Our NFL Week 3 Recap
Indianapolis Colts 20 Kansas City Chiefs 17
Everyone and their brother knew the Chiefs were going to struggle on Sunday. It was the perfect place for a Kansas City let down after 2 big wins and a Colts rebound after two bad losses. Matt Ryan and the Colts made the plays when they needed to, but Kansas City gave this game away. The Chiefs muffed a punt, tried a horrible fake field goal and lost 4 points on missed kicks. Kansas City even held Johnathan Taylor in check, and they still lost. The Colts were also about to punt away to KC with 5 minutes remaining in the game following a sack taken by Matt Ryan. Chris Jones instead can’t help himself and has to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for trash talking Matt Ryan and grant Indy an automatic first down that extended what would be the game winning drive. If this were a lesser player they’d be cut for such stupidity.
Minnesota Vikings 28 Detroit Lions 24
Kirk Cousins threw a perfect ball on one of the last plays of the game to seal a comeback victory for Minnesota. The Vikings ended the game on a 14-0 run to send the Lions back to sub .500. Detroit did still have a couple good things to take away from the game though. Jeff Okudah has been a monster so far this season. Justin Jefferson wasn’t a factor in this game at all because of Jeff. The Lions offense also looked good once again. Swift did get injured and might miss a game or two, but that backfield shouldn’t miss a beat given how great Williams has played.
Baltimore Ravens 37 New England Patriots 26
Mac Jones suffered a “severe ankle sprain” and will miss multiple games. It’s a tough break for a New England offense that already didn’t look great. Brian Hoyer will get the start against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau this upcoming week and the line is already at -11 in favor of Green Bay if that tells you anything. For Baltimore, Lamar Jackson couldn’t have played any better in the first three games than he already has. He’s rushed for 100+ yards in back-to-back games and already has 12 total TDs. His contract is just getting more and more expensive for the Ravens as each Sunday passes.
Carolina Panthers 22 New Orleans Saints 14
Matt Rhule might have saved his job with this win; however, the streak continues of the Panthers only winning when they hold opponents to 17 or less. The real story is how awful the Saints offense has looked so far this year. Where has Alvin Kamara been? I know he was hurt last week, but he has been a ghost out on the field when he does play. It’s very obvious New Orleans misses Sean Payton. The Saints don’t get any time to dwell on their loss though as they are headed to London to play Kirk Cousins and the Vikings next week in what should be another close game.
Philadelphia Eagles 24 Washington Commanders 8
At one point in this game, the Eagles had 323 passing yards while the Commanders had 1. The Wentz rollercoaster has seen the highest highs and the lowest lows and it’s only Week 3. It doesn’t help that he was sacked 9 times, but if he doesn’t turn it on soon and the Commanders finish with sub-7 wins, this could be his last starting gig in the NFL for a while. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles looked amazing again. We said it last week, but it’s even more apparent now. The Philadelphia Eagles are the team to beat in the NFC.
Chicago Bears 23 Houston Texans 20
The Bears won this game with Justin Fields having a stat line of 8/17, 106 passing yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs. David Montgomery went down early, but Khalil Herbert picked up the slack rushing for 157 yards and 2 TDs. Davis Mills didn’t play bad, but again he couldn’t make the plays when the Texans needed him to. The Texans have hope though as they are one of only 2 remaining teams without a win and in great shape to get a high draft pick.
Miami Dolphins 21 Buffalo Bills 19
I don’t care what anyone says, I will die on the hill of Miami Dolphins being a fraud. Let’s look at the stats for both teams in that game:
It will forever blow my mind that the Buffalo Bills did not win this game. A missed chip-shot field goal, 2 end-of-half meltdowns and a fumble at their own 7 did the Bills in. One scary thing about Buffalo, if Josh Allen doesn’t make all the plays the Bills struggle to win.
Cincinnati Bengals 27 New York Jets 12
Joe Burrow and the Bengals finally got back on track against the Jets. This game was never in doubt and the Bengals offense looked like its old self. The only difference being Ja’Marr Chase was basically locked down while Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins stole the show. The formula for betting on Cincinnati has been revealed. If they are playing against a team with no pass rush, hammer them. If they are matched up with a defense who excels at pass rush, fade them. The offensive line will continue to be their Achilles Heel all year. The Jets reverted back to being the Jets. Joe Flacco threw it 50+ times again. They desperately need Zach Wilson back, even if it’s only a slight upgrade.
Tennessee Titans 24 Las Vegas Raiders 22
Once again, the Raiders dug themselves into too big of a hole. They’ve went into half down by 14 in Week 1 and Week 3. They staged comebacks in both of those games but couldn’t get the job done. They are officially in shambles. They sit at 0-3 and 2 games behind a wild card spot. Davante Adams has already grown frustrated with the losing and a matchup with the red-hot Broncos defense next week hurts the chances of Las Vegas getting back on track. They could be 0-5 before a Week 6 matchup with the Texans. Derrick Henry showed signs of his playmaking ability that had been non-existent through 2 weeks for the Titans. Ryan Tannehill did his job as the game manager and Tennessee got a much-needed win, avoiding the dreaded 0-3 start.
