Week 3 delivered more head-scratchers
The 32 things we learned from Week 3 of the NFL season:
1. Just when you think you have the NFL figured out, the familiar phrase “any given Sunday” — not a bad movie, either — surfaces. Exhibit A: Bills 27, Vikings 6 ... in Minnesota ... and with LeSean McCoy in street clothes ... and after Buffalo scored 23 points in its first two games ... total. If you predicted that outcome, then you’re lying.
2. At least the Vikings running backs should be fresh for Thursday’s game against the Rams. Dalvin Cook (hamstring) was inactive — he’s vowed to play in Los Angeles — and QB Kirk Cousins (three turnovers) handed off just four times while hoisting 55 throws.
3. Exhibit B: If you had the Bears atop the NFC North after three weeks, then you’re (almost surely) lying.
4. Exhibit C: The Jaguars, who topped USA TODAY’s power rankings after their Week 2 thumping of the Patriots, lost to the undermanned Titans
9-6, preventing the NFL’s Florida squads from bolting to their first collective 9-0 start (the 2-0 Buccaneers hosted the Steelers on Monday).
5. QB Blaine Gabbert, who threw three passes before a concussion prematurely ended his day, got the win against Jacksonville, which drafted him
10th overall in 2011. He is 2-0 for the 2-1 Titans.
6. The Jags and Titans combined for
465 yards of offense. The Rams had 521 ... by themselves.
7. Exhibit D: Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots looked totally outclassed by a previously winless Lions outfit Sunday night. Naturally. And partially because Detroit got its first 100yard rushing effort (Kerryon Johnson) in nearly five years. Naturally.
8. The Seahawks averted their first
0-3 start under Pete Carroll by beating the Cowboys. It helped Seattle that Earl Thomas deigned to show up for work. The unhappy safety finished with seven tackles and two (fortuitous) interceptions of Dak Prescott, just the kind of showcase one would want if secretly hoping Dallas will rekindle its pursuit of a trade. Take a bow, Earl. Wait, you already did.
9. Attendance for the Battle of Los Angeles: 68,947 ... about 74% capacity of L.A. Coliseum. Yawn.
10. The Chargers’ special teams continue to be anything but. They had a punt blocked for a TD and missed another extra point Sunday. Wouldn’t be shocking if their season is short-circuited at some point by their inability to clean up the kicking games.
11. One day Clay Matthews will retire with a résumé demanding strong Hall of Fame consideration. But right now his legacy might include what seems like the inevitable “Clay Matthews Rule” since the NFL clearly needs to rethink flags the Packers star has been hit with the last two weeks for perfectly legitimate hits on Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Matthews has three roughing the passer penalties this year ... and four others for the balance of his 10-year career.
12. Start the year 3-0, and you have a
73.9% chance to make the playoffs. Salud to the Chiefs, Dolphins, Rams ... and maybe Bucs, pending Monday’s result. Conversely, start 0-3, and your postseason dreams are basically dashed with a probability of 2.2%. Good night to the Raiders, Texans and Cardinals.
13. New Orleans’ Drew Brees and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan squared off for the
20th time Sunday, the most head-tohead matchups between two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era. It might have been their best battle yet — it was definitively the highest scoring — as Brees’ 1-yard TD run in overtime gave the Saints a 43-37 victory.
14. Brees might complete 7,000 passes before he calls it a career. He has
6,326 after breaking Brett Favre’s previous record (6,300) Sunday.
15. Ryan, who hadn’t thrown three TDs in a game since Kyle Shanhan was his offense coordinator during Atlanta’s
2016 Super Bowl run, hit for a careerhigh five on Sunday. But he needed six.
16. Saints WR Michael Thomas snagged 10 passes, giving him an NFLhigh 38, the most through a season’s first three weeks.
17. Patrick Mahomes’ league-leading TD pass count is up to 13, another NFL record after three games. Even though his pace puts Mahomes on track for 69, he lamented to USA TODAY’s Mike Jones on Sunday that he left two more on the table in the undefeated Chiefs’
38-27 victory over San Francisco. 18. The Chiefs are the third to score at least 38 points in each of their first three games. The 2007 Patriots, who lost the Super Bowl, were the last to do it.
19. The knee injury suffered by Jimmy Garoppolo overshadowed the return of Niners LB Reuben Foster, who was suspended for the first two weeks for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Foster started on the weak side and finished with seven tackles.
20. A Kansas City defense ranked last in the league surrendered 27 points and
406 yards. Considering those are highwater marks for the Chiefs D, you have some idea how much it’s struggled.
21. Good to see J.J. Watt hit his stride. He hadn’t registered a sack in nearly two years but dumped the Giants’ Eli Manning three times Sunday, Watt’s first three-sack day since Jan. 3, 2016. Unfortunately for Watt’s Texans, it’s probably all for naught as Houston lost a de facto elimination game between teams that entered Week 3 0-2.
22. We suspected Houston’s offensive line wouldn’t be very good. RT Julie’n Davenport provided a reminder, getting flagged for two holding penalties and three false starts.
23. Stat of the week: The Ravens have scored TDs on all 12 of their red-zone trips this year.
24. Adam Vinatieri’s next field goal will be his 566th, giving him the all-time record he currently shares with Hall of Famer Morten Andersen.
25. To be expected, QB Carson Wentz was not in pre-injury form Sunday. He turned the ball over twice, ran only three times on his surgically repaired knee — though his mobility in the rain appeared just fine — and took five sacks in his
2018 debut. But he helped Philly get back on the winning track.
26. More concerning, QB Andrew Luck isn’t in pre-injury form, either. His
25 completions covered a mere 164 yards (his 6.6 yards per completion is roughly half his career rate). And when the Colts needed the ball to go deep on a final desperation play from their own 46, they pulled Luck and his rebuilt shoulder to let Jacoby Brissett loft a Hail Mary that once would’ve been comfortably within Luck’s range.
27. Ryan Tannehill, not Luck, is staking an early claim as comeback player of the year. He threw three TD passes for the first time since Dec. 11, 2016, helping first-place Miami (3-0) remain one of the season’s early surprises.
28. The Raiders have three sacks. ExRaider Khalil Mack has four.
29. Arizona’s Josh Rosen became the final first-round quarterback of the 2018 draft to make his regular-season debut. He replaced Sam Bradford, who had three turnovers, and threw an interception himself among seven throws. A Rosen pick-six was waved off because Mack was offsides ... allegedly.
30. Apparently the Panthers are willing to consider a philosophical shift as it pertains to the deployment of RB Christian McCaffrey. He carried 28 times Sunday, 13 more than in any of his 18 previous NFL games. McCaffrey’s 184 rushing yards were 82 better than his next-best pro game. Equally unusual, he caught just two balls after entering Week 3 with 20 receptions, the secondhighest figure in the league after two games.
31. With a decent kicking game, the Browns might be 3-0. As it stands, they’re 1-1-1 after breaking a 635-day winless streak Thursday and could be a legitimate playoff threat if Baker Mayfield continues to be a stabilizing offensive force.
32. Hey, @BortlesFacts: Blake Bortles passed for 155 yards, nearly 50% more than two Tennessee passers — Gabbert and Marcus Mariota — combined. These are the nuggets you want, right, @BortlesFacts ... especially this week?