Things went mostly how I expected in Week 3 with the exception of a couple of outliers, but I’ll circle back to those. I went 11-5 this week and came up one short of winning my weekly again, but I’m still leading the season-long overall with a record of 31-17. Christen missed the first game of the season but still managed a respectable 9-6 tally to bring her overall record to 26-21. My picks against the spread and over/under don’t count for anything in the pick ’em rankings, but I’ve improved in those categories each week and am working my way back. Against the spread, I went 9-7 (23-25 OVR), and, against the over/under, I managed a healthy 10-6 (20-28 OVR). Things are trending in the right direction, so let’s look at the games.
The 49ers and the Packers put on a classic, albeit penalty-filled, rivalry game on Sunday night that came down to a Mason Crosby game-winning field goal that gave Green Bay the 30-28 win. Aaron Rodgers and the Pack went into that game as plus money underdogs and if you followed my advice, you were able to get them at a good price. They were up 17-0 before San Francisco stormed back to take the lead with less than 40-seconds in the game. Turned out that was too much time for Rodgers and company.
Apparently, the Eagles didn’t get the memo that rivalry games are supposed to be competitive as they absolutely got their asses handed to them by the Cowboys on Monday night. Dallas looked the part of NFC contender and division favorite, feasting on the Eags 41-21. The Cowboys’ defense looks reinvigorated and they played great under coordinator Dan Quinn, but Philly’s offensive approach was a display of ineptitude.
The Eags handed it off to their running backs three times. That’s not a typo. And Miles Sanders had 27-yards on his two touches (that’s 13.5-YPC) but he can’t help without the ball. The backs weren’t featured in the passing game either (26% target-share) so it was another game of QB Jalen Hurts trying to do it all himself and the offense was looking a whole lot like it did during the final stretch of Carson Wentz’s tenure in Philadelphia. Rookie head coach Nick Sirianni and O-coordinator Shane Steichen need to take a long hard look in the mirror after that shitshow.
Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams established themselves as the top-dog in the NFC with a convincing win over Tom Brady and the Bucs. Tampa Bay was dinged up heading into the game and things only got worse for them as three more starters got hurt during the game. Not to take anything away from the Rams, they played excellent on both sides of the ball.
The Arizona Cardinals and Panthers also improved to 3-0, so they may have something to say about who the best team in the NFC is. However, Zona should be 2-1 and the Jags took it to them early on Sunday and the Panthers’ wins over the Texans don’t bolster their case. Carolina does lead the NFC South though, but I don’t believe them to be the best team in that division.
Elsewhere in the NFC South, the Falcons picked up their first win as they rallied to beat the Giants and home and send New York to 0-3. The G-Men had the go-ahead TD in the 4th quarter but couldn’t get it done on their next possession after Atlanta tied it. The Giants could be 2-1 under the right circumstances but, in his third season, Daniel Jones is supposed to be winning these kinds of games. Seeing their offense flounder repeatedly, I’m curious if offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is still on Jerry Jones’ payroll.
One of those Giants’ losses came to last season’s NFC East winner, the Washington Football Team got pummeled in Buffalo, 43-21. There weren’t many bright moments aside from Antonio Gibson’s 73-yard touchdown and a crazy onside kick recovery. At 1-2, they aren’t out of the division race just yet. However, if their defense doesn’t start playing like the #2 overall unit it was last year, it’s going to be a tall order to stay in contention.
All the other teams in the AFC East lost, which strengthens the Bills’ position considerably. The Jets got shut out by the Broncos 26-0. The Patriots got throttled at home by the Saints 28-13. Miami gave the Raiders a good game and forced OT with some late-game heroics, but ultimately fell 31-28. In the wake of those games, both Las Vegas and Denver emerged undefeated at 3-0 as two of the biggest early-season surprises. The Raiders have solid Ws but the Broncos have wins over the three worst teams in the league (NYJ, NYG, JAX) with a combined record of 0-9, so we’ll see how they do over the next month.
The biggest upsets of the week came courtesy of the Bengals knocking off the Steelers in Pittsburgh and the Chargers beating the Chiefs in Arrowhead. I’ve gotta learn to trust my gut more because in the preview for the CIN/PIT game I highlighted all the injuries on the Steelers defense that were concerning me and then I picked them anyway, I did the same thing last week with the Saints so I’m going to try and stick to my guns more. Even though I picked the Chiefs, I’m actually glad the Chargers beat them. Kansas City has been playing like their shit don’t stink all season and Justin Herbert is too good to be trifled with. That no-look interception by Patrick Mahomes is laugh-out-loud hilarious and a perfect example of the arrogant bullshit I’m talking about. Any other QB in the league would be getting buried by the media for doing that. Obviously, they are still a real threat but their defense stinks and their supporting cast outside their Big-3 isn’t getting the job done.