Jacksonville Jaguars 38 Los Angeles Chargers 10
All of America was wondering why Justin Herbert was still on the field for much of this blowout. Besides their quarterback continuously getting banged up last week, the Chargers also lost Joey Bosa likely at least a couple games and their Pro Bowl tackle Rashawn Slater for the season. Just when everything seems to be on the up-and-up for Los Angeles, the injury bug comes knocking. Austin Ekeler and the rest of the Chargers weapons need to start shifting into gear if they want to remain relevant. For Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence is finally starting to look like the quarterback everyone thought he would be out of college. Doug Pederson has completely turned this team around and has them firing on all cylinders. Through 3 weeks, the Jaguars are shockingly one of the most fun teams to watch.
Green Bay Packers 14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12
This game sucked just enough that it was actually interesting. Neither team has any offense, which doesn’t bode well for excitement when both teams have great defenses. Tom Brady tried to mount a comeback but fell short on the 2-point conversion. It looked like the Buccaneers abandoned the run too early. Green Bay was shredded by David Montgomery last week and Tampa Bay only gave Leonard Fournette 12 carries. He didn’t do much with those carries, only averaging 2.9 YPC, but still. The game script didn’t call for the run to be thrown out the window and clearly passing wasn’t working. Just a weird game all the way around.
Los Angeles Rams 20 Arizona Cardinals 12
What did we tell you last week? If Kyler Murray doesn’t run, Arizona’s offense is hot garbage. Shockingly, Kyler didn’t register a carry for Arizona until late in the second half and the game was never really in doubt for the Rams. For Los Angeles, their offense still hasn’t looked as explosive as it did last year. Maybe they’re taking a page from Andy Reid’s playbook and not showcasing all of their abilities unless absolutely necessary. Whatever it is, they’re winning but it isn’t in the prettiest of fashions.
Atlanta Falcons 27 Seattle Seahawks 23
Marcus Mariota continues to impress us with his play so far this year. This Falcons team actually has decent weapons and an average offense, their defense is just sub-par. With a sneaky (but shouldn’t be sneaky at this point) good running back in Cordarrelle Patterson and 2 good receivers in Kyle Pitts and Drake London, they have enough weapons to make defensive coordinators sweat. Seattle played a pretty good game. Geno Smith threw for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns. Their defense has been letting them down since the Week 1 game against Denver. The same defense that was supposed to be their strong suit this year.
Denver Broncos 11 San Francisco 49ers 10
Anyone who watched this game and didn’t have money on it is a psychopath, unless you hate offense and love defense. If you do love defense, this was the game for you. Punt after punt after punt. Jimmy Garoppolo and Russell Wilson both failed to get anything going at any point in this game. Russell did have one good drive and that ended up being the deciding factor. The Broncos aren’t making anything look pretty or easy, but they are winning games. As for the 49ers, the Jimmy G love fest lasted not even one full game as he reminded everyone why they made such an effort to replace him in the first place.
Dallas Cowboys 23 NY Giants 16
This game started out just as bad as everyone expected it. Zero life for either team on offense led to a score of 6-3 at halftime. Easy catches dropped left and right and terrible calls by the officials added to this already unenjoyable snooze fest. However, the second half was much more entertaining as Saquon erupted for a 40-yard TD run and the Cowboys punched in a couple touchdowns via Zeke on the goal line and a beautiful one-handed catch by Ceedee Lamb. The Giants are who we thought they were, a very lucky 2-0 team that can only go as far as Saquon can carry them. Daniel Jones as a scrambler is great but Daniel Jones as a passer is very bad. They will need to be in defensive slugfests all year to have a real shot at winning games throughout the rest of the season. On the flip side, Cooper Rush has the Cowboys buzzing. While he has not played a full game well yet, but he has outperformed expectations and put them in positions to win. Tony Pollard and Zeke combined for nearly 200 rushing yards and the Cowboys are now 2-1. How long will this “Rush” of energy for the Cowboys last? At this point it is hard to tell but they will have another good shot next week hosting the struggling Commanders.
Gambling Recap 2-3 -1.18 Units / YTD 9-8, -.14 Units
David Montgomery going out with an injury in the first quarter killed us. Khalil Herbert did exactly what we said the Bears running game would do, it just happened to be the wrong runner. We also had the right handicap in the Corey Davis Prop. The Jets got down early and Cincinnati kept scoring. Joe Flacco threw the ball 52 times; he just didn’t throw it to our guy. It happens. We were saved by the easiest under of all time (49ers vs Broncos) and a fairly easy cover from the Rams. We’re onto Week 4.
3 Stars of the Week
Lamar Jackson 18/29, 4 Passing TDs, 1 INT, 107 Rushing Yards, 1 TD
The first back-to-back Star of the Week in Fourth and Short history. Jackson is playing out of his mind. He already has 243 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns. This might be the best “I’m betting on myself” contract year in the history of the NFL.
DaVonta Smith 8 Receptions 169 Yards, 1 Touchdown
Davonte was the winner in Jalen Hurts big passing day. After a goose egg in the yards column Week 1 against Detroit, DaVonta has put up 80+ yards in the previous 2 weeks. If he can get going, he and AJ Brown will be a two-headed monster for Philadelphia.
Jalen Pitre 8 Tackles, 2 TFL, 1 Sack, 2 INTs, 1 FR
It may have been all for nothing as Houston ended up falling to Chicago, but Pitre still played excellent. The second-round pick in last year’s draft was everywhere on the field the entire game. He became only the 4th person with at least 1 sack, 2 interceptions and 1 fumble recovery in a game in NFL history and the first to do it since 2014. Welcome to the league, Jalen.