Backup quarterbacks already are seeing a lot of action this NFL season and most have been winning

Backup quarterbacks are seeing plenty of action and several are having success.

The way NFL players are going down at an alarming rate, more teams will likely need reliable QBs to stay competitive.

Lamar Jackson became the latest quarterback to go down Sunday. His status is uncertain after he suffered an ankle injury in Baltimore’s 24-18 home victory over Tennessee.

Jaxson Dart already went down for the season. Jayden Daniels has missed the past two games. Baker Mayfield is out at least a few weeks. Sam Darnold and Kyler Murray each missed a start and Caleb Williams has missed two.

So far, backup quarterbacks are 7-4 in starts, including 2-2 in Week 4. That doesn’t include wins by Drew Lock and Carson Wentz after they entered in the first quarter and led their teams in Week 1.

It includes Cooper Rush’s 0-2 mark with Atlanta as he started the first two games with Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. sidelined.

Jameis Winston won another up-and-down game for the Giants, throwing for 250 yards and three touchdowns along with two picks in a 36-24 victory over Arizona. He’s 2-0 as a starter for the NFC East-leading Giants (3-1) since Dart suffered a knee injury in Week 2.

“I just feel like that, man, I’m heating up and I’m starting to get better, better and better,” Winston said. “Last week, I was questioning if I could even throw. This week, I’ve got people talking about the Jamis Winston experience again. So, I’m just still so curious and I’m so inspired to be the best me every single day. And that alone pushes me. Not another man, not another teammate, just my desire to be what I would love.”

Tyson Bagent had a career-best 268 yards passing to help the Bears beat the Jets 23-12. Case Keenum was impressive in Chicago’s win over the Eagles last Monday night. The Bears (3-1) are 2-0 since Williams went down with a hamstring injury two weeks ago.

“I thought the guys rallied behind me,” Bagent said. “I felt extreme faith from the coaches towards me and that’s just hats off to all the hard work that’s been put in. So, I was really appreciative of that, and I think it allowed me to go spin it at a higher level. So, all hands on deck, it’s a group effort to get these wins.”

Lock stepped in when Darnold got hurt early in the NFL season opener on Sept. 9 and led the Seahawks over the Patriots. He defeated the Cardinals the following week.

Wentz replaced Murray early in Minnesota’s opener and led a comeback win against Green Bay. He guided the Vikings to a road win in a defensive struggle at Chicago the following game.

Marcus Mariota and undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels had the two losses on Sunday.

Mariota was impressive filling in for Daniels in Washington’s victory over Seattle last week but got hurt in the first quarter and the Commanders turned to rookie third-string QB Athan Kaliakmanis in a 30-13 loss to the Colts in London.

Jalon Daniels couldn’t prevent the Buccaneers from starting 0-4. He tossed two picks that led to 10 points in Tampa Bay’s 17-14 loss to Green Bay.

Tyler Huntley replaced Jackson and went 8 of 9 for 63 yards but the Ravens didn’t score in the second half.

A total of 63 quarterbacks started games in 2025. Forty QBs have made starts through four games this season.

That number will increase. Will teams continue to maintain a winning record with backups? That depends on the teams, the coaching staffs and the backups.

Here are other takeaways from Week 4:

Don’t blame C.J. Stroud for the latest loss. Another defensive breakdown cost the Texans, who fell to 0-4 with a 34-30 loss to Dallas. Houston has now lost two games in which the offense has scored 30 or more points. A defense that was first in fewest yards allowed and second in fewest points given up last season is struggling. The Texans are allowing 343.8 yards and 27.3 points per game.

They went 12-2 after an 0-3 start last season. Only the 1992 Chargers rebounded from an 0-4 start to make the playoffs.

Drake Maye, Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford each led their teams to comeback wins on the road with touchdowns in the final two minutes to avoid 1-3 starts.

Maye and the Patriots beat Josh Allen and the Bills 29-26. Prescott and the Cowboys defeated Stroud and the Texans 34-30. Stafford and the Rams knocked off the Eagles 24-20.

The Dolphins, Buccaneers, Titans, Chargers and Texans are 0-4. Houston is too talented to start looking ahead to next season. Los Angeles was supposed to be a contender and should win several games.

But Miami, Tampa Bay and Tennessee seem headed for a three-way race for the top pick in the 2027 NFL draft. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and Texas quarterback Arch Manning are the early favorites projected to go No. 1 overall.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) hands off to Washington Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt (22) during an NFL football game in London, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels (10) aims a pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston celebrates a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during an NFL football game, in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent celebrates a victory over the New York Jets as he walks off the field following an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to three scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells.

Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, have carried out research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. They are based at universities in Germany and the United States.

The Nobel Assembly lauded their work, writing on X that the method “is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain’s mysteries.”

The assembly said Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg, also in Germany.

Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the medicine committee, said he was able to reach all three winners by phone Monday. The Associated Press' efforts to reach the winners were not immediately successful.

Optogenetics opened what the Nobel assembly called a new era in neuroscience, the discovery of a light-controlled switch to turn on and off nerve cells and circuits in the brain to better learn how it works — to start unraveling the pathways that lead to behavior and disease.

It started when Hegemann explored how a single-celled type of green algae can swim toward light. He and Nagel discovered a particular protein that, when illuminated by blue light, opens a channel to create an electrical impulse. Putting that protein into other cells makes them light-sensitive.

Deisseroth then worked with the gene that controls that protein to create a light-controlled switch for nerve cells in the brains of living mice.

The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobels week.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).

Last year, the prize went to three scientists researching the immune system.

Monday's medicine prize is followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.

After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Oct. 12.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Neergaard reported from Washington. Adithi Ramakrishnan in New York contributed to this report.

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Portraits of Peter Hegemann, top right, and Georg Nagel are shown on the screen as they and Karl Deisseroth are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2026. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - U.S. scientist Karl Deisseroth, professor of Departments of Bioengineering and Psychiatry at Stanford University, shows his trophy for "Life Sciences" field during the Japan Prize presentation ceremony Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference to announce the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2026. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

Portraits of Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel are shown on a screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2026. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - U.S. scientist Karl Deisseroth, professor of Departments of Bioengineering and Psychiatry at Stanford University, shows his trophy for "Life Sciences" field during the Japan Prize presentation ceremony Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)