Minnesota beating Seattle was kind of a surprise, but also not really. That’s another game where I said on the podcast that I can totally see Seattle losing this game. Even with Dalvin Cook out, the Alexander Mattison ran all over the Hawks and Kirk Cousins continued to play the best call of his career. After the Titans game, I shoulda trusted what I saw or, more accurately, what I didn’t see from Seattle. Their offense doesn’t exist in the second half and it’s not just one game now. They only scored 13 second-half points in the first two games and then got shut out in the second half vs Minny, and this is a Vikings team giving up more than 30-points per game. If Seattle can’t close out a game where they’re up two possessions and they can’t come back in a game where they are down at halftime, the “Let Russ Cook 2.0” doesn’t look promising and it’s a reason I pegged a team I like as potentially missing the playoffs this year.
In the AFC picture, two teams vying for AFC North supremacy (CLE, BAL) picked up key wins to keep pace with the upstart Bengals. The Browns handled business as expected and welcomed Odell Beckham Jr. back to the field with a 26-6 layup over the Bears. Justin Fields got the start for Chicago and it was “capital U” ugly. I haven’t been a fan of Matt Nagy as the head coach since day one and he’s wasting years of a good defense. Now Nick Foles enters the conversation at QB and Nagy’s is likely getting closer to being fired with each passing week. John Harbaugh is a model of consistency for the Ravens and they have no QB controversy with Lamar Jackson under center. However, their litany of injuries and Covid problems had them stretched very thin against the Lions. The lack of depth on defense almost bit them when Detroit rallied in the 4th quarter to take the lead, but trusty Justin Tucker was there to save the day. He kicked an NFL-record 66-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar, over, and in for the win. He had already proven himself as the best kicker in league history but now he has the distance record too.
The Titans held serve in the AFC South, beating the Colts 25-16 to take command of the division. A.J. Brown went down with a hamstring injury, which killed me in fantasy, but Derrick Henry is called the King for a reason. He carried it 28 times for 113 yards and helped control the game. Carson Wentz played for the Colts but he may as well have sat. They are 0-3 but have also had probably the hardest schedule so far and it doesn’t get much better. If they don’t improve drastically and quickly, they’re staring down the barrel of a 6-win season.
The Rams take over the #1 spot with their win over the Bucs and the Bills are back in the Top-10 while the Chiefs and Seahawks plummet. Here are my updated Power Rankings after Week 3:
| 1. Rams 3-0 (⬆2) |
| 2. Raiders 3-0 (⬆5) |
| 3. Cardinals 3-0 (=) |
| 4. Panthers 3-0 (⬆6) |
| 5. Broncos 3-0(⬆7) |
| 6. Bills 2-1 (⬆12) |
| 7. Buccaneers 2-1 (⬇1) |
| 8. Packers 2-1 (⬆15) |
| 9. 49ers 2-1 (⬇4) |
| 10. Browns 2-1 (=) |
| 11. Cowboys 2-1 (⬆16) |
| 12. Ravens 2-1 (⬇8) |
| 13. Chargers 2-1 (⬆18) |
| 14. Titans 2-1 (⬆13) |
| 15. Bengals 2-1 (⬆21) |
| 16. Saints 2-1 (⬆22) |
| 17. Chiefs 1-2 (⬇9) |
| 18. Vikings 1-2 (⬆26) |
| 19. Seahawks 1-2 (⬇14) |
| 20. Steelers 1-2 (⬇11) |
| 21. Washington 1-2 (⬇19) |
| 22. Eagles 1-2 (⬇17) |
| 23. Dolphins 1-2 (=) |
| 24. Bears 1-2 (⬇20) |
| 25. Texans 1-2 (⬇24) |
| 26. Patriots 1-2 (⬇25) |
| 27. Falcons 1-2 (⬆30) |
| 28. Colts 0-3 (=) |
| 29. Lions 0-3 (⬇27) |
| 30. Giants 0-3 (⬇29) |
| 31. Jaguars 0-3 (=) |
| 32. Jets 0-3 (=) |