are actually some great QB matchups this week, despite it looking like the QB apocalypse out there. The best in my book comes on "Sunday Night Football" between Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, arguably the second- and third-best quarterbacks in the league behind Patrick Mahomes., including John Breech,. I'll add one more reason. Buffalo's defense is banged up and Cincinnati DC Lou Anarumo can dial up another gameplan to slow down Allen, who was pre sured on 45% of his dropbacks in the 27-10 playoff lo s last postseason, despite being blitzed only 15% of the time.Raise your hand if you had Vikings/Falcons Week 9 featuring a QB matchup of Taylor Heinicke vs. Jaren Hall. Most of us probably didn't know until recently that either even played for those teams Los Angeles Chargers Jersey , or were real people., who backed up Zach Wilson at BYU, while also playing baseball there. You probably also didn't know this game has some revenge appeal. Heinicke was initially signed by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion in 2015. Heinicke never played a snap for Minnesota (how dare they!) before eventually bouncing around the NFL (most prominently landing in Washington) before coming to Atlanta.Well scripted, NFL.