NFL Takeaways: Week 3

Photo from the Baltimore Sun

There are only 5 undefeated teams remaining this year, and they’re exactly who we all expected.

The Chiefs, Bills, Seahawks, Vikings and Steelers.

Everyone thought that would happen.

But let’s dive into some of the other stuff we saw this weekend.

Jets defeat Patriots 24-3

In week 1, the Patriots pulled off an excellent upset win over the Bengals by running the ball.

In week 2, they almost beat the Seahawks with the same strategy. They ran the ball extremely well.

Then on Thursday, facing the Jets, they decided to stop that.

Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson had a combined 11 carries, with Gibson only having 5 carries but averaging over 5 yards per carry.

Shockingly, the offense did nothing all night long and the Patriots got torched.

Steelers defeat Chargers 20-10

The Steelers offense doesn’t really spark much excitement, but who cares?

In a season where it certainly feels like offenses are struggling, the Steelers having the best defense in the league is going to win them a lot of games.

Their second half performance was a masterpiece.

Giants defeat Browns 21-15

Malik Nabers is a stud, and he has Daniel Jones actually playing pretty well!

Bet the Browns would prefer to have Daniel Jones instead of Deshaun Watson right now.

Packers defeat Titans 30-14

Coaching matters.

Malik Willis was flat out unplayable with the Titans and was destined for failure in this league.

He then gets traded to the Packers to back up Jordan Love, and Jordan Love got hurt at the end of week 1.

Suddenly, it was Malik Willis’ turn.

And in his two starts this year, he has been extremely solid.

Matt Lafleur has to be the early favorite for coach of the year.

Colts defeat Bears 21-16

I totally get why scouts and fans fell in love with Anthony Richardson and Caleb Williams.

They have every physical tool you want in a quarterback.

The problem is, there is a difference between having the tools, and using them.

Richardson and Williams made so many absolutely horrible throws in this game that it was sometimes painful to watch.

They’re still young, so there is time to get that fixed.

But they better, or those physical tools won’t matter much.

Vikings defeat Texans 34-7

Ok.

The Vikings are just really good.

Their coaching is incredible. Sam Darnold is playing the best football he’s ever played. They just stomped one of the AFC favorites.

What more do we need to see?

Eagles defeat Saints 15-12

It was good for the Eagles to get a win because of how well their defense played. That was a big question mark for them.

It’s not so good that they almost threw away a win in which they were significantly better than the Saints.

But hey, a win is a win.

Broncos defeat Buccaneers 26-7

Maybe I was too hard on Bo Nix and Sean Payton.

The Broncos offense looked terrible against the Seahawks and Steelers, but those two are looking like two of the better defenses in the NFL.

Sunday, facing a weak Bucs defense, Bo Nix had an excellent game and led the Broncos to an easy win.

The defense looks good for the Broncos too.

Maybe things will turn around.

Panthers defeat Raiders 36-22

Just one week after a huge win in Baltimore over the Ravens, the Raiders got stomped by the Panthers and head coach Antonio Pierce is implying some players quit in the game.

That’s quite a switch in emotions for the Raiders.

Seahawks defeat Dolphins 24-3

I know Tua is hurt, and with him out the Dolphins aren’t one of the top teams in the NFL.

But they have to do better than whatever that was on Sunday.

The gameplan was bad from Mike McDaniel, and the front office needs to have their feet held to the fire for not fixing the offensive line or improving the quarterback room, knowing Tua has had injury problems in the past.

I’m not expecting the Dolphins to be a playoff team without Tua, but it has to be better than that.

Ravens defeat Cowboys 28-25

Jerry Jones is lying to the media about Derrick Henry. Dak is telling fans to jump off the bandwagon. Micah Parsons is calling out teammates. CeeDee Lamb is arguing with Dak on the sidelines. They can’t stop the run at all.

The vibes aren’t great!

Also, a lot of talking heads kept pointing out that the Ravens almost blew another 10 point lead, which is true, but they didn’t.

I’m not sure why that’s such a big deal.

There are other coaches who blow leads all the time.

Rams defeat 49ers 27-24

24-17 lead for the Niners with 6 minutes left in the game.

The 49ers ran 4 pass plays and only 2 run plays, taking three and a half minutes off the clock.

This is with the Niners rushing for 140 yards on the day, too.

Kyle Shanahan refuses to learn, and it continues to bite him.

Lions defeat Cardinals 20-13

A big shout out to the Lions defense.

The first drive of the game, Arizona went down and scored an easy touchdown. It looked exactly like a week ago against the Rams. Easy as pie.

And then they just got completely shut down the rest of the day.

They couldn’t run the ball. Marvin Harrison Jr only had 5 catches on 11 targets.

The Lions defense did an excellent job.

They’ve been a huge plus so far this year.

Chiefs defeat Falcons 22-17

Dynasties need some luck.

Week 1, it was a toe out of bounds.

Week 2, it was a (correct) pass interference call.

Week 3, it was a missed pass interference call and a bad 4th and 1 play.

It’s annoying. I get it.

But luck happens in all sports.

The Chiefs are just getting the breaks right now.

Bills defeat Jaguars 47-10

I didn’t understand the Trevor Lawrence contract when it was announced, and I certainly don’t get it now.

He has been absolutely terrible this year.

Frankly, I’m not sure what can be done to fix it at this point.

It can’t JUST be the coaching.

Commanders defeat Bengals 38-33

The Bengals defense is not very good.

They got run all over by the Patriots. They got destroyed by the Commanders. They only look good against the Chiefs because, for whatever reason, Patrick Mahomes plays some of his worst games against the Bengals.

Maybe he’s scared of tigers or something. I don’t know.

But none of that is to take away from how good Jayden Daniels was on Monday night.

21-23 with almost 300 total yards and 3 total touchdowns.

And his first career passing touchdown was to an offensive lineman!

He needs to take less hits, but the Commanders might just have themselves a star.