NFL: Monday night massacre, plus edge-of-your-seats games
Packers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers — week three centrepiece
THE second week of the 2022/23 National Football League (NFL) season had enough going on to make it feel like a whole year rolled into a span of five days — starting from a fairly routine win last week Thursday (September 15) by the Kansas City Chiefs over the Los Angeles Chargers and ending with a Monday night double-header in which the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings were ambushed on their visits to Buffalo and Philadelphia, respectively, and Monday Night Football felt more like “Monday Night Massacre”.
In-between those previously mentioned bookends were many edgeof-your-seat games and nail-biting moments that could fill volumes of pages with narratives.
The Jacksonville Jaguars sprung a surprise and blanketed the Indianapolis Colts in a dominating 24-0 win, and the much-maligned San Francisco 49ers quarterback (QB) Jimmy Garoppolo came off the bench in the first quarter to orchestrate a 27-7 triumph over the Seattle Seahawks.
Elsewhere, QB Cooper Rush led the Dallas Cowboys to an unexpected 20-17, last-minute win over Super Bowl runner-up Cincinnati Bengals and QB Aaron Rodgers proved that he actually ‘owns’ the Chicago Bears when he guided the Green Bay Packers to a 27-10 victory last Sunday night – Rodgers’ 24th win in 29 games against the Bears.
On a different weekend, any one of the above-mentioned highlights would have warranted additional focus, but last Sunday, for the second time in NFL history, there were three, 13-point, fourth-quarter, comeback victories that were all accomplished by visiting teams. Additionally, two other teams almost pulled off a similar feat as the Atlanta Falcons fought back from a
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady
28-3 third-quarter deficit, but fell short against the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams when Marcus Mariota’s final pass was intercepted, sealing a 31-27 Rams victory. Likewise, QB Joe Burrow helped the Bengals erase a 17-3 half-time deficit in Dallas, but a Brett Maher 50-yard field goal put the game to bed.
The performance of the Miami Dolphins and specifically QB Tua Tagovailoa was most impressive as they erased a 21-point Baltimore Ravens lead – the most blown points in Baltimore’s history. They trailed Lamar Jackson and the Ravens 14-35 at the end of the third quarter until Tua completed four of his six touchdowns in the fourth, leading to a 42-38 Miami win. Miami receivers Tyreek Hill (11 receptions, 190 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Jaylen Waddle (11 receptions, 171 yards, 2 touchdowns) made big contributions to help Tua tie a franchise record (6 touchdowns) and accumulate 496 passing yards, plus silence the babble of his critics (at least for a week).
The New York Jets were down 17-30 in the final two minutes against the
Cleveland Browns last Sunday and managed to pull off a most improbable victory. QB Joe Flacco tossed two touchdown passes in a 60-second span, with a recovered onside kick sandwiched in-between as the Jets edged out their hosts 31-30. NFL teams had won 2,229 consecutive games when leading by at least 13 points in the final two minutes before this collapse by the Browns.
Kyler Murray, who has been pedestrian to start the season, put on a spectacular second-half display to help the Arizona Cardinals overcome a 0-20 half-time deficit in Las Vegas against the Raiders. The Cardinals rattled off 23 second-half points while the Raiders could only muster another field goal, and Murray capped off the final play of regulation by making a perfect throw through a tight window for a two-point conversion to send the game into overtime. In overtime, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr sealed the victory, returning a fumble 59 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a dramatic 29-23 win.
Multiple teams had not rallied from 20-point half-time deficits to win on the same day in NFL history until the Dolphins and Cardinals both did it last Sunday. And it was the first time that two teams overcame a deficit of at least 20 points at any point in a game to win in the same week since Week 4 of the 2011 season.
The action continues this weekend, and while it is nearly impossible to predict where the highlights will come from, the Dolphins versus the Bills is the only matchup of unbeaten teams (2-0) this weekend and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at home for the first time this season as they welcome the Packers into Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.
The Bill were Justbet visiting favourites for this game prior to their Monday night mauling of the Titans, and rightly so as they have dominated the Dolphins lately in seven straight games, and by more than 4.5 points in all but one of those contests. Tua may have worked over the Ravens last Sunday in that fourth-quarter miracle, but QB Josh Allen and the Bills have taken a no-prisoner approach in their opening games and all indications points to a road win this weekend.
In arguably the biggest game of Week 3, the Packers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have starting QBS with seven most-valuable-player awards between them, and Justbet starts the ‘elder statesman’ as favourite to win. Sunday will mark the first time these teams have met since the 2021 National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game, and the sixth time Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady have met head-to-head in their careers (4-1 in favour of Brady). However, Brady will likely be missing a few key targets in Mike Evans (suspension), Chris Godwin (hamstring), and Julio Jones (knee), and this may tip the scale in favour of the visitors.
Green Bay leads the all-time series over Tampa Bay with a 33-23-1 record, but the Buccaneers have won the past two meetings. Brady, with tons of help from his defence, has found a way to win the first two games of the season and will need all the help he can get in this one. The Buccaneers have the number 5 defence for yards allowed and are number 1 in points allowed, giving up an average of just 6.5 points per game, which makes up for the lack of offensive production. The Packers appear to have the numerical edge, offensively, but with the GOAT (greatest of all time) on the other side, anything can happen.
There have already been 12 games decided by three points or fewer, the most through the first two weeks of a season in NFL history, and this augurs well for the league. Eight teams have overcome a deficit of at least 10 points to win or tie, the second-most ever through Week 2, trailing only the 1987 season when nine teams did it. Week 3 promises to be fire……. Are you ready for some football?
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