Eagles, Wentz rout Steelers
Vikings and Rams also raise eyebrows with wins at Carolina, Tampa Bay
If any doubt remained about the start to the Eagles season, it vanished well before the final seconds of a 34-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in Philadelphia.
It can no longer be qualified by the opponents the Eagles have played, because the Steelers are considered among the NFL’s elite. The sample size is no longer too small for quarterback Carson Wentz and coach Doug Pederson, who seem only to get better with more tape for opponents to prepare against.
The Eagles are 3-0 entering a Week 4 bye. It was the most impressive Eagles victory since Andy Reid roamed the sideline. They’ve won by bigger margins (a 43-point win over Chicago in 2013) and won when the stakes were higher (a win over Dallas to clinch the division in 2013), but Sunday was a convincing blowout over a team considered a preseason contender for the Super Bowl.
It came on a short week and with the Eagles missing one of their best offensive players (Zach Ertz) and a starting cornerback (Leodis McKelvin). But in Wentz and Pederson, the Eagles have two rookies who have proven that the stage isn’t too big for them and any modest expectations of the season should be reconsidered.
Wentz finished 23 for 31 for 301 yards and two touchdowns and still has not turned the ball over this season.
The Rams, shut out by the n 49ers in the opener and held to three field goals in their next game, scored 37 points in Week 3 against Tampa Bay. Then they had to hold off the Bucs and the weather to raise their record to 2-1.
Officials suspended play during the two-minute warning with the Rams leading 3732 and facing third-and-11 from their own 5-yard line. Fans were asked to clear the stands and seek coverage in stadium concourses before the approaching thunderstorm passed directly over the field, dumping heavy rain and halting the game for more than an hour.
The Bucs forced a punt after the delay and drove from their own 44 to the Rams 15 before Jameis Winston threw two incompletions and was tackled on the 5-yard line by Robert Quinn on the final play.
Carolina’s 14-game winning n streak, the longest in the NFL, ended in large part because neither Kelvin Benjamin nor Devin Funchess caught a pass.
Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said the plan was to focus on Benjamin, the No. 1 target of Cam Newton, while playing single coverage on Funchess.
“We just knew where Benjamin was the whole time,” Munnerlyn said. “Funchess, we weren’t worried about him. It was Kelvin Benjamin. I’m just going to be honest. Me personally, I don’t think he is that good, No. 17 (Funchess). So we weren’t really worried about him.”
Funchess was unavailable for comment after the game.
In his first road game, n Trevor Siemian had the best game by a Broncos quarterback in two years, since Peyton Manning was running the show. Siemian, a seventh-round draft pick in 2015, threw four touchdown passes and passed for 312 yards in a 29-17 win at Cincinnati. Best of all, he was nearly perfect under the most intense pressure, completing 11 of 12 passes while leading Denver (3-0) to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
On a team that aspires to another Super Bowl season, Siemian and his 132.1 passer rating sure looked like a perfect fit as the missing piece.
“That’s what we’ve been waiting for, man,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “That’s a huge step forward for our team to do that on the road against a playoff team.”
Miami Dolphins coach n Adam Gase was in no mood to celebrate his first NFL victory, a 30-24 overtime win over Cleveland.
“We come out here in our first game at home to showcase to our own fans what we’re all about, and offensively we’re out there flopping around,” Gase said,
The game, the first in Miami’s renovated stadium, was the only one in the NFL between 0-2 teams. The Dolphins won because Browns kicker Cody Parkey — signed Saturday as an injury replacement — missed three field goal attempts, including a 46-yarder on the final play of regulation.
“It’s a terrible way to win,” Miami defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “But we’ll take it for sure.”
Terrelle Pryor had a busy n day for Cleveland. The former Raider threw five passes in spot duty at quarterback, caught eight passes, ran for a 3-yard touchdown, and even played safety on the final play of the first half.
Since the AFL-NFL merger, no player had as many throws, rushes and catches in the same game.
New York Giants center n Weston Richburg became the first player ejected under a new rule after drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Richburg got one in the second quarter, then drew another early in the fourth period when he blocked Redskins cornerback Josh Norman and then taunted him on a pass play.
“I let my teammates down,“Richburg said. “I have to be a presence in there and be a leader and I let my team down.
National-anthem protests n continued, with a few new players and a few new gestures.
In Buffalo, numerous Bills players took a knee in the west end zone just before the song began and then rejoined their team to stand along the sideline during the anthem.
Four Washington players, including former Cal star DeSean Jackson stood two steps behind the rest of the team on the sideline during the anthem and held up their right arms, fists clenched, for the entire song.
Four Jacksonville Jaguars -Dante Fowler Jr. Telvin Smith, Jared Odrick and Hayes Pullard III -- joined the movement for the first time, raising a fist.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, where street protests followed the police-shooting death of a 43-year-old African-American man this week, there was a heavy police presence around Bank of America Stadium. About 100 protesters took a knee outside the stadium as the anthem played. Inside, Panthers safety Marcus Ball was the only protester, holding his right hand aloft.
Arizona Cardinals receiver n Larry Fitzgerald extended the NFL’s longest active reception streak to 182 consecutive games with a 3-yard catch in the first quarter at Buffalo -- the last place he failed to make a catch, on Oct. 31, 2004, his rookie season.