Week 3 of the NFL was not quick on drama. The Carolina Panthers earned their first win behind backup quarterback Andy Dalton, the Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 3-0 with Justin Fields underneath middle and the Denver Broncos knocked off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his or her first win of the Bo Nix period.
Listed here are some knee-jerk reactions from the third week of the NFL season:
Sam Darnold is … good at soccer?
Completely nobody had Darnold being the best quarterback within the NFL heading into Week 4, however the 27-year-old QB is proving everybody fallacious. He’s having a Geno Smith-like profession renaissance, and his efficiency in Sunday’s 34-7 upset win over the Houston Texans made many take discover.
The Texans have one of many prime defenses within the NFL, and Darnold carved them as much as the tune of 181 yards and 4 touchdowns. Via three video games, he’s thrown for 657 yards, eight touchdowns and solely two interceptions, and maybe extra surprisingly, the Vikings are 3-0. There are lots of people on the market who owe Darnold an apology.
Everybody owes Justin Fields an apology
Talking of apologies, Fields is due a big variety of them as effectively. Granted, it’s solely been three video games, however all he’s accomplished in Pittsburgh is win. In Sunday’s 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, Fields threw for 245 yards with a passing and dashing landing, and the Steelers had their greatest efficiency of the season.
Fields is 3-0 in Pittsburgh and enjoying a number of the greatest soccer of his profession. Maybe Chicago was the issue and never him, in any case? Fields appears to be precisely the place he needs to be, and the Steelers would be the franchise he wanted to achieve his huge potential.
Many wrote Bo Nix off too shortly
Sure, Nix’s first two video games left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, he seemed significantly better in Sunday’s 26-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie QB had his most effective efficiency so far, throwing for 216 yards with no turnovers, and the Broncos fairly effectively dominated a Bucs crew that seemed to be probably the greatest within the NFC.
Not solely was Nix sensible with the soccer, however he was beneficiant with how he distributed it in addition to 9 totally different gamers caught at the least one go. Nix confirmed flashes in Sunday’s sport of being the participant head coach Sean Payton noticed on movie when the Broncos took him twelfth general in April.
Somebody is getting fired in Tennessee, proper?
The final time the Titans traded away a participant after which misplaced to mentioned participant in the course of the common season, normal supervisor Jon Robinson was fired. Whereas quarterback Malik Willis isn’t the caliber of participant A.J. Brown is, shedding to your former backup QB with the signal-caller you drafted to switch him is a foul look.
Titans proprietor Amy Adams Strunk doesn’t like being made to seem like a idiot, which is strictly what occurred Sunday when Willis and the Packers dominated Tennessee 30-14, and Willis performed one of the best sport of his NFL profession (202 passing yards, 73 dashing yards, two complete touchdowns).
It’s unlikely GM Ran Carthon is in any hazard of shedding his job, however given Adams Strunk’s popularity for typically overreacting, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see if anybody in Tennessee is fired on Monday morning.
The Anthony Richardson hype was a bit untimely
When Richardson put up 212 yards and two touchdowns in Indy’s season-opening loss to the Texans — a sport the Colts practically received — some media pundits have been fast to crown him as the subsequent C.J. Stroud.
However as followers noticed over the subsequent two weeks, together with Sunday’s 21-16 win over the Chicago Bears, Richardson remains to be very inexperienced and he has an extended strategy to go in his growth. For the second straight week, the previous No. 4 general decide threw a number of interceptions and made a number of questionable selections. Richardson has the potential to be an ideal QB; nonetheless, he’s nonetheless a 12 months or two away from that occuring.
Not signing Derrick Henry could also be one among Jerry Jones’ worst selections
The Cowboys Achilles’ heel is their run sport, they usually had an opportunity to signal one of many prime operating backs on the free-agent market however failed to take action due to crew proprietor/GM Jerry Jones’ ego. Jones didn’t imagine the crew’s run sport was as large of a obvious challenge because it turned out to be, and he was assured Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle and Deuce Vaughn might get the job accomplished.
Quick ahead to Sunday’s 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens — the crew Henry signed with as an alternative — and the previous All-Professional RB put up 151 yards dashing and two touchdowns and made Jones seem like a idiot for passing on signing him. The higher Henry performs this 12 months, and the extra Dallas’ run sport continues to battle, the more serious this resolution will look in hindsight for Jones.
Kyler Murray might be an under-the-radar top-10 QB
The Cardinals even have a reasonably good offense, all issues thought of. Rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is proving to be a stable playmaker even in his first season, James Conner is a stable RB1 and Kyler Murray appears to have regained his kind from the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The 27-year-old signal-caller has thrown for 635 yards, 5 touchdowns and just one interception whereas including 161 yards on the bottom. He’s developed a robust rapport with rookie wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. and tight finish Trey McBride, and it wouldn’t be stunning to see Murray nonetheless enjoying at a top-10 degree on the finish of the season.
The Raiders won’t ever change
The Las Vegas Raiders proceed to show regardless of who the top coach is and regardless of who the quarterback is, the crew will seemingly at all times be in turmoil. Following Sunday’s embarrassing 36-22 loss to the hapless Carolina Panthers, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce referred to as out quite a lot of his gamers for “going into enterprise” for themselves.
Whereas he didn’t identify any names particularly, he promised the coaches would make modifications accordingly. After an offseason the place the gamers advocated for Pierce to get the everlasting head-coaching job, it’s astonishing how shortly the wheels have come off.
